Question

Health Care Management Case Study

Case Presentation

Raymond Wiley operates a small business in a rural area. There is a 10-bed hospital in his community that has a 2-bed intensive care unit (ICU). A large hospital with comprehensive services is located in a nearby city 100 miles away.

Mr. Wiley became ill with a fever and cough. Because his regular physician was out of town, he went to the local hospital, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted. Mr. Wiley received supportive care, but after 3 full days with no apparent improvement, the admitting physician transferred him to the city hospital for a referral with a pulmonologist.

The Wileys wanted to drive to the city hospital in their private vehicle, as opposed to having Mr. Wiley transported by ambulance. Their rationale was based on the fact that Mrs. Wiley could drive, Mr. Wiley was stable, and their insurance did not cover ambulance transport unless it was a medical emergency. Up to this point, Raymond had only received supportive care; his intravenous line had been capped, and he was taking oral antibiotics. Their request to drive him was refused, and he was transported by ambulance; they were charged $1300 for the transport.

When Raymond arrived at the city hospital, it took 2 days for the pulmonologist and thoracic surgeon to see him because the admitting unit got his name mixed up with another patient. A computed tomography scan was completed, which revealed he had a large mass and pleural effusion. Mr. Wiley was then seen by a thoracic surgeon, who scheduled him for a thoracotomy the next day—a Sunday. This required assembling an on-call surgical team at the higher weekend rate.

After surgery, Raymond was in the ICU. He experienced several postoperative complications precipitated by the initial delay in correct diagnosis and treatment. On postoperative day 11, an order was written to transfer Mr. Wiley out of the ICU to the medical unit, but because of a shortage of nursing staff on the medical unit, he remained in the ICU for 2 additional days before being transferred to a medical unit and discharged home later that day.

Mrs. Wiley spent 10 months of her time fighting many of the charges because her husband’s care had been delayed by the medical team, causing his complications and extensive hospitalization. The Wiley’s thought they should not be charged and held responsible for the 3 days in the rural hospital, the 2 days in the city hospital before Mr. Wiley was seen by the specialist, and the 2 additional days spent in the ICU because the hospital was short staffed. The insurance company and hospital finally agreed on how much the insurance company would pay for the $136,000 worth of services billed. The hospital ended up writing off $60,000, and the Wiley’s paid $5000 in co-payments.

Case Analysis

Mr. Wiley’s care was not cost effective because there were many delays that were costly both from a systems viewpoint and from the exacerbations to the seriousness of his illness. The hospital eventually was forced to write off nearly half of the billed charges, which will eventually result in higher charges across the system to compensate for these and other losses. Mr. Wiley’s story highlights how a lack of communication resulting in a lack of effectiveness in timely treatment continue to haunt health care, affecting the quality of patient care and outcomes as well as patient costs. Value was not attained because Mr. Wiley’s care was delayed in both the rural and the tertiary care hospitals.

Questions (Please respond to both questions in your response.)

1. Speculate as to how Mr. Wiley’s care might have been different if a pay-for-performance rather than a fee-for-service plan was in place.

2. What risks are involved with a pay-for-performance plan?

Answer 1

Speculate as to how Mr. Wiley’s care might have been different if a pay-for-performance rather than a fee-for-service plan was in place

If Wiley's care was done in a pay-for-performance plan rather than a fee-for-service plan, there could have been various changes as follow:

• the emergency department might not be delayed to visit the patient or lagged it for 2 days
• there could have been flexible schedules of consultations for the patient
• the ambulance service might not been of a dispute
• there could have been an optimistic team work among the health care providers
• there would have never been an extra stay in the intensive cae unit
• moreover, the patient might have received better treatment and respect

What risks are involved with a pay-for-performance plan?

• decreased supervision of services is observed as employees are expected to deliver the best
• resistance to change or fear of change towards implementing a new policy in anticipation of any negative impact though it might have many expected positive outcomes.
• challenge to income of health care workers who may have to take unexpected or accidental leaves.
• it may create contention among the employees which will destroy the professional rapport.
• reduction in individual output of budding professionals as they might be over-ruled by the superiors.

BOTH QUERIES ARE ANSWERED. HOPE THIS CAN HELP YOU. PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO GIVE THUMPS UP IF SO. ALL THE BEST. STAY SAFE.