James Bradley Summers, MD: Don’t draw conclusions from high costs of one ER visit

Re “Memorial ER outrageous” (Letters, March 27): Most of the author’s comments are biased by the single episode. The complexities of emergency room healthcare delivery for the community cannot be accurately characterized as outrageous by attempting to generalize one example to the entire healthcare provided by the hospital.

Obviously, such figures seem dramatic and draw attention, but the author’s conclusion is apt to be realized as specious unless considering the entire context of hospital operations. I have been directly involved in the healthcare industry for many years, and this type of letter is not the first I have read lamenting the cost of medical care. However, the hospital has fixed and variable costs that are partly paid by the charges to the patient listed in the letter. The physicians, nurses, scribes, security guards, laboratory technicians, mail room clerks, receptionists, secretaries, and multitude of others necessary to support the continuous operation of the hospital 24 hours a day, as well as the associated utility and other maintenance costs, are all eventually somehow paid from these charges.

Whereas I have a limited understanding of the very complex financial intricacies of operating a hospital, I do understand that it is foolish and statistically invalid to make any inference regarding the hospital’s charges based on a single episode. The city of Modesto is not served well by such unbalanced, cursory and superficial analysis that attempt to malign the good services Memorial Medical Center provides the community. And, yes, I work there!

This story was originally published March 30, 2015 at 1:10 PM with the headline "James Bradley Summers, MD: Don’t draw conclusions from high costs of one ER visit."