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The past 2 weeks are the the roughest busiest time of the year for people in the health care industry. People are trying to have procedures done and tests before their insurance rolls over and they're again left with their deductable to meet. So, to let you know, I've been working way more hours than I'm accustomed to and I'm very tired.
I had a patient in for a cardiac procedure the other day.... I called her name and in walks this huge woman with bleached blonde har and exposed dark roots. She was dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt and stunk of cigaretts. She sat at my desk and I noticed that not only did she have a ring on every finger, that she had 2 rings pushed together and then rings on the middle sections of her fingers as well. She was grumpy and I could barely understand her mix of country/ghetto slang when she talked. I'll say this, I knew that she was going to do somthing to remember for a while.
I verified her information... that's a whole different story
, and then I went over the amount due for her surgery which was a petty $3.00 co-pay for her medicaid. Keep in mind that we don't force anyone to pay, we even tell them that before we explain the cost. After I told her about her survey, she took the pack of cigaretts she had been palming and slammed them on the desk yelling, "I ain't got no money!, don't ya'll know that!! I'm on damn medicaid because I'm poor!" 
I know that every person in that office including patents just heard her because the whole place was dead silent.. I could hear my bosses pop up from their chairs somewhere behind me. Before I knew what I was saying, the phrase " At least it's cheaper than a pack of cigaretts and you can pay for this later if you wish"...oops... But I can assure you it was in the friendliest tone.
She started yelling again about how she needed the cigaretts to live and how it would be killing her for the hospital to force her to do without them (I kind of think it's a bit backward here). At that time the big boss comes in, 2 of the 3 area team leaders come in, and a few co-workers are hiding just around the corner. They tried to calm her down and when she saw the opportunity, she tried to get them to "cover the bill" (you know, like how you might be at a resturant and your steak is bleeding when you asked for well done and you get it for free because of the mistake). God bless the big boss because he was calm, even if she being a complete idiot. Eventually they got her out of the office only after asking her if she needed to make a payment plan and they could set that up for her and they gave her the card for the department that gives assistance to the people who can't pay their bills.
I never got in trouble and nobody ever talked to me about it
I had a patient in for a cardiac procedure the other day.... I called her name and in walks this huge woman with bleached blonde har and exposed dark roots. She was dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt and stunk of cigaretts. She sat at my desk and I noticed that not only did she have a ring on every finger, that she had 2 rings pushed together and then rings on the middle sections of her fingers as well. She was grumpy and I could barely understand her mix of country/ghetto slang when she talked. I'll say this, I knew that she was going to do somthing to remember for a while.
I verified her information... that's a whole different story
, and then I went over the amount due for her surgery which was a petty $3.00 co-pay for her medicaid. Keep in mind that we don't force anyone to pay, we even tell them that before we explain the cost. After I told her about her survey, she took the pack of cigaretts she had been palming and slammed them on the desk yelling, "I ain't got no money!, don't ya'll know that!! I'm on damn medicaid because I'm poor!" I know that every person in that office including patents just heard her because the whole place was dead silent.. I could hear my bosses pop up from their chairs somewhere behind me. Before I knew what I was saying, the phrase " At least it's cheaper than a pack of cigaretts and you can pay for this later if you wish"...oops... But I can assure you it was in the friendliest tone.She started yelling again about how she needed the cigaretts to live and how it would be killing her for the hospital to force her to do without them (I kind of think it's a bit backward here). At that time the big boss comes in, 2 of the 3 area team leaders come in, and a few co-workers are hiding just around the corner. They tried to calm her down and when she saw the opportunity, she tried to get them to "cover the bill" (you know, like how you might be at a resturant and your steak is bleeding when you asked for well done and you get it for free because of the mistake). God bless the big boss because he was calm, even if she being a complete idiot. Eventually they got her out of the office only after asking her if she needed to make a payment plan and they could set that up for her and they gave her the card for the department that gives assistance to the people who can't pay their bills.
I never got in trouble and nobody ever talked to me about it
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