Ebola-related hysteria continues to dominate the media. The first patient diagnosed with the virus in the United States, Thomas Eric Duncan, passed away this week.
Duncan, who died in Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, had been in isolation at the hospital since September 28. He was on a ventilator and given experimental medicine. He started receiving dialysis on October 4. He received fluid replacements, blood transfusions and blood pressure medications. Add that to the indirect costs of treating an Ebola patient, like security and waste disposal, and the cost of protective equipment and staff training, and the bill becomes huge.
Just how huge?
About $1,000 an hour, according to a Bloomberg report. $18,000 to $24,000 a day. According to Gerard Anderson, a health policy professor at Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health, treating a patient with the virus can roughly double the standard cost of care in an intensive care unit.
That works out to a total of about a half a million dollars that Texas Presbyterian is unlikely to ever recoup. Duncan had no health insurance and spokesmen for both Texas Health Presbyterian and the Liberian embassy declined to reveal who would pay for his care.
"It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan [October 8] at 7:51 a.m.," Texas Health Presbyterian said in a statement.
Here are the biggest stories in the healthcare industry this week:
Kindred to buy Gentiva for $719.6M
The merger will create the largest operator of long-term acute care hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation facilities in the country.
The EMR danger nobody talks about
Epic says its "gag clause" isn't the reason Texas Health Presbyterian reversed its position on the premature release of an Ebola patient. But are such clauses a danger to patients at large?
Ascension bans Genentech sales reps from campus
The ban follows a new distribution model for three widely-used cancer drugs that at one hospital could add more than $500,000 in supply chain costs.
4 challenges to value-based care
The importance of paying for value instead of volume seems clear... but can hospitals survive the transition?
Is Facebook planning an entry into healthcare?
Yes, but it's early days, according to three sources close to the social media giant.
Aetna creates large Northern California ACO
Aetna's Banner Health ACO created $5 million in shared savings; Will the insurer be able to replicate that success in this market?
And here's what we were reading:
- ...or watching. Here's Atul Gawande on the Daily Show talking about his new book on end-of-life.
- Sandeep Jauhar advocates for limiting aggressive treatment for the sickest and oldest citizens in the New York Times.
- A new Gallup poll shows that the uninsured rate is holding steady.