All you need to know about the revised Medicare’s important message

This is a notice that Medicare sends to the clients when they are about to be discharged from the hospital which helps in explaining the rights of a client as a patent, it contains the information on how to ask for the review of the discharge decision by the quality improvement organization. Over a period of time the IM has been revised, not like the old version, some few things have been added to it, these changes can be confusing to you as a patient because you will need to understand them, I mean you cannot sign what you have not understood.

The changes

There have been significant changes in the old system of the ‘Important Message some few things have been included to help patients understand more, these changes are in terms of;

·         Information on the rights of the patient, the new structure of the ‘Important Message’ lets the patient know that they have a say in their discharge process. This explains to the patient the specific rights they have in relation to discharge. This current Important Message contains information that explains to the patient that they have a right to appeal on the decision of prolonged stay in the hospital in the case where their cover is coming to an end soon.

·         Reduced time of providing the Important Message- before the Important Message was being given to a patient more than 48 hours before discharge unlike the revised one which needs to be given to the patient within 48 hours of discharge, the old IM was quite inconvenient to patients, it was difficult for patients who were being admitted for a short time in hospital, by the time they have to get the second IM they would have already been discharged. This will further be reviewed in the Medicare supplement plans for 2020.

The main purpose of the ‘important message’ is to inform the patient about the discharge process and the rights that the process comes with it, the notification is always repeated just to make sure that the first one was signed with knowledge. You know it is the patient who should sign the form, this can be hard for the patient because they are struggling with the stress maybe o they might rush into signing without understanding what is being signed, this is why the second copy is brought back to the patient so that they may read through again to confirm what they were signing.

How to ask for a fast appeal

The IM includes directions on how to ask for a fast appeal if your covered services are about to end in a short time, this is done so as to prevent the payment of the bill from your pocket when the covered services end. To ask a fast discharge cannot be done sooner than the day you are to be discharged as described by the doctor, but if you go past the deadline you do not need to worry because you can still request for a review by the BFCC-QIO.

The review process

When you send the request to the BFCC-QIO within then period of fast appeal, the body will notify the hospital and your plan, the hospital will provide a notice of discharge which includes

·         Why your  services are not reasonable and are not covered anymore

·         How the applicable coverage policy regulation applies to your case

·         The applicable Medicare cover.

In conclusion, the new important message has come with a few changes which are a bit confusing to the patients and even to the hospital staff too. This message is very important when it comes to the time of discharge. Sometime your cover might just be ending and you are not yet discharged, this means that you will have to pay from your pocket for the services in hospital just before you get discharged, the Important Message of Medicare provides you with information on how to go about the appeal and the rights you are entitled to before you can be discharged.