ABILITY Blog

Listen to this patient’s story about her “transition of care” experience:

An 85-year-old cognitively intact but frail female is admitted to the hospital for myocardial infarction and heart failure. She is later transferred to an SNF for 3 weeks of rehabilitation on account of her functional limitations, poor balance, and complex medication regimen. During a follow-up visit with her primary care physician after her discharge from the SNF, the patient and her daughter express discontent with the quality of care at the facility. . . . They also express dissatisfaction with the hospital-to-SNF transition, alleging that the hospital team rushed them into selecting an SNF. They claim that on the day of hospital discharge, no relevant information was provided to them other than a list of nine SNFs that were near her home [added emphasis]. The family had chosen this particular SNF based on its close proximity to the home of the patient’s daughter.

There’s clearly a disconnect here. Read more

Healthcare in the U.S. seems to be in a constant state of hand-wringing, not the least of which concerns how complicated it is to bill and pay for care. It is hard to imagine that something so straightforward could be so complex. Curiosity about this, or more of a desire to learn, has always driven me.

Complex, confusing, disorganized, unprofitable, duplicative, wasteful — pick your negative adjective and it’s been applied to the administrative side of healthcare. Thinking about unraveling all the complicated systems can be daunting. Where to start? Read more