Originally Posted by lost in melb.
Even though there is no way to show whether someone would have died anyway one fact can't be denied, numbers are up in lockdown induced deaths. Why aren't they using those to inflate their numbers, because the test came back negative?
Even Hikaris' chart shows deaths are up with no explanation.
Last edited by Griffin; 04-28-2020 at 01:14 PM.
Griffin (04-28-2020)
Yes, Hospitals Get Paid More For Coronavirus-Coded Patients, Even If They Haven’t Been Tested
By Amanda Prestigiacomo - The Daily Wire
Hospitals get paid more money if a patient is coded for the novel coronavirus, even if they haven’t been tested in some states, multiple fact-checking sites have confirmed, including USA Today, Politifact, and Snopes. Hospitals get a 20% add-on for COVID-19-coded patients and roughly three times as much if such patients are placed on a ventilator.
In the beginning of April, physician and State Sen. Scott Jensen (R-MN) notified the public of the policy and later emphasized on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that “anytime health care intersects with dollars, it gets awkward.”
“Right now Medicare has determined that if you have a COVID-19 admission to the hospital you’ll get paid $13,000,” Jensen said on the Fox program. “If that COVID-19 patient goes on a ventilator, you get $39,000; three times as much. Nobody can tell me, after 35 years in the world of medicine, that sometimes those kinds of things [have] impact on what we do.”
“Some physicians really have a bent towards public health and they will put down influenza or whatever because that’s their preference,” he continued. “I try to stay very specific, very precise. If I know I’ve got pneumonia, that’s what’s going on the death certificate. I’m not going to add stuff just because it’s convenient.”
On Facebook, the Republican reiterated, “How can anyone not believe that increasing the number of COVID-19 deaths may create an avenue for states to receive a larger portion of federal dollars. Already some states are complaining that they are not getting enough of the CARES Act dollars because they are having significantly more proportional COVID-19 deaths.”
“Hospital administrators might well want to see COVID-19 attached to a discharge summary or a death certificate. Why? Because if it’s a straightforward, garden-variety pneumonia that a person is admitted to the hospital for – if they’re Medicare – typically, the diagnosis-related group lump sum payment would be $5,000,” he added on April 19. “But if it’s COVID-19 pneumonia, then it’s $13,000, and if that COVID-19 pneumonia patient ends up on a ventilator, it goes up to $39,000.”
Speaking to USA Today, Marty Makary, a surgeon and professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said via email on April 21, “What Scott Jensen said sounds right to me.”
“We rate the claim that hospitals get paid more if patients are listed as COVID-19 and on ventilators as TRUE,” USA Today declared in a Friday fact-check.
“Hospitals and doctors do get paid more for Medicare patients diagnosed with COVID-19 or if it’s considered presumed they have COVID-19 absent a laboratory-confirmed test, and three times more if the patients are placed on a ventilator to cover the cost of care and loss of business resulting from a shift in focus to treat COVID-19 cases,” the fact-checker explains.
“This higher allocation of funds has been made possible under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act through a Medicare 20% add-on to its regular payment for COVID-19 patients, as verified by USA TODAY through the American Hospital Association Special Bulletin on the topic,” the outlet added.
Politifact conceded, “Medicare is paying a 20% add-on to its regular hospital payments for the treatment of COVID-19 victims. That’s a result of a federal stimulus law.”
And, as noted by Snopes, the best estimates for pay-outs to hospitals for uninsured patients match Sen. Jensen’s $13,000 and $39,000 figures.
“For less severe hospitalizations, we use the average Medicare payment for respiratory infections and inflammations with major comorbidities or complications in 2017, which was $13,297,” said healthcare nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. “For more severe hospitalizations, we use the average Medicare payment for a respiratory system diagnosis with ventilator support for greater than 96 hours, which was $40,218.”
weird
Oh, now we have an explanation! Corruption! I do believeBy Amanda Prestigiacomo - The Daily Wire
Hospitals get paid more money if a patient is coded for the novel coronavirus, even if they haven’t been tested in some states, multiple fact-checking sites have confirmed, including USA Today, Politifact, and Snopes. Hospitals get a 20% add-on for COVID-19-coded patients and roughly three times as much if such patients are placed on a ventilator.
In the beginning of April, physician and State Sen. Scott Jensen (R-MN) notified the public of the policy and later emphasized on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that “anytime health care intersects with dollars, it gets awkward.”
“Right now Medicare has determined that if you have a COVID-19 admission to the hospital you’ll get paid $13,000,” Jensen said on the Fox program. “If that COVID-19 patient goes on a ventilator, you get $39,000; three times as much. Nobody can tell me, after 35 years in the world of medicine, that sometimes those kinds of things [have] impact on what we do.”
