In a bold move, the government is now publicly revealing how much hospitals charge. The differences are pretty amazing. Even within the same city, the difference in charges for the same services can be huge. These increased costs are not because of better care or outcomes. They are not for the normal reasons given about regional economy, older or sicker patients, or the extra costs associated with running a teaching ...

Our healthcare system is broken partly because consumers don't know what anything costs. As patients become more proactive in making informed healthcare decisions, we all agree this should be fixed. But why is it so hard?

Achieving price transparency ...

I suppose it was bound to happen. You can't go through your life being beloved by everyone you meet. Sometimes, for reasons difficult to understand, or for no particular reason at all, people just don't like you.

I decided to pick up the weekend shift and help a buddy out who had overbooked himself. I was cruising along nicely on Saturday when I got a call about a new admit who needed an ABG and an Eval and ...

In my last blog I discussed the serious issue of changes in our field -- changes that could affect job availability and job descriptions.  I never bring up a topic without trying to provide a solution.  My solutions may not be the best for you, but at least I want to give people some ideas and I hope you will share your feedback as well.

My first idea is that as a field we should not just rely on ...

The FDA has approved a new weapon to treat COPD. It is called Breo, an inhaled drug by GlaxoSmithKline of Britain and Theravance of the United States. It consists of a corticosteroid, fluticasone furoate, and a long-acting beta-agonist called vilanterol. The product is delivered through a palm-sized device called Ellipta. It is known as Relvar outside the U. S.

Breo will give Advair and Symbicort a run for ...

It has been almost two years now since I graduated school and became a respiratory therapist. Which means it has been almost two years since I have studied something with the goal of testing towards an advancement in my education/career/life. It seems like a disproportionately large amount of my life thus far has been spent in an effort to obtain a degree. I haven't always loved it, but ultimately my scholarly activities ...

It's Nurses Week and I felt it appropriate to honor some of the special people  I've known throughout my career in health care. I must say that I have worked with some of the best nurses on the face of the earth. No, they have not received an extraordinary reward other the gratitude of those they cared for, and they are deserving of our admiration and love.

First are the girls (since we ...

The health care industry can learn a lot from business. If you do not think health care is a business, you're wrong. Just check out the forms you fill out, the charting you do, and the cashier's cage. One of the failures I see in health care is an inadequate attention to project management.

Project management can cover everything from planning the capital budget to buying new equipment to getting all the treatments ...

You know sometimes I feel sorry for smokers. I had this guy come in the other day to see the pulmonologist and before I did his PFT I asked him if he smokes. He hung his head in shame and muttered a bit while shaking his head, "Yeah ... dang it ... I've cut way back though..."

I try to make it a point not to pity nor shame patients of mine who smoke. At this point is there anyone in America left who doesn't ...

Care Centrix is the company that does the authorizations for sleep studies for Cigna insurance. They recently bought a home sleep company. They now not only get to make the decision on who gets a sleep study, they then order the study, send out either an HST machine or more often an autopap machine with instructions and basically tell the patient "best of luck."

When did insurance companies get ...

A new trend is catching on in schools. Some kids are now sniffing hand sanitizer, like the ones on hospital walls across the country, in an effort to "get high." Germ-X seems to be most popular. These bottles are very easy to come by at the local pharmacy or Wal Mart store in small sizes that easily fit into a pocket or purse. 

Hand sanitizer does not, in reality, make you high. It does make your nose ...

Editor's note: This article was posted with permission from its author, Christine Gondos, Igloo Software. She can be reached at cgondos@igloosoftware.com.

The fastpaced healthcare industry is continuously evolving -- whether it be newly released studies, new best practices or new techniques, the healthcare community thrives off of ...

My wife and I are going to have a baby in late August. My plan is to take a few weeks of PTO and stay home with the kiddo once my wife goes back to work. I figure by that time I should have more than enough PTO in the bank to take a nice little baby vacation with some PTO to spare ... unless things stay slow...

We have officially entered that slow time of year: Low census. Now if you work at a busy metropolitan ...

I was thinking about our insurance plan last night just before drifting off to sleep.

This year we have some new incentives for trying to live healthier lifestyles.

For example, if we keep up with our preventive visits or attend the gym 6 times a month then we are awarded extra funds loaded on our HSA card.  I think that's a pretty good deal, not so sure I can make it 6 times a month to the gym ...

One of the problems with working in health care is that you get to see people at their worst. Patients, doctors, nurses, and other staff are all stressed. It is easy to become as stressed as they are, but remaining cool and calm often wins you respect and authority, especially in a time of crisis. I travel a lot. I often sit in the lobby and "people watch," and am amazed at how well those in ...

Due to the location of the facility I work at, way out in the middle of NW Kansas, it can sometimes be hard to find full time RTs. Sometimes we have to hire Travelers to fill the gap between when someone leaves until a new crop of RTs graduate from the regional college. This is something that I have gotten used to and, though it is not ideal, it is sometimes a necessity ...

We all know the importance of hand washing. At times, hand washing is not convenient. The question always comes up whether or not those alcohol-based sanitizers are effective. The results are in, and the answer is yes, well, maybe.

To ...

The top 10 cities for allergies have been identified. They are, in order from worst to better, Jackson, Miss.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; McAllen, Texas; Louisville, Ky.; Wichita, Kans.; Dayton, Ohio; Memphis, Tenn.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Baton Rouge, La. 

A recent article in USA Today warns to brace for a "hard-nosed allergy season." Trees are pollinating earlier, producing more pollen, ...

When I am nervous my hands shake. I try to hide it, and have learned to steady myself down to a light tremor, but I just can't shake the shakes. I pride myself on remaining calm in a high-pressure situation: a code, a bad baby, etc., but my hands indicate otherwise. I have been told by a few of my co-workers that they had they not seen my hands trembling they wouldn't have known I was nervous at all, and it has never ...

I have been a respiratory therapist since 1986 and have loved the field with all my heart. I started on sleep in the late 1990s and have a passion for sleep that is just as strong, if not stronger, than my passion for respiratory therapy. I can tell you that the people in both of these fields are motivated by the same drive for education of their patients, caring for their patients and changing the world one person ...

A new study shows that some "kids' meals" are unhealthy, even after all the discussion about making them healthier to reduce the long-term effects of an unhealthy diet. The fact is that 91% of kids' food at restaurants have 600 calories or more. 

Among the worst offenders were Applebee's grilled cheese sandwich, which packs 1,210 calories, Chili's pepperoni pizza at 1,010 calories, Denny's Junior ...

I was rounding with a doc one time when he was breaking the news to a 96-year-old patient that she had heart failure.

"No," the patient informed the doc, "I refuse to have heart failure..."

I recently found out that I have type II diabetes. My vision had gotten increasingly near-sighted over a two-week span and I could not drink enough fluids. These are classic signs of diabetes, but I just couldn't ...

It's been a long week. Springtime in Augusta means allergens go on the attack. (My garden city is on the list for poorest air quality.)

I had been doing well with Claritin for the past several years. But last week I succumbed to the barrage of pollen and bad air. I am breathing better now thanks to the addition of Alegra, Flonase and Sudafed. 

But allergies are not the only ...

My mother had to have some medicine. She doesn't normally take any, but when her back went out the pain caused her to step outside of her norm and go see a doctor. He prescribed muscle relaxers and pain pills. For one prescription, the cost was $90. On a fixed income, my mother spent money she did not have on the pills. 

A lady at the drug store asked why she was not on a pharmacy plan or card. My mother, ...