Gregory J. Truitt of Philadelphia Weighs in on New Medicare Penalties

PHILADELPHIA, PA, October 10, 2012

In this combative election year, issues pertaining to healthcare have proven prevalent, concerning to voters as well as to elected officials. While much of the debate has centered on the Affordable Care Act, there has also been a great deal of attention paid to Medicare and Medicaid. Now, Medicare is in the news for a slightly different reason--the announcement that 2,000 hospitals around the country will incur penalties in the form of Medicare payment reductions. This development has won the attention of Gregory J. Truitt, a leading professional in the healthcare industry.

According to an article in The Chicago Tribune, these hospitals will see their Medicare funding reduced because of new records showing that too many patients are re-admitted into the facilities shortly after being discharged. Some of the hospitals affected by this include nationally recognized healthcare facilities, among them hospitals in Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.

These penalties are all part of a government initiative to pay hospitals based on the quality of the medical services rendered. As such, these hospitals stand to forfeit $280 million in Medicare funding, all in the course of the next year.

This development has won the attention of Gregory J. Truitt of Philadelphia, a long-time advocate and activist within the healthcare sector. Truitt has responded to the Chicago Tribune article with his own statement to the press, explaining his mixed feelings over the news. "On the one hand, many Americans believe Medicare funding decisions to be largely arbitrary, so stories like this one are actually helpful in showing that government funding is administered, at least in theory, on the basis of quality and performance, nothing more and nothing less," says Gregory J. Truitt.

The healthcare professional goes on to state his objection to the announced Medicare penalties. "Ultimately, this is an example of how the government can sometimes meddle and interfere with private industries, such as the healthcare industry, in ways that are not necessarily prudent," Gregory J. Truitt of Philadelphia explains. "While there is not necessarily anything wrong with rewarding the hospitals that administer the most excellent care, who is to say that these discharge and re-admittance rates are actually indicative of meaningful practices or trends?"

The Tribune article reports that nearly 20 percent of all Medicare patients are re-admitted to the hospital within a month of their discharge. This is viewed by the government as a symptom of an uncoordinated and ultimately inefficient medical practice.

ABOUT:

Gregory J. Truitt of Philadelphia is a leader in the healthcare IT field. An authority on measuring ROI for this industry, he also has experience determining the value of marketing programs for hospitals. Gregory J. Truitt of Philadelphia is currently the Vice President of Business Development for 1-800-Doctors. Previously, he was the co-founder and inventor of Siteline, Inc., an online scheduling technology. Additionally, Gregory J. Truitt of Philadelphia has experience as a system strategist and digital healthcare marketing professional. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from LaSalle University.