“Some physicians really have a bent towards public health and they will put down influenza or whatever because that’s their preference,” he continued. “I try to stay very specific, very precise. If I know I’ve got pneumonia, that’s what’s going on the death certificate. I’m not going to add stuff just because it’s convenient.”
On Facebook, the Republican reiterated, “How can anyone not believe that increasing the number of COVID-19 deaths may create an avenue for states to receive a larger portion of federal dollars. Already some states are complaining that they are not getting enough of the CARES Act dollars because they are having significantly more proportional COVID-19 deaths.”
“Hospital administrators might well want to see COVID-19 attached to a discharge summary or a death certificate. Why? Because if it’s a straightforward, garden-variety pneumonia that a person is admitted to the hospital for – if they’re Medicare – typically, the diagnosis-related group lump sum payment would be $5,000,” he added on April 19. “But if it’s COVID-19 pneumonia, then it’s $13,000, and if that COVID-19 pneumonia patient ends up on a ventilator, it goes up to $39,000.”
Speaking to USA Today, Marty Makary, a surgeon and professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said via email on April 21, “What Scott Jensen said sounds right to me.”
“We rate the claim that hospitals get paid more if patients are listed as COVID-19 and on ventilators as TRUE,” USA Today declared in a Friday fact-check.
“Hospitals and doctors do get paid more for Medicare patients diagnosed with COVID-19 or if it’s considered presumed they have COVID-19 absent a laboratory-confirmed test, and three times more if the patients are placed on a ventilator to cover the cost of care and loss of business resulting from a shift in focus to treat COVID-19 cases,” the fact-checker explains.
“This higher allocation of funds has been made possible under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act through a Medicare 20% add-on to its regular payment for COVID-19 patients, as verified by USA TODAY through the American Hospital Association Special Bulletin on the topic,” the outlet added.
Politifact conceded, “Medicare is paying a 20% add-on to its regular hospital payments for the treatment of COVID-19 victims. That’s a result of a federal stimulus law.”
And, as noted by Snopes, the best estimates for pay-outs to hospitals for uninsured patients match Sen. Jensen’s $13,000 and $39,000 figures.
“For less severe hospitalizations, we use the average Medicare payment for respiratory infections and inflammations with major comorbidities or complications in 2017, which was $13,297,” said healthcare nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. “For more severe hospitalizations, we use the average Medicare payment for a respiratory system diagnosis with ventilator support for greater than 96 hours, which was $40,218.”
Last edited by lost in melb.; 04-28-2020 at 10:54 PM.
CDC figures seem to suggest a similar trend in the US to what I described in the UK, not quite as significant, but they suggest around 9000 more deaths than have currently been reported and recorded are COVID based, due to various factor, in the 7 most badly hit regions of the US.
So in the region of perhaps 15% more than the 61000 deaths currently reported.
They also note due to less traffic in some high traffic regions such as California they are seeing a reduction in road fatalities.
lost in melb. (04-29-2020)
Newsom to close all California beaches, state parks over coronavirus: memo
By Brie Stimson | Fox News
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will be closing all beaches and state parks across the state starting Friday to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, according to a memo sent to California police chiefs Wednesday.
The decision comes less than a week after Newsom called out the massive crowds that flocked to Newport Beach in Orange County last weekend during a heatwave.
Newsom called the beach crowds an example of "what not to do" for the state to make progress toward easing restrictions in the statewide stay-at-home order.
“We wanted to give all of our members a heads up about this in order to provide time for you to plan any situations you might expect as a result, knowing each community has its dynamics,” the memo, sent by the California Police Chiefs Association, said.
Many beaches across the state are closed, but some, such as Ventura and Orange Counties, are open and starting to get more people as the weather gets warmer.
The Newport Beach City Council Tuesday voted down a measure that would close the beach for the next three weeks after an estimated 80,000 flocked to the water over the weekend.
Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner on Wednesday called the order an "overreaction," saying that while he believes Newsom has the power to close the beaches he thinks it's a bad idea because "Medical professionals tell us the importance of fresh air and sunlight in fighting infectious diseases."
He added it will make so far cooperative residents more likely to break the stay-at-home order.
Laguna Beach and some beaches in San Diego County recently reopened for limited use.
Protesters in nearby Huntington Beach demanded the state reopen businesses the weekend before last and the governor's order is likely to fuel frustration from Californians already stir-crazy after more than a month of staying at home.
Since mid-March, 3.7 million Californians have filed for unemployment, more than 47,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed and nearly 2,000 have died of the virus as of Wednesday, according to The Times.
Fox News reached out to Newsom's office in an after-hours call.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Local - Sweden's News in English
Stockholm health authorities have released new figures that break down how the coronavirus epidemic is affecting the region and the City of Stockholm itself.
