Do you discuss costs?

[iMac]

I never told them and never do or will. If they ask, I have told them that we don't personally deal with finances and that I am now 100% sure of the costs (which is true).

I can't say I have had patients that were concerned enough about costs to ask me or my partners.

I do know how much the main fee is just for dialing 911 but it just goes up from there and I truely don't know how much the bills are. I could give you a good guess tho :wink:

[Christopher.Collins]

I can't say I have had patients that were concerned enough about costs to ask me or my partners.

Oh yea, Ive had them in full blown respritory distress manage to breath in enough air to say they cant afford it and will go by car... that a family member called 911

[emt322632]

I used to be of the opinion that if any patient had questions about billing policies, they could contact our billing department. This was when I was fairly new, didn't know how billing happened or how much rates were.

Now however, I can ballpark an estimate for them on the spot, and if they ask I will tell them what the costs may be.

I have had several rather unpleasant experiences when it comes to billing. Recently the head of the BOD where I work suggested that when we do ALS interfaces with neighboring agencies, we should advocate that we should transport so we can bill for mileage (something I refuse to do, I'm not playing musical stretchers on the side of the road)

My brother also had an experience at his previous place of employment where he was asked to rewrite a PCR because he said the pt ambulated under her own power to the stretcher. He was asked to rewrite it so it read that she was placed on the stretcher, in order to be more certain that Medicaid would cover it. Fraud at its best.

[iMac]

Do you folks charge for inter-facility transport?

[emt322632]

If and when we do interfacility transports we do bill for them. The agency I currently work for doesn't do interfacility transports, though we have been cleared by the local ER to do them.

[iMac]

That's really interesting. Here interfacility transfers cost nothing to the patient and are covered by our healthcare system.

[CBEMT]

One of my jobs bills and the other doesn't. Since I've been working 911, nobody at that job has ever asked me what the costs are. If they do, I'm completely honest- I have no clue what we charge. They will get a bill in the mail which they should then submit to their insurance.

If they don't have insurance I tell them that it can be dealt with later, knowing full well that if the patient stalls long enough the bill just goes away. But why spoil the surprise?

At my last job (private service) I knew the base rate and mileage charge, and my answer was exactly the same- mostly because 90% of my calls were from nursing homes and all of the facilities had contracts with our service for a different rate anyway.

[Ridryder 911]

Do you folks charge for inter-facility transport?

You bet!! That is the biggest income generator in EMS in the U.S.

[Christopher.Collins]

That's really interesting. Here interfacility transfers cost nothing to the patient and are covered by our healthcare system.

Well, next time I get seriously hurt or sick... Ill make sure Im in your area and outside a facility not equiped to handle me lol

[iMac]

haha there you go. I love our system