<p>My guess is that my deductible will be eaten up anyway by the “real” visit (meaning the first 24 hours). </p>
<p>Has anyone else ever encountered a situation like this? I guess I’m asking how common / normal this kind of set up is. Or maybe this is limited to smaller colleges. I have a really hard time believing S’s college, which is about 4 times bigger, would not offer health services on weekends.</p>
<p>I’m really glad it was nothing serious and that your D is fine! </p>
<p>The process sounds crazy to me. I don’t understand why students have to be “released back to the college.” It’s not like students can’t come and go as they please. And once the student health center sends the student to another facility, the student is no longer under their care. If student health is concerned about follow up, couldn’t they just have the records sent to them with a proper release? </p>
<p>My D suffered a concussion and health center sent her to the ER. ER did a CT scan then sent D by ambulance to a larger hospital for a MRI. Following her release, she was told the ambulance would return her to campus at no charge if she needed a ride. Apparently the school has some arrangement with the ambulance service. At no time, however, was she not free to leave the hospital and return to campus. </p>
<p>no experience with it but will chime in to concur that such a policy is beyond ridiculous; its moronic.</p>
<p>Moreover, it actually puts your D at a health risk. Nosocomial infections – gained while in a hospital – are a big deal, both health wise and financially. Hospitals are full of sick people. Doh!</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.health.gov/hai/prevent_hai.asp”>http://www.health.gov/hai/prevent_hai.asp</a></p>
<p>Yes, this is a cautionary tale for those of us with kids at schools that aren’t an easy drive from our homes. Since we have a private PPO plan, it would be better for our son to go straight to an in-network hospital or physician. Although I wonder how common this sort of policy is?</p>
<p>Ask to see the policy in writing. I’m betting that this is not the policy, that the real policy has this arrangement for SOME conditions like a concussion or a wound that needed to be changed. If it were something like a broken arm, why would she need to be released back to the college? Why would the college even need to know?</p>
<p>I’d also ask to see the policy about the school not accepting her back or changing her dorm card key. Do they change the card keys of students regularly? People make this stuff up because someone one told someone that that was the policy and suddenly there is a policy. In writing? No.</p>
<p>That’s an excellent point, twoinanddone. I think if there isn’t a policy, there will be a new one shortly :-)</p>
<p>" 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."</p>
<p>I was just going to say that after this experience I would be advising my kids to do exactly that.</p>
<p>This policy (if indeed it is a policy) is insane. I’d be furious if my kid’s college did this. </p>
<p>First of all I’m glad she’s ok, but this is nuts. What is the legality and morality of billing the insurance company for non-medically necessary services? The school essentially wants to use your health insurance benefits to pay for babysitting.</p>
<p>I agree that you should contact the college and ask for a copy of the policy. Two of my three have been to the ER and one was sent there by his college on a Friday afternoon, but when he was released from the hospital, he was released, not held until Monday. In fact, someone from the hospital drove him back to his dorm because he couldn’t get ahold of any friends to come and get him that Saturday morning. I didn’t even hear the story until he was back home on Saturday. I probably would dispute the charges if the college tries to collect from you for the extra hospital time. i would also call my medical insurance company and report what you have posted here…get a paper trail going at a minimum. If you have to fight, it’s at least worth alittle bit of effort before you pay the bill.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your thoughts. You have given me a lot to think about and a lot of help in planning next steps.</p>
<p>Momofthreeboys - my H sits on a quality peer-review board for our health insurance company. He has made the powers that be (head utilization guy and head medical director) very aware of this situation in a proactive attempt to let our health insurance company (one of the major ones) know that this is what went on, so we don’t get stuck in a situation where we’re left holding the bag. I promise I will keep you all up to date as things develop. </p>
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<p>Similar experience, but college has a deal with local taxis who can bill the school for shuttling a student back to the dorm if the student has no funds available.</p>
<p>This must be about liability. Because the college health services knew about your daughter’s medical issue, they might be legally responsible if she returns and the problem recurs or worsens and they have no health services that day. The hospital also needs a legally safe way to discharge her.</p>
<p>My daughter’s college sent her to an ER, the ER wanted her for at least hours (and the ER environment was making her worse). I happened to be able to drive in and took her out of there AMA and would have advised that to her if I had not been there. Her college would no longer have been liable since she left AMA.</p>
