<p>My D recently had a minor medical situation where, to be on the safe side, her college health service sent her to the ER on Friday for 24 hour observation. She received no treatment, just observation. She's absolutely and totally fine, which of course is the most important thing, and as of noon Saturday was ready to be discharged. </p>
<p>Unbeknowst to us, her college has an agreement with this hospital such that if a student is ready to be discharged over the weekend, they hold them til Monday so they can be released back to the college, have an intake through the student health center and then be cleared to go back on campus. So in essence she was held hostage there, and sat around doing nothing. Her friends showed up to entertain her and bring her books, but it was a wasted weekend.</p>
<p>We were flabbergasted and reached out to administration, and they told us this was their standard policy regardless of what the admission was for - a concussion, a reaction to medication, an appendectomy, whatever. Oh, they'd release her to me or H if we just "jumped on a plane" and put her up in a hotel til Monday. </p>
<p>When we inquired about who was going to pay for this when she was medically stable and this was an unncessary stay, we were told that they had an agreement such that the hospital either didn't bill, or that the college would reimburse the parents if the insurance didn't cover.</p>
<p>This seems crazy to me, but that's what it was. Anyone have experience with this? </p>
<p>And for this price tag, I kind of feel that they need weekend coverage of some sort beyond a "sorry, wait til Monday."</p>
<p>I’m glad it was nothing serious, PG. My kids have had chronic health issues in the past. Once the doctor kept one in longer than he might have because the kid started to get all antsy talking about participating a sports tournament that weekend. Sure made my life a little easier. From my perspective, this is an okay policy. I prefer to err on the side of caution. However, I understand how annoying it must be to you and your husband, an MD, when you both know she is okay. I think it is great they have a system in place so parents won’t be on the hook for the costs. And I am really glad she is okay.</p>
<p>I/m glad she is OK. I think this policy is absolutely nuts. Was she in for something potentially contageous? If not, why couldn’t she have gone back to her dorm and done the intake at the health service on Monday. </p>
<p>Any policy that keeps someone in a hospital longer than they need to be there is IMO bad medicine to say nothing of a wasteful expenditure.</p>
<p>It is very cost effective from the college’s perspective. They run a clinic/health services 5 days a week. A couple of times a year a student is hospitalized on a Friday or over the weekend. From the college’s perspective, they could pay to expand their health services to a 24/7 operation at a huge cost- or on the few times a year that a student is getting discharged when there is no on-campus health evaluation service, they insist that the student stay at the hospital, and once insurance is done paying the college picks up the balance.</p>
<p>Certainly cheaper for the college than to run a full time health operation. Much cheaper. And from a risk management perspective, they have no liability if a kid who is sent back from the ER with a stomach ache turns out to have an obstructed bowel or a ruptured appendix. That malpractice suit goes to the hospital, and not the college health services. So it keeps their malpractice rates low once their insurer knows the arrangement.</p>
<p>It stinks for everyone else in the equation. But definitely a cost effective way to run a college.</p>
<p>Frankly, if my kid had an ongoing illness, I’d be up in arms about it not happening again. But if you think it was one time, chalk it up to experience.</p>
<p>Once insurance is done paying the college will pay? Um…will they pay the deductible? Most colleges require students to have hospital coverage…period…as a condition of enrollment. This means…the college wouldn’t pay a dime if all they paid was a balance the insurance didn’t cover.</p>
<p>I’ll be interested to hear what happens when the bill comes, how much the insurance pays and whether the college really steps up to the plate. Keep us posted, Pizza.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure our private insurance through my husband’s employment won’t pay emergency room care for “a minor medical situation” that is not truly urgent (as they define it.) And around here a stay of up to 72 hours, Fri-Sun, would cost into 5 figures.</p>
<p>Could your daughter not just sign herself out of the hospital AMA (against medical advice) after discussing her condition with you the parents, assuming you felt that the weekend stay was not needed?</p>
<p>FWIW, some hospitals have “urgent care” where it is not really a hospital. It is possible the billing will be quite unusual, and not look like three days in the ER.</p>
<p>Yes, she could have signed herself out AMA and taken a taxi back, but we were concerned it would just throw a wrench into her college accepting her back on campus if she’d been non-compliant. One person from the college kind of insinuated they could change her card key remotely if she did that, so we didn’t push it. </p>
<p>rhandco - this was definitely a real hospital, and she was in a real hospital room on the medical floor the whole time.</p>
<p>I think I would advise my kid to sign herself out. This is not the days of colleges being “In loco parentis” and I am not sure of the legality of such a policy. I’d be up in arms at such presumption, even setting aside the monetary question.</p>
<p>Edit–did not see your last post. I think I’d talk to a lawyer at this point.</p>
<p>I absolutely see blossom’s explanation above. I guess I look at another way. I have a physician spouse who is on call 24/7/365. That’s what it is, that’s the life he signed up for. If a patient winds up in the ER at 2 am, off he goes to consult with the ER doctor. If a fertility patient needs her shot at 8 am on Sunday, well, then he opens the office at 8 am on Sunday. He sees patients 7 days a week, including 2 nights until 10 pm, and it’s at their convenience, not his. Medicine is not a 9 - 5 job. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m being a princess here, but one would have thought that there would have been ONE person on call who could have taken 15 minutes out of their day to stop at the hospital (which is close to the college) and “process” her out - and save the college $$ to boot. But, you know, heaven forbid someone work on a Saturday or Sunday. It’s just not the work ethic I’m used to. </p>
<p>I just don’t see why the college is involved in the decision making. This is a medical situation, and she is an adult. I really don’t understand this.</p>
<p>It seems to me that if we’d known this in advance, instead of going to the campus health center which is how she got sent to the ER, she could have theoretically called a taxi and gone on her own to a different ER, been treated, discharged and take a taxi back to her dorm and no one would have been the wiser. It was a situation that required attention, but it’s not one where a 15 minute time difference in going to a different ER would have made a difference. But who would have known that she would be held hostage like this for doing the responsible thing?</p>
<p>You’re absolutely NOT being a princess here. Let’s look at it another way. Deductibles have gotten stratospheric. The school has no right to force you to pay your deductible like that. </p>
<p>It’s not up to them. And how did they decide it was?</p>