Thanks to Medicare changes...My Job Was Just Eliminated - Page 3

Truth in advertising

I do appreciate the small things the admin team has been doing lately that makes AN more enjoyable.

Unfortunately, I saw this while working in computers all the time -- jobs created for Y2K that disappeared Jan. 2, 2000, disaster recovery jobs that boomed after 9/11 (and the federal money thrown everywhere in the name of security) that were gone when we didn't (thankfully) have additional terrorist attacks, older employees that were put in jobs that they could be thrown out of so that the company didn't have to pay retirement/higher insurance costs/etc. -- "quality assurance" "TQM Manager" and "strategic planning" were all code words for "seeya!" Companies I worked for were bought and sold to the point where I wanted to get a sticker like you'd find on a used car and just hang it on the outside of my cube for my new "owner."

The problem's not the President -- the problem is that people have started running hospitals like a Walmart, where customer satisfaction surveys are more important than doing the right thing for the right person at the right time. However, Walmart isn't federally required to give sacks of merchandise every single day to people for free, and apologize i they don't bag it up fast enough. They aren't required to hop through hoops from OSHA, JC, CAP/CLIA, the DEA, state boards of nursing, state boards of medicine, all while the non-compliant schizophrenic is ripping the bakery up and beating on the employees.

You wanna save hospitals? Make them follow the same thing that the CEO of Whole Foods does, since we're now a service industry as opposed to health care -- the CEO can only make 14x the wages of the average employee. The difference at my hospital would fund dozens of jobs.

It isn't the years of experience you have that made you "too expensive to keep", You stated you were hired at that hospital 5 years ago and this core measure position you took last year in ? October? So the HOSPITAL eliminated your position after 9 months? And you were not offered another position? Are you saying you have no openings? According to your bio, you have extensive experience, (BSN & MS) I can't believe you are not qualified for any open position or was that a choice? You did mention severance pay. As many others have pointed out, Don't blame the Obama administration, it was after all, nursing admin that created & then eliminated this job. What position did you have when you were hired 5 years ago?

You know, I think frankly, I'd blame your hospital, not Obamacare. Here is the reason.

I work quality services at my hospital. We have had one person who did your job- Core Measure Discovery and abstracting since about 2000 or so. This year, we decided to add a position, because of all the reimbursement changes and new requirements added into core measures.

We are a very small facility (maybe 110 beds) and we have a very financially conservative culture. But yet, seeing the many new regulations that are going to be coming, we hired another Abstractor. Something is fishy at your hospital. See, now that we are getting better with Core measures, they are adding new requirements.

I do think though, as many people have kindly pointed out, as the person responsible for Core Measures in your hospital, it would have been nice for you to know when they went into effect. I'm sure not knowing this did not affect your job, but it definitely affected your perception of the President's healthcare plan which did not enact SCIP and several of the other things that you believe made your job possible..

I also would have to question that hospital. This nurse has BOTH: a BSN and an MS, in addition to 20 yrs bedside experience and stated she/he is 58yrs old.
How many of us have read toots from the powers that be( deliberately not abbreviated to be very clear to all who I mean) "you didn't get the job because you don't have a BSN" or read all the potential positions avail for RN's- "BSN required" or "BSN preferred" I personally have read this thousands of times over the past 4 yrs as I have been continiously looking for a permanent RN position for that long. What about the montra from the ANA legislation and academia: "BSN in '10( meaning 2010)" That perverbial push to have all RN's get their BSN to be baseline employable. Given that, these powers that be, it now seems that they are pushing the Master's level and even the Doctorate degree for Nurse Practioners. Is this so nurses can dump thousands of dollars into academia persuing these degrees with the thought of being a employable candidate and job security only to find- they too now have mountains of student loans to repay and can't find a job or keep the one they do have. Just who is really running the 'nursing machine' now a days- the Nursing Profession or the hospital CEO and financial Czars???? If their are now getting rid of the Master's prepared nurse?? Isn't this talking out both sides of the mouth??

