How do you transport seriously ill patients to another hospital in another state?

My mother is ill in New York, she is now hospitalized at Kingsbrook Jewish medical center, I am trying to get her home , which is Charleston south carolina, how do I start the process of get her doctor care here in south Carolina

What if a nursing home fails to comply with the discharge when requested by the patient and the family? Do they need to do this in a timely matter? It has been 3 weeks. One in a hospital two in a nursing home. They do not complete the discharge paper work and then charts need to be updated again.

The charge would depend on the level of care needed during transport.
These are the rates from Utah:
(a) Ground Ambulance - $696.00 per transport.
(b) Advanced EMT and EMT-IA Ground Ambulance - $919.00 per transport.
(c) Paramedic Ground Ambulance - $1,344.00 per transport.
(d) Ground Ambulance with Paramedic on-board - $1,344.00 per transport if:
(i) a dispatch agency dispatches a paramedic licensee to treat the individual;
(ii) the paramedic licensee has initiated advanced life support;
(iii) on-line medical control directs that a paramedic remain with the patient during transport; and
(iv) an ambulance service that interfaces with a paramedic rescue service and has an interlocal or equivalent agreement in place, dealing with reimbursing the paramedic agency for services provided up to a maximum of $286.68 per transport.
PLUS the mileage.
(4) Mileage Rate-(a) $31.65 per mile or fraction thereof.

How much do services like ACC MedLink and National Medical Transport charge per mile to transport patients?

we are in a situation now where my sister is in a hospital that we felt weren't doing all they could for my sister, we requested a transfer and we were told in order to transfer her they need to find a physician at the other hospital that will accept her as a new patient. They have tried twice to transfer but they keep telling us they can not find an accepting physician. She is on medicare, if we try to have her transferred ourselves they say we would have to pay for the transportation which they also say would cost from 20 thousand to 60 thousand dollars and that medicare would not pay for her medical treatment. Of course we don't have that kind of cash to pay for transportation. We have now requested they try another hospital, that was just yesterday and I have to call to see what happened with that. I'm in the same state but 200 miles away and have a sick husband or I would be there to have hands on participation. They say the new hospital says the one where she is now is doing everything the new one would be able to do, therefore they won't agree to take her as their patient. She was doing great but she had to learn how to walk all over again and they wouldn't release her to go home because she is a widow and lives alone so they transferred her to a nursing home for therapy and in 2 1/2 days she was back in the hospital comatose. Just finally yesterday they told me she is a little better and can respond a little. I'm so sick to think we don't have the liberty to move a very sick relative to get better care in this country. It's very very sad.

No insurance will pay for ambulance transport unless it is medically necessary for treatment. So it would be all out-of -pocket and extremely expensive to move the patient. If you cross state lines, Medicaid stops cold. Moving the insurance is even more hassle than moving the patient.

A friends parent is very ill in a hospital in Florida.They are trying to figure out how to get her home where they can be close by to care for her. While she is insured, the finances are not without limits.

I used ACC Medlink when I needed to have my family member transported into a facility and they were great. First off, they constantly followed up with me. When I called just to make a simple inquiry, they called me back and sent me e-mails; they really wanted me to be as knowledgeable about their process as much as possible. When I made a reservation, they sent me everything I needed over e-mail and I appreciated that. On the day of the pick-up they called to let us know they were on their way and they'd be five minutes late. Overall, I just really appreciated the level of customer service. The transport trip went great, no complaints what so ever. Even the facility my family member was dropped off in complimented how great ACC Medlink was. Afterwards, ACC called to follow up and make sure everything was okay, and that just shows how much they care about the people they help. I was a little surprised by the prices but if that is what it costs for the excellent service I received, then so be it. I definitely recommend them!

