TO: Heidi and Karyn.........hospital charges/medical records!

[Guest guest]

I have been reading with much interest the posts abou the hospital

charges and obtaining medical records.

I am working on a couple of very lengthy posts about obtaining your

medical records and how to make sure your hospital charges are

correct, are correctly billed to the insurance companies and

reimbursed correctly.

Heidi, you are correct in questioning those charges because we have

a lifetime max! I have been there, done that so to speak. Having

had almost $200,000 reimbursed to my insurance company for

inaccurate charges, this is a pet peeve of mine. My situation is

also different as my husband works for the hospital I have to use

therefore, his insurance is as a hospital employee for the hospital

that is doing the inaccurate billing! If any of you remember the

old Tennessee Ernie Ford son abou 16 tons and what do you get,

ending with " I owe my soul to the company store. " That is my

situation.

I have been charged for such things as home use of Versed, to having

6 pregnancy tests in one hospitalization and I had had a

hysterectomy 15 years prior to thousands of dollars of home nursing

care when I was not under any kind of home nursing! Obviously there

is no such thing as home use of Versed and the other charges are

self-explanatory. These are among the few.

Also, as far as medical records go, I am working on a post about

that that is quite lengthy also. But I will tell you that in North

Carolina and I am sure other states, there is a law that if there

are inaccuracies in your hospital records you have the right to go

to the Medical Record Department by appointment, review those

records and have them corrected! I have been in the hospital 41

times in 5 years and I have cartons and cartons of medical records.

Believe me there are inaccuracies in there you would not believe not

to mention transcription errors in medications etc. This is one law

I have wanted to take the MR Department up on, but with hubby being

an employee it coudl cause a lot of problems for him. I feel like I

am always in a bind because of it. I have in the past reviewed

others records and told them where the mistakes were and what to do

about it. Whether they have taken the advice or not I could not

tell you.

I will get these two files to you Karyn as soon as I can. They

should probably go in the data base as something permanent.

Take care all.

Kaye

[Guest guest]

I have a story about this issue too...don't we all !?

I was trying to get into the pain clinic at the VA (remember I work

there also) for treatment of my fibromyalgia. I got as far as the

introductory meeting and the first few doctor visits...I was being

interviewed by several doctors at once...I had just gotten over my

first panc attack that put me in the hospital...I was talking about

how in some ways it was the best thing to happen to me because I had

always struggled with my weight, my cholesterol etc were out of

sight, my cardiac risk was very high, etc and that this served as a

wake up call...I had changed my eating patterns, I had lost 30

pounds, I was feeling much better and in charge...

I think this is perfectly clear what I was saying...what did the

doctor write in my chart !?

" Patient states that pancreatitis attack was the best thing that ever

happened to her " ...end of statement !!!! HUH?

By the time I found this out it was many years later and I was LIVID!

And the doctor was dead so I couldn't even take it up with him !!!!

You have to watch every little thing they do!

Hugs, Jeannine