Health News
- Uk Hospital's Request To Add 120 Beds Clears Hearing Phase; Decision Now Before State Officials
The University of Kentucky's plan to add 120 beds to its hospital moved forward Friday as no one filed a request for a public hearing on its application for a certificate of need, or license. State officials must rule on the application by Feb. 18....
- Appalachian Regional Hospitals Use Untruthful Information To Encourage Obamacare Signups; Ceo Says He Has No Regrets
The Appalachian Regional Healthcare system has posted notices in its 10 hospitals that "provides an incorrect web address to sign up for federally mandated health coverage, falsely states uninsured patients won't receive non-emergency services after...
- Uk Board Of Trustees Oks $31 Million Plan To Outfit Another Floor Of New Hospital With Eye Toward Federal Certification For Heart Work
The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees has given UK HealthCare the green light for its $31 million plan to outfit the eighth floor of Pavilion A at UK Chandler Hospital over the next few months to make room for a growing cardiovascular program and...
- Er At Louisville's University Hospital Says It Is Pushed To Brink; Many Other Hospitals Seeing More Emergency Patients
Louisville's University Hospital is straining to meet the vastly increased demand of patients coming to the emergency room. Last year, there were 58,010 visits to the ER to the facility, which is meant to act as a safety net for indigent care. That's...
- Hybrid Operating Room, With Both Surgery And Imaging, Part Of Uk Chandler Hospital's $800 Million Expansion
A distinguishing feature of the $800 million expansion to the University of Kentucky's Chandler Hospital will be a hybrid operating room. The 1,000-square-foot room, with a price tag of $3.2 million, allows physicians to perform surgeries as well...
Health News
Sicker patients, competition for beds and a growing number of patients create long wait times at UK emergency room
The University of Kentucky's emergency room has the longest wait time in Kentucky and this time is also way above the national average, Mary Meehan reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
With beds regularly lining the halls of the ER, the average wait time for emergency care at UK ? measured from the time a patient comes through the door to reaching a hospital bed ? is 10 hours and 44 minutes, Meehan reports. This is 4 1/2 hours longer than the national average, according to Hospital Compare, a government website where Medicare reports data on hospitals.
Hospital officials blame the competition for beds between surgical and ER patients, the growing number of patients, and the fact that UK treats the sickest patients in the state.
Since the expansion of the ER in 2010, it annual patient count has risen to 70,000 from 30,000, chief nurse executive Colleen Swartz told Meehan.
Nearby, comparable hospitals have significantly shorter wait times. The University of Louisville Hospital, Kentucky's other Level 1 adult trauma center, has a wait time three and a half hours shorter.
The UK Chandler Medical Center plans to expand its beds by shifting 35 acute-care beds from UK's Good Samaritan Hospital by the end of the year, and the tower completion is set for 2018 to 2020.
Litvak told Meehan that building more beds is not the answer. He said that "with increased communication, hospitals can achieve an even tempo of patient flow that will reduce ER wait times," and how surgeries are scheduled is the main reason for wait-time problems.
Surgeons get priority on scheduling, and surgical patients get priority over the ER patients for rooms. Livtak said surgeries are generally covered by insurance, making them more profitable for hospitals, and ER patients often do not have insurance and are less profitable to treat. Things don't change, because "We don't want to upset our cash cows, the surgeons," Livtak told Meehan.
Swartz acknowledged that surgery and ER patients can compete for beds at the hospital, but she said "All UK patients are treated equally whether they have insurance or not."
A Herald-Leader editorial criticized Karpf for saying the ER would "muddle through" while beds are added, saying "Delays like those at UK can easily create patient-safety problems and affect the quality of care, especially as the Affordable Care Act allows more people into the health-care system."
The editorial said "UK HealthCare should not push for spending hundreds of millions on more rooms without making every effort to examine and improve the ER system that could put patients at risk," and take the advice of experts who say that more beds aren't the answer, as well as allowing people with management backgrounds, not medical backgrounds, to improve the system through "streamlining and efficiency."
