Welcome back to my weekend reflections, where I dive into the highs and lows of my workweek!
High: This weekend was intense on our mom and baby floor. So many consults that took up a lot of emotional and mental energy. I had a case where a NICU baby needed to be transferred to a different hospital for a higher level of care. However, even though the doctor was able to secure a bed at our children’s hospital, the insurance denied it, stating it was out of network and we would need to get prior auth. Which, on the weekend, is next to impossible to do since the insurance companies are closed.
I called the insurance company on Monday to see if we could get an out-of-network auth. They informed me that it can take up to 72 hours for emergent cases and 3 business days for standard requests. The cherry on top was that there was no guarantee they would even give us the authorization. So, I called the doctor, and she gave the green light to call Texas Children’s Hospital to see if they had beds available. Texas Children’s Hospital was in-network with the baby’s insurance. They did, and we were able to get the baby out the same day.
It’s just amazing to me how much control the insurance companies have over healthcare, let alone critical care. It took over three hours on Monday for this transfer to happen- not including the time we spent on the weekend trying to get the initial transfer to happen.
And then it was on to the next case: a mom being 20 years old, her baby’s father being 46 years old, and it being his 23rd child. Yeah, that’s a story for another time.
Low: It was nonstop, back-to-back cases that weren’t easy and took a lot of time and energy. By the end of my shift on Monday, I was so grateful that I only work three days a week and that I do twelve-hour shifts. Honestly, I don’t know how I would’ve been able to manage the patients, navigate the crises, and document everything in just 8 hours.