Killer Super Bug-42 States and Growing

Killer Super Bug-42 States and Growing  

In the past, I have written about the dangers of MRSA and C-Diff infections from hospitalizations.  Now there is a new antibiotic resistant bacteria known as Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteria cea or cre.  While you not have heard of CRE before now, it is a new killer that resists even drugs of last resort.

News. of CRE was highlighted in a recent article of USA Today by Pete Eisler.  Tragically, this super bug has spread to hundreds of hospitals in 42 states in just a few years.

• There is no Medicare/Medicaid code for billing/reporting this problem to the Feds

We do workers’ comp/group medical utilization review coast to coast in a variety of jurisdictions for many carriers, TPA’s and self funded employers. When it is medically indicated, we assist in timely admission of our clients/patients to the best hospitals.

However, any time our medical management professionals in conjunction with the treating physician, can identify effective treatment alternates know effective treatments.

The key points in the USA Today article include:

• Big pharma has no good antibiotic in development to treat this problem (sees that new drug research is more concentrated in lucrative pain management arena–Faris comments)
• Death rates from CRE are 40% worse than MRSA and C-Diff
• Hospitals lack the tools to identify  the bacteria and screen patients and there is no general consensus on how to treat this killer.
• Away from a hospital or surgical center setting– then we know the risk of infections are reduced.

Do not let your UR vendor rubber stamp hospital admission requests!

Call Us. We can do better.

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