Healthcare Update Satellite – 10-21-2013

Setting the record straight about EMS myths. Well … really one myth … going to an emergency department by ambulance doesn’t mean you’ll go to the front of the line. The places that I work will frequently have patients who come by ambulance go directly to the waiting room. Other times when it isn’t as busy, the patients would have gone straight to a bed regardless of how they arrived. Calling an ambulance to try to game the system isn’t worth the expense. One of the things people don’t think about when filing a lawsuit is called “subrogation.” If insurance has paid for care that is related to your lawsuit, they’re going to want to be reimbursed for the money they spent. If the government spent $250,000 on your care and you win a $500,000 malpractice suit, between the costs of suit, the attorney’s fees, and the government subrogation claim, you’re going to come away with very little money. In this case, a patient is trying to block Oregon from taking $236,000 of her malpractice settlement – an amount that the state claims it paid for her care over 6 months. I’d like to see the itemized bill and receipts for that bill. And if an insurance company is allowed to prevent a patient from receiving a “windfall” of a malpractice judgment, shouldn’t policyholders be able to prevent insurance companies from receiving a “windfall” of premium payments when the policyholders don’t use the insurance? You lawyers know of any “reverse subrogati...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs