Update on hospital bill situation

[disneysteve]

I posted a while ago about issues with the hospital bill for my wife's surgery in September. A quick review: She had emergency gallbladder surgery 9/15. After insurance, our share of the nearly $28,000 hospital bill came to about $4,300. I requested an itemized copy of the bill on which I found what I thought to be an error. One piece of equipment was charged 3 times and I'm quite certain she only received one of them. I contacted the billing department. They referred me to the patient care representative who told me she would investigate the charges. Several weeks and a few phone calls later, she called today to tell me that I was correct and that 2 of the 3 charges would be removed.

Amount saved: $1040.96!

I'm waiting for the revised bill to be sent to me. The billing department told me initially that paying the bill in full upfront would get me a 35% discount. I fully expect that offer to still stand, so the final amount due should be about $2,200, down from the original $4,300.

The moral of the story is to always get an itemized bill and review it carefully. Many, if not most, hospital bills contain errors.

[scfr]

Thanks for sharing a valuable lesson with the rest of us.

[safari]

Were you originally supposed to pay 100% of that charge that was later removed? I am asking this because if your insurance was covering part of the cost, then you can't substract the whole amount from your personal bill. For example, if a procedure costs $1000 and your insurance covers 80%, then you're only paying $200 out of the pocket. So if later the $1000 charge is removed from the bill, you'll be paying $200 less, not $1000 less.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by safari

Were you originally supposed to pay 100% of that charge that was later removed? I am asking this because if your insurance was covering part of the cost, then you can't substract the whole amount from your personal bill. For example, if a procedure costs $1000 and your insurance covers 80%, then you're only paying $200 out of the pocket. So if later the $1000 charge is removed from the bill, you'll be paying $200 less, not $1000 less.

I thought of that and I'm actually not sure. I won't know until I get the final bill. If they resubmit the whole thing to my insurance company (which has already paid them) for an adjusted payment, you may be right. If they just knock off those charges and send me an adjusted bill, then my numbers would be correct.

Just think, though. How many millions of dollars could be saved in insurance payments if someone would review each bill? It would be a monumental task, but the amount of wasteful and incorrect billing must be huge.

[vsjhoc]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

Just think, though. How many millions of dollars could be saved in insurance payments if someone would review each bill? It would be a monumental task, but the amount of wasteful and incorrect billing must be huge.

This problem is so bad that there are companies that will review your hospital bills and insurance, and then negotiate with the hospital to get duplicate and wrong charges removed. They charge you a percentage of the savings they get for you. These companies find entries on your bill like a "mucus recovery system" for $12 -- nothing more than a box of tissues. See this link.

[34saving]

My daughter was billed $88 for a bottle. I wish I could see detailed insurance payments too. (I know insurance only paid 1/2 of what the hospital thought the bill was, but it would be interesting to see what things they reduced/didn't allow.)

[JBinKC]

Good for you I had a similar situation on a medical bill about 2 years ago where I eventually offered 28% of the bill (the rate medicare reimburses) and they accepted it without any ramifications to my credit.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

I'm waiting for the revised bill to be sent to me. The billing department told me initially that paying the bill in full upfront would get me a 35% discount. I fully expect that offer to still stand, so the final amount due should be about $2,200, down from the original $4,300.

Here's the final update (I hope). I got a "revised" bill. It showed the error charges being removed, but refunded to the insurance company, leaving my amount due the same! I wasn't happy about that. I called today and the woman initially confirmed that was correct and told me what the payment would be with the 35% discount ($2,799.55). I called my insurance company to see if they paid any type of incentive to members who discovered a billing error and they don't. A short time later, the hospital biller called back and said she checked my account and there actually was a correction made to my account. They DID deduct the overcharge from my balance, so instead of $4,307.00, I owed $3,266.04. After the 35% discount, my final amount due is $2,122.93!

So original bill was $4,307.
Final actual bill is $2,122.93. A savings of just over 50%. Had I just gone ahead and assumed everything was right and paid the first bill, I'd be out $2,184.00 for no reason. It sure paid to take the time to order the itemized bill, review it, get it corrected and ask about any discount offered.

Moral of the story is don't ever just pay a hospital bill without doing some investigating. Just by asking for a discount, there is a pretty good chance you will get one.

[boefixepa]

WAY TO GO! That is well worth your time. I wonder how much you saved per hour of time you spent on it. Whatever it was I am sure that you made bank. I've never really delt with large bills (yet) but I know to keep tabs on them now.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by boefixepa

WAY TO GO! That is well worth your time. I wonder how much you saved per hour of time you spent on it. Whatever it was I am sure that you made bank. I've never really delt with large bills (yet) but I know to keep tabs on them now.

I'd estimate I made a total of 7 or 8 phone calls, none lasting more than 5-10 minutes. Add in a few minutes spent reviewing the itemized bill and I might have devoted all of one hour or so to the whole endeavor.

[frugalmomof1]

Thanks for sharing...I will definately review my doctor and hospital bills from now on!!

[katwoman]

Impressive!

[RJB1180]

DS, aren't you a doctor?? you should have been able to do better

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by RJB1180

DS, aren't you a doctor?? you should have been able to do better

LOL! Yes, I'm a doctor. If you think that gets me any special treatment, forget it. The only advantage I had was a better ability to understand the itemized bill. Beyond that, I'm on equal footing with everyone else.

This episode just really made me wonder how many millions of dollars in incorrect bills get sent out every year and how much of that is paid by the insurance companies, just contributing to our sky high healthcare costs. Plus how much individual patients overpay out of pocket due to those bills.

[Snoopy2645]

Wow thanks for sharing I am an idiot because I have never requested this itemized bill before but I sure will in the future thanks so much for the info!!!!

[Fern]

My share of the cost of my surgery last summer was about $3,000. I did request an itemized bill after the fact, not to challenge anything but so that i could submit for reimbursement to my flex health savings plan. The itemization seemed kind of useless to me cus i couldn't make heads or tails of many of the abbreviations, etc, so i would be hard pressed to tell if it was accurate or not. What a wonderful medical system we have.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Fern

The itemization seemed kind of useless to me cus i couldn't make heads or tails of many of the abbreviations, etc, so i would be hard pressed to tell if it was accurate or not.

Most of the errors that people will pick up are things that are fairly obvious. Like being charged 3 times for one item in my wife's case. I've also heard of people getting charged for a circumcision when their child was born, but it was a girl. Another person had MRIs done on both knees and got charged for 3 knees. Glaringly obvious errors aren't too hard to catch. There are certainly a lot of abbreviations and medical jargon on the bills. Can't say I understood it all myself. But if something looks wrong, just call the billing department and find out what it is. Or go in and have them sit down and go through the bill with you item by item. You have the right to an accurate bill.

[Fern]

thanks, Steve. It's really invaluable to have a physician plying these waters/boards.