How to use your ER Consent
- 13 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Your Consent in your “wallet” should pop up when you go to the ER. It has brief instructions on it. This is the longer version of the instructions.
Background
Congress passed a law in 1986 called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA as it is known. It was a response to the common practice of ERs telling you to go elsewhere if they didn’t like your insurance or lack thereof.
Many hospitals have used that law as an excuse to raise prices for emergency care, arguing: “We have to treat everyone. So people with good insurance need to pay a price high enough to cover the uninsured.”
Well, maybe people who don’t use Quizzify do, but you don’t. Here’s the rub: since hospitals must treat every emergency exactly the same regardless of the financial arrangement (if any), you need not agree to pay their price. (They can object to your price, but in practice, they rarely do. In that case, you argue about it later…but you don’t have to pay theirs. See below.)
It happens that Medicare has set really, really good prices for emergency care. So low that even multiplying it by two, as the Consent does, cuts the bill in half or thereabouts. (We offer 2x to overcome any objection in Court that our offer is unreasonable. That did come up in the Ohio case.)
Using it
Unless it’s a real, life-threatening emergency requiring immediate care, the first thing that happens in the ER is the check-in. You will be given a pad with two signature fields and asked to sign both. The Consent that pops up on your wallet will direct you to request that the Consent be printed out.
Sign the Consent to Treat but do not sign the financial consent. Either write in the 18 words that pop up on your phone. Or, if you are a Quizzify customer, you will have a sticker that looks like this to slap on and sign.
Slapped on and signed, it looks like this:
Alternatively, if your employer has signed up for our AutoConsent, there should be a QR code on your insurance card like this. In that case, you don’t have to anything other than let them copy your card, which they do automatically regardless. The QR code links to a Consent that they have already accepted.
If there is only one signature line (itself a violation of EMTALA), write it in or slap the sticker on somewhere else on the form and sign it.
If they object
While unlikely, there are three possible speedbumps:
They say they don’t recognize other Consents. Just ask them to submit this to the business office and you’ll likely not hear from them again, meaning your Consent is accepted. It is also not legal, according to this case that was just decided in Ohio, to dictate a price for emergency services and just say the patient must consent to it. The point of EMTALA is to protect consumers against hospitals. A consumer with an emergency has no other options and theoretically, limited only by whatever cushy deal has been made with the insurance company, could be charged any amount.
They refuse to print out the Consent. This is also an EMTALA violation. You can sign the Consent to treat. For the Financial Consent, write in “2x Medicare” and sign it.
They refuse to print out the Consent and there is only one signature field. If there is only one signature field (another EMTALA violation), squeeze in “2x Medicare” and squeeze in your signature.
In all three of those cases, if you think of it, record yourself saying: “Let the record show I am consenting to two times Medicare for correctly coded treatment.”
It is very important to get a copy or take a picture of the Consent, written, sticker, or on their pad.
What happens next
You should receive a bill that, in total, is much lower than you expect. (We can’t say exactly because it depends on the services received.) If it is not, you can write to ERbilling@quizzify.com. Attach the bill and the Consent copy.
One of four things can happen at that point.
First, we could tell you the bill looks legit. If it is over $1400, we pay 80% of the overage, with a few exceptions. The exceptions are for in-ER procedures, such as stent placement or CT scans and specialist consults. You will still save a lot of money, but we don't pay the 80%.
Second, if you are signed up for the Quizzify Individual Subscription, we pay 80% of everything over $1400 once the bill is corrected. However, you must cooperate with us to obtain this 80% "coverage.” You must have a copy of the Consent. We will ghostwrite a letter for you to send and give you the email addresses to send it to. If the hospital still objects, they may ask you to authorize us to talk to them on your behalf. Once that happens, we will handle the remaining communications. The only other possibility, which has happened once, is that they sue. We agree to be expert witnesses provided that your small claims court allows video testimony.
Third, if you are not signed up at all for Quizzify, we may pursue this on your behalf and charge 25% of the difference between what you would have paid and what you pay.
Finally, if your employer has signed up for Quizzify with or without the AutoConsent, there may be an incentive for you to pursue this with us if your copay is the same regardless. If you have not satisfied your deductible, that by itself is an incentive to pursue this.
Next steps:
Or ask us about a company-wide program here.
