Nurses Helping Nurses
allnurses Network: Central | Jobs | Books | Newsletter
allnurses: A Nursing Community for Nurses
Home General News Blogs Articles Students Region Specialty Degrees F.A.Q.
Case Management Nursing /

Why doesn't medicare pay for IV antibiotics?



Did You Know?
allnurses is the largest community for nurses on the web. We now have over 385,902 members! Join today to network with other nurses, laugh, share, and much more.

Feb 10, 2009 09:41 PM

Why doesn't medicare pay for IV antibiotics?

by edgwow

Why doesn't medicare pay for IV antibiotics?

I hate the idea of sending someone with medicare as only insurance to a skilled nursing facilty (SNF) for the duration of the IV antibiotics. Doesn't Medicare see that this is a huge waste of resources by sending someone to a SNF if they don't have physical therapy needs, just a PICC or a midline and the need for IV antibiotics?
This is a lose-lose situation, patient has to wait for bed availability and then risks getting an infection while at the snf. It can't be about money or they would open their eyes and see how wasteful it is.

Does anyone know of a way to get medicare to cover it if there is no other secondary insurance?

Does AARP coverage cover IV antibiotics if it is a secondary. Also if someone is a VA player ,and greater than 65 is it possible the VA would cover home IV antibiotics.

Are there any free standing IV rooms, as part of a hospital, that are willing to put an IV in a confused patient daily for a week or two while the IV runs in as long as there is a caregiver at their side? I would appreciate any names of IV centers in the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Delaware.


Share: Submit Thread to Facebook Submit Thread to Twitter Submit Thread to Technorati Submit Thread to Google Submit Thread to Reddit

Search Tags
iv antibiotics, medicare
Top

 
Advertisement
Sponsored Links
 
Reply
1 Comment
No. 1
from Wren
Old Feb 17, 2009, 09:47 PM

Default Re: Why doesn't medicare pay for IV antibiotics?
I can't answer your question about WHY Medicare won't pay for home IV antibiotics but I can tell you one solution I use when possible. If a patient can get to an infusion center 3x a week, then they may be able to get their abx in an infusion pump for continuous infusion. Depends on the med and dosing schedule of course but we have an infectious disease doc who rounds in our hospital and he has an infusion suite in his office that does this for us. Medicare will apparently pay for the pt to get IV ABX in the provider's office up to 3x a week. This only works if your pt isn't home bound and has transportation to get to the office. They need to to have a PICC or something similar. Check with the infectious disease docs in your area.
Top

1 Reader Gave Kudos
 
Reply




Thread Tools


Who's Online
472 members
4,794 guests
5,266

3

Nurse Practitioner listed with the fallen at Fort Hood

7

Hospital bill stuns slain student’s parents: $ 30,000 for 5...

24

Doctors-in-short-supply-responsibilities-for-nurses-may-expa...

12

Less regular sleep for ICU nurses may lead to errors

17

Nurse sends unused medical supplies to needy nations

24

Premature Births Are Fueling Higher Rates of Infant...

6

MRSA Strain Linked to High Death Rates

26

RI hospital fined $150,000 in 5th wrong-site surgery since...

66

Nursing: One of the 6 Thriving Jobs that are Here to Stay???

90

Dad Fights Hospital to Keep Baby on Life Support






Currently Reading This Page: 1 (0 members & 1 guests)

Interested in the hottest topics of the week? Subscribe to the Nurse-zine Newsletter.
Enter email address: