Medical Supply Companies, Medicaid, and the Madness: An Update on the Debacle

The drama continues.

When Bellevue Healthcare (BHC) informed me that Medicaid did not have any record of me having a power chair, I made a request to my primary care physician to write a prescription and fax it to BHC, for Medicaid, indicating that I do indeed have a power chair, and that I am in need of batteries.

This past Monday, the prescription was faxed to BHC. At this point, the end of the waiting game seemed to be in sight; however, right after receiving the e-mail from my primary care physician indicating that the prescription had been sent to BHC, I was given new information that has thrown me for a loop, and I am unsure of what to do next.

While waiting for new batteries, I decided to utilize a local loan closet here in Bellingham, the Lion's Club. They were going to loan me batteries until I could get new ones, but when they checked my chair over, they realized that my batteries were just fine.  So, loaner batteries would not be beneficial to me. However, two months ago, when I described what was going on to the vendor at BHC, he was positive that the problem was the batteries. At that time, I should have been adamant that a full diagnostic test be preformed on my chair, but the guy at BHC is the expert, and I did not know any better. I do now.

Right after the Lion's Club told me that my batteries were fine, I ventured back over to BHC. My mom went in for me, and relayed the information (that the Lion's Club gave us) to BHC; she told them that the batteries were just fine, and that something else -- something unknown -- was causing the problem. She explained that we did not want to order batteries if the batteries were not the problem; we wanted them to first confirm that the batteries were in fact the problem, and then order new ones. However, they were too busy to help us, so my mom asked when a good time would be to bring back my chair, but they could not give her an answer.

I later received a call from the main BHC office; I was at lunch with a friend, so I did not answer. The same lady then called my mom (she has never called Mom before...). When my mom confirmed that we now wanted to wait to order batteries, the lady yelled at her. This lady was upset that after all the leg-work that they had done for us, we now wanted to hold off on getting the batteries. That is her job; she is paid to be a liaison between Medicaid and people who need medical supplies to be successful throughout the day. This whole situation barely touches her life, it is a little inconvenience to her while at work, but this is my life. So, please tell me why she has any right to be upset.

The lady at BHC also could not understand what my mom was talking about when she mentioned that we just now found out that the batteries were fine. Apparently BHC wrote up an entire report saying that they took my chair, did a full diagnostics test on it, and then came to the conclusion that my chair batteries were indeed dead. First of all, BHC did not take my chair; I offered to leave it, but the guy was adamant that it was the batteries. Second, no tests were preformed on my chair; all I did was explain what was going on, and it was obviously a battery problem. So, I ordered new batteries. The report was written because that is part of the procedure in getting new batteries; however, one important step was skipped. Actually checking the chair over may have been an important thing to do in the first place.

I also finally heard back from Northwest Regional Council (NWRC). A lady who works with my case manager, who is authorized to assist me, gave me a call. She was confirming what was going on. I am pretty sure that NWRC finally contacted me back in response to the call my counselor from Division  of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) made to my case manager at NWRC. Last Friday, I e-mailed my counselor at (DVR), and explained everything that was going on. She e-mailed me back Monday morning, and said she did not have any more ideas about what to do, that I had not already done, but she would give NWRC a call. She did, and NWRC responded! My counselor at DVR also said that DVR would help cover costs to repair my chair (which is legal).

Yesterday, BHC did call (after being called by NWRC), and asked my mom to bring in my chair. They are now going to do a full diagnostic test on my chair, and try to figure out what is actually wrong with it. Next time, I will insist that this is done in the first place.

Here's to continuing to play the waiting game, and praying that my chair can be fixed, and fixed quickly!