With beds regularly lining the halls of the ER, the average wait time for emergency care at UK ? measured from the time a patient comes through the door to reaching a hospital bed ? is 10 hours and 44 minutes, Meehan reports. This is 4 1/2 hours longer than the national average, according to Hospital Compare, a government website where Medicare reports data on hospitals.
Hospital officials blame the competition for beds between surgical and ER patients, the growing number of patients, and the fact that UK treats the sickest patients in the state.
Since the expansion of the ER in 2010, it annual patient count has risen to 70,000 from 30,000, chief nurse executive Colleen Swartz told Meehan.
Nearby, comparable hospitals have significantly shorter wait times. The University of Louisville Hospital, Kentucky's other Level 1 adult trauma center, has a wait time three and a half hours shorter.
UK's needs to add more rooms and beds, Dr. Michael Karpf, UK's executive vice president for health affairs, told Meehan, suggesting the hospital's empty, $763 million medical tower needs to be completed.
The UK Chandler Medical Center plans to expand its beds by shifting 35 acute-care beds from UK's Good Samaritan Hospital by the end of the year, and the tower completion is set for 2018 to 2020.
But the hopspital-accrediting Joint Commission and Eugene Litvak, a Harvard University professor and expert in hospital efficiency, think otherwise. They told Meehan that "better communication, scheduling and staffing is the solution." The commission says those methods are "grossly underused."
Litvak told Meehan that building more beds is not the answer. He said that "with increased communication, hospitals can achieve an even tempo of patient flow that will reduce ER wait times," and how surgeries are scheduled is the main reason for wait-time problems.
Surgeons get priority on scheduling, and surgical patients get priority over the ER patients for rooms. Livtak said surgeries are generally covered by insurance, making them more profitable for hospitals, and ER patients often do not have insurance and are less profitable to treat. Things don't change, because "We don't want to upset our cash cows, the surgeons," Livtak told Meehan.
Swartz acknowledged that surgery and ER patients can compete for beds at the hospital, but she said "All UK patients are treated equally whether they have insurance or not."
A Herald-Leader editorial criticized Karpf for saying the ER would "muddle through" while beds are added, saying "Delays like those at UK can easily create patient-safety problems and affect the quality of care, especially as the Affordable Care Act allows more people into the health-care system."
The editorial said "UK HealthCare should not push for spending hundreds of millions on more rooms without making every effort to examine and improve the ER system that could put patients at risk," and take the advice of experts who say that more beds aren't the answer, as well as allowing people with management backgrounds, not medical backgrounds, to improve the system through "streamlining and efficiency."
- Uk Hospital's Request To Add 120 Beds Clears Hearing Phase; Decision Now Before State Officials
The University of Kentucky's plan to add 120 beds to its hospital moved forward Friday as no one filed a request for a public hearing on its application for a certificate of need, or license. State officials must rule on the application by Feb. 18....
- Appalachian Regional Hospitals Use Untruthful Information To Encourage Obamacare Signups; Ceo Says He Has No Regrets
The Appalachian Regional Healthcare system has posted notices in its 10 hospitals that "provides an incorrect web address to sign up for federally mandated health coverage, falsely states uninsured patients won't receive non-emergency services after...
- Uk Board Of Trustees Oks $31 Million Plan To Outfit Another Floor Of New Hospital With Eye Toward Federal Certification For Heart Work
The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees has given UK HealthCare the green light for its $31 million plan to outfit the eighth floor of Pavilion A at UK Chandler Hospital over the next few months to make room for a growing cardiovascular program and...
- Er At Louisville's University Hospital Says It Is Pushed To Brink; Many Other Hospitals Seeing More Emergency Patients
Louisville's University Hospital is straining to meet the vastly increased demand of patients coming to the emergency room. Last year, there were 58,010 visits to the ER to the facility, which is meant to act as a safety net for indigent care. That's...
- Hybrid Operating Room, With Both Surgery And Imaging, Part Of Uk Chandler Hospital's $800 Million Expansion
A distinguishing feature of the $800 million expansion to the University of Kentucky's Chandler Hospital will be a hybrid operating room. The 1,000-square-foot room, with a price tag of $3.2 million, allows physicians to perform surgeries as well...