Techdirt. Stories filed under "hospital" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "hospital"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:03:00 PDT Hospital Tech Declines To Patent His Invention, As Saving Lives Is 'More Important Than Money' Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120919/13422020434/hospital-tech-declines-to-patent-his-invention-as-saving-lives-is-more-important-than-money.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120919/13422020434/hospital-tech-declines-to-patent-his-invention-as-saving-lives-is-more-important-than-money.shtml said that he has no interest in patenting it. The guy is a hospital psych tech -- and came up with his invention a few years ago, after a fellow psych tech in the hospital was strangled to death by a mentally ill patient, who did so by grabbing the lanyard all staff members are required to wear, which holds their "alarm button" in case of emergency. Not surprisingly, this and a few similar incidents, had staff members at the hospital quite wary of wearing the lanyards, even though they were required. So Mike Jarschke came up with a new lanyard design, which has three "breakaway" points that will snap if the lanyard is pulled too hard. The hospital tested it out, and now they've been issuing the new lanyards to staff. After all that, he had no interest in getting a patent.
Jarschke didn't bother to patent his invention. There are other things more important than money.

"When we get safety for this hospital, that's going to be way better than money for me," he said.
Of course, watch now as someone else tries to get a patent on it. Either way, this actually reminds me of some research we pointed to a few years ago, showing that the vast majority of inventions occur not because of the direct profit motive of selling a product on the market, but rather because someone is trying to solve a need for themselves. We see this over and over again, and it seems odd to have a patent system that covers those cases. It goes against every reasonable defense of the patent system. After all, the patent system is really only supposed to be an incentive to create a product that wouldn't exist but for the patent system being there to prop it up. And yet, patents are still granted on those kinds of inventions all the time. It's nice to see that at least some people don't see the need to go that far.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
]]> not-everyone-rushes-to-patent http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120919/13422020434 Mon, 4 Jun 2012 22:01:00 PDT Freemium Medical Care? Indian Hospital Shows That A Charitable Hospital Can Still Make A Profit Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120521/02595018985/freemium-medical-care-indian-hospital-shows-that-charitable-hospital-can-still-make-profit.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120521/02595018985/freemium-medical-care-indian-hospital-shows-that-charitable-hospital-can-still-make-profit.shtml and still making a profit in doing so. The trick appears to be a variation on the basic concepts of the "freemium" model (where you pay for higher levels of value) along with a price differentiation mechanism within the hospital. That is, the hospital puts people into different payment buckets based on their ability to pay -- such that it refuses no one, even if they can't pay at all. But, it also makes some of its profits by offering extra amenities at a premium. The medical care is the same for all, but other things cost extra:
At the Narayana, approximately 40 per cent of patients pay a reasonable price for their treatment, a small percentage - those who "want the frills of executive rooms" - pay a premium, a majority pays less than the market rate and 10 to 20 per cent pay virtually nothing. For the latter category, the hospital's charitable wing raises money to help compensate for the material costs of their treatment.

In any other hospital, those who could not afford to pay their medical bills would simply be sent away until they came up with the cash, but at the Narayana the hospital's charity wing helps them to find the money.
So, again, it appears that it's a "small" number who are paying those extras, but those really do help make the hospital profitable and allow it to continue on its overall mission.

Of course, the cynical might suggest that the hospital could be even more profitable if it only catered to those super wealthy who want the extras. But that's not necessarily the case. From the description in the article, the scale of the hospital operation here actually helps to keep costs low. So they actually get benefits of the economies of scale by running a large hospital which treats all-comers. That allows them to keep their actual marginal expenses lower than others, and then by offering premiums for those who can afford it, they're able to produce a profit. Interesting stuff...

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
]]> premiums http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120521/02595018985