The Reality of Care Rationing

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus is approaching the number of Americans killed in World War II, and as America is experiencing another surge of infections, the once-unthinkable subject of rationing care is now being debated.

But how is care to be rationed? Is there a uniform guide for triaging care, as the availability of all beds, ICU beds, ventilators, and other hospital equipment is weighed, based on the acuity of each patient?

As John Zelem, MD wrote recently for RACmonitor, “we have entered a time in which drastic scenarios demand drastic measures (care rationing). We all look forward to the time when we can look back on these challenging times as a unique response to a fairly unique medical emergency.”

Reporting our lead story during the next live edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays will be Dr. Zelem, founder of Streamline Consulting Solutions.

The live broadcast will also feature these other segments:

• CDI Report: Cheryl Ericson, clinical program manager for Iodine Software, will have the CDI Report, in which she is expected to ask if every item in the medical record is truly “documentation.”
  
  
• News Desk: Timothy Powell, compliance expert and ICD10monitor national correspondent, will anchor the Talk Ten Tuesdays News Desk.
  
  
• The Coding Report: Laurie Johnson, senior healthcare consultant for Revenue Cycle Solutions, LLC, will report on the latest ICD-10 codes.
  
  
• TalkBack: Erica Remer, MD, founder and president of Erica Remer, MD, Inc. and Talk Ten Tuesdays co-host, will report on another thought-provoking topic that has captured her attention.