Dangerous Cost Cutting In Healthcare
A free public service for a better community
A Good Day To Advocate for Better Healthcare
If there are subjects you’d like to see or improvements made, please let me know using the comment button below. The kittens and puppies are stress reducers.
Videos of these newsletters appear on Youtube on this channel. Let me know what you think.
Gun Safety
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey immediately implemented new gun legislation on Wednesday that not only cracks down on unserialized "ghost guns," and attachments like bump stocks and trigger cranks, but also requires applicants to demonstrate basic safety principles and complete live-fire training before being granted a gun license. State lawmakers approved the gun reform law in July, which was expected to go into effect later this month, and comes as the deep-blue state already has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. The only addition I would want is that owners must carry liability insurance.
Health and The Internet
Today, the fastest-growing care setting isn’t the hospital or home — it’s the mobile phone. Google now receives more than 1 billion health-related searches every day, and patient messages for medical advice have increased sixfold in the past decade. The explosion in patient messaging is a clear sign that patients want more access to information about their health, despite the long wait times and often unclear responses.
We are likely to see many more near-immediate telehealth services soon to follow the booming mental/behavioral telehealth industry.
PBMs and Texas
The state of Texas is accusing major pharmacy benefit managers and drug companies of colluding to raise the cost of insulin. Texas alleged drug manufacturers Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi raise the price of insulin and then pay an undisclosed amount back to PBMs Optum Rx, Express Scripts and CVS Caremark through a quid pro quo agreement. PBMs then give preferred status on their standard formularies to drugs with the highest list prices, the state said. Sounds like familiar behavior.
Of course, with universal healthcare we could negotiate ALL drug prices without PBM middlemen and save hundreds of billions every year.
Cost Cutting at Hospitals Has Consequences
A former employee of the housekeeping and environmental services company contracted to clean Detroit’s Harper-Hutzel Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Michigan has filed a lawsuit, alleging he was fired and discriminated against in retaliation for blowing the whistle on unsanitary conditions in operating rooms, patient areas, and baby delivery rooms. (Detroit Metro Times)
The lawsuit was filed last week in Wayne County Circuit Court against North Carolina-based Compass Group and Crothall Healthcare, which were contracted to provide cleaning services for Tenet Healthcare, the for-profit parent company of the Detroit Medical Center, which operates the two hospitals.
Jerrell Atkins alleges he was fired from his job as operations manager in June, a little more than a year after he reported “unsafe, unsanitary, and dangerous conditions” in a complaint to Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA). According to the complaint, doctors were delivering babies in operating rooms with unsterile and unclean surgical equipment, beds, and rooms. Hospital workers were also using unsanitary machinery and equipment that was “contaminated by raw sewage and feces in surgical operating rooms,” Atkins alleged.
One of the biggest problems, the lawsuit claims, was the “shockingly outrageous” lack of cleaning supplies, which was part of an “extreme” cost-cutting move.
To avoid penalties from public agencies, the companies fabricated records to suggest they were in compliance, according to the suit.
This is just the latest lawsuit filed by former Compass Group and Crothall Healthcare employees who worked at Tenet’s hospitals in Detroit. In June 2022, Denise Bonds, of Detroit, and Shenesia Rhodes, of St. Clair Shores, sued Tenet, Compass Group and Crothall Healthcare, alleging they were fired after raising concerns about the shortage of cleaning supplies and insufficient staffing. The shortage left Detroit's Harper University Hospital and Hutzel Women's Hospital dirty and unsanitary.
The court will decide whether he was wrongfully terminated but the cost cutting measures he described in his suit sound egregious.
ACTION
Use RESISTBOT via [Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER] or by texting SIGN PZZNVX to 50409 on your cell phone to send that message to our State representatives and our governor reminding them that medical facilities often cut corners by reducing staff and cutting back on supplies and that our state should aggressively inspect medical facilities to make sure we are all kept safe.
“I am your constituent and I want you to make sure that medical facilities in our state are aggressively inspected for safety and cleanliness. Here is why. There has been a lot of consolidation in the healthcare industry and part of that includes reducing staff and cutting back on services and supplies to save money. Of course commercial firms and private equity investors demand high returns but non profits are not exempt from this cost cutting. There have been stories about hospitals in Michigan even reducing cleaning supplies and operating in unsanitary conditions because they needed to save money. Please make sure that facilities in our state are safe for all of us. Thank you.
Here is a link to that story about hospitals in Michigan. https://www.metrotimes.com/news/whistleblower-alleges-unsanitary-conditions-contaminated-equipment-at-2-dmc-hospitals-in-detroit-37455331. “
RESOURCES
Find My Elected Officials
Contact State and Federal Representatives - phone and email
Healthcare Advocacy (Us) Website
Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare - Healthcare Advocacy Reading List
Important Healthcare Resources
League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit
Organizations to Contact
National Nurses United Medicare4All
Physicians for a National Health Program
One Payer States
Healthcare Now
Reproductive Health
NARAL - Pro Choice America
Charley. chatbot abortion resource - make sure to use a secure incognito browser if you live in a state that has banned abortion
Planned Parenthood
Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.
United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.
Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.
If you need financial help with an abortion try abortionfunds.org
Claims Denials and Appeals & What to Do
Appeal a Healthcare Decision
Appeal/Negotiate a Hospital Bill
Disinformation Management
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency
Save Democracy
Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Cravens
RESISTBOT
Link to the RESISTBOT site to learn more
Link to Chop Wood, Carry Water RESISTBOT write up
Thanks for reading Healthcare Advocacy! Subscribe for free to receive new posts