Jon L. Christensen: “Let me just say that the nurses from the Virgin Islands are up this week as well and this is something they are very…”

“Let me just say that the nurses from the Virgin Islands are up this week as well and this is something they are very concerned about. I wholeheartedly agree with everything the gentlewoman said about needing to keep that in the patients' bill of rights, the fact that it is included only in the Ganske-Norwood-Dingell bill. But I wanted to say something about something else that our colleague said. She said that when her son was in rehab, if I heard her correctly, the rehab facility decided that even if they were not going to get reimbursed they would provide the service and soak up the cost. We find that happening more and more where either the provider or the facility is saying, well, we know this is necessary. So we are going to take the chance. We are going to provide it to the patient even if we do not get reimbursed. Well, hospitals cannot afford not to be reimbursed and still be able to provide quality service to the patients that come to them, and providers on the other hand, they are also taking the risk and saying well, I know my patient needs this, I am going to go ahead and do it, make the referral or order the diagnostic test but when they come up for review later on they run some risks as well.”