Posts Tagged ‘rehabilitation’

You are wearing the plastic ID bracelet on your arm, you are in the bed, and you are being cared for by healthcare professionals wearing name badges from your local hospital. All the external clues tell you that you are, in fact, in the hospital. But, everything may not be as it seems.

With increasing frequency hospitals are providing multi-day treatment for patients they are classifying as outpatients. The treatment you get while you are technically not admitted may not look any different from the person in the next bed who is, in fact, admitted. The real kicker is that your admission status may be switched retroactively!

A lot is at stake for Medicare beneficiaries who are mostly elderly and may not be in the best position to advocate for themselves following a hospitalization. Hospital fees normally covered under Medicare Part A may be billed to the beneficiary. Equally devastating, an older adult needing rehabilitation in a skilled nursing facility may find Medicare denying coverage for the cost of their treatment because they were not designated as an inpatient during their hospital stay.

The Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc.’s article “Observation Services”: What Can Beneficiaries and Advocates Do? provides detailed information to help beneficiaries and their advocates take heart and take action if it looks like the admission status has been inappropriately classified as observation or outpatient.

With all that the elderly and their caregivers have to cope with during any medical event requiring hospitalization, this is one headache they could do without. Having an advocate is immeasurably important. I know. It’s what I do.

Proud to be an advocate,
Connie