Follow
Share

I received a bill from AMR that was ordered by Hospice when mom went to the Hospice house. From what I know about Hospice is that everything is 100% covered by medicare. But now this bill comes 2 months to the day of my mom's death? Has anyone received bills after your loved one dies and who is responsible for payment if Medicare denies? Mom is gone and the bill is in her name. What do I do?

This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Assuming it is a valid bill, your Mom's estate is responsible. But check with Hospice. Perhaps you should appeal the ruling.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report

Not after a death and I don't know what AMR is but I've had the same problem under Medicare with a hospital to home discharge needing medical tranport.. What happens is the facility who deemed transportation necessary did not provide the company with the necessary paperwork (doctor's order, diagnosis justifying need) . The drivers don't bother to check the paperwork and then they try to go after the patient. I resolved it by first appealing to Medicare. Medicare did not care. They said no paperwork, too bad. So I went back to the company and the hospital and told them both - if the hospital failed to do the proper paperwork, that's their negligence, not the patient b/c the patient did not order the tranport, the hospital did. and they failed to get a signed
Advance Beneficiary Notices of Noncoverage (ABNs) where the patient agreed to pay if medicare did not pay.
So between the hospital and the company, they apparently decided to write it off I guess. So the next time I was in this same situation with a family member I insisted on seeing the paperwork of the order. I noticed on the paperwork that there was no justification for the request, so I made the discharge nurse get the doctor to put one down so when it went to Medicare it would not be denied for that reason. Then I got a copy of the paperwork in case I had trouble. So months later when it got processed, it was paid this time with no problem. Don't know if you have the same facts but you can try to appeal it with medicare. When you appeal it they do contact the provider and ask for documentation.

there is a publication www.medicare.gov/Pubs/pdf/11021.pdf
that might help you if this is a medicare payment issue.

if the link doesn't work do an internet search for

medicare coverage of ambulance services
Helpful Answer (2)
Report

Just wanted to update this thread because I wanted to get this down so that if anyone ever receives a letter such as this can learn from what I have learned. I did some calling first with Medicare to see why the bill wasn't paid? The gal told me that it wasn't paid because it was not ordered by the attending physician and that it had to be a medically necessary transport. I then told the Medicare person that my mom was dying...and I didn't know how much more medically necessary they needed than that. Anyhow...I called my Hospice social worker, very nice lady who worked with me and mom. Carolyn right off tells me..Oh that's our bill. We will take care of it. So she had me send it to her office and they would take care of the bill. So please if you receive bills that are denied payment from medicare or any insurance. Don't just pay them...investigate and don't hesitate to call for answers. God Bless you all.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report

2 much - this is so spot-on right on how Medicare needs the justification so they can code to pay anything.

Msdaisy - if mom is deceased, then the debt is a debt of her estate. So that should mean that her estate goes to probate. Any debtor has to go to probate court and present the debt. When probate is opened, there needs to be published at least 3 times an announcement in the paper in the Legal Notices section, to any and all debtors regarding the deceased probate hearings. If they don't get the bill into the line at probate court for her estate, then it's JUST TOO BAD.

Now if you all don't do probate, it's another issue. But either way:
You are not responsible to pay for anything. It's her debt.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

MsDaisy - what i'd suggest is that you order several of mom's death certificates.
I'd say at least 6 - 10 of them. Most insurance companies, medical practices, etc require a death certificate in order to close a file. Then whenever you get a bill for her, you send them a note stating that she is deceased and attached is an original death certificate and that you are not responsible for any of her debts and that she died in hospice and has no assets. This will probably stop most of the letters and phone calls. The debt collectors can be relentless so you may have to do this more than once. Keep all this in a file so you don't go loco on dealing with it.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

Our hospital requires that you sign the form of responsibility whenever mom or father goes in. SIL found this out after her mom spent months in the hospital and then died. They went after her to pay for her mom's debts. The last time I took mom to the ER, I signed it but I may have done it wrong. I need to word it a certain way. I Googled the info. I think I'm suppose to sign as "Representative for xxxxx Xxxxxx" Something like that. I will need to refresh my memory.

Medicare will only reject coverage if the doctor is not specific enough.

Also, I watch HLN Clark Howard. As long as you didn't sign a form saying that you're responsible, then your mom's debts are hers alone. If they keep insisting you pay, write a letter explaining the situation, make a copy of it, and send it be registered mail (with a return receipt for delivery). Sorry, I get these mixed up - certified or registered. Just remember, any billing that comes along, you are not responsible for it. One caller said that the credit card company kept harrassing him. Even spoke to a family member to tell him to pay. Clark got angry. Later in another episode, he updated us. Clark got the credit card company info, went straight to the top and made a complaint. The bank apologized. And the harrassment ended.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

I'm about to deal with this same issue. I have two words for all of this: SINGLE PAYER.

If we all lived in Canada, this would not be happening to us.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

YES!!! The same thing has happened to me with my father! What can be done about this?
Helpful Answer (0)
Report

Medicare refused to talk to me without a document from an attorney that would cost me $750!!!
Helpful Answer (0)
Report

My husband died May 2017, received several ambulance bills in the mail, didn't open them sent them back with return to sender DECEASED. Now tax time, and I received a letter from the state that I owe this $700+ debt to our City for the Ambulance. I am still paying for bills I can't even afford. And to top it off Health Care coverage is too expensive to get so I got a penalty for not having that as well.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report

See All Answers
This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Ask a Question
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter