Septicemia, heart failure and joint replacement among top regional procedures

With more and more people concerned about not having affordable health care coverage in the future, the American Hospital Directory highlights that septicemia, heart failure, and joint replacement are among the top medical procedures throughout our region.

Septicemia is a life-threatening complication typically caused by infection.

“Mostly in the winter time our sepsis rates go high because most of the patients in the winter population do come in with flu and then it gets complicated with a bacterial infection on top of it,” said Bharat Magu, Chief Medical Officer for Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC). “So sepsis is a syndrome for any infection which overwhelms the body’s defense mechanism.”

When comparing the cost of treating septicemia, YRMC is the most cost-efficient at $11,444, according to the American Hospital Directory. El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC) charges $13,776 while Pioneers Memorial Hospital costs $13,252.

The second most common procedure is treating heart failure and stroke.

“In an effort to help fight this disease the government has said to us, try to keep these people out of the hospitals do everything you can,” said Christian Tomaszewski, Chief Medical Officer for ECRMC. “The problem with that philosophy is we may be unnecessarily sending people home to early and that’s why those patients ended up being re-admitted often and count against us.”

When it comes to treating heart failure and shock, all hospitals varied in price but remained within a thousand dollars of one another. Prices ranged from $9,421 to $10,816, according to the American Hospital Directory.

The major joint replacement was another common procedure throughout the three hospitals.

The hospital that was the most cost efficient in treating joint replacement is YRMC at $16,404. The cost at Pioneer Memorial Hospital is $18,048 while ECRMC charges $18,048.