Today I get a call from the nurse (not even an administrator!) telling me they will no longer transport him to his doctor because it costs the facility $700 each time. Doesn't Medicaid pay this? Anyone else have this issue? Anyone know anything they can share or point me in the direction of who to talk to?
Thanks!
I would ask the doctor that question first.
Did Dad just go on Medicaid? If the NH has their own transport, maybe it was covered under Private pay. Now he is on Medicaid they can't bill them. Medicare usually doesn't pay for non-emergency transport.
My daughter is an RN working 20 years in rehabs/nh facilities. Recently, I found she knows the difference between Medicare and Medicaid (which at her age a lot of people don't) but she really doesn't know how they work, what they do and don't do. So like any business, don't expect a Nurse to know how the billing department works. Actually like you, I would wonder why an RN is calling you and not the billing dept.
I too would question why Dad needs to see to continue to see a urologist. My DH has been going every 6 months. He has had no change since a procedure he had before COVID. So I told him to ask since he is stable, could they go a year. Dr. told him he wants to do one more test and then seeing DH once a year would be ok. My Mom had bladder cancer at the age of 80. Once she was stable her appts went to once a year. After 5 years, he still wanted to see her and do a scope. By this time she was into her Dementia and living in an AL. She didn't like to be touched and really didn't understand what was going on. So I stopped taking her. If she had gotten bladder cancer again, we would not have treated it anyway.
If Dad is so bad he needs to be transported, I probably would have stopped sending him.