After 10 days with COVID, Jennifer Smithfield of Springfield, Tennessee, was still feeling weak and having some trouble breathing. It was the weekend and so her primary care physician suggested going to the emergency department.
Smithfield went to HCA’s flagship Centennial Medical Center near its headquarters in Nashville, where she has a long history as a patient. To her surprise she was admitted on a Sunday and wouldn’t go home until Wednesday.
“Even though I did not feel well, I didn’t feel like it was bad enough to be hospitalized, especially not multiple days,” she said.
Smithfield was put on low-flow oxygen and admitted but said she wasn’t hooked up to any monitors until the next morning, which made her think she probably wasn’t in bad shape. Even her personal doctor was texting, asking why they admitted her.
According to a 2018 study, fewer than one-in-five ER patients is admitted these days. Smithfield began questioning her three-day stay after reading about data suggesting HCA is much quicker to admit patients than non-HCA hospitals.
“I’ve put a phenomenal amount of trust in doctors over the last decade,” she said, referencing her own treatment for leukemia. “I don’t want to be in a place mentally where I’m starting to have to question doctors.”
There’s a big difference between being kept in the ER for observation — even overnight — and being fully admitted as an inpatient, especially the cost. Smithfield racked up roughly $40,000 in charges, owing $6,000 out of...
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