Reference no: EM133706811
Case Study: Ping - Panging
You are the CEO of a hospital. The vice president for medical affairs (VPMA) has just left your office. In broad detail, she described some referral patterns that she characterized as very unusual, even strange. Several "cliques" of physicians appear to have developed a system of referring to one another in ways that result in over testing and excessive consultations, to the point that their patients, most of whom are older, have longer lengths of stay. The hospital has experienced above-average denials for Medicare reimbursement for the care of these types of patients. The various cliques of physicians seem to be connected by culture, ethnicity, and social relationships. The VPMA called the referrals among those in the cliques "ping-panging" and said that she would collect some more data.
QUESTIONS
1. What are the clinical implications of patients receiving unneeded tests and having overlong lengths of stay?
2. Write a statement of the problem from the perspective of the VPMA.
3. What weight should be given to the ethical and legal implications, compared with the economic implications?
4. What, if anything, should you as CEO do about the problem described by the VPMA, as stated in the answer to Question 2 above?
Please include at least five references.