<p>Maybe something happened at the college. Changing the locks or whatever would show active effort to prevent a return to campus without being properly screened by health services. That seems to be the goal.</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about this. I have a kid with some serious health issues and would not want an ER doctor who didn’t “get it” to discharge her back to the college without anyone to monitor her. So this policy might be protective for some but this daughter was collateral damage.</p>
<p>Not sure if it is meant to protect students however: seems like it is mainly to protect institutions legally. Still, there are time when, I can imagine, they might coincide and be one and the same.</p>
<p><a href=“Contact Us | Student Health Services”>http://www.bu.edu/shs/contact/</a></p>
<p>I just checked…it looks like Boston University (where one of my kids went) does not have open hours in the evenings. They are open Saturday mornings, however.</p>
<p>DD’s college health service was not open weekends or evenings…student enrollment 4200 undergrads. WhenDD went to the ER, she had a roommate drive her. It was on a holiday. She was admitted to the hospital, had two surgeries, and was discharged on a weekend. She lived off campus, but the college had nothing to do with her hospital choices, admission, or discharge. And they placed no restrictions on her return to classes.</p>
<p>Now…when she had H1N1, she was treated at the health center and was quarantined to her room until she was better…about a week. Food was brought to her, and so was her class work. All arranged by the health service.</p>
<p>Another thought…is the college,going to expect you to provide them with copies of your insurance EOBs so they can pay the balance? Seems to me this is a mighty big violation of your kid’s privacy. The college has no right to see what treatment she had in the hospital…or the costs.</p>
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<p>Nope. Assuming the student is 18+ and not under any medications which require a separate driver, the “adult” can walk out of the hospital door, safely. A hospital is under no legal liability if the adult has no where to go. (Homeless folks are discharged every day.)</p>
<p>Right. We would have had her leave AMA if it hadn’t been for the college representative insinuating that they’d change her card key to prevent her coming back if she didn’t get cleared by the health services first.</p>
<p>Rather ironic procedure. I thought it was very hard to spend excess time in the hospital these days. What if there were no available beds? Is this a way to fill the empties, benefitting the hospital? </p>
<p>My insurance plan doesn’t cover “babysitting” or random nights away from home. I would love to see that invoice and the papers your daughter signed at admission. Also find the “changing the locks” talk quite hostile and unprofessional. Understand that for some admissions, medical/psychiatric safety might need to be assessed over time, but like others, feel that if the college perceives themselves potentially liable, there are perhaps better ways to protect themselves. </p>
<p>On a pragmatic level, if your daughter is happy with this school, I would want to initially consider the dilemmas in the spirit of “how do we work together” to make such experiences better for all. </p>
<p>Very interested to hear this story. Best with it. Such a relief that all is well with your daughter. Mine would have wanted her books/computer ASAP. Never could spare a weekend unless necessary for her health. </p>
<p>This is ridiculous. A person has to meet certain criteria to justify a continued length of stay in a hospital, or insurance won’t cover. How many of us wanted that extra day in the hospital after giving birth but were booted out?</p>
<p>Blue Bayou, a hospital would always be liable if a discharge resulted in harm. As I said, the student can leave AMA, which relieves them and the school of liability.</p>
<p>I myself have been a prisoner, twice, when the hospital told me there was even a 1% chance my chest pain could be heart. In a different version of the above, I was warned that my insurance might not pay the bills if I left AMA, which was not true. Anyway, I was told the hospital did not want to take even the teeniest chance legally.</p>
<p>I would want to find out the actual policy and the reasons for this scenario. There may or may not be a good reason for what happened. The policy may not fit this daughter but may fit others who benefit. The oddest thing, in my opinion, is the threat to make the dorm room inaccessible, but if the college accepts the student back there may also be some implied liability.</p>
<p>When students go on medical leave they have to be cleared by the school MD. It would seem that this college has no health services on the weekends and insists on a school MD clearing anyone who leaves their health services to go to the hospital. It is a sort of chain of custody.</p>
<p>I am not defending this without more information but as a parent of kids with some significant health issues, I would quite possibly be grateful for this policy myself.</p>
<p>And, clearly, as someone said, the cost of paying for the extra time in hospital is deemed cost effective by the school, compared to the alternative.</p>
<p>p.s. if a kid is dangerous to self or others, then there is a “pink slip” issued by the hospital which means no freedom for three days, a similar kind of legal protection for the institution</p>
<p>“When students go on medical leave they have to be cleared by the school MD. It would seem that this college has no health services on the weekends and insists on a school MD clearing anyone who leaves their health services to go to the hospital. It is a sort of chain of custody.”</p>
<p>Yes, this is the interesting part. My daughter is a senior, and 22 years old. </p>