Medical Billing? Gotta Hate It.

A couple of months back, my wife, Terrie, was informed that a medical exam had returned an abnormally high number of a lab test and it was suggested she go straight to the emergency room.

Holding back our panic, we drove to the ER that Sunday morning and were duly greeted, checked in and put in a room where her vitals were taken. Temperature normal, blood pressure high (not exactly shocking, considering the urgency with which she was advised to get to an ER).

A few minutes later, the doctor looked at her chart, read the report filed in the system and immediately told Terrie that her number on the lab test was, in fact, not high at all. We went home.

Then the fun began.

A week or two later, Terrie received a bill for $150 from the medical center (I’m purposely not naming Atrium Health here. Oops.) for the trip to the ER. Her insurance company was billed $900.

Over the next few weeks, Terrie filed a report disputing the charge. Another billing notice arrived. Terrie got on the phone. No success in getting a human being.

Another billing notice arrived. Terrie got on the phone again. The patient services representative told her she needed to contact billing. Billing told her it was a patient services issue.

Terrie, who has much empathy for customer service employees thanks to her own career, found herself at wit’s end this week. After an appropriate expression of incredulity to the customer service rep, she eventually got a call back from a patient services person at the medical center where she was “treated” who told her not to worry; she wouldn’t get bounced around again, and her complain would be handled appropriately. It appears Terrie’s $150 bill will be wiped away.

Yet that didn’t seem enough. “What about the insurance company?” Terrie asked of the rep. “They should be alerted and get back their money, too.” The charges, after all, were completely the fault of the medical provider who misread her test result in the first place.

“Well…” the rep stammered. “That could be more complicated.” In short, why don’t you not go there?

And based on the hours spent trying to adjudicate this already, Terrie is left to wonder if she should say something to her insurance company. Would the medical center retaliate if she did so? If the insurance got back its money, would Terrie be liable for anything?

We’d like to think not, but this is the state of things today. Billing is done without the full story of what happened being acknowledged. So the insurance company pays a big bill. The medical center earns money it shouldn’t. And Terrie has to spend hours trying to avoid being considered a delinquent on what was a false charge.

Blogs, though, offer the aggrieved a voice. Anyone else out there have blowing-off steam stories they want to share? I’m here to support you!