Clinics and Hospitals: Where you're exposed to more than just high copays.
Clinics and Hospitals: Where You’re Exposed to More Than Just High Copays.
There’s a certain kind of love behind keeping Grandma at home. It’s not just about comfort — it’s about dignity, safety, and respect. So why are we still taking our most vulnerable family members out of their familiar environments, bundling them into vans, and hauling them across town just to get a simple Ultrasound test?
Here’s the hard truth: we’re exposing them to far more than just high copays.
Think about that hospital or clinic waiting room. Flu season, RSV, COVID variants, and just plain bad air. These aren’t theoretical risks — they’re real,...especially for frail elderly patients, those with autoimmune disorders, or those in memory care. Add to that the confusion that comes with a disrupted routine, the anxiety of unfamiliar settings, and the physical toll of transfers and transport. It’s a setup that puts our loved ones in harm’s way for a test that can be done portable.
There’s a Better Way — And It’s Already Here
Portable Diagnostic Imaging — X-rays, EKGs brought right to the bedside — is already a reality. It’s fast, safe, efficient, and far more compassionate. For patients in long-term care, skilled nursing, assisted living, or even at home, bedside diagnostics can mean the difference between timely care and delayed treatment… or even hospitalization.
This isn’t about convenience anymore. It’s about smart medicine, real compassion with cost savings thrown in.
Why Doesn’t Medicare Cover Portable Ultrasounds?
Here’s where policy hasn’t kept up with technology.
Right now, Medicare pays portable providers to perform X-rays at the bedside — avoiding the need to transport fragile patients into potentially dangerous hospital environments. But the same Medicare rules prohibit Type #63 Portable Diagnostic Providers from offering bedside sonograms at all! That means countless home-bound and facility-bound patients must endure costly and risky transports for exams or not get them done. Ultrasound exams that could easily be done right where they are, bedside and at home.
Let that sink in: Medicare will pay for the ambulance, the van, the lift, the gurney — and all the risk to send to the hospital emergency room or fixed site, but not the smarter, safer, less costly alternative of bringing ultrasound services...bedside!
Support the P.U.R.E. Act — A Common-Sense Solution
That’s why we’re asking for your support of the P.U.R.E. Act (Portable Ultrasound Reimbursement Equity Act), This bill would finally modernize Medicare policy by allowing Type #63 Portable Providers to perform ultrasounds and be reimbursed for the transportation and setup of portable ultrasound equipment...just like x-rays, to the patients place of residence.
✅ It improves access to timely diagnosis
✅ It reduces exposure to hospital-acquired infections
✅ It cuts down on unnecessary ambulance use and ER visits
✅ It honors the dignity of patients who deserve better
You can read the bill here (PDF) or see the official announcement on Rep. Van Duyne’s website.
This is Personal
If you’ve ever watched your mother, father, or grandparent struggle through a trip to the hospital through inclement weather and bad traffic to then wait in an exam room alone — just to confirm pneumonia, or get a leg ultrasound for a blood clot, or rule out a heart issue — you know this bill isn’t abstract. It’s personal! It’s urgent!
Let’s stop pretending this is “just how it’s done.” It’s time to do better!
Say YES to on-site ultrasound studies. Say YES to care with dignity. Say YES to the P.U.R.E. Act.
Because dignity in healthcare begins with one simple choice: we go to them.