The Swedish capital is the region that has been hit the hardest by the epidemic in the country so far, with 7,622 confirmed cases of the virus as of April 29th (the breakdown in the table below only compiles data from up to midnight between April 26th and 27th, which explains why the number in the table is lower).
A total of 1,287 people have died in Stockholm after testing positive for the virus. That's more than half of the country's 2,355 victims as reported on April 28th.
Some of the possible reasons previously mentioned for why Stockholm has been much more affected than many other parts of Sweden are that the region is further ahead in the curve and that it had its February school break in a week where the outbreak in Italy (a popular destination for Swedish ski tourists) started getting serious, which may have led to a large number of infections.
But the reason that is mentioned above all, and where Swedish authorities have admitted failure, is that the virus spread to such a large extent within Stockholm's care homes for the elderly – one of the main groups at risk.
Almost half of all people, or 567, who have died with the coronavirus in Stockholm were tested at a care home for the elderly. A total of 1,660 people at such care homes have tested positive for the virus as of April 29th. And out of in total 313 elderly care homes in Stockholm, 205 have at least one resident with the virus.
The Local has previously written about how Stockholm's suburbs Rinkeby-Kista and Spånga-Tensta have been overrepresented in the statistics. Last week, we asked Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin how the government planned to tackle the health inequalities exposed by the virus in the future. She said:
"It's like all other serious events in society, the vulnerable are hit the hardest. It is that sad. We need to strengthen these groups and decrease inequality in society, that's the most important thing."
The latest figures in the table below show that the coronavirus is currently spreading the fastest in southern Stockholm, with health officials also noting a fast increase in the Värmdö and Kungsholmen areas.
Stockholm infectious disease doctor Per Follin stressed that it is also important to consider the factors that may affect the figures – such as the average age of the population, the general health of the population, when the outbreak started in the area, or whether or not the infection has spread to care homes in the area.
"The most important way to reduce the number of cases with Covid-19 is that Stockholmers continue to follow the Public Health Agency's advice. Not gather with more people than those living together in one household, avoiding public transport and keep working remotely if you can. The most important thing is to avoid visiting the elderly and other risk groups who need to be prepared to self-isolate for another few weeks," he warned.
A total of 203 patients with the coronavirus were in intensive care units in Stockholm as of April 28th, with an additional 805 receiving hospital care. According to Stockholm health authorities, there are currently 500 unoccupied hospital beds in the region and around 60 beds available in intensive care units.
RBP (05-01-2020)
By Ryan Saavedra - The Daily Wire
U.S. officials have reportedly seen evidence proving that the coronavirus outbreak originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology and have started crafting a retaliatory response to communist China over its handling of the pandemic.
President Donald Trump was asked by Fox News White House correspondent John Roberts on Thursday: “Have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of this virus?”
“Yes, I have,” Trump responded. “Yes, I have.”
Later, when pressed on the specific evidence that he’s seen, Trump responded by indicating that the information was highly sensitive and could not be disclosed.
Trump added, “And, I think that the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves because they’re like the public relations agency for China.”
Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Richard Grenell confirmed on Thursday that the U.S. is conducting investigations into the lab, and that it does not believe that the coronavirus was man-made or genetically modified.
“The entire Intelligence Community has been consistently providing critical support to U.S. policymakers and those responding to the COVID-19 virus, which originated in China. The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified,” Grenell said in a statement. “As we do in all crises, the Community’s experts respond by surging resources and producing critical intelligence on issues vital to U.S. national security. The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.”
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Trump, angered by China’s actions that led to a global pandemic, wants to take severe actions against China.
The Washington Post reported:
Senior U.S. officials are beginning to explore proposals for punishing or demanding financial compensation from China for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to four senior administration officials with knowledge of internal planning. …
Senior officials across multiple government agencies are expected to meet Thursday to begin mapping out a strategy for seeking retaliatory measures against China, two people with knowledge of the meeting said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to disclose the planning. Officials in American intelligence agencies are also involved in the effort.
President Trump has fumed to aides and others in recent days about China, blaming the country for withholding information about the virus, and has discussed enacting dramatic measures that would probably lead to retaliation by Beijing, these people said.
One top official cautioned that right now was not the right time to punish China for what it did, but added that “there will be a time to do it.”
RBP (05-01-2020)
Third Russian coronavirus doctor plummets from hospital window under hazy circumstances, reports say
By Louis Casiano | Fox News
Three Russian health care workers have mysteriously plunged from hospital buildings in the past two weeks after criticizing working conditions and hospital administrators amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Two of the workers have died from their injuries and one remains hospitalized, the Moscow Times reported.
Alexander Shulepov, a paramedic who tested positive for COVID-19, suffered a skull fracture after falling Saturday from the second floor of a hospital in western Voronezh region, located 320 miles south of Moscow.
