What Floridians don’t know
      (With healthcare, ignorance is not bliss!)
    
 

*2000 through 2012
+Physicians, hospitals, health insurers, drug
      companies

        
         True or False
1. A growing number of  residents with minor medical issues
    are flooding  Florida’s Hospital Emergency Departments. (True – False)
2. The cost of Emergency Room care has increased at a rate far
     below that of the consumer price index. (True – False)
3. Political leaders are correct in maintaining the nation’s health care
    system is market driven. (True – False)
4. Florida hospitals are suffering major revenue losses. (True - False)
5.  World class health care for ALL Floridians is one of the primary goals
     for Governor Rick Scott and the Florida legislature. (True – False) 
NOTE: The following post contains additional helpful hints for the seriously stupid, which includes the average Florida elected official, thought leader and journalist. JKdeG

Florida Health Care Trends

      Florida Hospital Adjusted Admissions
            Total Versus Surplus Profits
                                 2005            2010
Adjusted Admissions     3,396,533         3,807,304      12%
Florida Hospital Profits  $1.5 billion      $2.3 billion    51%
Per Adj. Admission         $458                 $618              35%

            Florida Emergency Departments
         Total Visits Versus Average Charge
                                 2005             2010          %
Severity                                                              
Minor                              654,751             376,012      (43%)
Avg. Charge                     $449                  $563            25%
Low/moderate               1,399,400           773,097     (45%)
Avg.Charge                      $995                  $935           (6%)
Moderate                       1,447,060           2,064,791    43%
Charge                            $1,571                $1,939         23%
High – non-immediate  726,782              1,455,619    100%
Avg. Charge                    $2,764                $5,169         87%
High – immediate           224,109             506,206       126%
Avg. Charges                   $3,967                $8,734        120%
TOTAL VISITS                   4,452,102          5,175,725    16%



SOURCE: Agency for Health Care Administration 

    Royal Flush?
 
 
     Marie Antoinette        Zachariah P. Zachariah
  My on-going blog thesis is simple enough:
  The increasingly unfathomable complexity of our daily lives has resulted in a paradigm shift from Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock to Future Hysteria.
   Future Shock, as Toffler wrote in 1970, is the result of “too much change in too short a period of time” – which spawns a rising tide of shattering stress and disorientation” in both the individual and society.
    That was then.  
    And now?  
    Today’s hairless ape is drowning in a mega tsunami of data, with the bewildering Known Unknowns of the 21^st Century having reached quantum proportion.  
    All of which explains the current (and growing) deluge of dysfunctional cultural anomalies like:
    Government as the enemy.
    Fear of the educated elite.
    When excess equals success.
    The adoration of mediocrity.
    How the poor have it coming.
    The addictive rapture of childish superstition.
    Jingoistic nationalism as a response to a global economy.
    All of serves an introduction to  the first in a series of Metaphors From Dystopia.
    Like:
A Fort Lauderdale physician’s gated $3.2 million residence boasting six bathrooms  -- which represents more places to crap under one roof than all of Versailles prior to Marie Antoinette. JKdeG.

 Talkin' Real Heart Stoppers!

   First, there's the staggering "spread' between the sticker price for various heart procedures over their cost.
   Because your average uninsured heart patient is legally responsible for the full amount of the sticket price for his care.
   And then... 
   The average cost of a Medicare insured cardiology patient at Broward General’s Heart Center of Excellence is 23% higher than the average for a cardiology patient at Holy Cross or Memorial Healthcare. 
   Not that any of the seven politically appointed Board of Commissioners governing the North Broward Hospital District have a clue about any of this.
  All of which makes them major policy-setting bozos. 

