Sickened by Doctor's Office Charges

[clarabelle]

I think you should switch and find someone else.

 

[OceanAnnie]

It is your right to ask, and theirs to answer or not, as they will. I have verified charges, but never asked for justification for a charge that is confirmed as being correct. Then again, I have never felt that I have been taken advantage of by a doctor. I have watched several doctors save my wife's life on no less than 4 occasions. They could take everything that I have and I would still be in their debt.

I'm not targeting doctors. I'm speaking of general service fees. I have asked for a break down of prices when things didn't look right. In looking at the break downs, I have found mistakes. That's across the board.

I don't think it comes down to being taken advantage of. I think quite often it comes down to mistakes. In my experience the root of the problem occurs with the billing department and something being miskeyed.

 

[OceanAnnie]

The only "explanation" I got on the phone was "yup" when I said in reference to the eye pressure check going from $90 last time to $210 this time, "it's come up THAT much since the last time I was there?!" Certainly no explanation there.

Did you speak with someone from billing? Did you ask for a break down of charges? I would.

 

[Deb in IA]

Doctors are well paid. Period.

You still don't get it, do you?

Did you even READ the article on Dr. Wah? THAT, my friend, happens much more commonly that you think.

And by the way, exactly how many doctor's offices have you mananged?



I'll grant that you may know of SOME doctors that are paid rather well. But as many here have tried to point out to you, these are typically surgical subspecialists.

I can guarentee you that most doctors in primary care do NOT have that kind of income. And the vast majority of practicing physicians in this country are in primary care.

I'm sure you will continue to generalize and stereotype ALL doctors based on the ones you describe. But I think many here know that is just not the case.

 

[Heidict]

OP- in regards to your problem, that does sound like a huge jump. It is standard for the price to go up from year to year, but over double? That has never happened where I work.

You should be able to call other ophthalmology offices to questions the cost of a pressure check. Do you have the cpt codes that they billed with? If so, could you give us a break down? I can even tell you what we charge for particular cpt codes, if you like. We can only access pricing through cpt codes, not a general idea of what someone needs or wants so having it when calling other doctors might be beneficial.



There are no less then a dozen cpt (procedure) codes that can be used for an office visit. They are separated based on the complexity of the issue, the time that the md spends in the room with the patient and outside of the room working on the patient's case along with the fact that a patient may be new or established with that practice.

The front desk staff has no way of knowing which cpt code the doctor is going to circle on that encounter form prior to the patient being seen. Not to mention he may order other testing to be done, which could jack up the cost of the visit. So, it is very difficult to give pricing over the phone.

 

[Anjelica]

While not all doctors are well paid after you take into account the numerous expenditures they have to pay I would rather my doctors get paid well. Why else would you put yourself through years and years and years of medical school, internships and residency before you really become a doctor???

Sorry but I expect the best and brightest to be my family's doctors. You aren't going to get the best and brightest if you start to bring down doctor wages. You'll have a lack of good doctors in the field who won't even attend medical school if they have to pay for it most of their working life.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I think a jump from $90 to $210 is a pretty steep increase for a 5-minute pressure check. He wants me to have it done 4 x year, I can't afford that. I wish our insurance helped to pay more, but we'd have to pay higher premiums and we already pay about $8000/year for just the two of us.

Either there's a VERY valid medical reason for this frequency - and your vision is too important to nickel-and-time - or you need to find a more ethical ophthamologist.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I don't know about anyone else posting, but for myself, I never said whether I thought they should make what they do or not. I simply said do not give me their sad tale of what they have to pay out. They make more than enough to cover all of that and then some.

Doesn't matter. Not my business. Not my concern how much anyone makes except me, or unless they work directly for me - an employee, a housekeeper, a contractor,,,. Shouldn't be anyone else's concern either. If you don't like what somebody apparently does with the money they get from you and all their other patients/clients/customers/passengers/whatever, don't patronize them.

The doctors I am referring to are partners and obviously make a tremendous amount of money.

Unless you work for them in a financial position, you don't know the source of all their income.

 

[kaytieeldr]

This leap is TOO MUCH without some sort of explanation of the costs. If it's because of some sort of change in their insurance, they should DETAIL that in a letter upfront to their patients.

