Quote from: TECSHARE on April 28, 2020, 11:19:23 AM

"Fact check: Hospitals get paid more if patients listed as COVID-19, on ventilators"
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/04/24/fact-check-medicare-hospitals-paid-more-covid-19-patients-coronavirus/3000638001/

TRUE FACT CHECK dont just read tecshares summary
quotes from the link:
"doesn't have a "one-size-fits-all" payment to hospitals for COVID-19 patients.

each hospital has a base payment rate assigned by Medicare. It takes into account nationwide and regional trends, including labor costs and varying health care resources in each market.

Then, each diagnosis-related group, which classifies various diagnoses into groups and subgroups, is assigned a weight based on the average amount of resources it takes to care for a patient."

in short hospitals do no get extra money for just stating 'covid' on a death certificate/discharge form
hospitals would get extra money for showing a covid test was done. and this would be funds to cover the nurse doing the swab, the PPE to do it, the swab itself and the transportation of the swab to the lab

compared to ventilating someone with mountain climbing hypoxia. a covid patient has more nursing staff, more PPE and more costs.

its about costs of actual care

just writing covid suspected but without a test does not earn a hospital more
yes doctors can run multiple tests like swabs xrays ct scans blood draws and other tests including a load of non essential tests. but if the death certificate does not match the test results. they will be reprimanded and the hospital would get fined by the insurer

in short. hospitals get paid for the TREATMENTS they give patients. not due to what they scribble randomly on a death certificate

yes a covid case costs more because it involves more TREATMENTS. but thats how the world works. if your sicker than someone else with just a cough. your going to need more things done