regarding hospital contracts
Joyce Perrone
Description
Collection
Title:
regarding hospital contracts
Creator:
Joyce Perrone
Date:
12/14/2007
Text:
About Hospital Contracts posting below. The key word is CONTRACT. I
wonder how this contract was written? Was this ever an agreement
between the O&P and the hospital? We run up against some pretty
rapacious hospitals as does everyone. But have found that there are
ways to overcome this type of attitude (sometimes!) that we are
non-profits. While they usually have some bunker of money for charity
care, we do not. You may want to ask them how they deal with patients
without coverage? Is it a total write off? Or do they have endowments
for the uninsured and indigent? The bigger question is that we have
patient's walk in our doors every day without coverage - we have a
policy to handle them. When they are in a hospital, I wonder why that
process changes? We know that we have to react for two reasons - 1) the
patient needs the item desperately for their health 2) our other
customer- the doctor/hospital is not into seeing us cherry pick only the
'good' patients. It's similar to not delivering shoes to a nursing home
but wanting them to give you the prosthetic. Think about that.
This is the niche of healthcare delivery system that we live in. So you
have to go back to the table and find out how can I work closer to the
hospital (know the folks who can give you good information on the
patient so you can collect if possible), work out a better contract
with self pay folks built into it, have a solid process to gather
patient information so you can increase the probability of collecting
from that patient. The hospital is not required to do anything - just
like you are not required to do anything. Their only requirement is to
stabilize a person coming in the ER. They can turf them from there if
they want to. I think there are some inner city exceptions on how the
hospital is set up, but that is in the minority. Most can stop the
bleeding and send you for a ride elsewhere. You are not required to
give the patient a free brace - you can say no - and you can lose the
contract because someone else figured out how to either get paid, or to
absorb the cost of the brace for those few.
That said - the majority of people are willing to pay - despite the
grumbling we hear. If they weren't we would all be in another line of
business or we would all be at poverty level. Look at the stats in
your own office -how many people stick you with their bill? If it's
above that 5% line, you've got bigger problems than any hospital
contract will solve. Again, if you are in a poverty zone, you have
bigger issues to deal with not just at the hospital level! Fix your
processes, streamline to be more efficient. I see so much WASTE in o&p
practices it makes me crazy. Waste that we can control. It's the
serenity prayer - God grant me the serenity to accept the things I
cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know
the difference.
Joyce J Perrone
De La Torre O&P, Inc & PROMISE Consulting, Inc
300 Alpha Drive Pgh PA 15238
412-599-1112 Cell: 412-849-7750
From: Orthotics and Prosthetics List [mailto:<Email Address Redacted>] On
Behalf Of JOY CHARLTON
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 9:48 AM
To: <Email Address Redacted>
Subject: [OANDP-L] hospital contracts
To those of you out there that have contracts to provide services to
inpatients at local hospitals, how do you deal with non-insured
patients? We may have been living in a fantasy land, but up until a few
days ago, the hospital reimbursed us for services we provided to
non-insureds. They are now saying that they will no longer be doing this
and we should direct bill the patient. In the past when we have done
this we were never able to collect from the patient. We are a small O&P
shop and absorbing this loss would be a big issue.
My biggest question is how do we get consent from a patient to accept a
device and the financial responsibility for the device when the patient
is incapacitated (unconscious, altered mental state, etc.)? And, isn't
the hospital required to provide any medical care the patient needs
regardless of insurance status? Many of the patients we fit are unable
to leave their beds without the ordered brace, so they essentially have
no choice in whether they receive the brace or not. Why should we
become financially liable for a patient that they have assumed
responsibility for when they admitted them? On a side note, we do give a
significant discount to the hospital when we bill them.Joy W.
CharltonOffice ManagerCentral Texas Orthotics and Prosthetics, LP2112 E.
Villa MariaBryan, TX 77802979-731-1985fax 979-776-8447
wonder how this contract was written? Was this ever an agreement
between the O&P and the hospital? We run up against some pretty
rapacious hospitals as does everyone. But have found that there are
ways to overcome this type of attitude (sometimes!) that we are
non-profits. While they usually have some bunker of money for charity
care, we do not. You may want to ask them how they deal with patients
without coverage? Is it a total write off? Or do they have endowments
for the uninsured and indigent? The bigger question is that we have
patient's walk in our doors every day without coverage - we have a
policy to handle them. When they are in a hospital, I wonder why that
process changes? We know that we have to react for two reasons - 1) the
patient needs the item desperately for their health 2) our other
customer- the doctor/hospital is not into seeing us cherry pick only the
'good' patients. It's similar to not delivering shoes to a nursing home
but wanting them to give you the prosthetic. Think about that.
This is the niche of healthcare delivery system that we live in. So you
have to go back to the table and find out how can I work closer to the
hospital (know the folks who can give you good information on the
patient so you can collect if possible), work out a better contract
with self pay folks built into it, have a solid process to gather
patient information so you can increase the probability of collecting
from that patient. The hospital is not required to do anything - just
like you are not required to do anything. Their only requirement is to
stabilize a person coming in the ER. They can turf them from there if
they want to. I think there are some inner city exceptions on how the
hospital is set up, but that is in the minority. Most can stop the
bleeding and send you for a ride elsewhere. You are not required to
give the patient a free brace - you can say no - and you can lose the
contract because someone else figured out how to either get paid, or to
absorb the cost of the brace for those few.
That said - the majority of people are willing to pay - despite the
grumbling we hear. If they weren't we would all be in another line of
business or we would all be at poverty level. Look at the stats in
your own office -how many people stick you with their bill? If it's
above that 5% line, you've got bigger problems than any hospital
contract will solve. Again, if you are in a poverty zone, you have
bigger issues to deal with not just at the hospital level! Fix your
processes, streamline to be more efficient. I see so much WASTE in o&p
practices it makes me crazy. Waste that we can control. It's the
serenity prayer - God grant me the serenity to accept the things I
cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know
the difference.
Joyce J Perrone
De La Torre O&P, Inc & PROMISE Consulting, Inc
300 Alpha Drive Pgh PA 15238
412-599-1112 Cell: 412-849-7750
From: Orthotics and Prosthetics List [mailto:<Email Address Redacted>] On
Behalf Of JOY CHARLTON
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 9:48 AM
To: <Email Address Redacted>
Subject: [OANDP-L] hospital contracts
To those of you out there that have contracts to provide services to
inpatients at local hospitals, how do you deal with non-insured
patients? We may have been living in a fantasy land, but up until a few
days ago, the hospital reimbursed us for services we provided to
non-insureds. They are now saying that they will no longer be doing this
and we should direct bill the patient. In the past when we have done
this we were never able to collect from the patient. We are a small O&P
shop and absorbing this loss would be a big issue.
My biggest question is how do we get consent from a patient to accept a
device and the financial responsibility for the device when the patient
is incapacitated (unconscious, altered mental state, etc.)? And, isn't
the hospital required to provide any medical care the patient needs
regardless of insurance status? Many of the patients we fit are unable
to leave their beds without the ordered brace, so they essentially have
no choice in whether they receive the brace or not. Why should we
become financially liable for a patient that they have assumed
responsibility for when they admitted them? On a side note, we do give a
significant discount to the hospital when we bill them.Joy W.
CharltonOffice ManagerCentral Texas Orthotics and Prosthetics, LP2112 E.
Villa MariaBryan, TX 77802979-731-1985fax 979-776-8447
Citation
Joyce Perrone, “regarding hospital contracts,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 1, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/228845.
