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Hospital Shakes Down Post-Op Patients, In Their Beds

Once upon a time, people in hospital beds fresh out of surgery were off limits for bill collectors. That, apparently, is no longer the case. I spent all last week sitting at St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake City with my dad, who had knee replacement surgery last Tuesday morning. St. Mark's used to be a nonprofit hospital, run by the Episcopal Church. Today, though, the hospital is owned by HCA, the Nashville-based hospital chain founded by the family of former Senate majority leader Bill Frist. Frist's brother and nephew are still on the HCA board of directors. Given my dad's experience with HCA, I am greatly relieved that Frist is no longer making health care policy in this country.

Among the many hospital personnel who stopped in to see my father after surgery was a "financial counselor" from the billing office, who basically started stalking him from the minute he left the intensive care unit. After making several unsuccessful visits to his room on Tuesday and Wednesday, she slipped her card under the door asking my dad to call her. A little busy recovering from major surgery, my dad didn't get around to it. So on Thursday, the woman called him on the phone in his room, waking him from a much needed painkiller-induced nap to demand a $1500 down payment on his surgery.

Still connected to IVs, a morphine pump and creepy-looking blood drains, my dad had enough to worry about without getting hassled by the billing office, like dying from a blood clot, or acquiring a drug-resistant infection from the guy in the next room. (Family and hospital staff alike were visiting the guy barehanded despite a big sign on his door warning people not to come within three feet of him without gowns, gloves and masks.) So I went down to the billing office to complain. A supervisor informed me that the counselor was making a "courtesy call" to inform my dad of the limits of his insurance policiy, but she acknowledged that it was hospital policy to wrest as much cash as humanly possible out of patients before they leave the building.

I told the supervisor that hassling post-op patients was incredibly inappropriate, especially given that most of them were too doped up on painkillers to even sign a consent form, much less negotiate billing options. If the hospital had wanted to discuss payment issues, it could have done so when my dad pre-registered with the hospital two weeks earlier. After some perfunctory apologies and some lame excuses, the woman thanked me for the feedback and I left. Later a nurse told us another patient had also complained of a similar shakedown, and she said the nurses were horrified but powerless to do anything about it.

What was particularly insidious about all this was that the hospital was trying to wring cash out of vulnerable patients before the bills even went to their insurance companies. My dad had already paid his deductibles and he didn't have a co-payment for hospital charges. The hospital simply wanted to get paid before the surgeon and other folks also owned money for the procedure, and was claiming the entire out-of-pocket max of his insurance plan, money it might not even be entitled to at the end of the day. Fortunately, my dad understood all this immediately, despite the painkillers, and declared that he would not be paying the hospital a dime until his insurance company processed the claims. The only thing the hospital would get from him in the meantime was a heap of ill will.

Comments

Nurses are not powerless to do anything about it. I am a nurse and NO ONE enters my patients room without the permission of the patient and ME! My patients recovery and positive outcome from their encounter with the healthcare system is MY RESPONSIBILITY and the mandate of my license, which includes lame hospital policies, thoughtless or predatory administrators, and/or any business office personnel who might have other concerns than the patients positive outcome! Should any nurse feel sqeamish or reticent about this, they should only turn to the terms of the nurse practice act governing their state of practice. Should the hospital have some lame and rediculous policy regarding this, than it should be made public through all media outlets and the nurse should find another job or if well placed, use their power for change. There are more than ample opportunities to change employers, and the best way to advocate for corporate compassion and change is to hit them where itr hurts. There is still a nursing shortage, and it grows incresingly critical. Hospitals attempting to behave like corporate thugs (HCA is once of them, and Frist is their senatorial pimp) need to be called on the carpet...publically.

Posted by: MEJ on 03/04/08 at 8:54 AM Respond

I am glad to hear there is still a nurse out there that actually cares about her patients. As I spent last week in and out of St. Marks with my father as well I noticed that it was very hard to find a nurse when you needed one and if you press the call button they would come on the intercom with a "Can I help you?" with a tone that sounded more like a what do you want now. Um gee just his pain medication, so sorry to interrupt your texting.

We were also told that someone should stay the night with him due to the nurses coming from a temp agency and things sometimes went missing.

Should you need to worry about your shoes and cash, that you need incase you want a Subway sandwich to replace that nasty hospital food, while you are trying to recover in a hospital?

What happened to the medical community that made you feel like you are in good hands? Has the entire community turned into a money hungry, cell phone texting, lazy group?

Posted by: MMM on 03/04/08 at 9:25 AM Respond

Private hospitals make as much sense as private police departments.

Posted by: Eric Ferguson on 03/04/08 at 11:33 AM Respond

My mom died due to hospital negligence. You would push the nurse button and nobody would come, but they would gladly shut off the light to guarantee nobody would come.

Just avoid the Resurrection Medical Center all together, especially on Talcott and especially in Chicago.

We got a bill for services rendered only 4 days after she died in the hospital.

They've also managed to loose her $300 glasses.

Posted by: shdwsclan on 05/25/08 at 11:39 AM Respond