ER patients falsify info...has it really come to this?

oramar · Apr 26, 2010

There is nothing you can say or do that will convince illegals to give information that will allow them to be easily tracked down. They are just to scared. Reassurances mean nothing to them. People who are actual citizens are most likely lying to avoid payment. The homeless do not have an address to give. Like the article says, no one knows how frequently this happens.

dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I · Apr 26, 2010

After over 20 years of ER nursing, most of it along the Mexican/US border, I can tell the following. 1. Er's are chaotic by their nature. You have to like to turn chaos into order to be an ER nurse. It's not for everyone. 2. The ER is the only place indigents and poor can get their health care. If a patient wants to pretend he's having chest pain to keep from freezing to death under an overpass tonight, I'm OK with that. Saving lives is what I do. If they give false addresses and phone numbers, I've got bigger things to worry about. One hospital I worked at had registration screens with space for up to 3 aliases.

zahryia, LPN · Apr 26, 2010

Wrong patient phone numbers trip up ER docs - Health care- msnbc.com
I am in nursing school, 7 months left graduate this year...as an aspiring ER nurse this makes me think the ER could be a rather frustrating setting. It seems like total chaos? If a patient seeks care, then a CBC, ABG or other bloodwork is disconcerting, there might not be a way to even address the problem due to avoidance of bills and immigration status.

Has it come to this? Where have you been? It's been like this for a long while. This is nothing new. If this bothers you, don't work in the ER. Trust me, you'll encounter a lot more to stuff that will have you :eek:

VivaRN · Apr 26, 2010

It's not just the ER. This happens in the outpatient environment as well. As a nurse practitioner I've had pts with UTI's, sputum growing out nasty stuff, abnormal paps, labs suspicious for cancer, and I want to throw something when the phone number(s) don't work. Mostly they didn't have money for the phone bill so it got cut off. In dire circumstances we'll send a certified letter but that is incredibly time consuming (I have to write the letter).

Inevitably they will show back up again in a few months, sick as heck.

zahryia, LPN · Apr 26, 2010

It's not just the ER. This happens in the outpatient environment as well. As a nurse practitioner I've had pts with UTI's, sputum growing out nasty stuff, abnormal paps, labs suspicious for cancer, and I want to throw something when the phone number(s) don't work. Mostly they didn't have money for the phone bill so it got cut off. In dire circumstances we'll send a certified letter but that is incredibly time consuming (I have to write the letter).
Inevitably they will show back up again in a few months, sick as heck.

I worked in the insurance industry doing case management and it was so frustrating how phone numbers changed at the drop of a dime. Unfortunately, insurance companies working in underserved populations are held to the same standard as insurance companies working in middle class and/or upper class neighborhoods, so we would never meet our HEDIS goals. It makes it look like we don't know what we're doing when it's really the patient who doesn't want to be found or can't afford a phone.

dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I · Apr 27, 2010

On second thought, chalk one up to the "for profit" health care system we have. If we had guarenteed healthcare there'd be no need to lie to get your medical problems addressed.

PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN · Apr 27, 2010

On second thought, chalk one up to the "for profit" health care system we have. If we had guarenteed healthcare there'd be no need to lie to get your medical problems addressed.

That's a generalized statement that can't be proven.

It's the ILLEGAL population that wouldn't be able to get the insurance regardless of whether there is guaranteed healthcare.

They don't want to be found because they don't trust anyone.

That's it. Period.

TDCHIM · Apr 27, 2010

That's a generalized statement that can't be proven.
It's the ILLEGAL population that wouldn't be able to get the insurance regardless of whether there is guaranteed healthcare.
They don't want to be found because they don't trust anyone.
That's it. Period.

Considering what happened recently in Arizona (that new law that allows anyone who looks like an illegal to be picked up by the police and forced to produce papers), it seems as though they have good reason to be scared and untrusting.

midinphx, BSN · Apr 27, 2010

Putting all the blame for this on illegals is not realistic.

There are plenty of legal residents who don't give real info so that they can get out of paying a bill they can't afford. Or drug seekers who want their scripts, but can't get it with their real name. EMTALA means "free care" to alot of people.

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Apr 27, 2010

I worked in the insurance industry doing case management and it was so frustrating how phone numbers changed at the drop of a dime. Unfortunately, insurance companies working in underserved populations are held to the same standard as insurance companies working in middle class and/or upper class neighborhoods, so we would never meet our HEDIS goals. It makes it look like we don't know what we're doing when it's really the patient who doesn't want to be found or can't afford a phone.

And the superbrains at HEDIS couldn't figure this out?

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Apr 27, 2010

Has it come to this? Where have you been? It's been like this for a long while. This is nothing new. If this bothers you, don't work in the ER. Trust me, you'll encounter a lot more to stuff that will have you

Where has she been? She says she's a student.