Kudos to the Governor and State Legislature!
As of January 14, 2014 Governor Cuomo signed into law a requirement that hospitals notify Medicare/ Medicaid patients being treated in the E.R. on “observation status” that their benefits will be less than if they were admitted to a bed. The fact is that observation-status patients are not entitled to benefits for rehabilitation, home care and nursing home care after discharge from the hospital. Until now, not many people knew this was the law because no one told them.
Full disclosure – Great! But, what how effective is the notice if it is written in Legalese (not English) and in illegible type? If history repeats itself, the notice will be impossible for the non – attorney to understand and/or the type will be so small that patients will need 5.0 glasses to read it.
Support the campaign to adopt federal legibility standards for NY laws. If you, a loved one or your client receives a notice about observation status from a hospital, please send me a copy at Mweiss@weisslawgroup.com
Thanks and look for Issues of Fair Access #3 next week.
