Nothing fancy about today's post. Just the retelling of a story I heard from Cara Barde, President of Total Medical Solutions last week. She says this kind of thing happens frequently. It is unbelievable, but true. The nature of the claimant's injury here is really not relevant, so I'm not going to go into those details. Just straight to the point...
Claimant Requests Room Add On
A client called on TMS to review a case where the claimant needed to remodel their home. Basically, the claimant was asking for a room addition. So, naturally, TMS sent a rehab technician to the claimant's home to assess the situation. When the technician asked the claimant why they needed the extra space, the claimant said, "I need it to store all of my medical supplies." So, the TMS technician asked to see the supplies.
Too Many Medical Supplies
The technician was quite surprised to find that the claimant was storing several rooms full of medical supplies. Rows and rows of boxes that were apparently being auto-shipped to the claimant. The supplies were, in fact, all relevant supplies based on the claimant's injury and condition. However, upon further investigation, the TMS technician discovered that the claimant had recently come home from an extended stay in the hospital. He had been in the hospital for over three months, due to some complications. The supplies continued to be shipped, even though the claimant was in the hospital and didn't need them at home.
How Much Are YOU Spending on Wasted Medical Supplies?
Seems like a simple mistake, right? This one case amounted to several thousand dollars worth of unnecessary supplies being shipped to a claimant. Had TMS not been called into action, it could have been a mistake worth over $100,000. And for what? For a room addition to store medical supplies that weren't needed in the first place. I wonder how many mistakes like this happen on an annual basis....you do the math.
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