[optimal] Re: From Denice re New York Times Article
- From: "Ron Zielinski" <ronzielinski@xxxxxxx>
- To: <optimal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2013 13:17:44 -0800
I’m sure you realize with economics being what they are your description,
though true, is not sustainable. Eventually the system has to collapse of its
own weight as it did in Detroit…….
From: optimal-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:optimal-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of CPMC Ophthalmic Diagnostic Center
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 8:36 AM
To: 'James Gilman'
Cc: optimal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; 'sfdrmarc@xxxxxxxxx'
Subject: [optimal] From Denice re New York Times Article
Re: Recent New York Times article on the “astronomical fees that CPMC charges”
In all fairness, one of the reasons CPMC is being picked on is because most
states with large urban hospitals ( New York , Boston, Miami, Chicago, etc) do
not have sunshine laws. They are not required to divulge their charges, like
we are
SF was recently voted ( by New York Times!!!!) as THE most expensive city to
live. A studio one bedroom apartment in the right neighborhood costs nearly
2K. What do people expect. Snow cone prices in a Haagan Daaz city? The
square footage here alone is out of the solar system.
Couple this with our astronomically HIGH percentage of non paying immigrant
population. For every non insured non English speaking patient we see, we
write off close to a thousand bucks ( cause by ADA law, we have to
PAY for their interpreter even though they aren’t paying us…) so our patients
end up COSTING us money. Someone has to make it up on the back end. Do the
math.
My center alone, and we are drop in the CPMC bucket, wrote off nearly a million
bucks last year to “charity care”. Who pays my rent, my salary, my IT, etc
when we are LOSING money? CPMC writes it off and has to make up for it in other
ways.
Our fees are regionally driven. Our OCT charge is $76.00 for one eye. Out of
that, we are reimbursed $14.56. This entire center, to provide a service to a
patient, reimbursed 14.56, SPENT 200.00 for the interpreter and that doesn’t
even factor in overhead…. Makes my head spin…
If I were running the ODC as a private business, we would have been OUT of
business years ago. Luckily, we have CPMC and Sutter health to subsidize the
cost so that EVERYONE walking through the door gets the same level of care,
paying or not. 60% of the patients we saw yesterday we saw as charity care.
All were provided interpreters, transportation, and seen ON TIME.
To demonize CPMC as a Pacific Heights luxury hospital is inaccurate and unfair.
Respectfully,
Denice
FYI: the average salary for a Muni bus driver in this town is 76k!
Denice Barsness, CRA, COMT, ROUB, CDOS, FOPS
Ophthalmic Diagnostic Center
CPMC Department of Ophthalmology
2100 Webster Street Suite 212
San Francisco CA 94115
(415) 600-3937 FAX (415) 600-6563
From: Denice Barsness [mailto:DeniceBars@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 7:37 AM
To: CPMC Ophthalmic Diagnostic Center
Subject: Fwd: Article on prices
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: <jpgilman2001@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: December 4, 2013, 6:03:10 AM PST
To: Denice Barsness <denicebars@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Article on prices
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/health/as-hospital-costs-soar-single-stitch-tops-500.html?_r=0
Sent from Windows Mail
This article targets you guys for being the most expensive health care in the
US.
You probably charge $ 500.00 for an OCT ?
Jimbalaya
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