robin1234

I'm so disgustingly healthy this year that I apparently have not fulfilled my deductible yet for 2010, even though it is now September.

I went to see my doctor in July to get my statin prescription (for cholesterol) renewed. Got a blood test of course, to monitor cholesterol readings & check liver function.

Just got the invoice from the hospital for the blood test.. $405. The annoying thing is, at the doctor's office they usually do a simple in house test for this, just pricking the tip of your finger and they get the results in a few minutes. I have a feeling the charge for that is usually about $30. On this occasion, the nurse told me.. "Doctor H forgot to order the tests so we've run out. We'll have to draw blood & send it off to the hospital." [Then spent five minutes cursing out the Doctor who is well known to be much more interested in Ice Hockey & radical politics than running an efficient medical practice.]

Well, at least this $400 means I'll have satisfied my deductible for 2010. I'd better schedule some appointments before the end of the calendar year for all those medical issues that I've given up on because we don't have any specialists within 250 miles of here.

Anyway, is $405 a lot for a blood test, or about normal?

Giantaxe

They probably sent it to a facility where your insurance doesn't have a contract, so you're being billed the full whack. If I go to the right lab, my insurance's contracted rate for most bloodwork is less than 1/10th what they try and charge otherwise. Complete scam.

Duncan Roberts

It's a lot. I get a lot of tests done each year, usually 3-5 every 3 months with at least 1 cholesterol check every year, and the billed amounts for the whole year probably don't get that high. Did the hospital have your insurance? If so, did you get an EOB from the insurance company? If you didn't go through your insurance, you might want to have the hospital do it so you only pay the negotiated rate.

Just as an example, this is an EOB for a blood draw (surgery), a comprehensive metabolic panel, a specialist test and a lipid panel. The lipids are the $41.34 charge, of which only about $6 was allowed.

Type of Service 36415 - Surgery
Total Billed: $8.27
Type of Service - Laboratory and Pathology
Total Billed: $23.15
Type of Service - Laboratory and Pathology
Total Billed: $18.74
Type of Service - Laboratory and Pathology
Total Billed: $41.34

robin1234

Yes - my insurers were a little slow. I got the EOB from my insurer, they took the total of $405; knocked off approx $60 (disallowed or whatever the technical term is.) then they paid $4.50, said my deductible was now satisfied, and I'd have to pay $340. On the same day, I got the invoice from the hospital - they had waited 60 days, hadn't heard from my insurer, I owed them $405. I was planning to wait a while, and assume I will soon get a corrected invoice from the hospital, taking account of the EOB + small payment they have presumably by now received from the insurer...

My wife and I are not big users of health services, since the health services around here are so completely useless (for instance -- I gave up on trying to treat my prostate condition after four different urologists. One was had up for fraud and had to return to Ireland, two were completely & utterly incompetent, the fourth kept you waiting 4+ hours in a waiting room that didn't have enough seats. And was incompetent. He wanted to engage me in lengthy descriptions of his latest trip to England - he loves England. This is why his patients have to wait 4+ hours to see him.)

Even so, we get ten to fifteen letters a week from the hospital. "Thank you for choosing us as your provider." Healthy Newsletters. Incomprehensible invoices.

Duncan Roberts

There should be a column or row that says "amount you might owe." Make sure this is all you pay the hospital, you may have a total or one per procedure. Since it does seem high, you may also want to find the CPT codes that were charged and look them up to make sure that you are being billed for the right stuff. It's not unheard of for the billing coder to make a typo and submit a claim for the wrong thing.

robin1234

Yes thanks - I'll look at the codes on the invoice when I get home..