Many of you have spent time in an emergency room. Some as the patient and some as the spouse, child or friend. It is a difficult time for everyone. In addition to the medical issues of life and death there are lesser issues of care, rehabilitation, and most of all, sometimes, money. Hospitals are expensive. Who will pay? Sometimes the answer is not who you think it will be. Perhaps you have insurance or Medicare or a Medicare supplement. They will surely pay, right? Not always.
It is possible to be in the hospital without being coded as being in the hospital. You can be “in” the hospital but treated and billed as an outpatient. You can even go up to one of the floors for a day or two, eat the food, take some meds, have some lab work done, yet you are nonetheless considered an “outpatient.”
How is this possible? Two words that have a massive impact not only for who will pay the hospital bill, but who will pay for skilled rehab. Those two words are “admission” and “observation”. Do you know the difference? You better.
It is now more important than ever that you understand these two words. Make sure that one of your first calls when someone goes to the hospital is to me. Together we can discuss the strategies that could save your family thousands.