r 0
o
See Story 011 10
VOL. V 0.15 ARCH 1 - 22,_'
ha e forced the
Health C e
hich oper e
edicaid pati nt
no 10 er
in me
encie ch cutb
simply . t co and could e entually
result in health care crisis for the poor
the unemployed and the uninsured.'
Verlin Harder, ° e pre 'dent of
fin c for the hospit ration
. th t ercy and emorial Hospitals
h ve 10 more than 60,000 in edi­
caid reimbu ment e ch month since
S� ember 1982 for outpatient rvices
provided 0 ed·· recipient Th t
en the . higan Department
'" ..... _".... refusi to pay
erne cy room bills and
p )1Ilent for other outpat ° nt
rvice if th re n for tre tment did
not meet ne guideline 'life-threaten-
or re lting in permanent disability."
"Since ptember, the ho ita! have
delayed billin charges and continued to
provide emergency and outpati nt r­
vice bile effort ere underway to
find alternate solution in hopes that
th State of ichigan ould change
reimbu ment guidelines" H rder said.
"The hospital can no longer sorb
the reduction in r· unements and
are forced to beam billing edi id
p tients for co not paid by the Depart­
ment of Social Service ," he ·d.
Anyone in of health Care ould
medical hel ," ey ld. ''The
hospital will conti ue to provide emer­
gency medical care to 0 ho ne d it.
And e ill attempt to help tho who
are not erne e y p tients but ant to
doctor by providin tre tment
t our Ambul tory Clinics as ell
referrals to private phy ician ."
, 0 one in need of emergency care
ill be turned a ay from our emergency
room "he id.
, In many c ho ever, it is to any
pati nt' economic dvan e not to u
an emergency room,' ac ey
"For non-emergency care it i les
expensive to vi it a clinic or e a private
phy . cian,"
mergency rooms are designed affed
and I equipped to deal ith medical
emergencies that require immediate treat­
ment and cannot be handled in doctor's
office said Ed in Vann, D., Chief
of the Emergency edicine Department.
Dr. Vann e im ted that about one­
half of the 90 000 000 nnual emergency
visit in the U.S. are for illne s or in­
juries that are not real emer en ies.
T in Citie re ident made more than
50 000 visits to ercy Hospital and
ernorial Hospital emergency room la t
ye he said. ' any of the vi its ere
for colds omach up t or b ic injury
treatment th t would have been far more
economical to reat t a doctor's office
- or else thorne."
° Dr. Vann said patient shou d definite­
Iy e immediate emergency room care
under the folIo ing circumstances:
- if the patient is unconsciou
deliriou or has suffered sub tantial
blood 10
- if there i numbne or extreme
IS
I
o
pain at any point in the body, or
re riction of movement of a
limb or joint
if the injury i a bite of any kind
if the ound is deep or puncture
ound or c used by ru y or
dirty object, or if any object is
embedded in the ound
c ey id that th ho ital are
establishing programs to publicize co t­
effici nt alternatives to emergen y room
care, and to help edicaid p ti nts
"caught in the crunch" pay their hos-
pitals bill .
Therefore, ercy and emorial Ho -
pitals are being forced by the Department
of So ial Service to collect from edi­
c id re ipients that portion of their
Emergency Room bill that ill m?t be
paid by edicaid. e recognize th t
on we begin sendin out bills hich
ill 0 cur shortly p to nt m y not
prepared to pay immedi tely.
ist them in any re n ble
makin arrangements for the bill to be
paid n id.
ill
y b