I am sorry Patricia, but there is not. Does she have her own health insurance? If so, ask them what they will pay.

trying to move my Mother to Georgia where I live to a hospital and everything is arranged except need assistance with covering the cost of the ambulance ride is there any agencies to assist with the cost will take 2300.00 to move her anyone know of someone that can help

GrannyJ, since this is an optional move, I doubt you would be able to find any type of funding to pay for the expenses. Curious, why is your boyfriend in a nursing home, what are his medical issues?

I am trying to transfer my boyfriend in WY. to Arizona. He is in a nursing home in WY., but I want him to come live with me. I do not have the money to go get him, so how can I have some help in paying the cost to help me get my boyfriend to AZ.?

Jillstone, you should go there first and see what his state of mind is. Get to know his nurses, get a number to call and check on him. Talk to the MD about what meds he is taking. Avoid transport, it can end up like the scene in Rain Man when the brother tries to put him on a plane.

Thank you but the worrying is so disturbing to me. It's affecting my life worrying about him. Afraid they are over medicating him and will strap him to the bed. My thought are getting the best of me.

Jillstone, don't do it. If he is already on Texas Medicaid he will be taken care of by Texas. Once you leave the state of Texas, you have no Medicaid and you apply to NC and you wait. Transport cost is totally on you. Health care is basically lost when you leave the state. Lots of problems.

My father is in Texas with my sister and she does not want to care for him anymore so she took him to the hospital and left him saying he is crazy and they can't keep him so they will transport him to a nursing home stating he is not in his right mind. I live in Charlotte. How do I take charge of his health care and have him transported here with me? Please help

Eliz,
Look at Igloo's answer on this thread. She gives the best advice!

Some people rent an RV to drive the person, so they can be comfortable for the whole trip.

I need to know how to transport my mother from ky. to ga nursing home, she is rehab right now with fracture hip and she isn't able to walk, I just want her to be closer to me where I can see her a lot more. thanks for any comments

My 2 daughters father is in Delaware,in a nursing home,yesterday he had a stroke from a aneurysm,he is on medicare and they want to move him to a hospital in NJ,because,he will be closer to them and they can monitor his care.
He is only 69 and all of his family is here sister, aunt,cousin will medicare pay for transport

We moved my mom after surgery from Ohio to Texas with a company called National Medical Transport. They were wonderful! Two drivers and an RN in a motor home. Very professional and attentive. Not inexpensive but well worth it to have her close by.

Wish you luck

caringsis & debbie - neither of your situations are where they are in a hospital, correct? This can get really sticky as ambulance transfer across state lines usually requires medical orders for Medicare to pay their portion and for the ambulance service to do a pickup. You need to meet with their MD's to get a # of things done: transfer request; duplicate chart; new prescriptions (the medications situation is also sticky in that some meds if they are class 3 or 4 cannot come from an out of state MD....well they can but the pharmacy has to do a load of paperwork and most won't fill it because of that); make sure you have at least 30 days of medications too in addition to the new prescriptions; also the patient will need to sign off for you to have full access on thier medical records - when you go to their doc's with them the office will have the HIPPA forms. Write in bold letters that you - put your full name as it appears on your license - have full access to any & all medical or health care documents. As LCross said, you need an attending MD at your end......very important.

Also keep in mind, Medicare is nationwide federal entitlement program but MedicAID is a state & federal joint program and administered by each state under each states rules and management. This can get tricky when you try to move them and on Medicaid....they need to establish new residency for the new state. Some of this is easy like a new drivers license and voter registration. Now if they had a home in the old state and qualified for MedicAID, it was all kum-ba-ya as the home was an exempt asset. But when they move to another state, the home is NO LONGER exempt property and is now a counted asset so has to be sold in order for them to get Medicaid in the new state. If you are not DPOA, you need to be in order to deal with all this. This can be a real nightmare to deal with if you don't have someone at each place to deal with the property. I did some outreach after Hurricane Katrina and this situation was very common for elderly who still had their homestead exempt property and found themselves moved to another state & ineligible and that was back in 2005 when most states were not facing severe financial shortfalls and lots more understanding on exemptions. My late MIL was in a NH in NOLA and some of the ladies had to move back to Louisiana NH even though they had no family there as they could not qualify for other states Medicaid because of still having a homestead in LA and family could not private pay.

