How To Review A Hospital Bill And What To Do If You Find An Error

If you see the following terminology, check carefully. You might be paying an inflated charge for some very common items. Following are a few examples we've heard about:

• Cough support device -- We recently heard of a patient who awoke after surgery with a teddy bear tucked under his arm. His nurse told him that the bear was to be pressed against his chest, when coughing, to avoid pain. He was later billed almost $60 for the teddy bear, for which the hospital paid less than $10. Neither the patient nor his doctor had requested the bear and an ordinary pillow would have worked at least as well.
• Mucous recovery system -- Boxes of tissues billed at $10, for which the hospital paid $2.
• Gauze collection bag -- An ordinary trash bag can become an $18 "gauze bag," if someone tosses in a piece of gauze.
• Lab handling fee -- A fee that is charged when a technician walks the test tubes to the lab.
• Oral administration fee -- A fee that is charged when a nurse hands a patient a pill. Nursing services are supposed to be covered under the hospital room rate.

Please share how this information is useful to you. 0 Comments