That's not reasonable. No business is obligated, or should be expected, to explain or describe its own increased expenses to clients/patients/customers/etc, when increasing their own rates/prices:

"Our malpractice insurance went up because so many people are too quick to sue so we're passing the cost on to you, our patient."
"The landlord wants a new boat so he raised our rent, so our legal fees are now $250 an hour (up from $200 an hour), thank you for your continued patronage."
"Our policy on shoplifters being that our associates are not allowed to stop them results in us losing millions of dollars per store annually. We are increasing all prices 10% to make up for this loss and appreciate your understanding."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

 

[KandD]

So if I call other opthalmologist's offices to ask what they charge for an eye pressure check, they're not going to tell me? Great. I would think there should be a standard charge for certain procedures/tests, then if something more is needed that can be discussed with the patient. I should be able to find out how much a pressure check is, then if the doctor wants to run another test, be able to find out how much that is going to cost as well.

You say your office doesn't give out cost info on the phone, but if the person actually comes in then you can tell them? Why? Just so you can get that office call charge out of them?

I agree with you to a certain extent but it is REALLY hard to know beforehand what the dr. is going to have to do at an appt, especially if they have never seen you before. A LOT of patients do not give all the info before they come in (or even when they are at the appt.) so that makes it even harder.

On the second visit did you have any testing or photos done? With glaucoma there is certain testing that is usually done at least once a year and it is quite expensive.

 

[jodifla]

That's not reasonable. No business is obligated, or should be expected, to explain or describe its own increased expenses to clients/patients/customers/etc, when increasing their own rates/prices:

"Our malpractice insurance went up because so many people are too quick to sue so we're passing the cost on to you, our patient."
"The landlord wants a new boat so he raised our rent, so our legal fees are now $250 an hour (up from $200 an hour), thank you for your continued patronage."
"Our policy on shoplifters being that our associates are not allowed to stop them results in us losing millions of dollars per store annually. We are increasing all prices 10% to make up for this loss and appreciate your understanding."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

It's completely and totally reasonable and moral. Or course, there probably IS no good reason to more than double prices in a year, unless you're just a jerk, so what can this guy say in a letter? I want more money just because you're stuck between a rock and a hard place?

The problem here as described is the doctor is the only one around, and feels like he can take advantage of the situation by charging her double the price and insisting she come in 4 times a year.

I'd be getting a second opinion, and depending on what that they said, calling whatever medical board is in charge of that doctor's licensing.

When prices change substantially at my doctor's office, there is a note explaining the charges. In fact, this has been the case in several doctors' offices I've been to.

 

[jodifla]

You still don't get it, do you?

Did you even READ the article on Dr. Wah? THAT, my friend, happens much more commonly that you think.

And by the way, exactly how many doctor's offices have you mananged?



I'll grant that you may know of SOME doctors that are paid rather well. But as many here have tried to point out to you, these are typically surgical subspecialists.

I can guarentee you that most doctors in primary care do NOT have that kind of income. And the vast majority of practicing physicians in this country are in primary care.

I'm sure you will continue to generalize and stereotype ALL doctors based on the ones you describe. But I think many here know that is just not the case.

And do you come across a lot of situations where you feel it's reasonable for a doctor to more than double his/her charges in a year with no explanation to the patients?

 

[S. C.]

I'm not quite sure what you are rolling your eyes at, but the doctor is preventing her from going blind.

High intraocular pressure which goes untreated, will slowly cause a person to lose their vision, with the end game being blindness.

I was rolling my eyes at the way you came across with what you said.

 

[Deb in IA]

And do you come across a lot of situations where you feel it's reasonable for a doctor to more than double his/her charges in a year with no explanation to the patients?

She didn't ASK for an explanation.

She restated that the charges had gone up "that much".

Had she asked the question "WHY have the charges gone up that much?", she may have gotten an explanation.

The only "explanation" I got on the phone was "yup" when I said in reference to the eye pressure check going from $90 last time to $210 this time, "it's come up THAT much since the last time I was there?!" Certainly no explanation there.

And, there may have been other factors.

For example, if this patient has missed several visits, or has not been seen in a long time, a more extended office visit would have been charged.