ershockerRN

I am in nursing administration at a 25 bed CAH hospital. The reason you can't charge for most items is because of CMS with CAH is a costplus reimbursement of 101%. If you can buy the item over the counter such as a medical supply store then you can't bill the patient for it. Most of the nursing staff may not know this because our charge sheet is built all in to one to prevent confusion of what is and what is not billable. The billers and coders have a list of billable items. CAH hospitals survive off of Medicare patients. Your total percentage of Medicare patients for the year. So in theory and the best way to understand CAH hospitals reimbursement is: if a CAH only saw 1 Medicare patient a year with no other patients ever in the hospital; they would have a 100% Medicare percentage. So whatever it cost to operate the hospital for that year with a full staff and all equipment would be reimbursed 101%. Most good operating CAH can stay in the black with a 55-60% Medicare percentage. That's the only way for rural hospitals to survive.

When you say less pay. What is the range after they provide housing? My wife and I are looking into traveling.

Had one come in by ambulance the other day. His complaint was. He passed out while he was sleeping. LOL!

Discharge them quick before they get sick I never saw a skeleton sitting in the lobby.- an er doc said this to one the nurses when she stated the guy didn't have a ride home.