A hummingbird visited my petunias Wednesday morning. I suspect this is not the first visit, just the first time I saw it. The petunias have been here for about two weeks.
I was telling Tommy he needs to eat protein first, followed by carbs, fats, and fiber. I pointed out that I thought Honey Nut Cheerios and milk did not have enough protein. He said I was confusing him because I was stuffing him full of carbs one day and now I am saying he is eating too many carbs. Today, I explained it to him for about the hundredth time.
It is 84F at noon, expecting high of 88F or higher. I love it and ac. Really, I like wearing less clothing--no sweater, no scarf, no socks, no gloves. I am tired by the time I gather it all and put it on.
The mower was supposed to come today. I told Tommy to wake me up when he came as I had questions. Well, the mower did not come, so he let me sleep all day. It is dark AND raining, so we cannot go out.
I managed to make calls when I was punchy before nap. And, now it is too late! One call I did make was to a government agency and it did not go well. Everyone was very, very nice. I was/am sooo confused.
I went to a doctor. Then, I received what I suppose is amount insurance/Medicare did not cover from a LAB for $65. Since I had nothing excised for a lab, I am confused. There was a lab charge and other things I did not understand to the tune of over $800. The receptionist knew nothing about it. Until today. Today, she said there was nothing sent for a pathology exam.
The Medicare people had a pow wow and concluded I needed to first tell the doctor that she needs to redo the bill so Medicare can reclaim their money. It looks like fraud to me. The woman said they could not ask her anything. It is all on me. They said if they reported it as fraud, doc could lose license even before they investigate, so we should give doc a chance to rescind the charges. And, I am the one who has to report it as fraud. ??? If the doctor is committing fraud, should I care about the practice? And, does anyone really think this is the only time doctor has done this?
I told Medicare people that I was not comfortable doing this. And, if they were willing to spend $800 of tax money for a fraudulent claim, why should I care? /s She said to think of the doctor.
I had called the office five times and receptionist will always ask doctor and call me back. So, today the receptionist looked at the office notes and there is no record of anything sent to pathologist.
Why is this all on me to give doctor a chance? What if doctor is part of a bad group that is so widespread and bad that they will get even with me? I have a good imagination!
When I awoke, Tommy was opening cans! I really want to cook chicken and vegetables, but he will want to watch GHOST. I hate that show and he loves it.
Tommy had chopped ground beef, pork and beans and collards. eeew. So far, I have had almost two cups of collards and need to decide on something else to eat.
What would you do about this Medicare money paid to pathologist and supposedly ordered by my doctor?
First off, did the doctor take blood or urine samples? Not all labs are about excised tissue.
ReplyDeleteThat Medicare business sounds mighty fishy. I would refuse to cooperate. It's not your job to do THEIR job! Why should you get involved in suspected fraud? That's between Medicare and the doctors. I think they are bullshitting you when they say they "can't ask the doctor anything." They are a govt agency--of course they can ask anyone anything they darn well please!
I would very much stay out of it. I would tell Medicare to f-off and do their own jobs and investigate suspected fraud on their own paid time. Sheesh. You couldn't make a movie with a script this bad...
Sue,
DeleteThis was a podiatrist. No blood or urine samples.
Thanks. I was astounded at the response. Even if a wrong sample was sent under my name, why would I want to get mixed up in all this? Do I want to be the one to point out to doctor that employees of the practice messed up? It was pretty unbelievable what I was hearing.
When I worked in a dr's office and did billing -it wasn't the doctor people called to talk to about billing questions. Our billing dept would check into their question. We'd look over the chart notes first and see if a billing mistake was made (sometimes a code can get entered in error. We entered those codes pretty quick). If we couldn't determine it was that, then we'd pass a note on to the dr to look at their chart notes - did they perform such and such? Patient says such and such. It was almost always resolved and usually just a patient not understanding/misunderstanding what the charge was for.
DeleteOne,
DeleteI knew the doctor would probably not personally talk to Medicare. But, the receptionist has put me off for over a week. It is like she hopes I go away. Of course, I have no way of knowing why she is not getting this done. This first charge was the day before i even went to doctor. Then, there are five other dates I never saw the doctor between December 5, 2023 and April 2024. At first, I thought it had to be a simple mistake. But, it is a complicated mistake with several lab charges. These multiple charges for multiple days are what complicates the story.
I would ask to talk to someone in their billing dept, the receptionists usually don't know anything about that kind of stuff
DeleteOne,
DeleteI did ask her who could help me, and she said the doctor was not in. I never press for anything. The doctor uses sharp, pointy tools on my toes. lol I do not want anyone irritated with me.
I just finished a three hour long lecture on protein synthesis. As we age yes we need protein - and some sort of exercise to keep lean mass up and going.
ReplyDeleteI do get the protein, just not the exercise. I need to fix that.
Delete