Specialty hospitals and specialty medical equipment manufacturers are offering discounts to help patients find a better path to life, and the specialties are responding.
The goal is to increase quality, reduce costs and improve patient outcomes, according to the American Hospital Association.
The American Hospital Assn.
says it’s offering discounts for a wide variety of specialty medical devices, including surgery equipment, anesthesia, wound care, and surgical implants.
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) says it has a list of specialty hospitals that offer discounts.
It’s unclear if these discounts are related to a nationwide shortage of certain specialized medical equipment.
The shortage is blamed on two factors: lack of qualified nurses and technology.
The American Medical Association is currently conducting an inquiry to determine if these discount offers are tied to the shortages, the AP reported.
But experts say that a lack of skilled workers and technology will only worsen the shortage.
A lack of people in the workforce means that a shortage of skilled doctors and nurses means that hospitals will have to rely on volunteers to provide care, experts told the AP.
Hospitals have to hire more staff to meet the demand.
According to the ACS, a shortage in the number of people with specialties will also hurt the quality of care, which could result in patients being admitted to hospitals with lower levels of medical expertise, such as in nursing homes, which tend to have fewer specialized medical facilities.
As a result, many of these hospitals may need to close or drastically reduce their services.
“The American hospitals have an obligation to be able to provide quality, effective care,” Dr. Steven J. Osterholm, president and CEO of the ACS said in a statement.
“If we’re going to continue to provide the care that we do, we need to be willing to work with those hospitals to find ways to keep our patients safer and happier.”