Re: Re: Itemized Hospital Bills

April 11, 2003

Patty,

You are right on about the insurance company being willing to compensate any

identification of fraud. Medicare has a statement to that affect on the

Explanation Benefits.

It is interesting that you mentioned being charged for meals when Cassie was

NPO. That is surprising that they wouldn't know she wasn't able to eat. But

it is truly a sad day when charging for patient meals. Guest trays, I

understand, but what happened to the " room and bed " charge?

I guess that is charging for the room you are staying in and the bed you are

sleeping in. Speaking of the bed charges. There are some places that charge

for " bedding " or " bed change. " Make sure you are actually getting a fresh set

of clean sheets when they come in to make your bed.

Another note about the medication charges Heidi asked about is that many

hospitals are now charging for " medication administration. " That is a fee for

the nurse getting the pill from the medication cart and putting it in the

medication cup and handing it to you. As a matter of fact, almost everything

nurses do now are getting a price tag ... " starting an IV, " " venipuncture, "

" checking vital signs. " Nursing is one of the greatest expenses a hospital

has. Charging for the care the nurse gives was to enable the hospital to

increase the patient to nurse ratio. I am not I have seen that.

I think I will add a section on " recording the services delivered while in

the hospital " and a section on " cross referencing the itemized hospital bill "

in the patient manual the PAI is putting out. I will be on the look out for

ideas or input anyone has. For example, there should be a section on

" visiting the business office prior to discharge. " There will be information

as well as forms to use in collecting data. I am working on getting a grant

to fund this project so this manual can be available as a free resource to

anyone with Pancreatitis.

Karyn

Karyn E. , RN

Founder / Executive Director

Pancreatitis Association International

Corp. Office: Indps, IN, USA 1-

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