1. Author: rfenst Date: 12/22/2009 04:16 PM Reply
S/BOTL,
Anyone know anything about this kind of crap:
Assume: Free-standing, non-hospital, outpatient surgical facility. Patient undergoes one single 57 minute arthroscopic knee surgery session consisting of: 1)left medial meniscectomy; and 2)left chondroplasty. No health insurance at all- patient to pay out of pocket himself.
Can the surgical facility bill for two separate procedures on one knee, both done in one 57 minute surgical session, on the same day (as opposed to different days), as shown below?
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I'm not sure exactly about the laws in Florida, but if you are self-paying, the hospital can bill you whatever they deem appropriate.
With an insurance company, they will bill the maximum amount they can to the insurance company, in one form or another. In the end, however, the hospital gets paid.
My suggestion to you is if you are paying out-of-pocket for medical procedures, discuss a payment plan with the hospital's billing department. They may even knock-off a portion of the bill based on the fact that they have virtually no overhead when dealing with insurance companies.
Another thing to look for is anestesia costs, and see how much is rolled into each procedure. If they bill you twice for the same anestesia costs, you can dispute this. However, I seriously doubt this is the case.
