Patient Transfer: A Step-by-Step Guide to Hospital Transfers

A patient might require a hospital transfer for a number of reasons. The patient or the family might want a second opinion, the current hospital cannot address the needs of the patient, or the new hospital offers more advanced care among other reasons.

Instructions

• 1

  Check with your insurance agency to make sure it covers the hospital you want to transfer to. Depending on the type of insurance coverage you have, your policy might pay claims only for treatments in certain hospitals, or have stipulations about reduced coverage if you go to hospitals out of the coverage network.

• 2

  Talk to your physician about your desire to change hospitals and see if he has admitting privileges there. If not, he will work with a physician at the new facility to facilitate your transfer and admittance. In either case, the transferring physician will have to confirm that the other hospital will accept you as a patient.

• 3

  Discuss and make sure you clearly understand the risks and benefits of the transfer. The physician will most likely document this information and your consent, according to the American College of Family Physicians.