Posted on 06/24/2015 8:14:41 AM PDT by mac_truck
Days spent in the hospital as an outpatient, rather than being officially admitted, can leave Medicare patients with bigger bills.
It's bad enough spending three or more days in a hospital -- undergoing a barrage of medical tests and procedures. Brace yourself for even more pain at discharge if the hospital tells you that you were actually never admitted but were on Medicare "observation status." That designation could cost you big time.
Hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries who are under observation are considered outpatients, even if they spend many days in the hospital. If you find yourself in this boat, there's a chance you'll pay more for services than if you had been formally admitted. Observation patients are also ineligible for certain extended-care benefits.
In 2012, the number of hospital patients under observation status rose to 1.8 million, up 88% from 2006, according to federal data. During the same period, hospital admissions dropped. Federal investigators have found, though, that observation patients show similar symptoms as those admitted to the hospital. "It just doesn't make sense," says Toby Edelman, senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy.
When it comes to how Medicare covers your hospital stay, your designation makes all the difference.
(Excerpt) Read more at kiplinger.com ...
Fedguv to old Americans: “Just die, already.”
“Ah, ye SUCKERS!”
Just a minor oversight...I am sure Boehner and company is on it...
“Fedguv to old Americans: “Just die, already.””
Yep - very true.
And one of the LIV TV personalities, either Whoopi Goldberg or Oprah said on air that the ‘old white folks should just die’. I think that was Whoopi.
‘Course that’s not racist or mean spirited or anything.
This sounds like the type of hospital “policy” that Michelle Obama would have promoted in her Chicago gig—screw the patients and maximize net money to the hospital.
Been there, done that.
Exactly Mrs. RQSR’s response after I read/shouted the article to her.
I've known about this “observation” problem since it was put in the rules for Medicare. If one goes into the hospital, one MUST have the doctor treating the case to enter the patient as an “admitted in patient”.
Something else to watch about your meds listed by the doctor on your record at his/her office:
I take a very small dose of Amitriptyline for fibromyalgia. That med in large doses was used for depression at the beginning of it coming onto the market. In later years, it was found the med, in a very small dose, stopped excess electricity going to muscles so it is used for fibro and other neurological problems.
One day after I left the doctor's office, I looked at the sheet I was given for that visit. It listed my meds and the reason for taking them - sure enough, it said I was taking Amitriptyline for depression.
When I got home, I wrote a letter to the doctor to change that. The next time I was there, I asked the doctor WHY they put depression on there. His answer was disgusting: “Oh, they just go down the list of uses for a med, and put the first one they see.”
If I had let “depression” stay on there, and Obama doesn't want to let someone taking antidepressants have a weapon - I would have been cooked right there. If that happened, no way would Obama’s “Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives United States Department of Justice” believe me I wasn't taking that for depression.
So, check your doctor's record as to why you are taking each one of your meds.
BFL
We know you are sick, but the Medicare bureaucracy has officially classified you as “less than well”.
Our hospital now has many obs beds just for this reason. The gov is determined to part the elderly from their assets.
The gov punishes the hospitals financially for having too many elderly hospital admissions. So the hospitals are motivated.
Were you billed as an out patient or did you insist on being admitted?
I don’t think that applies to Medicare Advantage. My Mom’s insurance has a 24 hour “observation” outpatient clause. After 24 hours you are formally admitted to the hospital.
I’m wondering if it’s best to have an on-call arrangement with a lawyer whenever one enters a hospital. Not just to get admitted, but to get out in a way to minimize personal expenses.
Good information to have at hand for anyone who is on Medicare.
You are so wrong. The hospital actually makes more money from inpatient status. Medicare sets the rules for inpatient and observation status, and if the hospital guesses wrong, they not only lose the payment for that patient, but can lose a percentage of their medicare payments overall. Medicare is driving this one
Again, it is not up to the admitting physician what your status is. It is up to very strict medicare guidelines. Put the blame where it is due.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.