Beware urgent care places that bill hospitals prices

I was shocked to read today’s article in the New York Times, “Even Doctors Like Me are Falling Into This Medical Bill Trap.” It’s written by one of my favorite doctor/authors, Danielle Ofri.

If you don’t have access to the Times, here’s the gist of the article. Dr. Ofri’s daughter needed a quick x-ray after a bike injury to see if she’d broken a bone. They were away from home and so went into a local urgent care. When Ofri got the bill for the ankle and wrist x-rays it was $1,168. Ofri noticed the bill didn’t come from the urgent care but a hospital, and they were billed at the cost of hospital x-rays. Ofri was told the urgent care was affiliated with the hospital and as such is allowed to charge hospital prices.

“It’s difficult to quantify how many patients find themselves unknowingly getting higher-price care at HOPDs as we did…There are also stories on Reddit and other platforms about new — and steep — facility fees at doctors’ offices appearing on medical bills and often not covered by insurance. One patient’s bill went up 10-fold for the same procedure after her doctor’s practice changed its classification of her appointment to a hospital-based designation.”

Be aware next time you need an urgent care facility. The good news is after six months of fighting the charge, the hospital canceled Ofri’s bill. Be aware too, appealing a bill is almost expected these days before insurance will cover it or sneaky hospital systems will drop it.