hicago hospital faces dilemma
THE BATTALION Page 3B
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1981
em
ild age.
to me, is botl
i the solution-
fidence of yoi
United Press International
CHICAGO—In the late Paddy
lyefsky’s satirical film, “The
pital," a harried clerk is seen
trying around an emergency
m seeking billing information
up to be a const!
think the salvafij
ity lies in cuttc;
han increasing la
it back I
; origin;
I to put kids tin
isn’t meant to uni
1 care or
i provide a modi)
independence
1 age.
3 do this are upli
'hat’s what we
I that’s what
now one
for Democraticii
Health care plan in progress
i ; in acciunk: uuuut; miui main,
it programwid, n impoverished sick people.
"You can’t be treated unless I
lought that asi) e your insurance number, ” she
)30 depressionyej ids.
A broad spectrum of
igo-area groups fear
lyefsky’s vision not only will
ome reality but will be
it Hack 1 meanresj ^ sa y j a y ma y no p j-, e f ar
origin ln eit %li en bill collectors determine
is entitled to patient care in
United States.
[fcare for the poor and elderly
letermined only by whether
are able to pay, the critics
the mandate to care for the
ion’s sick will be abandoned,
flieir concern centers around
s to collect unpaid bills and
itute a patient pay plan at Cook
inty Hospital, one of the
estU.S. health care facilities.
,... ,, a public facility, serving many
ms anditisntaj r , , ' ° J
, gent people.
peop e versus j ow ma ] (e suc ,} 1 patients pay
matter oiasm ii ■ ■ i-,
indhow much — is a dilemma
our survival asa
ilitary shield ad
much attenlioi
both sides agree is without
uns or champions. The
blem is likely to be faced by
major urban hospitals,
lounty commissioners, who
j the sprawling Chicago facility,
they cannot continue to
rate it at a loss in a time of
igent fiscal accounting on both
and federal levels,
lohelp keep the hospital open,
d to the entirei / are attempting to find a way
ollect the unpaid bills of the
igharious, 21, a
lent at the Univei
gh, said: “Yes, I
to pay fort
I’ll never seel
I could invest I
than the
could take m§]e
should beaclil. , L i * *
3withyouriMw’ ^ tdd/ludfc to C\U C
ird, Conn., wm T Motion’s sick will
to be identifieJsl abandoned.
y was a fraud.
: facade,” she
:y is a tax. We’rei
ty, it’s not fum
lust paying f
lat’s all. It’s a
re government'
care for the poor and
lerly is determined
lyby whether they are
to pay, the critics
joys
lent
, and establish an equitable
so that what people pay
;nds on how much they earn,
yatt Medical Management
ices Inc., employed by the
ity to help solve economic
ilems, proposed that patients
covered by private insurance,
licaid, Medicare or other
;rams pay up to 10 percent of
• gross income over three
•estry Depart®
c now being If
uifacturedinte
d in this way aii
lants introduce!
Iryan is theAgt
orchid, which b
the state’s 1
; careful cl
Aryan today isal
Ivise peo;
rowing a sped
it will flourish
inch tried ei
mn concedes lei
e about the sir
as he did id
he continue'
ropagation ob
nd watch they
■long efforts gn’
lie state attorney’s office has
un a stepped-up effort to
;ctunpaid bills that the county
nates amount to some $196
“There was a philosphy that
County Hospital was a free
hospital,” said William Doyle,
chief administrative officer for the
county. “It isn’t a free hospital. It
can’t be. The taxpayers can’t afford
it. There are people being treated
there who can well afford to pay,
The issue is politically
sensitive. The concept of
forcing the poor and
elderly to pay more than
half their income for
hospital care is an
albatross no elected
official wants abound his
neck.
and they are going to have to pay. ”
The issue is politically sensitive.
The concept of forcing the poor
and elderly to pay more than half
their income for hospital care is an
albatross no elected official wants
around his neck.
