This just seems so wrong......
DH went to the Dr. for a physical, the usual blood work, turn your head and cough yu know the drill. lol Well today I received the statement $200+ ok fine it was his first time seeing her. But getting hit twice. 1st the physical $179, 2nd Office visit $100. the 2nd was bc my hubby talked to her about his lack of sleep and staying asleep. One would think that the 1st charge would cover the talking about not sleeping well. So I have the right or atleast a possibilty of fighting the 2nd charge? That just seems like price gauging and wallet picking. She is a good Dr. but damn a 30 min visit and getting billed 2x is hard to swallow. What do yo think? FYI I saw her the same day and my visit was $90.00.
Nope its not a typo on their part it was billed as 2 officce visits for one visit. I plan to call and talk to the nurse or doc to get the lower one removed. The billing office is just that billing; they have no say so to change charges. I have not been billed like this in the past so I ? why she is starting to do that now. I guess her having her 2nd child she needs to get that college fund bank rolled some how. I cant wait till Jan 1 when our ins changes to just $25 for office visits she can then bill as she wishes. Thanks for the input so far.
My pediatrician has a base price for a office visit and then also a charge for a well-child visit. Could be similar
Or it could be that his allotted time ran over so they charged him extra for that time. Sort of like lawyers billing every 6 mins. You talk to them for 6mins you get billed once. You talk for 7 and you get billed twice.
Sounds odd to me too. If he left and came back it was a different visit, even if it was the same day. But if it was during the physical it is the same visit regardless.
Well, if he went for the physcial and then started talking about another issue, then yeah they can bill you for that. We've had that happen here with some of our employees. One of my co-works had a problem with her shoulder and knee. She had an appointment to see about the knee and they had to schedule another appointment for the shoulder. WTH!
I would go ahead and call about getting the $100 taken off. Never hurts to ask!
K.:
Call the billing department of the doctors office and talk with them.
My doctor's have not ever charged us like that - the physical is the appointment - if they do their own blood work, then that charge could be for samples and blood work. Ask questions - get answers.
I would compare the office visits and ask why there is such a discrepancy between two same day office visits.
Talk to them. Complain and get results.
I wouldn't have a doctor who did this. There are lots of good doctors. If she didn't explicitly tell him that she only did a physical and won't address any issues, but charges $100 to hear and respond to anything else, that's one thing. But if she didn't, you shouldn't have to pay this.
Do you have insurance? Call them up and talk to them about this. Get THEM on the phone with the office/billing manager.
To be honest, I was told at the Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat place I used to go to that they couldn't give my an eye appointment and an ENT appointment the same day, or they would only get paid for one. So I think something is really fishy with what your doctor's office is trying to do. It might not be the doctor per say, but the office manager doing this.
Fight it, K..
Dawn
I thought the point of a physical was to check out your whole body... and discuss any thing that might be worrying you.
I would call as well.
J.
It's called itemizing because insurance companies require unbundling of claims. Not at all unheard of, unfair, or wrong! But it wouldn't hurt to ask for some of it to be pardoned. You never know until you ask! Office visits are based on the complexity of the problem and time, and a physical is just the regular wellness (not problem focused) examination that consists of specific questions and tests.
I know that everything gets billed differently. It all depends on the insurance. Your best bet is to not jump the gun and call the billing department for an explanation. It could be an error or it could be how they are required to bill.
I know nothing about billing/coding for insurance companies. But we lived in a town where the local gyne practice warned their patients to *not* bring up any problems during their routine physical exam app't. The doctors' notice explained that if you bring up a problem, the dr. needs to bill it as a sick-care visit, and that pays less than the physical--and the normal tests that are done and paid for during a physical visit WOULD NOT be covered during the "sick" visit--or something of that nature.
The gyne practice's recommendation: Come for the regular physical, and don't bring up problems. If you do have a prob., make a separate app't for that purpose.
I don't exactly understand this thinking, but perhaps something similar was going on with dh's visit; the doc may have billed for two visits in order for (possible) insurance to pay, hopefully resulting in less out-of-pocket expenses for *you* to need to pay.
Yes, I think you'll get further discussing this with the doctor than going through the business office to discuss. I'd be careful to not whine or complain; you catch more flies with honey. (i.e. Wouldn't bring up the padding her kids' college fund thing, lol. Btw, chances are that the dr. is still paying on *her* medical college loans.)
I would definitely call to negotiate it. If he saw her on two separate occasions they have a right to bill each visit. Yep the prices seem unfair but if he saw her 2X ...yikes. If you are paying out of pocket and the dr office knows this they might go ahead and reduce it 10-20% if they know you'll pay right away. Sorry :(
