Topic: Hospital Coding

South Carolina officials clarified that high hospital occupancy rates were due to reduced staffing of beds rather than a surge in COVID-19 patients, who made up only 6% of the total. In Cambridge, Whole Foods employees were sent home for wearing "Black Lives Matter" masks, which the company claimed violated its dress code policy. The employees argued the masks were about inclusion and equity rather than politics.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen continues to promote the expansion of the QR code "Corona Pass" system across Sweden, Ireland, and Germany. Meanwhile, reports regarding the suicide of Chemnitz hospital head Thomas Jendges and a supposed anti-dictatorship suicide note are identified as a viral hoax involving a different individual.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reported a significant drop in the state's COVID-19 death rate, reaching a low of 35 daily fatalities. Cuomo acknowledged that at such low levels, the numbers often depend on how hospitals attribute the cause of death for gravely ill patients. This admission has led to claims that prior death counts may have been inflated through specific medical coding practices.

The healthcare crisis is attributed to the "banking" nature of insurance companies and the administrative burden of Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Doctors are currently reimbursed as little as $7 for a Medicare office visit and often face a 180-day expiration on collections. Large hospital corporations are responding by buying up private practices at 1.5 times valuation to control the entire medical pipeline.