A coalition of civic and activist
groups has expressed outrage that
patients who rely on County
Hospital — most of whom are
black or elderly — will be
harassed into paying bills they
cannot afford.
“It is like squeezing blood from
a turnip,” said Dr. Quentin
Young, former chief of the
hospital’s Department of
Medicine. “We can’t destroy 100
years of tradition under this
guise.”
Young sees the problem
spreading to other major urban
care facilities faced with a similar
dilemma.
“The Hyatt people, coming
from California, ought to know
better — that they are having a
possibility of destroying the
medical care system,” Young
added. “What they are proposing
is unconscionable.”
In Los Angeles, A similar
program was adopted two years
ago. Critics charge that it brought
in only 10 cents of every dollar, a
figure further diminished by the
taxpayers’ cost to support
collection agencies.
“It is ludicrious to pay $6
million, or nearly 10,000 days of
hospital care, to a consultant firm
over three years to have them
propose that a family of four in the
city of Chicago with an income of
$15,000 per year pay 100 percent
of their hospital care,” said state
Sen. Richard Newhouse,
D-Chicago.
However, Liston A. Witherill,
president and project director for
Hyatt, defended the proposal. He
said $900,000 was spent last year
in Cook County to recover $5
million — a figure he said would
increase if the ability-to-pay plan
is adopted along with increased
efforts to get patients to pay their
bills.
Witherill calls the “patient
economic obligation schedule”
developed by Hyatt the most “fair
and equitable way” to bill patients
— and prevent Cook County
Hospital from having to close.
“Under our amended plan,
persons with gross annual incomes
of less than $7,000 would have
zero percent obligation. The scale
and responsibility increases
depending upon the size of the
family and the amount of money
earned,” he said.
Critics, like Susan McDermott,
a registered nurse and president
of the local unit of the Illinois
Nurses Association, said the scale
is unrealistic in today’s
inflationary economy.
“An average hospital stay is nine
days. At $630 per day that’s
$5,670. How can you expect a
family of four earning just over
$15,000 a year to pay $150 a month
for 36 months?” McDermott
asked. “Consider the fact that we
see many of the same patients
return several times in a
if they have no insurance. It is this
scenario that mirrors Chayefsky’s
movie, and has doctors worried.
“The determination of who
needs emergency versus
nonemergency care can only be
made by a doctor, not by an
administrator,” said Dr. Kathleen
Fagan of CCH. “And it can only be
made after the doctor sees the
patient. We object to any proposal
that would have our patients
seeing a financial interviewer
before they see a doctor. ”
The plan is being studied by a
committee which will make a
recommendation to the full board
before it can be adopted.
John Stroger Jr., committee
chairman, said despite the
criticism, the concept is a
“humane” attempt to collect
money from those who can afford
to pay for medical care.
“The original concept of Cook
County Hospital, to treat
everyone that walks through the
door, will be maintained,” Stroger
said.
One unresolved question is how
much money will be generated by
the ability to pay plan.
“We’re not going to get rich by
it,” Witherill said.
Machine allows surgery
for religious group
United Press International
HOUSTON — Doctors are using a laboratory
machine that separates blood into its component
parts to help Jehovah’s Witnesses through cancer
surgery they once might have refused.
Members of the Jehovah’s Witness faith
believe as part of their religious training that their
blood should remain in constant contact with
their bodies. In the past, that could not be
accomplished during operations and many people
of that faith have refused necessary surgery and
died.
Two staff members at the University of Texas
M.D. Anderson Cancer and Tumor Institute
came up with the idea of using the blood separator
machine in the operating room to help Jehovah’s
Witnesses circumvent their concerns.
Dr. Benjamin Lichtiger, director of the blood
bank at M.D. Anderson, noted that the machines
remove blood from the body at one rate and
simultaneously return it at a different rate.
Because of the time lapse in returning the blood
into the body, the separator can build up a
reservoir outside the patient’s body during
surgery and reinfuse it as needed.
By utilizing the machine, the blood remains in
constant contact with the body, a factor vital to its
use in treating Jehovah’s Witnesses, doctors said.
