Nursing home billing 31 days for 12 hour stay

[Subjection]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IL

Mod: If this is not the correct forum for this question, please move it to correct one. (This one is the closest match I could find)


My brother had to put my Mom in a nursing home because she was in no condition to go back home from the hospital and it wasn't known how long she might live. After being admitted, she was only there about 12 hours before she passed away. Now my brother says he got a "bill" (I haven't seen it) from the nursing home for $3800 for a 31 day stay for December. Two problems here: She was there less than 1 day, and it's still November.

The good news is that my Mom was already on Medicare and Medicaid. Will they automatically pay for it? It's possible that the "bill" my brother got was just a statement of charges and not actually a bill. But that amount--it doesn't seem right for them to bill Medicare/Medicaid for a whole month when she wasn't there even close to that long. Suggestions?

 

[ajkroy]

Sorry for your loss.

Since you haven't seen the "bill", it is difficult to speculate. It is not normal to bill that far in advance and it would be fraud to bill for days the patient was not alive. However, it seems far more likely that is the cost of a prescription that was purchased in advance.

 

[Subjection]

Sorry for your loss.

Since you haven't seen the "bill", it is difficult to speculate. It is not normal to bill that far in advance and it would be fraud to bill for days the patient was not alive. However, it seems far more likely that is the cost of a prescription that was purchased in advance.

By this, do you mean that my brother may have signed some agreement in advance that allows them to bill on a monthly basis? Would Medicare/Medicaid still cover this?

 

[commentator]

You really really need to let this shake out before you go all wild about what your mother is being billed for. Especially since you're sort of getting this third hand from your brother. What is he saying? Is he asking for the money to pay this out of her bank account for example? If so, refuse. Have him show you this bill. When you get hold of it, call and discuss it with the social worker at the nursing home. They do this sort of thing all the time, Medicare and possibly Medicaid (if she was already receiving Medicaid) and all the programs will have to get into what they will pay and figure this out before any billing of her actual estate would occur. And you cannot possibly work with it without at least having hands on contact with the bill.

 

[Subjection]

You really really need to let this shake out before you go all wild about what your mother is being billed for. Especially since you're sort of getting this third hand from your brother. What is he saying? Is he asking for the money to pay this out of her bank account for example? If so, refuse. Have him show you this bill. When you get hold of it, call and discuss it with the social worker at the nursing home. They do this sort of thing all the time, Medicare and possibly Medicaid (if she was already receiving Medicaid) and all the programs will have to get into what they will pay and figure this out before any billing of her actual estate would occur. And you cannot possibly work with it without at least having hands on contact with the bill.

Ok. I just thought it was best to catch any mistakes early so there wouldn't be any problems that would be too late to fix.
No, he isn't asking for money. But at the same time, I don't want him to get stuck with a bill for $3800 if that isn't what he should be charged. If he did, then he would probably be asking for money at that point. It would be nice to avoid that if the solution is just a matter of telling him what I find out from those who might know. My brother isn't all that smart, so I end up doing his research for him, or he'll just do whatever someone else suggests. He could be scammed quite easily. One example is when he needed a car. He was $1500 short and asked my Dad for it. Dad gave it to him. Then it turned out that the dealer had talked my brother into an extended warranty on a used car. THAT'S what the entire $1500 ended up being for. Dad wasn't too happy about that. But my brother was easy to talk into the extended warranty because he'll listen to whatever a salesman tells him.