Curtis Morrison expanded Kentucky coverage in Insider Louisville of the emerging national scandal of Angioplasty Abuse. Not that this is a new phenomena or anything. The healthcare industry has been riding the gravy train for a long time, taking advantage of our communal willingness to pay for volume rather than necessary and effective medical care. What else should we have expected? What is best for us as patients gets easily rationalized at the altar of economic development, or even ignored. Angioplasty is just the tip of the iceberg! Continue reading “Angioplasty Abuse Not Going Under the Rug.”
Author: P Hasselbacher
Major New Medical Center at Old Henry Road
Additional photographs and maps supporting this article can be seen here.
Another place to collect medical dollars. Is the sky the limit?
In a previous posting, I categorized my effort at investigative journalism as a Hardy Boys adventure. I had in mind the young detectives of my boyhood reading, but a friend advised me that modern-day Hardy Boys are members of US military special forces who conduct “dark” operations. Given the nature of the secrecy surrounding healthcare planning in Louisville, perhaps I am on target in either scenario. In any case, to maintain an appropriate image of impartiality, I conducted my next excursion to the east as Nancy Drew.
As the growth of medical facilities in Louisville has evolved, all three major hospital systems have leapfrogged beyond the confines of the Watterson Expressway to the Gene Snyder Freeway (I-265) and beyond. Of course, this is neither unexpected nor unjustifiable. This is where Louisville’s population is settling — especially those with good medical insurance. I might offer my services there too. Indeed, as a patient, unless there was some special reason I needed to go downtown, I too would rather stay closer to home. Inspection of maps, real estate transactions, and observations on the ground make it clear to me that our hospitals are ready, willing, and able to expand their east-county facilities even further. New construction has already begun. What will stay downtown remains to be seen. This article will focus on the developing medical center springing up around the intersection of the Gene Snyder and Old Henry Road. I invite you to share my field trip with me and to add what you can.
Continue reading “Major New Medical Center at Old Henry Road”
KentuckyOne Health: Expansion at Dupont Circle Medical Center.
New home for UofL Faculty Private Private Practices?
Genealogy hobbyists will tell you that while much information is available on the internet, eventually you have to get your feet dirty and go out into the real world for information. Taking that advice to heart, I played Hardy Boys last weekend and went out to walk the property of the medical facilities at the Jewish Hospital/Norton Suburban medical centers on Dutchman’s Lane and Dupont Circle. There was much to see and insights to gain. It appears to me that KentuckyOne Health already has enough land to build a major new medical facility and/or renovate and construct several smaller ones. A newly acquired office building might house a battalion of KentuckyOne and University of Louisville faculty physicians. A single additional acquisition will give the company a massive piece of contiguous land on which build nearly anything, including possibly another hospital. It is clear to me where KentuckyOne must have its sights set and I am not alone. I prepared a map showing the corporation’s current known holdings. Photographs of the properties can be seen here.
Continue reading “KentuckyOne Health: Expansion at Dupont Circle Medical Center.”
Objects Accidentally Left in the Body After Surgery in Kentucky
Retained surgical objects: A useful marker of hospital quality and safety?
A few weeks ago, the national newspaper, “USA Today,” reprinted a Courier-Journal exclusive by Andrew Wolfson about the phenomena of “angioplasty-abuse” prompted by a Kentucky lawsuit but increasingly evident nationwide. This week, the C-J returned the favor by running a shorter version of a piece by Peter Eisler of USA Today about “retained surgical items,” that is, the accidental leaving of foreign objects inside the body after surgery- usually in the abdomen or chest. Everyone has heard stories about surgical sponges or instruments left behind– perhaps to be discovered later when symptoms or complications occur. It is a medical mistake that is never supposed to happen, and a red flag that a hospital or surgical center may not have requisite safety procedures in place. Because of this, the frequency of retained items is included in most of the safety and quality evaluations of hospitals. That is what attracted my attention for this blog. Continue reading “Objects Accidentally Left in the Body After Surgery in Kentucky”