A nightmare that doctors overwhelmingly choose to avoid when they die themselves

[OrwellwasRight]

61. No, it depends on the type of hospital

Specialty Hospitals (all private, usually specializing in cardiac care or cancer care, think Cancer Centers of America) are indeed hugely profitable.

LTACHs (Long Term Acute Care Hospitals) are also hugely profitable - these are also all private, and exist only because providers figured out which long-term care services were the most profitable based on Medicare reimbursement rates.

Rural Access Hospitals -- typically always losing money and can't survive without Medicare subsidies.

Public Hospitals -- have to take all kinds of patients, with every condition and every possible insurance (including Medicaid, which frequently doesn't even cover costs) and lack thereof. Some use their payment mixes very well and do OK (no piles of money though); others limp along, barely getting by.

Etc., etc.

In the end, though, it is generally a money maker for doctors to keep ordering more tests and services, even when people are definitely going to die. Medicare reimburses on quantity of services, not quality of services or successful outcomes, so yes, often pointless services are provided and the only beneficiaries are the docs and hospitals -- not patients or their families.