{"id":431,"date":"2010-03-14T19:00:58","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T02:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/hultquist\/?p=431"},"modified":"2010-03-14T19:00:58","modified_gmt":"2010-03-15T02:00:58","slug":"weekend-keeping-up-keeping-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/?p=431","title":{"rendered":"WEEKEND — keeping up, keeping track"},"content":{"rendered":"

By week end my 4-wheeled walker is still the borrowed one from the PT folks at the rehab facility.\u00a0 There was no word from the approved provider that was going to see about one with 7.5 inch wheels. Likewise, there was no word on my request of a review of the \u201capproved for a new PT place\u201d so that too is still on hold. Timely<\/em> apparently is not part of the concept of health care recovery.<\/p>\n

Late-week mail brought two interesting items.<\/p>\n

1. Back on Dec. 14 & 16 (Nancy is in the ICU) something was done by the cardiologists and described as \u201cSubsequent Hospital\u201d and billed for $120 each time.\u00a0 A statement arrived dated Jan. 29 indicating the insurance would not pay for these two things and we should send $240.\u00a0 John tried to call but got a phone-tree and so he wrote a letter stating his understanding of the insurer\u2019s denial to pay for something \u201cSubsequent Hospital\u201d when the patient was still in the hospital.\u00a0 Now we have a new statement.\u00a0 This one seems to indicate that the bill was resubmitted to the insurer and they then paid $99.60 which settled the 12\/14 debt of $120 but left the other untouched.\u00a0 Again, there is no explanation of what these charges are for nor why if the insurer can get by with paying only $99.60 of $120 we still have to pay the full $120.\u00a0 Also, were these things the same (the code of 99232 and description and cost is the same) and, if so, why didn\u2019t the insurer pay both of them?\u00a0 We are still left wondering what we are being asked to pay for and why.<\/p>\n

2. In response to a self-serving survey form from the insurer about a Case Management nurse calling program (talk-talk-nurse program<\/em>) John wrote a letter.\u00a0 A couple of weeks ago we were called by a nurse from Spokane.\u00a0 She was the expected replacement in October for a nurse that called occasionally from Kennewick who was booted out of the process by the insurer when she didn\u2019t agree to move to Spokane. This new talk-talk-nurse, in a response to a question from John, referred us to our EOBS.\u00a0 John slowed her down, stopped her, and had her back up and explain what our EOBS were.\u00a0 When the company pays a bill, or doesn\u2019t pay, they then send a printout to you with the title \u201cExplanation of Benefits.\u201d\u00a0 This is an EOB. The talk-talk-nurse was surprised we didn\u2019t have any EOBs.\u00a0 Because we did not have any we had no idea about the cost of Nancy\u2019s long hospital and rehabilitation stay.\u00a0 The nurse promised to alert the company\u2019s computers and have our EOBs printed and sent.\u00a0 A packet of about 40 arrived on Saturday.\u00a0\u00a0 The $$ amounts are frightening.\u00a0 We will summarize them for you later.\u00a0 One item, the blood for the open heart surgery, exceeded $10,000.<\/p>\n

Change of topic: \u00a0Saturday we did go to a retirement community and I walked in with John\u2019s help, my pillow, and him with my violin .. and took a chair I could get up from.\u00a0\u00a0 We had a great turn-out and most everyone joined in singing many songs (the Irish ones, we provided words for).\u00a0 We went home for an hour, and then off to the Children of Chernobyl fund raiser with a dinner, program and silent auction.\u00a0 We got in at the front of the line with my walker and proceeded along the buffet with servers adding small dollops of things to my plate that was riding on the seat of the walker. I managed to eat a good meal, encountered many friends and enjoyed the program.<\/p>\n

Now today, Sunday, is a non-event day.\u00a0 We have been resting and doing computer email.\u00a0 I was able to write a letter of recommendation for a former student from Thailand that I had in an Intro GIS (Geographic Information Systems) class two years ago.\u00a0 He is applying to graduate school in Texas and California, and, via computer, I contacted both places today.\u00a0 Until ex-students settle firmly into careers these sorts of chores crop up.<\/p>\n

With no outings planned, after lunch we walked up the driveway and back, for my daily exercise. There were lots of small birds at the feeder including a small woodpecker, a Downy, we think. Tomorrow we\u2019ll take the camera, walk farther, and see more.<\/p>\n

Nancy<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By week end my 4-wheeled walker is still the borrowed one from the PT folks at the rehab facility.\u00a0 There was no word from the approved provider that was going to see about one with 7.5 inch wheels. Likewise, there was no word on my request of a review of the \u201capproved for a new … Continue reading “WEEKEND — keeping up, keeping track”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random-issues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p72iNf-6X","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}