The newest story in my ER billing series: He went to an in-network emergency room. He still ended up with a $7,924 bill. Diving into the high frequency of out-of-network billing at in-network ERs.https://www.vox.com/2018/5/23/17353284/emergency-room-doctor-out-of-network …
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Thanks so much for engaging with us ER docs,
@sarahkliff ! Emergency care is so unpredictable, and insurance company behavior is so unpredictable — I have trouble imagining how hospital adminis could provide specific enough information to be useful to the pts. -
Totally agree
@AdvocacyMD! Do you think they might play a more upstream role in choosing their providers wisely? As alluded to by@JSchuurMD -
I am happy to chat with y’all about this, but I’m afraid it will take more than 280 characters. Feel free to email me at Sarah.kliff@vox.com!
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Hospital CFOs, insurers, docs who refuse to take insurance, politicians who refuse to tackle health care reform, the list goes on! I actually feel like insurers should have a large responsibility for communicating charge issues w/their patients.
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Also, admire your work on this topic (important!), but it is a true representation of how commonly ERs are dumped on that the core story is about an inpatient specialist surgery bill yet the headline is still ER. A broader take might help —> solutions.
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For every consult of any sort the patient has an obligation to go to a computer and find out whether the physician is in-network? That’s ridiculous. Hospitals and physicians know their patients insurance and whether they are in-network. Make it easier for the sick people!
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Key here = me as ER doc doesn’t know if Joe oral surgeon takes insurance, and no way can ER doc know billing intricacies of every consult. Joe oral surgeon needs to know this and communicate. Insurers need to make easier insurer-specific databases.
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Yup. Nobody should be blaming the ER doc. hospital(ER dept), insurance company and consulting surgeon put this patient in a horrible financial situation. It should be illegal for an insurance provider to have an in-network hospital but out of network consulting physicians.
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Would steer you towards our research and coverage in
@UpshotNYT. Going out-of-network is a deliberate strategy by physician staffing firms to raise revenue.https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/upshot/the-company-behind-many-surprise-emergency-room-bills.html … -
@zackcooperYale - did you read the article? ED was in network. Oral surgeon was OON. Are suggesting oral surgery is a staffing firm? -
I did. I was replying to the other fellow. Have a great day!
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Yes. plenty of blame to go around and patients are stuck in impossible situations -gov’t not enforcing ACA network adequacy stds -insurers denying reasonable payment -hospitals not assembling in network staff -docs and other providers not participating in reasonable networks
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Then wouldn’t it make more sense to frame the article title that way? Instead of ER focused?
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That would violate EMTALA in ED setting. Plus, unintended consequence of people avoiding potentially life-saving interventions due to cost (Canadian snow birds in FL do this)
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