please help! quick baker act question.

Boog'sCRRN246, RN · Feb 22, 2011

Yeah, if they don't have insurance or their insurance doesn't cover mental health admissions. The exception is felony arrests involving violence against another person and even then reimbursement from private insurance, the person receiving care, and/or medical settlements come before county liability.

LPNweezy · Feb 22, 2011

how much is the bill? i bet its sky high. i always wondered this.

lets say an uninsured person gets baker-acted. how much are they expected to shell out??

Boog'sCRRN246, RN · Feb 22, 2011

how much is the bill? i bet its sky high. i always wondered this.
lets say an uninsured person gets baker-acted. how much are they expected to shell out??

This part I really have no idea about. Sorry

beccajean · Mar 5, 2011

In my hospital (not in FL), the county that the hold is placed in usually ends up paying if no insurance coverage, and they pay a contract rate. The hospital gets most of it's write offs from BH charity care.

elkpark · Mar 5, 2011

I've never worked in FL, but I've worked psych in a few other states over the years, and, in every one of them, people who were involuntarily committed to a psych unit were responsible for the bill exactly the same as any other hospital admission (which, I must admit, I've always thought was v. ironic and unfair -- after all, it wasn't their idea to go to the hospital, it was the state that insisted they be hospitalized ... :))

As a general, "ballpark" figure, I would guess that routine psych hospitalization (without any special, extra services) would probably run somewhere around $1500-2000 a day (I know for sure it was ~$1000/day at a psych hospital I worked at in the past, because I asked until I got an answer, but that was 15 years ago ...).

Whispera, MSN, RN · Mar 5, 2011

Where I've worked, the involuntary patients were billed or their insurance paid, if they had any, just as if they were voluntary patients. If they had no money or no insurance, then charity care kicked in. That means the hospital paid for their hospitalization through a fund they had for that. Then the hospital could use the bill as a tax write-off and/or a way to maintain non-profit status. Sadly, often people with no money aren't informed about the possibility of charity payment of their bills, and they are hugely stressed over the bill hanging over their head, and the mail and calls they get regarding it.

Back in 2001, it cost right around $700 per day just for the room (semi-private, not ICU) where I worked. That didn't account for medications, fluids, treatments, consultations, or doctors' fees.

LPNweezy · Mar 14, 2011

thanks all! i just think its so unfair to charge people like that when it wasn't their idea.

elkpark · Mar 14, 2011

thanks all! i just think its so unfair to charge people like that when it wasn't their idea.

(I've always thought so, too -- I think that, if the state feels so strongly that they need to be hospitalized, the state ought to be responsible for the bill.)

flpsych · Apr 11, 2011

A patient is ultimately responsible for the bills even with BA. The hospital I work at will try to get charity funding if they qualify (low income/high debt ratio/low credit score, etc). Social workers will usually get the person started on filing for disability (which is a lengthy process) if they are ill enough that they have racked up several BAs. Because of EMTALA receiving facilities must take a patient regardless of ability to pay as long as an appropriate bed is available. The lack of state funds for public agencies that offer a sliding scale is to blame in Florida. And sadly this will only get worse in the next few years. Patients will be burdened with huge hospital bills after their BA and this will most likely exacerbate their condition.

Fuzzy · Apr 11, 2011

I can tell you from experience if you aren't suicidal/homicidal when you leave you can get that way quickly when those bills start coming in. A person can incur several thousand dollars in bills for a three plus day forced stay. This is one place where a person loses her right to choose but is expected to pay for it once it's over. There has got ot be a better way to do this...

Fuzzy

RnP, ADN, BSN · May 15, 2011

We run at $1500.00 a day. There were BA funds that were available a few years ago if a person was BA and did not have insurance or had a deductible. These are gone due to the cutbacks. I attempted to get some help for a patient recently. The bill was all this person could focus on. My own son is bi-polar and was BA. I worked at the facility and still am making payments on my own deductible due to how large it was...& I was given a discount.