Friendship Retirement Community

My father ,[redacted] lives in Virginia. I live in **. My father should not be charged, medicare or Medicaid. Also my father sustained a bruise while there.  He was neglected by Friendship

Patient [redacted] was admitted to us 12/3/2016.  Mr [redacted]'s coverage was under Medicare A...

(due to received daily skilled services) through 12/31/2016.  Effective 1/1/2017 Medicare A no longer covered services provided.  Patient is expected to pay privately for services beginning 01/01/2017, son has failed to pay the bill on behalf of the patient. You may contact me at [redacted] should you have additional questions [redacted]Director of Revenue CycleFriendship

Review: During my stay at Friendship I was placed in isolation due to C-Diff which is highly contagious. Me and my wife was asked to a meeting in which we thought all is his caregivers there would attend, well it ended up being the physical therapist and the case manager. We were told that my time was almost up and that they felt that Mr. [redacted] was ready to go home. He had not been clear of C-Diff that day and I had concerns about returning home, my wife explained to them that we could not afford for me to stay passed the alotted time because he could not pay out of pocket. The case manager was to get back with us regarding what she found out about the co-pay from the Medicaid Social Worker she never contacted us regarding that information until the day I was supposed to be discharged. So therefore, now I have to pay out of pocket. I ended up staying over into the beginning of May which added another $496.oo. The day of my discharge no dischagre planning had been done. My wife called Friendship because I did not know what was going on and I was hearing different things from the staff and I was on the phone with my wife and she heard what was going on. She was asked on the phone had she setup transport for me to come home and she told them no, she has never had to do that, not ever. They tried to send me home in a wheelchair and asked her to bring my chair there. She had no way of doing that and I have always been transported by stretcher because I cannot walk amongst other health issues. When she finally got everything straight I was transported home, I was not clean with dried poop on me and smelled aweful. No discharge paperwork was sent home, no presciptions for his meds. I was told that everything was going to be setup and handled and it was not done.The whole thing was a mess. My wife talked to the case manager who told her to fill out financial aid papers knowing that I would not be approved because the money owed was patient co-pay by medicaid. When my wife recieved a bill from them she called the Administrator and left a voicemail beasue we are being billed for something out of my control. When the Administrator called us back she was told that there was nothing she could do about it. My wife explained to her that she had specifically told the case manager and the therapist in that meeting that we could not afford to pay out of pocket and that I needed to come home. The administrator stated that she was going to call us back and never did. I recieved a letter stating that the bill would be sent to a collection agency if we did not pay $300.00 a month. This is unacceptable being that we told them the situation. My wife called the billing office and was told something different. She was told that I could have left on my own but that my husband had to be discharged by the doctor regardless. None of this is right and now we are stuck with paying $900.00 for Friendships mistake.Desired Settlement: I want this bill adjusted in some of type of way.

Business

Response:

Resident and spouse received notification prior to the exhaust of primary insurance benefits. Resident had active secondary insurance coverage. Charity Care application was offered to resident as concerns were expressed with an inability to pay the patient liability amount as determined by the Department of Social Services. Once received, Charity Care applications are processed according to facility policy.

• With respect to HIPAA facility is unable to issue detailed response in regards to those items surrounding personal hygiene concerns.

• Appropriate transportation was arranged in time for transition from facility to home on date of discharge.

• Discharge paperwork (including discharge instructions), resident belongings and medications were documented as being sent with the resident at time of discharge from the facility.

• Communications from Administrator referenced inability to alter collection of patient liability amounts as determined by the Department of Social Services.

In regards to Charity Care application, the request has been submitted and a decision is pending. Once decision has been made facility will make direct contact with the resident/family.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,