Pittsburgh medical update (Penn Hills, York, Penn: insurance, house, neighborhood)

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today i learned something fascinating - my 83 year old lifelong pittsburgh resident mother never went to a doctor's office until she was married

the doctor always came to the house, in her case on bryant street in highland park

that just blows me away

i'm 55 and my experience was completely different - my pediatrician was dr. mermelstein who had a small office on dithridge street in oakland, and my teenage/young adult doctor was dr. pober who had a small office in the hieber's pharmacy building in oakland and also treated my mother and father

if you were born in 1939 pittsburgh, the doctor came to the house - if you were born in 1967 pittsburgh, you went to the doctor's small family practice who was in oakland if you lived in the east end

now it's all UPMC and big hospital system oriented - today the idea that a doctor would come to your house and actually know your family is inconceivable, as is the small family practice model

i'm not getting into the personal family details of why i started this thread, but i'll give you a clue - there's a big difference between a small family practice doctor and a big hospital system doctor - and one is better than the other

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Here are the local hospitals that made the US News & World Report best ranking

https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbur...t-listing.html

"UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside has been named by U.S. News and World Report as the second-best hospital in Pennsylvania and the best in the Pittsburgh region, according to the magazine’s annual rankings that were announced Tuesday morning.

UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside was ranked among the top in the country in three medical specialities: It was ranked No. 15 among the best hospitals for cancer treatment, and the highest-ranking in Pennsylvania. It was also No. 17 in the country for gastroenterology and GI surgery.

The top hospital in the state, and No. 15 in the country, is Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian."

Respiratory illnesses are surging in Pittsburgh as hospitals brace for 'tripledemic'

https://www.wesa.fm/health-science-t...tory-illnesses

"Officials at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh said they’re prepared to handle a surge of patients, if needed, following an uptick in case numbers of some respiratory diseases. Emergency department admittances for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, are up in Pittsburgh and around the country.

“Now we have a cohort of children who never were exposed to RSV before. And I think that now that it’s starting to circulate, people aren’t masking like they used to… People are going out and about and intermingling. Schools are in person. Now people are being exposed and have no really prior defense against this virus,” he said."

A surge in children’s respiratory viruses leads to long emergency room waits

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/he...s/202210240094

“We’re definitely seeing higher volumes, probably over the past month and a half,” Dr. Ray Pitetti, director of the emergency department at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, said Monday.

While emergency room visits for pediatric illnesses fell in the early phase of the coronavirus pandemic, the volume is now “higher than what we were seeing pre-pandemic,” Dr. Pitetti said. “We’re seeing an uptick in the numbers of RSV cases. We don’t normally see it in September and October.

A post on a Pittsburgh Reddit page noting, “It’s 3AM on a Monday and Children’s hospital has a 9 hour wait time” drew nearly 300 comments, many from parents sharing their experiences. The hospital’s wait time tracker as of 6 p.m. Monday evening was showing an average wait time of six hours.”

[svband76]

Ha, Dr. Mermelstein? I went to Dr. Paul, who was his partner I believe - same office on Dithridge Street. They had a little door from the bathroom to the receptionist area where one could pass their "pee cup". The things you remember. We'd drive all the way from Penn Hills there. Ah the 1970s. Greatest decade

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Synchron to Begin Patient Enrollment for the COMMAND Trial of a Brain Computer Interface at University of Pittsburgh

https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...-of-Pittsburgh

"NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Synchron, the leading endovascular brain-computer interface (BCI) company developing technology to restore functionality in patients with severe paralysis, today announced enrollment in the COMMAND trial has commenced at the University of Pittsburgh (the “University”), Pittsburgh, PA.

The COMMAND trial is an early feasibility study (EFS) funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and will primarily assess safety while beginning to explore quantified efficacy measures of Synchron’s Stentrode™ in patients with severe paralysis with the goal of enabling the patient to control digital devices, hands-free."

[eschaton]

I mean, the same thing has generally been true across the economy no?

Used to be most people shopped at local grocery stores in their neighborhood and then walked home with groceries. These were replaced by supermarkets people drove to. Over time the supermarkets got bigger and bigger, consolidated, and you had to drive further.

Basically outsourcing the "last mile" issue in logistics onto you as the end consumer.

[burghophilia-03]

I get what he's saying a bit though -- just from a not dissimilar situation growing up in small town PA in the late 1970s/early 1980s. I had your typical small town, country doctor situation -- I think maybe he farmed on the side, or had some horses. Flash forward 30 years, and while we are happy with the care we get at a UPMC pediatrics practice, when we bring our kid in (thankfully rarely) I kind of feel like I'm bringing my car in for an oil change.

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Originally Posted by burghophilia-03

I get what he's saying a bit though -- just from a not dissimilar situation growing up in small town PA in the late 1970s/early 1980s. I had your typical small town, country doctor situation -- I think maybe he farmed on the side, or had some horses. Flash forward 30 years, and while we are happy with the care we get at a UPMC pediatrics practice, when we bring our kid in (thankfully rarely) I kind of feel like I'm bringing my car in for an oil change.

the small family practice doctor's performance was based simply on how well they treated the patient

the big hospital system doctor's performance is based on treatment AND how many services and procedures they can bill your insurance for

the small doctor wasn't going to rip you off because they knew you and your family and their income didn't go up by sending you to the hospital for more tests, etc. - they didn't work for the hospital

the big UPMC doctor is incentivized to rip you off

[Reggiezz]

We had a doctor who came to the house when I was a kid. He'd been the family doctor for 30 years or so until he finally retired in the mid 1960s. But it wasn't modern medicine, which, as far as I'm concerned, is mostly miraculous.

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UPMC doctor facing charges in July crash that killed colleague

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/cr...s/202211020122

"Dr. Yanta was alert and conscious after the crash, police said, and told officers at the scene he’d been driving. Testing showed his blood-alcohol content was 0.172%, according to the complaint. The legal limit to drive in Pennsylvania is 0.08%.

Investigators said camera footage from inside the pizzeria showed Dr. Yanta had six drinks over the course of roughly 2½ hours.

A later analysis of the Tesla’s computer system showed Rockacy was not wearing a seatbelt. The Tesla reached 128 mph and was going about 125 mph immediately before the crash, according to the complaint. Police noted the speed limit on that section of Wexford Bayne Road is 35 mph."

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Hospitals brace for a possible ‘tridemic’ of RSV, flu and COVID

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/he...s/202211040086

"According to the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, as of Thursday morning, 92% of all pediatric intensive care unit beds in the state were occupied.

Among the state’s larger, regional pediatric centers or children’s hospitals, 91% of beds were occupied and two-thirds were at 90% capacity or higher.

“UPMC Children’s has the capacity to care for any child needing care,” the hospital said in a statement. “We are still seeing a steady uptick in RSV and other respiratory illnesses here in Pittsburgh.”