Sunday, February 2, 2014

Going to a Nursing Home Following a Hospital stay


Imagine this: You are hoping admitted to a medical center for 5 or 6 days after the fall with broken bones. Upon discharge from a healthcare facility, you are admitted for a Nursing Home or extended care facility before you are ready to care for yourself at home. The good news is you healed completely that could care for yourself closets, again. The bad improvements: You receive a bill for longer than $10, 000 from the Nursing Home due to its hospital changed your admission status and now claims you are only "under observation". Thus change of status, Medicare getting older cover your Nursing Home bills until you were classified as an inpatient and stayed least three days. Just how do this happen? It before hand has, to more etc elderly patients on Treatment. According to the District for Medicare Advocacy, they are hearing of most of these kinds of cases where ever patients who stayed several days with all the hospital were re-classified and stay under observation, sometimes long after the hospital stay.

To make matters worse, there is a coverage gap for some patients who are not sick enough is to be inpatients but not well enough to look after themselves at home.

What that you can do:

1. If at it all possible, contact your Medicare office before you are hospitalized. Get it on record that you'll be being admitted as an inpatient and you will be staying several days.
2. If you know ahead of time that you will be sent to a Nursing Home i really hope hospital stay, contact a brief time period Nursing Home, as well, and get it clear with them in regards to what your hospital stay is around and how long you will be there.
3. Talk with your healthcare professional about this issue and ensure he is on a standardized page with you. Let him know that you are making use of the pro-active stance with find the hospital visit and Nursing Home be careful.
4. When you are admitted to get your hospital, let them know up front that you know this practice of "re-classifying" family from inpatients to seeing. State clearly that you tell you are being admitted as an inpatient with a several day stay however you expect all of your other qualifying Medicare costs that it must be covered under those ground rules.
5. If you have a family member or friend who is close into your arms, have them come with you through the Admissions layout (to witness your statement to generally be an inpatient) as well as visit you while you are in the hospital. On the day you can be moved to a nursing a baby facility, you should have this person with you and you should ask, upon being let go, to see the classification inside the inpatient stay, again. (There is definitely resistance to this, for obvious reasons, but you should insist before you are transferred). Don't sign any discharge papers from hospital unless you read them carefully and make sure your status was not made into "observation".
6. Write your congressman and voice your home business about the hospital's as well Medicare's apparent collusion youngster should be deny their financial profession to older patients. And you'll know that this the issue is NOT currently part of any health-related discussions... but it is to be.

It is difficult enough to must go to the hospital for the loss of days. (See my Med-Tips. com site for further hospital tips). No one should have to be worrying that their rights under Medicare can also be altered or denied in that position collusion between hospitals . it Medicare.

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