So let's look at possibly the real factor that may have been the determination of why this nurse was laid off. Their age and experience level!!!!!!!! Like another poster posted- in a few months this job will be re named- to protect the guilty parties( the hospital financial administration and cover up an EEOC violation- big bucks for a law suite there, the legal representation and investigation of this for this nurse is completely free of charge, only the cost of a phone call to the EEOC which all necessary paperwork and information can be found on the EEOC website, I know for a fact- been on this site myself!!!) and the position will be reposted to give it to some one with much lesser age, experience and less education( BSN only) and hense less salary. Let's face it- there is no way a hosptial can abandon the monitoring of Core measures unless the hospital has lost it ability to participate with the CMS( usually achieved through being found guilty of frauding claims to Medicare or Medicaid). The hospital doesn't have to follow the core measures, it just won't get reimbursed for its catheter associated UTI's. or can give the antibiotic 12 hours after a Pneumonia patient's admission, or not begin a betablocker on admission of an MI, or have as many decubs as it wants to have, it just wont get reimbused for their extended stay to treat these actions.
Something is very fishy here.

It is a general breakdown of the entire system. Her age absolutely had everything to do with her "demise" because at 58 years of age and all that experience she would be paid what she is worth. Someone 58 years of age will be more likely to need/utilize the hospitals insurance and have sick time (law of averages).

This experienced nurse is going to have a hard time finding another position and will most likely take a huge pay cut (A big thank you for your experience). When hospitals eliminate your position they eliminate you.

I blame every single politician...past and present for the mess were are in. I am curious why the politicians vote on my insurance when and benefit (or lack thereof) when they have LIFETIME private insurance and LIFETIME FULL SALARY PENSION paid for by you and me. FREE LIFETIME BENEFITS AND SALARY! I want to know why I pay for their car and gas, their wife's car and gas, their vacations and office parties, less than moral
out of town antics with the locals, and yearly six figure merit bonuses when you are being investigated for misappropriation of funds

I want to know why this 1% hasn't taken a 5% pay cut, like my husband had too for his company due to the "tough economic times, you're lucky to have a job"......but instead they have punished our most vulnerable population...the elderly, disabled and poor-which has risen during this "worse economic situation since the Great Depression".......on extremely fixed incomes who choose between food, warmth and medicine.

I want to know how the financial genius of wall street have made a 2 BILLION dollar trading error..What a bunch of bozo's......Really? Oops is all they have to say? I thought we already bailed them out and "reforms were made so that this never happens again"....

What I want to know is WHO is bailing me out?

I am sorry to say, if I was an adminstrator and since you do not do the final data submission ( which you don't) - I would have found your position redundant . You should have moved on to another project once your scores reached 100%. There is so many other measures that need improvement ( such as the new VTE and Stroke Measures).

This is not true -- it used to be true, but that was changed quite a few years ago. Do some research if you're actually interested. The US President and members of Congress have the same Federal employee health benefits that every other Federal employee has, down to the filing clerks and people mopping the floors. And members of Congress no longer get a pension for life of their full salary -- they are now on a 401(k) type program that they pay into (and have been for quite some time). I'm not saying that they don't do a lot better and have a cushier life than most all the rest of us , but I get really tired of hearing that "free lifetime insurance and full salary for life" thing when that hasn't been true for a long time.

It also sounds like the reason this job went away is because this nurse's hospital is not looking in the right place as to why the hospital is losing money on the uninsured patients. I would think the first place I'd look is the coding and billing department and the financial/government aid and grant monies department. Maybe not having enough experienced workers is the problem instead of hiring a cheaper inexperienced workforce. What's the experience level of the coder and billers and of the financial gang- high school seniors on job placement? assisngments


Don't you just love how nursing is the first place to look for budget cuts. Would be interesting to see these compliance levels of core measure numbers in the next 9 months.

I'm sorry to hear about you losing your job. While I hate the word, "Obamacare", I think it's important to understand the whole purpose of healthcare reform. You actually nailed it in your own words...



"With a larger and larger percentage of uninsured patients (due to loss of patient’s employment), our hospital - like others across the nation – is providing more and more charity care and writing off more and more patient charges each year."

That is the issue in a nutshell. There are millions upon millions in this country with no healthcare. These people are sinking healthcare for everyone. Say what you want about "Obamacare"- but SOMETHING has/had to be done. I think once the growing pains and kinks are worked out, healthcare reform will turn out to be a good thing. JMO.

I'm wish you the best of luck in your job hunt. With your amazing experience, I'm sure you won't be looking long.