An emergency room is a frightening place, because you are likely dealing with a serious medical problem. You are asked about your insurance and medical history. You may have to make critical decisions regarding tests and procedures. Being prepared beforehand can save you from huge medical bills and get you the best care possible. Save the ambulance for life-threatening conditions. Instead, call your health insurance company to ask about your coverage.
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Catastrophic health plans
If you need a plan to cover major medical expenses, catastrophic health plans can be a great choice. Catastrophic health plans are usually less expensive than major medical insurance plans, but they also cover a limited range of services. Most catastrophic plans require a high annual deductible, but after that, they’ll cover most of the health care costs. Some catastrophic plans even include free preventive services, including immunizations and certain screenings.
The main benefit of a catastrophic health plan is that it covers all medical expenses after you’ve met the deductible. This can include major surgeries and hospitalizations. A catastrophic health plan caps the cost of emergency care so you can afford the costs of a serious illness or accident. A night in the hospital without insurance could cost up to $9,300, while five days in a hospital could cost $46,500. Compared to that, a catastrophic health plan with an $8,550 deductible could save you as much as $38,000 – and it would still cover preventive care.
Business continuity plans
While it is impossible to prepare for every eventuality, it is important to have a plan in place when something goes wrong. Business continuity plans can help you minimize damage and restore operations. An unforeseen event such as a flood, tornado, or ransomware attack could disrupt core operations. Developing a plan ahead of time will minimize the impact of such a disaster and ensure that you and your employees can continue service during the disaster.
Once you have an outline of your BCP, you should train your team on it. You can have them do exercises to drill key points of the plan. For instance, you might have a checklist of vital details, such as emergency contact information, location of backup data, and important personnel. You should conduct exercises with your team to see what works and what doesn’t.
Infrastructure for emergency teams
The United States has a complex emergency system, comprised of millions of highly-trained personnel, physical and cyber resources, and private sector assets. But the financial challenges facing health systems today make this infrastructure more important than ever. While the presidential election has already been decided, federal funding, reimbursement schedules, and potential Medicaid expansions are still up in the air. How will emergency teams with health insurance cope? Here are some solutions.
Advancements in technology have improved the way EMS teams operate. Automatic crash notification technology alerts emergency personnel when a car accident occurs. Ambulance drivers are equipped with devices that sound an audible warning when they’re driving dangerously. Prehospital EMS personnel may soon be able to access a patient’s complete health history. Some systems may even replace paper-based “run records” with electronic data submissions.
Cost-sharing for emergency services
Your health insurance plan from the best insurance company may impose some form of cost-sharing when you use emergency services provided by providers outside your network. These services fall under the out-of-network benefit category. Your plan may also impose an out-of-pocket maximum and deductible on you if you choose to use out-of-network providers. However, these limits do not apply when you use emergency services from an in-network provider.
Conclusion
There is some evidence that modest cost-sharing for emergency care can reduce use of the emergency department and the occurrence of adverse clinical outcomes. However, such studies require large sample sizes in order to detect changes in adverse clinical events. Studies by Solanki, Schauffler, and Miller and Wong et al. have shown that uninsured patients have poor health outcomes. Their use of the emergency department even worse.
