Mortality Rates

Those saying the report on hospital death rates released by the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration are useful to Medicare patients in choosing the hospital in which they may or may not die, are ignorant of the process. It’s where they live that determines in what hospital patients dependent on Medicare die.

From experience I’ve concluded doctors prefer to refer patients to hospitals at a convenient distance from their offices. Living in Pomona, I chose a doctor nearby; not one in San Gabriel. My doctor, in turn, would balk at spending an hour driving on the freeway to satisfy my whim for a stay in Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina. For those of us with supplemental health insurance the choice is further narrowed. It’s the insurer who contracts with specific hospitals in your area for your care. Your doctor endorses the choice when he elects to contract with that insurer/hospital combination.

The end result is Medicare patients are like passengers on cruise ships at sea; once on board with a particular insurer, you’re stuck with the rock-and-roll band in the lounge when you’d rather be soothed by a string quartet. When the ship docks, you may be able to make adjustments, if there is an alternate insurer approved by Social Security in your area. That’s another Catch-22.

LOUIS M. ST. MARTIN

Pomona