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Example of Hospitals being outrageous


coasterqueen wrote: I got Megan's medical bill in the mail the other day from her 1.5 day hospital stay. While we were there she needed to take her OTC digestive enzyme for her lactase deficiency. She gets horrible stomach aches if she doesn't take it. We asked the hospital if they had some to give to her or if we could bring ours in. They said they didn't have that kind and we could bring it in, but would have to sign a form on it. Ok....well when we brought it in they gave us the form to sign and took the medicine and said they would bring it to her when she needed it. Fine.

Well they charged us $157.56 for what they called "Drug Spec ID Detail Coding" and $282.39 for what they called "Drugs Self Administrable". I called and the first charge is for us to give them the OTC we brought from home and they had to check it out and make sure it was safe for her and that was that charge. The second charge was for them to give her that ONE little pill in a pill cup because they wouldn't let us administer it.

Can you believe that crap??????? $439.95 for us to give her a pill that costs us $1.50 already. If I would have known that I wouldn't have told them about it, I would have just brought it in and given it to her without them knowing. The reason I didn't is because with her liver being so swollen I wasn't sure how safe any med was, kwim?

This is OBSURD!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't really complain because out of a $6250.16 hospital stay bill we only had to pay $226.77, but still.....if I was an insurance company I'd charge more too if hospitals are going to charge for RIDICULOUS things like that. mad.gif

luvbug00 replied: WOW! that is ..wow.. mad.gif i hate hospitals.

mummy2girls replied: Thats insane... I can see why you told them about the meds but geez with that bill i would of snuck it in and given it to her as well ...UGH!

MommyToAshley replied: You definitely did the right thing telling the docs about the meds. You never know what kind of side effects meds can have. And, if they had given her anything else, it is important for them to know everything she was taking to prevent any kind of interactions.... so yea, you did the right thing. On a side note, if you were self-pay, they would definitely decrease the fees if you asked... I think they charge insurance as much as they can for this stuff to make up for those that don't pay their bills.

My3LilMonkeys replied: Wow. That is just insane!

~Roo'sMama~ replied: Wow. blink.gif You for sure did the right thing in making sure it was ok to give her, but they should have just let you give it to her yourselves! You give it to her at home, so why not in the hospital too? rolleyes.gif

PrairieMom replied:
They can't really do that, or at least they shouldn't. You can't just have people giving medications all over the place in the hospital, there is liability, and they need to look out for #1.
In our hospital when I delivered a med, you pay #1 for the med, and #2 for the professional delivering it.
when I had patients ask if we could just use their medications from home I would counsel them Not to, because it would be like they paid for the med twice, once at the pharmacy, and once again for me to deliver it. We would always just suggest that they take those meds home and save them for when they were discharged. Karen, I know that this was a different type of situation for you.

It sucks. But IMO , you can't just say that practices like these make hospitals bad, and that is why we have the problems we have in health care, I think it is an endless loop between pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and insurances companies. They all suck, and they all have to suck because the other ones suck. mad.gif

coasterqueen replied:
Tara, are you honestly telling me that it costs $440 to administer a med, that for a five seconds it took for them to put it in a pill cup and give it to her that we should have been charged that much? Now that's absurd.

PrairieMom replied:
I didn't say it wasn't absurd. I don't know about nurses. I did nebs. Outside the hospital you pay $25. initially for the neb set up, you probably rent the machine for $20 a month or so, and your med after co pay probably costs a buck or 2, depending on what it is.

In the hospital EVERY time I give you a neb you pay $50. That is for the HUGE mark up on the cost of the medication, plus my expertise in delivering it to you. If I do anything else with you in the room it is Extra. I will be in your room AT LEAST 4 times a day. if you are getting more than one med in your neb, you will be charged for more than one neb. Even if it takes the same amount of time. I don't make up the prices, that is just what it costs. Now if I am running life support for you, it could be Thousands a day. Not including additional equipment cost.

I did say it sucks. It does. And I agree that it is nuts and I would be upset too. But, that is just the way things are.

Costs to run a hospital are INSANE. partly due to uninsured people that the hospital legally has to treat, and partly due to the cost of malpractice insurance that the hospital has to carry against all its employees.

coasterqueen replied:
Hence why I've always said the President should be focusing FIRST on tort reform THEN deal with hospitals and insurance company prices....not just force a law upon everyone that everyone shall have insurance. He didn't fix a problem, he just made it worse. No one will ever understand the necessity for tort reform. Our company has fought it every year for the 11 years I've been here. We've gotten it passed twice only to the have the IL Supreme Court throw it out and say it's unconstitutional to put limits on how much one can sue another. growl.gif

Boo&BugsMom replied: I don't think they should be allowed to charge such ridiclulous things! For starters...they didn't have to buy the med, you supplied it. Second, the professional delivering the med is ALREADY getting paid to DO THEIR JOB...they are on the clock getting their salary! I can't understand signing papers and whatnot...but that honestly should be illegal to charge for things like that. I would complain.

PrairieMom replied: I don't really want to be the one sticking up for hospitals here, cause, believe me, I'm not all about it, but you have to remember that there can be a lot behind giving just a simple pill. A Dr needs to be consulted, maybe more than one, depending on what is going on in the case. Then the pharmacist needs to be involved, then the nurse. In between all of those people are ward secretaries, and who ever helps out in the pharmacy. The hospital is a huge network of people who all need to get paid. Its not as simple as someone taking a pill out of their purse, handing it to the nurse and the nurse giving it to the patient.
To add to the annoyance, situations like this can take a day or more to resolve with all the people that can be involved.

That being said, I agree that $400 to deliver a pill would annoy me as well.

Boo&BugsMom replied: Tara, I get that...I use to work in medical billing and know how it's broken down...but it's still outrageous.


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