Who Needs to Be in the Hospital?

An ER physician justifies an admission for expediency. This patient needed an outpatient evaluation, but our dysfunctional health care “system” make him consider inpatient evaluation the best option.

So this patient spent 3 days in the hospital, at an outrageous cost, to obtain the evaluation. Of course the ER physician justifies the admission.

But this story really tells us why universal coverage can make a difference. We need more primary care to allow proper outpatient care and evaluation. In a coordinated system, we could decrease hospitalizations and therefore costs.