             Medicare Insured Heart Patients 
                               FY 2010                                           
Broward General
Heart Center of
  Excellence                         Patients        Avg. Charge     Avg. Cost
Cardiology                            583                 $34,303            $9,748
Cardiovascular Surgery    294                 $119,287         $30,794   
Holy Cross
Jim Moran Heart
  And Vascular Center      Patients        Avg. Charge     Avg. Cost
Cardiology                            1,185             $33,248            $7,542     
Cardiovascular Surgery    559                 $148,323         $31,205
Memorial Health Care
Cardiac & Vascular
   Institute                            Patients        Avg. Charge     Avg. Cost
Cardiology                            2,228             $35,353            $7,412     
Cardiovascular Surgery    781                 $81,441            $26,637

Source:
Data supplied by hospitals to the American Hospital Directory 

      Data for the OIG

The Heart Center of Excellence staff of eight physicians, District cost and their patient visits for FY 2011  at Broward General Medical Center. (Seven of the eight are Medical Directors)
                                                        Patient   District                Cost
                                                        Visits       Cost                      Per Visit
Dr. Frank Cantinella#                620         $486,016              $739 
Dr. Michael Chizner+^              4,714     $1,528,183           $324
Dr. Kenneth Herskowitz+#      949         $602,954              $635
Dr. Richard Howard +^             1,379     $699,630              $507 
Dr. Violet McCormack+^          2,184     $1,341,088           $614
Dr. David Perloff*^                    NA           NA                           NA
Dr. John Rozanski +^                 7,014      $785,321              $112
Dr. Ashok Sharma+^                 9,183      $1,788,715           $195
TOTAL*                                         21,123    $7,231,583           $342
*Excluding Dr. Perloff
+Heart Center of Excellence Medical Director
# Heart surgeon
^ Cadiologist
Source: North Broward Hospital District dba Broward Health
http://www.browardhealth.org/?id=205&sid=2

Heart Center of Excellence

    
     Where Every Doc’s A Boss

      Located at Broward General Medical center, the Heart Center for Excellence suffers from a remarkable infestation of Medical Directors.
      Eight bosses and counting, given how the Heart Center opened in 2005 with only one Medical Director.
      Facts are:
      South Broward Hospital District – dba Memorial Healthcare System
      Cardiac & Vascular Institute – two locations – two Medical Directors
      Open Heart Procedures: 350
      Heart Catheterizations: 3,493
      Angioplasties: 905
      North Broward Hospital District -  dba as Broward Health
      Heart Center for Excellence – one location – eight Medical Directors
      Open Heart Procedures: 360
      Heart catheterizations: 2,028
      Angioplasties: 1,628
      The Broward Heart Center’s eight doc roster of Medical Directors and their 2011 compensation include:
       Dr. Michael Chizner – Medical Director Heart Center of
            Excellence - $1,528,183
       Dr. Kenneth Herskowitz – Medical Director Cardiovascular and
            Thoracic Surgery - $602,954
       Dr. Richard Howard – Medical Director Cardio Vascular Lab-
             $699,630
       Dr. Violet McCormack – Medical Director Cardiovascular
             Catheterization Labs and Interventional Cardiology-
             $1,341,088
       Dr. David Perloff – Medical Director Cardio Rehabilitation - NA
       Dr. John Rozanski – Medical Director Clinical Research -
             $785,321
       Dr. Askok Sharma  - Medical Director Noninvasive Cardiology -
              $1,788,715
       TOTAL* District compensation for FY 2011 - $6,754,891
       *Excluding Dr. Perloff

One Doc Listens,

The Other Cuts*


  *More stuff the governing board of commissioners at the North Broward Hospital District doesn't understand. 

               
   Dr. Chizner        Dr. Herskowitz

            Dr. Michael Chizner                       
            Diagnostic Cardiologist                
                Medical Director                                        
                Heart Center of Excellence          
                Broward General Medical Center
                Annual Compensation - $1,528,183 
                Meet Dr. Chizner
                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlUpjLTPqUw           

             Dr. Kenneth Herskowitz
             Thoracic Heart Surgeon
                Medical Director
                Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
                Broward General Medical Center 
                Annual Compensation - $910,347
                Meet Dr. Herskowitz
                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP9p3tt15oQ