Branson's Liberty Bank Says..."We're Not At Liberty To Make Loans"

 To be reported!

Never Admit You Can't Pee!

     Many years ago I wrote about "Sepsis Infections in Community Hospitals".  Since 06' the performance has not gotten much better.  Anyone who might read this should beware that UTI's are "lay downs" for Seniors in Emergency Rooms.  They probably wont admit you, because, if they do, ObamaCare will penalize the Hospital for giving you a "go directly to the Nursing Home for free card" , but they will likely put you in an ER Holding Area for 47 hours, catherize you, give you $100 in antibiotics and send you home with a bill for $7000.  Two outcomes will then be at hand.  If you don't go "sepsic" and recover, you will probably have a coronary worrying about the outrageous non-medicare covered  hospital expense.  If you get a sloppy "catherizer" and do go sepsic.... well only your estate lawyer will have  to deal with.  Now that I claim Branson as home, perhaps someone can dig up the long ago promised Missouri "frequency reports"

Who's Managing Your Catheter? 
(December 2006)
Just a quick note about a fairly easy way to die. Reuters ran a story today about how poorly the U.S. acute hospitals do in minimizing "bloodstream infections" caused by sloppy catheter practices. Chances are, if your in Granbury and not a patient at Lake Granbury Medical Center LGMC you dont have a catheter in place and your chances of dying are about like everyones . However if you are a catheterized patient in an acute hospital, you may be one of the 80,000 patients a year who get a "blood stream infection" from poor catheter management; and get this, 35% of these people die. According to the report the nations hospital are spending 2.3 billion a year fighting these infections. The good news is that a hospital in Michigan that brought focus to this problem, reduced the infection rate from 17 per 10,000 to "0". I vote for Catheter training at LGMC and a community disclosure of there statistical infection experience.__
Update on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 09:59PM by Dead Generals
I will not offer myself as a volunteer for the recommended training. Perhaps we could entice the three new Docs pictured on the Highway #377 billboard; or at least two of em.
Update on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 08:58PM by Dead Generals
Following this piece I saw some coverage of an effort in Missouri to promote "in hospital" infection control by publicizing data: Here is the main message:
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has completed collection of select hospital-acquired infection data and will post it for each hospital on its Web site starting Thursday. The information's release is part of a broader national effort to promote consumerism in health care. Infection rate information is regarded as an indicator of how a hospital cares for its patients and the general cleanliness of a hospital. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that about 2 million people each year contract infections in hospitals. These infections are responsible for 90,000 deaths and more than $4.5 billion in excess health care costs annually, according to the agency. Lisa McGiffert, senior policy analyst with Consumers Union, said recently that all cases of hospital-acquired infection are preventable and that hospitals are aware of their infection rates. But she said most hospitals have not made their data public voluntarily because they were afraid of being judged by the data. The Missouri Hospital Infection Control Act, which became effective in August 2004, requires Missouri hospitals to report data on hospital-acquired infections to the state. Missouri is one of 15 states that requires hospitals to report their infection rates.
If we wait for the people in Austin to solve our problems, some of us GB's are gonna be among the 90,000. Lets put some heat on the LGMC people
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 09:36PM by Dead Generals in Community Services 

"No Trespassing" in Taney County....literally!

Petreaus, a short poem & a long story!

                            A General with a penchant for surges
                              Confesses he can't control his urges
                        So before he was compromised to betray us
                     He changed his name to Citizen "Stud" Petreaus

Absolutely Not..... By God!

     A today's New York Times article about Insurance Premium Rebates compelled by the Infamous ACA/ Obamacare Law made me think about the young ideologue dude who wants to be the Missouri Attorney General.  He's the tough talking TV Candidate that is long on courage and short on explanation...

 Here is an excerpt from the Times article: 

     Insurance Rebates Seen as Selling Point for Health Law By ABBY GOODNOUGH New York Times  Published: July 30, 2012.  The law requires insurers to give out annual rebates by Aug. 1, starting this year, if less than 80 percent of the premium dollars they collect go toward medical care.
As a result, insurers will pay out $1.1 billion this year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, with an average rebate of $151 per household.

      I trust that our "Conserative Candidate" will not welcome this news. His one plank platform seems to be "defeat obamacare"; for reasons that, I suspect, are less grounded in Macro-Economics Theory and Actuarial Analysis, and more grounded in his acquired passion to win the approval of his parents and their friends.... yes, to please that retiring generation who, of course, have exactly no idea about how to optimize Health Care Access in the 21st century.  What these aging "respected ones" do know is that it has always been prudent to oppose distributions to anyone less affluent than one's self. In the short run it preserves wealth and in the long run it insulates one's children from competition....long live Darwin!  Unless, shhh!, this "naturalselection/survival of the fittest -APP" is "far from optimal" when run on a post-modern/ instant feedback network (the planet), where secrecy is unachievable and brute force is unstoppable.

     But, what the hell, I don't care if the Insurance Companies keep ripping me off.  I don't want their rebate.  It is "tainted money" offered as a clandestine Communist conspiracy and, BY GOD, I will resist until I am dragged from my lien free land by Chinese Bill Collectors.  I know it's irrational, but it just feels right...Dad will be so proud!