Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I already paid everything (out of pocket, no insurance) at the clinic that they told me to pay. Today, a bill came to me saying I owe them $75 for not paying the full amount for the service. The bill was printed on 12/26/2013. I already paid up-front everything they told me to pay on Nov 13th.
The clinic also never told me how much the appointment with the doctor would cost even when I asked. They said "we have to check" and "it depends". There's no price for the services on their website nor on the agreement forms I filled out.
After the appointment, they said seeing the doctor cost $169, so that is what I paid. That's already a lot. Now they tell me I didn't finish my payment and sent a $75 bill. What the heck? It was their responsibility to tell me the full price, since they don't show the patients "what the real cost" of the appointments are online nor on paper. They can't just be like "hey it's $169..." and then a month later be like "oh it's actually $244 you still owe us $75"
This is just for the appointment itself, no extra testing or anything where they may forget to charge me for an extra lab (even then.. come on).
On the physician-patient arbitration agreement, it stated on article 4 that "all claims based upon the same incident, transaction or related circumstances shall be arbitrated in one proceeding"
Maybe I don't understand but doesn't the 'one proceeding' mean that what is said is said, and the clinic can't just take their actions back and expect more money out of me? I don't have the $75 right now and they want me to pay in a week. What the heck.
I called the billing company number stated on the $75 statement (the clinic's number is nowhere), and the lady on the phone agreed that it's weird how the clinic didn't just tell me the full cost upfront. She sent them an e-mail explaining my situation.
The arbitration has to do with disputing said billing not with a quote and payment
sounds like they left off a facility charge, new patient fee or diagnosis code in your billing ( due to the amount) and figured they could just throw it our there and you would pay. Was this an urgent care center?
Either way I would stick to my guns on this. Write a succinct and firm dispute letter and send it certified mail along with a copy of the original bill statement with your receipt or proof of payment. Send it to both the clinic/ practice and billing office. Be sure to follow up and also check your credit report ever quarter to be sure that nothing has been posted there.
You should have gotten a copy of something referred to as a Superbill. It will have codes for the reason for the visit and a code for the level of service, which is usually higher if you have never seen the doctor before. It also depends on the level of complexity of the visit.
It may be the doctor coded a higher level visit than what you paid for. However, I would point out to the billing office that you understood what you paid was the entire charge for the visit. You could also just call and ask to speak to the doctor. Just don't say it is about the bill when you ask to speak to the doc.
You could also write a letter expressing the same concern and ask for a reply from the doctor, to whom the letter should be addressed.
I would wait to hear back from the clinic / person you spoke with. If they don't get back to you in a few business days, call them to see what is going on.
It seems to me doctors are pretty much geared up to "do battle" with insurance companies. I think they may jack up their charges to try to get more out of the insurance companies (which do not pay the full amount - lots of game playing back and forth). Also insurance companies will take a long time to pay.
If you are paying cash and paying right now, they might have a lesser charge for that? I would not think it is very common for someone to pay cash for the full bill, thus no one knowing what the charges are.
I would wait to hear back from the clinic / person you spoke with. If they don't get back to you in a few business days, call them to see what is going on.
It seems to me doctors are pretty much geared up to "do battle" with insurance companies. I think they may jack up their charges to try to get more out of the insurance companies (which do not pay the full amount - lots of game playing back and forth). Also insurance companies will take a long time to pay.
If you are paying cash and paying right now, they might have a lesser charge for that? I would not think it is very common for someone to pay cash for the full bill, thus no one knowing what the charges are.
No, doctors have fee schedules. Even insurance companies are billed for the full fee. The patient pays deductibles and copayments as described in his contract with the insurance company. The insurance company pays the doctor a discounted amount as described in the doctor's contract with the insurance company. The doctor writes off the amount that is discounted.
Some practices will give a discount for cash up front, but they cannot do it often because if they do the insurance companies will consider the discounted fee to be the full fee and reduce their payment to the doctor. For the same reason, doctors cannot routinely waive the patient's copayment.
I had a similar issue, I had my receipts and emailed a copy to the person in charge and they fixed the mistake. If you have receipts send them in (copies not originals). If the $75 is in late fees because they didn't update their system, they should take it off. Just be nice when you call, act confused like "oh I received an additional bill on the 26th saying I didn't pay and it's past due with a fee, but I have a receipt from November 13th for the amount of blah blah..."
a code for the level of service, which is usually higher if you have never seen the doctor before. It also depends on the level of complexity of the visit.
This is what probably happened. The front-desk person quoted the basic charge - she would have no way of knowing what might happen once you saw the doc.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