Deb - $ 3,200 a month in just income is quite a lot and about $ 1,200 a month over Medicaid eligibility for income. Medicaid "asset" & "income" limits. If you & he find that he really needs Medicaid to pay for his health care and needs and if his assets are at the Medicaid limit and all that is keeping him from getting Medicaid is the extra $ 1,200 in income then you need to see an elder care attorney to do a "Miller Trust" or a "Qualified Income Trust". The trust allows the person to qualify for Medicaid even with too high income. Say a person gets 1K from SS & 2,500K from retirement every mo. Income=$3,500. Basically $ 1500 over ceiling for monthly income. No matter what is always is $1500 over. So this excess $ 1500 is what funds the trust and therefore income is now 2K and within the states income ceiling for Medicaid. The beneficiary of the trust is state's Medicaid program and upon death reverts to the state. Miller really has to be done by an attorney who does elder law as it needs to be flexible/adaptable and meet the criteria of each state's law on probate (death laws) & Medicaid rules. It is not a do it yourself project.

Good luck.

My mom was with me in TN when she fell and broke her hip. She was in the hospital here and after recovery I had her transported back to NC to be close to home and nearer to the rest of the family. The hospital arranged for the rural metro ambulance company to take her and it was billed to her medicare. There should be a hospital person in charge of arranging care for patients who leave the facility. You also have to have an attending physician on your end willing to accept her when she arrives.

I would like to try and help a friend of mine. He is bedbound. I live in Georgia he lives in Florida. He does not need hospice, he just needs around the clock care. He doesn't have a lot of money. He pays for his care now, but it's not 24 hours a day. He makes on average $3,200 a month. That isn't much money to pay monthly bills and caregivers. Anyway, does anyone know a safe way, and reasonable (cost wise) way he could be transprted to Georgia? Any help would be appreciated.

Hospital has to request the intended "send to hospital" accept her as a transfer pt. From the "sending" hospital. SW's or care managers usually handle these arrangements. Because hospitals discharge so rapidly now, if care is bad, ask for her to be transferred up to a teaching hospital affiliated w a med school. They will give her better care and she will likely be ready for a direct discharge sooner. Then you can work on move-The better (new) facility can offer advice about the level of care she will need. May be a more workable approach? Good luck!

If she has medicare check with them to see if they would pay for the transport and then contact EMS agency-many will transport pt.s to another state.

i agree with 195 austin ,
all those ??? you will have to sit and talk to your mother and then talk to soical worker in the hospital shes in now and go from there .
you can only do one thing at a time and it takes a while to get things done ,
i admired you for wanting your mom to be closer to you , bless you . wish you the best luck . keep in touch !

It is probably too late to take control of her assets if she is going to apply to medicaide there is now a look back period of 5 years-but after her own money is spent down then she will be able to get medicaide but you are not responsible for her medicial bills and will not be in debt for her medicial bills,after her money is gone she will be able to get medicaide for herself. I would contact an elder lawyer who can give you information about medicare and medicaide so no mistakes are made that would hurt in the future. If she has to be in a nursing home it is best to have her near where you live so you can be part of her care plan.A private ambulance company would probably transport her to a hospital but you would be able to ask different companies and see what the expense would be but the first step would be the elder lawyer who would be able to advise you.

I should mention also that She is currently in a hospital. We feel the doctors are not providing the appropriate care she needs to get her health back. She has no family in the state she lives therefore we can't monitor her progress. She is only 63!! Not sure how much medicare or medicaid can help. How do we take control of some of her assets so we don't go into financial debt from her medical bills? Do we bring her to where we live and put her in another hospital where we can watch over her or try to do it from a distance? How do we get started?