Quote Originally Posted by RICHARD View Post
The paperwork must get done. I know, I made and pushed 30 years worth.

The government BS is DRGs.

I have done this before but everyone needs to know this.

A Diagnosis Related Group/ICD are codes assigned to illnesses that the government standardizes. The hospital bill according to those codes. Each code has an assigned average as to how many days a patient, with that illness, can stay in the hospital.

If you have an appendectomy the hospital bills for two days, If you get peritonitis, you get more time, but it that peritonitis is really bad, they have to code another illness to make sure they make money on that stay. Otherwise, they lose money.

The doctor signs an attestation saying that his diagnosis and other stuff is correct and the forms that I remember had the "This needs to be correct our we are going to fine you......."

The doc is under the gun to make 'sure' you are out of the hospital no longer than deemed necessary. The hospitals lean heavily on them to get people out. (I remember seeing people being discharged, then coming back in to the hospital a few days later, to start a new billing for their sickness, all because the docs could not keep them in the hospital.)

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At one point, physicians were asked not order tests, as a cost saving measure. One doctor leaked the memo and people were very upset with that news.

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Knee replacements? Holy poop!

Some Ortho surgeries are a scam.

Our hospital deemed it a good thing to rent all the drills and saws. When one broke, we had to send it out to be fixed and the 'salesperson' would bring a replacement in and charge for the repair of the tool, bringing in a new one and bringing the repaired implement back.

Do not talk about the cost of pins, screws and rods. Suture sales people are also scammers.

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Look at your next hospital bill and ASK FOR A DETAILED BILL.

These days a hospital charges on an "average admission".

A computer tracks all the supplies for an admitting diagnosis and prints out a 'pick list' as to what they assume you will need.

So, If you deliver a baby and go home in a few hours? You will be billed for the supplies that the use on average for a delivery.....




So, the influx of 50 million people, into a system that is barely slogging along, is very disconcerting and not a very good idea.
You mention the government standardizes what goes down as how far the doctor can go treating a patient with codes, is this for people who don't have any insurance? We have a supplement insurance along with medicare. I have seen where the hospital must of overcharged & ended up writing if off.