Surprise Emergency Room Bill (4 Viewers)

[Optimus Prime]

2. Single point billing - if you go to Hospital ABC, your bill will be from Hospital ABC. You will not get 5 bills from 3 different providers. It's up to the hospital, doctor's office, whatever, to distribute the funds.

At the very least upon discharge tell you which doctors/practices you'll be getting a bill from

A lot of people think they go to the hospital and they get a hospital bill and are surprised to get a bill from half a dozen different practices (5 of which they've never even heard of before)

 

[Sailorsaint]

I would like to get a look at a hospital’s “secret charge book”, but it would probably just make my blood pressure skyrocket, then I’d have to go to the doctor…

 

[Waymer]

The hospital somehow got confused when it came to billing the birth of our twins. One of the boys was billed to my wife's insurance (correctly), the other was billed to my insurance somehow incorrectly (I guess they asked me my name, but I never provided insurance info or anything else).

In the end, after 12 days in the NICU, both had essentially identical bills. $85K for one son. $89K for the other. Billed to two different insurances at the end of the day.

One was covered and paid for since obviously my wife had met her deductible, max out of pocket, etc. The other was sent to collections after so, so, so many frustrating calls, chats, emails, letters, etc to the hospital explaining that the son is not on my insurance, never has been on it, and never will be (my wife's job is much better for family plans), etc.

So one twin was correct. Completely covered. One son was sent to collections because the hospital can't figure it out. 21 months after he was born, it was finally corrected by the hospital. The irony in all this? The hospital would have got their money so much faster by getting it fixed. I was never going to pay something of that amount that I didn't owe, even after they offered to settle. But had they fixed it right away, they would have received their funds so much faster from the insurance company.

It seems little non-sensical clerical errors like this happen all the time. I think a lot of it is so automated that getting to someone who can see the issue (and care) is difficult.

 

[boutte]

I saw video of an old man waiting in an emergency room lose consciousness, fall out of his chair then lay there and die and nobody came to check on him for a long. I think it was local.

 

[itztime]

I would like to get a look at a hospital’s “secret charge book”, but it would probably just make my blood pressure skyrocket, then I’d have to go to the doctor…

You should see those coder books, it’s impossible to know all of that and interpretations to bill. The EMR automatically captures charges for ICD’s, level of care (the more you document the more your ROI will be), chargemasters, orders.

Than you have your medical coders whom will go over the patient chart and catch additional charges, code to the insurance coverage, or they may knock the level of care down. For instance a provider and nurse can document to a level 5 for a broken nose but no insurance is paying for that, so the coder will knock that level of care down to a 2. Honestly you can stick 5 coders or 5 medical records staff members in a room and they will all disagree with each other how to code/bill.

 

[dtc]

How is this even legal?
==================
ATLANTA - A woman said she was billed for a trip to the emergency room, even though she didn't receive any treatment.

Taylor Davis said she went to the Emory Decatur Hospital ER in July for a head injury.

She sat in the waiting room for hours, but with no end in sight, she decided to leave.

"I sat there for seven hours. There's no way I should be sitting in an emergency room.. an emergency room for seven hours," she said.

A couple of weeks later, a surprise came in her mailbox.

It was a bill from the hospital for nearly $700.

"I didn't get my vitals taken, nobody called my name. I wasn't seen at all," Davis said.

Davis said she was convinced it was a mistake.

"So I called them and she said it's hospital protocol even if you're just walking in and you're not seen. When you type in your social, that's it. You're going to get charged regardless," she said.

She said she was told it was an emergency room visit fee or a facility fee as it is called in some cases.

It's often added to a person's total hospital bill, so it might not be as noticeable as it is in this case.

An email sent to Davis by an Emory Healthcare patient financial services employee states "You get charged before you are seen. Not for being seen." ……

Woman billed $700 after sitting in ER waiting room for 7 hours, leaving without treatment

A woman says she was billed for a trip to the emergency room, even though she didn't receive any treatment.

www.fox5atlanta.com

10 15 years ago I had the same experience at Baptist in Pensacola.

