Logistic Toxicity
Like the author of a post on Forbes titled “Logistic Toxicity, An Unmeasured Burden Of Healthcare,” I too had never heard of the term “logistic toxicity.” As described, it refers to the difficulty patients who are being treated for cancer encounter when trying to deal with their treatments and the morass of separate bills they receive from separate providers over a long period of time, not to mention coordinating frequent medical appointments, arranging for time off of work, for childcare or caregiving.
All of these logistical requirements can compound the physical and financial toll of this terrible disease and the term “logistic toxicity” really got me thinking about the level of logistic toxicity that exists in our healthcare systems themselves – in addition to the emotional challenges faced by patients and their loved ones.
Healthcare operations continue to grow more vast and complex as hospitals and health systems affiliate and merge. With more moving parts in these expanded health systems, the need for a strategic approach to logistics has never been more pronounced.
As health systems grow larger and more diverse, there are simply more things and people going to more places, which creates even more complex logistics. Couple these increased logistics with the mandate to improve care quality, and it wouldn’t be too great of a stretch to find many healthcare organizations at risk of experiencing their own form of logistic toxicity.
I saw first hand how terribly frustrating it can be for a cancer patient to deal with all of the logistics and financial burdens placed on them during this time. My mother, who suffered from liver cancer would insist on seeing the bills and then get extremely upset and confused. Liver disease of any kind increases the ammonia levels in our bodies and causes the brain to act crazy. Who knew we even had ammonia naturally in our bodies!! Watching her suffer through the cancer was terrible enough but then add all of the medical insurance worries to it was heartbreaking to watch. And she had extremely good insurance and barely paid anything out of pocket. I cant imagine what it must be like for those with little or no insurance. Something has to give I wish I knew where to go to get things started to correct all of the abuses that insurance companies place on the sick.