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Root Cause is Money, Failure-to-Disclose and Frustration
[By Staff Reporters]
Patients are challenging their medical bills with lawyers and lawsuits, out of frustration about the lack of up-front disclosure over costs by doctors and hospitals.
Involve More than a Few Cases
For example, after being charged $82,282 for a 23-hour stay in doctor-owned Westfield Hospital for two operations on her abdomen, a 56-year-old West Penn Township woman called the hospital and her insurer for an explanation.
Not satisfied with the response, she hired a lawyer and notified a reporter, after which Westfield officials said she was overcharged due to human error.
In another 2006 class-action Seattle lawsuit that was expected to have a ripple effect on consumers and hospitals, two patients of the Virginia Mason Medical Center filed suit against the center and won, after which Virginia Mason agreed to pay back an estimated $60 million to more than 3,200 patients who over six years had been charged ”overhead” for procedures performed in hospital-owned clinics – in some cases adding 60 percent to the price patients would have been charged for the same procedure performed by the same doctors in their offices.
Assessment
Although private legal action over medical bills is hard to track, the number of billing and coverage complaints filed with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s health care unit has risen steadily, with the 2,000 or more complaints so far this year representing a five or six percent increase over last year; according to Morning Call, July 13, 2008.
Conclusion
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Filed under: Health Insurance, Health Law & Policy, Healthcare Finance, Professional Liability, Risk Management | Tagged: Add new tag, medical bills, medical invoice |
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Crowd-Sourcing Medical Bills
What if everyday purchases were priced and consumed like healthcare services?
http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2011/11/05/crowd-sourcing-medical-bills
http://costsofcare.blogspot.com/
An interesting thought and another new service!
Kathy
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Two-Thirds of Americans Surprised by Medical Bill in the Past 12 Months
Vitals recently conducted a survey on healthcare cost management. Here are some key findings from the report:
• Two-thirds of American adults (155 million people) have been surprised by a medical bill in the past year.
• 7% of respondents said they receive incentives from their health plan to shop for cost-effective care.
• Over half state that medical costs “seriously” or “very much” impact their household budget.
• 3 in 5 people never ask their doctor about the cost of medical services they’re about to receive
• 28% said price of care wasn’t discussed because they believed insurance would foot the bill.
• Almost one third stated they didn’t think their doctor knew the cost.
Source: Vitals, September 30, 2015
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58.5% of Bankruptcies Were Caused by Medical Bills Between 2013-2016
The American Journal of Public Health recently published a study on medical bankruptcy. Here are some key findings from the report:
• In 2018, more than 250,000 medical campaigns were launched on GoFundMe.
• Medical bills accounted for over half of unpaid bills in collections in 2014.
• Between 2013 and 2016, 58.5% of bankruptcies were caused by medical bills.
• 44.3% of bankruptcies were caused by income loss from illness.
Source: American Journal of Public Health, February 6, 2019
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