"Bill of Health" -High End Hospital Rooms
Thursday, August 10, 2006SUSIE GHARIB: It sounds nice: high-quality linens on the bed, designer furniture, great meals. But this is not a new, high-end hotel we`re talking about. It`s a hospital room. In tonight`s "Bill of Health" report, Jeff Yastine looks at how hospitals are going upscale to try to treat the shortfalls on their bottom lines.
JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Big-city public hospitals provide quality medical care, especially for indigent patients who are otherwise unable to pay. But it often comes at the expense of poor customer service. Parking can be hard to find. Patient rooms are Spartan and it may take hours to be admitted to the hospital. Those sorts of hassles often drive private, insured patients to newer suburban hospitals. But as we`ll see in some cases, that`s starting to change.
Silvio Erenberg came all the way from his home in Montevideo, Uruguay, to be admitted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Jackson is a large, busy, teaching hospital and one of the largest providers of indigent care in the southeast. Yet Erenberg chose to have his surgery at Jackson in part because of its six-month old concierge care program. Patients like Erenberg can stay in a premium room with faux hardwood floor, a fully tiled bathroom, a pullout couch so family members can stay overnight and a microwave kitchenette. Erenberg says those extras made a difference.
TRANSLATION OF: SILVIO ERENBERG, PATIENT: Four of us came from Uruguay. My wife, my two daughters and the four of us are in this home very comfortably. This type of habitation is very important as it gave me a sense of tranquility to help me recuperate.
YASTINE: Concierge service is something more hospitals around the country are offering in an attempt to generate additional revenue. In Jackson`s case, and that of other public hospitals, that money helps offset the growing cost of medical care for indigent patients.
ROLAND DAMIAN RODRIGUEZ, PRES. & CEO, JACKSON MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: This is like the classic, if you build it, they will come. The private patient wants the wonderful doctors and nurses that we can give them, but it was hard getting them in before. Now that we`re offering these services, the patients are thrilled. The doctors are thrilled.
YASTINE: Fast-track admittance to the hospital is another aspect of concierge service, something Janet Movilla appreciated when her son, Gioani, need surgeries to correct an intestinal problem.
JANET MOVILLA, PATIENT`S MOTHER: They`ve always been on top of me, making sure that my service is good, that I`m comfortable, if I need anything, parking. Whatever it is that I`ve needed, they`ve been here for me.
YASTINE: Hospitals say a patient can buy more amenities, but they cannot buy more doctors and nurses. And they say the quality of medical care remains the same for those who pay for concierge services and those who do not. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, "Bill of Health."