I had a bad case of bronchitis and coughed myself blue. My wife took me to the ER and I sat there for hours and finally went home. Weeks later the bill was 800 for nothing. Absolutely nothing. I was told the same thing only I know some people and had it removed.

BS. Our entire medical system is a bizarre pile of excrement.

 

[mjcouvi]

Let’s hold up on that drone that’s gonna drop a bomb on a bunch of civilians in the Middle East for millions and millions of dollars and instead drop those millions on Americans who needlessly suffer. How bout it? Sounds nice, eh?

Oh no, sorry, that’s not practical.

 

[2009ring]

The hospital somehow got confused when it came to billing the birth of our twins. One of the boys was billed to my wife's insurance (correctly), the other was billed to my insurance somehow incorrectly (I guess they asked me my name, but I never provided insurance info or anything else).

In the end, after 12 days in the NICU, both had essentially identical bills. $85K for one son. $89K for the other. Billed to two different insurances at the end of the day.

One was covered and paid for since obviously my wife had met her deductible, max out of pocket, etc. The other was sent to collections after so, so, so many frustrating calls, chats, emails, letters, etc to the hospital explaining that the son is not on my insurance, never has been on it, and never will be (my wife's job is much better for family plans), etc.

So one twin was correct. Completely covered. One son was sent to collections because the hospital can't figure it out. 21 months after he was born, it was finally corrected by the hospital. The irony in all this? The hospital would have got their money so much faster by getting it fixed. I was never going to pay something of that amount that I didn't owe, even after they offered to settle. But had they fixed it right away, they would have received their funds so much faster from the insurance company.

It seems little non-sensical clerical errors like this happen all the time. I think a lot of it is so automated that getting to someone who can see the issue (and care) is difficult.

This is why the onus has to be on the providers to get it right with the insurance, and why medical debt shouldn't be able to tank your credit. You're perfectly innocent, trying to do the right thing, and some idiot medical billing clerk screws up your billing, your credit and your sanity, all because they're too lazy to do it right.

Have to motivate them (the hospitals etc) somehow to do better.

 

[Saint_Ward]

Odd. Usually the hospital doesn't even register you for insurance until after triage and you're in a room / bay.

 

[DaveXA]

Odd. Usually the hospital doesn't even register you for insurance until after triage and you're in a room / bay.

That's not how they do it here anymore. First thing they do is have you wait in a short line to register, before they triage. But it's been like that a while here. Maybe depends on the hospital.

 

[Saint_Ward]

At the very least upon discharge tell you which doctors/practices you'll be getting a bill from

A lot of people think they go to the hospital and they get a hospital bill and are surprised to get a bill from half a dozen different practices (5 of which they've never even heard of before)

And usually a radiologist you never saw, but reviewed your scan. They did legit work, but until you've been through it, you wouldn't know.

 

[Saint_Ward]

I really wanted to post that 'surprise ___ ___' gif from Dexter. But, not appropriate.

 

[Saint_Ward]

Speaking of surprises..... I'm in the hospital surgical waiting room. (Wife surgery).

The only good thing is that the hospital charge will put us over our out-of-pocket max for in network, so I won't care too much about the other bills. Fully expect 2 surgeon bills, surgical assistant, anesthesiologist, etc...

 

[GeauxWhoDats]

If you ever want a good chuckle and you are looking at an itemized bill of a hospital stay look at the charge for Ibuprofen. When my daughter was born the charge as $800 for one dose (2 pills).

 

[boutte]

Let’s hold up on that drone that’s gonna drop a bomb on a bunch of civilians in the Middle East for millions and millions of dollars and instead drop those millions on Americans who needlessly suffer. How bout it? Sounds nice, eh?

Oh no, sorry, that’s not practical.

How we gonna pay for it? (Forget the nearly trillion dollar defense budget, the most corrupt agency in the whole the whole sick system)