This article is a response to an experience I had last week, an experience that frightenedly showed me that our health care is largely in the hands of giant corporations.
How does this play out?
Health care in the U.S. has transitioned, over time, from a system in which individual doctors and doctors in consultation made medical decisions for their patients into a system in which medical decisions are increasingly being made by health-care corporations, insurance corporations and pharmaceutical corporations.
When profit is the goal, can the care be optimal for the patient?
This is a difficult but crucial question. I still don’t know, but intuition tells me that on some level, I do.
My recent experience has been with a huge health-care corporation, but one that is specifically NOT-FOR-PROFIT.
That seems to make a difference.
Here’s the story.
My primary care doctor has been my doctor for 35+ years. He recently joined this giant corporation. I have not experienced any negative effects from this transition.
That same corporation bought the hospital I have been using since 1999.
I have been sick since my gall bladder was removed in May, 2024. No energy, no strength, abdominal pain, nausea, you get the picture.
Blood work has shown low iron, low hemoglobin and elevated liver enzymes.
I finally went to the ER on Monday.
I was admitted after an ambulance ride from the stand-alone ER to the hospital.
Tests showed a complication in the liver/bile system which was relieved by opening some ducts that had been blocked since the gall bladder surgery.
The cause of the blockage was even more complicated and will require complex surgery coming up.
What does all this have to do with the topic?
The corporation which owns the hospital and employs the doctors is a faith-based, not-for-profit corporation.
I had an opportunity to see first-hand what corporate health care could look like. As soon as the diagnosis was established, the hospital set me up with an oncologist, a surgeon, and two gastroenterologists immediately.
There was no question, no hesitation.
They were relentlessly pursuing a solution.
One of the most important parts of any hospitalization is the nursing care one receives.
In my case, the nursing and support staffs could not have been more attentive to patient needs.
If I had fears about the care I would receive, those fears have been alleviated so far. We will see how my next hospitalization goes. I have great hopes.
What can we infer from this experience?
I believe we can make certain general statements:
- Corporate health care can be optimal for the patient when the need to make a profit is removed.
- Nurses and support staff can make any hospitalization the best it can be or a nightmare.
- In my recent case, the nurses and support staff were wonderful. They could not have been better.
There were some points that I saw a place for improvement:
- Doctors and residents came, asked questions and left, giving me no information who they are or what they have to do with my care.
- While the food service personnel were most kind and helpful, the food is almost inedible (and I will eat most anything).
- Other patients were allowed to blast their tunes to a level where I could not hear anything else.
What is my overall conclusion?
Given a choice, I would do exactly what I did again.
This company is dedicated to a faith-based approach to health care.
As a lifelong skeptic, I was most favorably impressed with my experience.
Jesus-loves-you health care, so far, has shown me that good people are good people and when goodness is not measured in stockholder dividends, they can do good for their patients.
Brava and bravo!
Added Note: I have been reminded that anyone in any hospital needs an advocate to help them navigate nursing care and all of the other things that complicate hospital stays. There is no exception here. An advocate is essential to an optimal patient experience.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In