He was being treated for the infection at the hospital at the time. Shulepov and his colleague, Alexander Kosyakin, posted a video online on April 22 -- the day he was reportedly hospitalized after testing positive -- criticizing hospital administrators for a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and making Shulepov work while being sick.
"The chief doctor is forcing us to work. What do we do in this situation?” Shulepov said in the video, according to the newspaper.
Kosyakin was subsequently warned by police against spreading false information and that he could face criminal charges. Shulepov, 37, later refuted Kosyakin's accusations in another video, saying he was in an "emotional state" when he made the claims.
The Voronezh region recorded 636 known COVID-19 cases as of Monday, including 41 of whom are doctors and patients.
On Friday, Yelena Nepomnyashchaya, the interim chief physician at a hospital for war veterans in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, died from injuries from an April 25 fall from her fifth-floor office.
Nepomnyashchaya had previously complained of a PPE shortage and general unpreparedness of hospital staff, a Krasnoyarsk television station reported. Prior to her fall, she had just gotten off a conference call with the head of the regional health ministry to discuss making her hospital into a ward to treat COVID-19 patients.
She was against the idea.
On April 24, Natalia Lebedeva, the chief EMS officer at a cosmonaut training center outside Moscow, fell from a hospital room where she was being treated for the coronavirus, according to a local report. A hospital statement said she died "as a result of an accident."
Across Russia, at least 1,356 people have died from COVID-19. A large influx of coronavirus patients has put a strain on Moscow hospitals, though officials said the situation remains under control.
lost in melb. (05-06-2020), RBP (05-05-2020)
Such a wide range of figures from the prediction models, future behaviour will be very suggestive of the end result.134,475 deaths by August 4 (total cumulative count, with uncertainty range from 95,092 to 242,890 deaths) now projected in the USA by Dr. Murray and researchers in Washington state in the COVID-19 forecasting model by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) used by the US Government. [view here]
The initial model, released on March 26 and online until the beginning of May, was projecting 81,766 deaths by the same date (with uncertainty range from 49,431 to 136,401) [view archived page] More information on the update and the new forecasting model implemented on May 4 are explained here
The institute wrote that the revisions reflected “rising mobility in most U.S. states as well as the easing of social distancing measures expected in 31 states by May 11, indicating that growing contacts among people will promote transmission of the coronavirus”
Obviously they were upset about working conditions and decided it was all too muchBy Louis Casiano | Fox News
Three Russian health care workers have mysteriously plunged from hospital buildings in the past two weeks after criticizing working conditions and hospital administrators amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Two of the workers have died from their injuries and one remains hospitalized, the Moscow Times reported.
Alexander Shulepov, a paramedic who tested positive for COVID-19, suffered a skull fracture after falling Saturday from the second floor of a hospital in western Voronezh region, located 320 miles south of Moscow.
He was being treated for the infection at the hospital at the time. Shulepov and his colleague, Alexander Kosyakin, posted a video online on April 22 -- the day he was reportedly hospitalized after testing positive -- criticizing hospital administrators for a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and making Shulepov work while being sick.
"The chief doctor is forcing us to work. What do we do in this situation?” Shulepov said in the video, according to the newspaper.
Kosyakin was subsequently warned by police against spreading false information and that he could face criminal charges. Shulepov, 37, later refuted Kosyakin's accusations in another video, saying he was in an "emotional state" when he made the claims.
The Voronezh region recorded 636 known COVID-19 cases as of Monday, including 41 of whom are doctors and patients.
On Friday, Yelena Nepomnyashchaya, the interim chief physician at a hospital for war veterans in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, died from injuries from an April 25 fall from her fifth-floor office.
Nepomnyashchaya had previously complained of a PPE shortage and general unpreparedness of hospital staff, a Krasnoyarsk television station reported. Prior to her fall, she had just gotten off a conference call with the head of the regional health ministry to discuss making her hospital into a ward to treat COVID-19 patients.
She was against the idea.
On April 24, Natalia Lebedeva, the chief EMS officer at a cosmonaut training center outside Moscow, fell from a hospital room where she was being treated for the coronavirus, according to a local report. A hospital statement said she died "as a result of an accident."
Across Russia, at least 1,356 people have died from COVID-19. A large influx of coronavirus patients has put a strain on Moscow hospitals, though officials said the situation remains under control.
Update for today
"China reports one new case; Russia reports 10,000 new cases for sixth day in a row"
RBP (05-09-2020)
I think we're in for a long haul with this Cunt Chinese virus.
Island of Haikado, Japan had a second wave worse than the first when they reopened. Germany is back to 1.1 contagion spread after opening.
It is extremely contagious.
It appears to mutate; so immunity is uncertain
Let's pray they find a vaccination
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