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Written by Dr. DO
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Monday, 30 March 2009 23:29 |
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There is a common misconception that insurance companies won't pay for an ER visit if a patient signs out AMA. From what I understand, this is not true. However, I have often heard nurses threaten patients with this. I had a family member today who was uninsured who brought in his son who was also uninsured. The son turned out to have a testicular torsion. I quickly called the urologist who took him straight to surgery and saved his testicle. Later, the same family member brought in his wife who had passed out with the stress of her son going to surgery. After a thorough evaluation, I informed them I would be sending her home. The patient was very understanding and grateful. Her husband, however, became very angry.
He told me I shouldn't let her go home and kept telling me that she had insurance. He said that I was going to make her sign out AMA and cause her insurance not to pay for her ER visit. I explained to him that she was not signing out AMA, but was being discharged. I also explained to them both that it makes no difference to me whether or not somebody has insurance. The only reason I look at a patient's insurance status is to help determine which doctor to admit them to if they need to be admitted (because some doctors have contracts with particular insurance companies). It does not change my treatment of my patients and it has never kept me from admitting someone to the hospital as long as the patient agrees to the admission. It was frustrating on multiple levels. As ER physicians, we are some of the only doctors who treat patients the same regardless of insurance or ability to pay. It's frustrating when someone perceives that they are being treated differently due to lack of insurance...or when they don't understand why they or a family member isn't being admitted because their insurance would pay for it. It's really pretty simple. If a patient needs to be in the hospital, I will get them in. If they don't, I send them home. I was also frustrated by this particular situation because it is not often that you treat two family members in the same day. I felt that after helping to save his son's testicle and personally arranging outpatient care by calling specialists at home would warrant something besides being yelled at. Fortunately, I didn't become a doctor to be thanked by every patient I cared for. What I can say is that I know that I helped some people today. And that feels good. |
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 April 2009 22:16 |
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