Interesting story about "system abuse."

[BFD389RET 112]

Interesting Story about a Frequent flyer in DC.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-womans-number-of-911-calls-prompt-city-to-request-that-she-be-given-a-guardian/2013/11/08/85f9d428-4897-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html?hpid=z1

[BFD389RET 112]

ODDLY enough, After posting this article about a specific frequent flyer <"abuser"> to some,, here's a interesting side note of a trial situation in Minnisota using Paramedics to do house calls and lighten the load on the ER's there...

I guess folks are at least trying.....

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/instead-er-paramedics-making-house-calls-chronic-patients-2D11632711

[AFS1970 504]

Unfortunately the only thing that drives this need is unpaid bills, not patient care. IN the DC case, the money owed was probably a big motivator for the bosses to get involved. In the MN case, they said as much that it is to keep costs down. This has been the unintended consequence of pay as you go ambulances, that patients are now seen as billable, even frequent fliers, until they stop paying their bills. However there is no motivation to try and fix these problems as long as someone (insurance, medicare, medicaid or even the patient) is paying for the trip. The guys in the field can tell you all the frequent flyers and how much of a problem they are but the bosses don't get involved until it starts costing them money.

[velcroMedic1987 330]

I remember some real frequent flyers in this area over the years and no matter how often you spoke to the hospital or medical control or anyone else, they never did anything about them.