Scientific American – by Carolyn Barber
In a physician chat group recently, a doctor who treats hospitalized patients made a recommendation to our group of 38,000 members that left me startled and alarmed. She shared her protocol for all COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital: every one of them gets not only a chest x-ray but an entire battery of special tests, including a coagulation test, a leg ultrasound and a CT scan.
This was offered as her blanket standard of care. What it actually represents to me is one of the biggest problems with health care in America—because not every admitted patient needs all these tests. And this is not a new story. Continue reading “COVID’s Other Toll: Unnecessary Tests and Huge Hospital Bills”