Cost of remote interrogation

free

by pace-man - 2014-01-10 08:01:23

I had my pacemaker fitted in Australia and I also have a home wireless monitor, I have private health insurance and all it cost me was a $200 deductible for my week long hospital stay. If I had chose to go in as a public patient It would have been altogether free. It sounds a bit expensive in your part of the world. Rick

Yikes!!!

by Moner - 2014-01-10 11:01:25

Hi Boston,

That sounds a bit excessvie, instead of having a remote interrogation, is it possible you could go directly to the clinic, it might save on some money.

My insurance has increased this year, I don't have a monitor at home, I go directly to the clinic, I want to keep expenses down.

In fact, I just had a interrogation visit at the clinic this week and declined my 4 month check, and told them I would schedule an appointment in July.

I'm with you, I would hate to see you blow big bucks for this also.

Don't know what the situation is...

by donr - 2014-01-11 02:01:23

...in Atlanta. We have about 7 major hosps here & have heard nothing about personnel losses at any of them.

Emory Univ Hosp & Clinic is still taking care of us on Medicare. Have no idea what is happening w/ ordinary Obamacare insurance. Have been to a branch of Northside Hosp & they took us, also.

I know there are a bunch of people who use Cleveland Clinic. Are there any impacts there?

Don

Maybe my cardio has a deal?

by JerryG - 2014-01-11 03:01:21

Sounds like a rough deal, Boston.

My cardio here in South Africa may have a deal with Medtronic, but I don't think so. Pacer checks here (certainly in the main centres) are done by a Medtronic (or other manufacturer) technician. My last check and settings adjustments in November was done in my cardio's rooms and the tech did ask the cardio if he could change some of my settings as I requested but there was absolutely no charge to me for the whole process.

The technicians generally are employed by the PM manufacturers and checking and adjusting patients' PM's is a service provided to the cardios that implant their products.

I am fortunate enough to have excellent medical aid (healthcare insurance) which would pay any billings raised in full but it costs a lot; converted currency around US$800 per month for my wife and I. The PM manufacturers in my case are saving the insurance company money rather than me directly, lol.

JerryG

charges

by Shell - 2014-01-11 05:01:05

I'll be having my first Merlin check next month so I'm not sure what it'll cost. If it's like the office ones it will cost me nothing. (well, this year at least) Last office check I had (in December) the insurance covered because I didn't see the doctor, just the pacer check nurse.If I didn't have the insurance it would have been $162. (I do have a deductible with my insurance but have already used it for the year) If I see the doctor it would just be a office co-pay. I had the old home monitoring device before and it cost me nothing. Guess it just depends on the doctors.

Angry sparrow

by Bostonstrong - 2014-01-11 08:01:57

Are you sure you don't want to keep it just in case you have a problem and need to transmit data to your new EP ? St jude told me they don't bill and the cost of the monitor was included in the pm price. I just know there will be a hefty fee from the EP to read the data. I see no benefit to myself to doing routine transmissions so I'm not going to bother with those until the battery is much older. In my office we have a set list of prices for different levels of visits and each procedures, these are set by the hospital that owns the clinic. Patients know up front how much a blood draw, EKG, immunization, nebulizer treatment, etc is going to cost.

PM Monitoring costs...

by donr - 2014-01-11 10:01:00

...in the US are borne by the mfgr for those occasions when their Rep checks it. That means you pay for it up front when you buy the PM. Sort of a lifetime support agreement for the cardio. The Medtronic Rep is at my Cardio's office every week on Tuesday for the entire day - so sees about 16-20 PM hosts during that period

I see my Cardio twice a year for a mfgr check (Medtronic) No charge is recorded for that service - but the Cardio's charges for his time are paid by insurance (or whatever). If I see him at a random time & his staff checks the device, there is a separate charge for the download.

Dunno how they charge for telephone monitoring systems - I go to the Cardio's office, as do all of his patients.

Don

Charges

by Bostonstrong - 2014-01-11 11:01:32

Were around 300.00 for a pacer check in the office on top of the 200+ charge for the EP visit. Since I haven't met my deductible for this year it's not happening anytime soon.
Don't get me started on Obamacare. That's a complex and inflammatory topic. In anticipation of Obamacare lowering reimbursements two of the mega hospital systems here terminated 1700 and 2500 employees. Brilliant.

angry sparrow

by pace-man - 2014-01-11 12:01:54

Hi Angry Sparrow , please don't take my comments as a criticism of your health system, I don't know anything about your health system to be able to criticize it, I am just letting you know how it is in other countries, It cost an average couple $317 per month for private health care down here, on top of that we have to pay a levy on our tax to cover our "free" health care system which does not always cover everything, I was just lucky to have been in a hospital that did direct bill the health fund, my wife had to go to a different hospital last year and we still had to pay a few thousand extra , so it is not perfect. have a great day. Rick

My first Merlin Check...

by MelodyMarch - 2014-01-12 01:01:47

Is scheduled to occur during my sleep on Monday night. With my current insurance I owe 10% co-insurance up to a $1500 deductible for this type of thing. My co-pay for the specialist is usually $30. So, I don't know exactly what I will pay, but you can bet I will be calling if it is over $75. It will take my insurance a couple of months to figure it out though. That is what irks me the most, I was hospitalized last year for an infection and it took the insurance and the hospital more than 6 months to figure out my part of what I owed. I think that if they can't figure it out within a reasonable timeframe (say a month) then the hospital shouldn't charge you!!!

why use remote...

by turboz24 - 2014-01-12 10:01:34

For my first ICD, I used the remote monitor, was faster, and cheaper as my insurance covered it 100%, but then as insurance companies do, they changed their policy and started to charge the same for an office visit as the remote check, so no point to use it.

Merlin at home

by Tick-tock - 2014-01-12 11:01:13

I pay $16.00 a month to have my new bed buddy. It does daily checks around 2am. I Unfortuantly have alerts sent to my EP daily. On Thursday nights a more extensive report is sent as well as when they call me to do readings periodically. I also go into the office from time to time just because of some issues I'm having right now. However, the only bill I receive is the monthly charge of $16.00 for my cell phone adapter. I also then pay my co pay when I'm forced to go into the office. Hope that helps. Best of luck

Remote versus Directly

by Tom77 - 2017-07-08 21:08:02

That sounds a bit excessvie, instead of having a remote interrogation, is it possible you could go directly to the clinic, it might save on some money.

That is in reverse. Going in would be the fee. Staying home for a remote interrogation should be the one at least covered by insurance.

Never had to pay out of pocket before anyway.