The machine was first used several weeks ago
in an operation performed by gynecologist Dr.
Jan Seski on a 21-year-old patient who needed to
have a tumor removed from her pelvis.
“Because she was a Jehovah’s Witness, he was
concerned about the potential loss of blood
during the operation,” said Dr. Jaques Dupuis,
the anesthesiologist.
Dupuis said he wanted to set up a closed loop
recirculating system on the patient to pump the
patient’s blood into multiple anti-coagulant bags,
dilute it and then reinfuse the blood back into the
patient.
But, instead Lichtiger suggested the blood
separator, which could do what Dupuis wanted,
plus had the added abilty to store separately the
platelets and plasma, which can be infused after
surgery when most needed.
Although there is some risk in using the
separator during the operation, Dupuis said it is
far less than having the surgery performed if
blood transfusions cannot be administered.
“The risks are related directly to the amount of
blood lost during surgery,” he said.
Lichtiger said the potential use of the blood cell
separator is widespread, because 70 percent of
the blood banks in the United States have the
type of machine in their laboratories.
Doctors at M.D. Anderson have tried the
separator in five different operations in recent
months. Although the results vary because each
patient was at a different phase of cancer
treatment, doctors were able to preserve
precious blood during the operations.
And the surgical benefits of cell separators are
not limited to Jehovah’s Witnesses, doctors said.
Patients with rare blood types, for whom blood
might not be readily available, could use them
along with patients who run risks of contracting
post-transfusion hepatitis.
“It isn t a free hospital. It
can’t be. The taxpayers
can t afford it. There are
people being treated
there who can well afford
to pay, and they are
going to have to pay. ” —
William Doyle, chief
administrative officer for
Cook County.
three-year period. Their bills
would never stop.”
Hyatt’s proposal will require
patients to provide adequate
identification and proof of income
s
S
S
N
S
s
S
!>
S
N
S
Firewater
Dancing
Country Music
People Watching
Billiards (By the Hour
Electronic Gam
Mou.-Fri. 5-17
Sat. 5 p.m.-l
OURS:
COWBOY
HAPPY HOUR!
Monday-Saturday 5 pan. 'til 7 p.m.
All drinks Ya prices
BOY
LADIES!
No Cover Charge
Monday-Thursday
us One Free Bar
rink or Beer!
775-0494 y
me Together)
2820 Finfeatl
(Where Biyan and College Statii
"THE MOST FUM YOU CAM MVE TOMIGtrn^^
Battalion Classifieds
Call 845-2611
Saturday^
August
1981
• I
8:00
ellgpi
AGS
For all the
you want
U.’s
'
'
-
sJ®P
:
w
miissiillltr’
Wholesale
tpsaptlliji
20 TYPES OF BEER
IN PARTY KEGS OR
I •
v ;
tlQUOR BY THE CASE
on
used
msm
SATE
orner
: rom
Offi ce
1219 NORTH TEXAS
having a party?...
let J. j. SUPPLY YOU!!
Joe Johnny Rufflno
Class of ’73
More lanes.
Less waiting.
Now open
Saturdays.
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
1:00
1:30
2:00
2:30
3:00
Now Brazos Savings’ drive-
thru lanes are open on Satur
days from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.
to serve our customers.
Weekday hours at the motor
bank have been adjusted to
7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Now it’s
even more convenient to
make a deposit, cash a
check, withdraw savings or
make payments from your car.
3:30
4:00
4:30
5:00
220
Saturday, August 8
US
We have 8 lanes in the middle of town
(2800 Texas Avenue) and 4 lanes in
College Station (Texas Avenue at
Southwest Parkway) and 1 in down
town Bryan (114 S. Bryan Street) —
more than any other financial institu
tion in the area. All are open on Satur
day (except downtown Bryan).
For fast, convenient banking from
your car, come to Brazos Savings. We
have more lanes and less waiting.
And now we’re open on Saturdays.
BRAZOS
Savings
Home Office Bryan, TX