Latest news with #BrandyMacaluso-Owens
Time of India
5 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Hidden $1000 fee at your doctor's office? Here's the sneaky charge Americans just found out about
Americans have their heads out of the sand as they discover a strange extra fee on their doctor bills. Many people in the U.S. have found surprise charges after simple visits to the doctor. These charges are called 'facility fees' or 'outpatient hospital services.' They are often not explained clearly and can cost from hundreds to even $1,000 depending on the type of visit, as per the NBC News. A family in Minnesota was shocked by a $423 charge. They visited their doctor for their daughter's stomach pain. The 15-minute visit cost $201, but a separate fee of $423 was added for 'outpatient hospital services.' Another man in Ohio paid $645 in extra charges. He visited an ear, nose, and throat specialist and got charged $645 as a 'facility fee', as per the The Wall Street Journal. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Operations Management MBA Project Management Others Product Management CXO Data Science Cybersecurity Design Thinking Public Policy Technology healthcare MCA Finance Management others Leadership Digital Marketing Data Science Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Data Analytics PGDM Degree Skills you'll gain: Quality Management & Lean Six Sigma Analytical Tools Supply Chain Management & Strategies Service Operations Management Duration: 10 Months IIM Lucknow IIML Executive Programme in Strategic Operations Management & Supply Chain Analytics Starts on Jan 27, 2024 Get Details ALSO READ: Intel to axe 24,000 jobs — is your state or country on the layoff list? Here's who's affected most by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 15 most beautiful women in the world Undo One patient paid as much as $1,000 just in added fees. This happened during a urology appointment, which already had its own doctor fee. Cleveland Clinic in Florida is also under fire for charging these fees. Patients were charged $95 to $174 just in facility fees for basic visits like family medicine or a specialist consultation, as per The Sun report. Many patients feel shocked and confused One patient, Brandy Macaluso-Owens, said the charge made her heart drop. She visited a gastroenterologist in Port St. Lucie, Florida, for 15 minutes and later received a $174 bill from Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland Clinic responded by saying that the fees are legal and necessary. They said these charges follow government rules and help fund outpatient clinics and 24/7 emergency care, as per the report by NBC News. Live Events These types of fees are becoming more common in the U.S. Hospitals are hiring more doctors, and some insurance plans now make patients pay more upfront before full coverage starts. There are no laws controlling how high these fees can be. Christine Monahan from Georgetown University said most states don't have limits, so hospitals can charge whatever amount they want. Who should pay these extra fees? Hospitals and insurance companies are fighting over who should pay. The American Hospital Association says insurance should cover it. But insurance companies argue these fees don't add any real value to care. What should you do if you can't afford the charge? Patricia Kelmar from the US Public Interest Research Group says to call your doctor's office — sometimes they remove the fee. If not, call your insurance company for help or discounts, as stated by NBC News report. ALSO READ: Jazz world mourns: Chuck Mangione dies at 84 — here's what we know about his final days Surprise fees aren't only in hospitals — restaurants have them too. A breakfast chain had added a 50-cent fee to a menu item, then removed it after complaints. Other restaurants are adding things like 'living wage' fees of 18%, causing some customers to boycott, according to the reports. FAQs Q1. What is a facility fee on a doctor bill? A facility fee is an extra charge some hospitals add for using their clinic space during a doctor visit, even if the visit is short. Q2. Why are patients being charged $1,000 or more after doctor visits? Some hospitals add high 'outpatient' or 'facility' fees, which are not regulated and can vary based on the location or type of care.
NBC News
6 days ago
- Health
- NBC News
After Cleveland Clinic expanded to Florida, patients say surprise fees followed
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — When the Cleveland Clinic started acquiring hospitals and medical offices in this palm tree-lined region six years ago, many Floridians were excited. The Ohio nonprofit, ranked among the top hospitals in the world, pledged to bring expert care and an infusion of cash to the state's Treasure Coast, an area north of Boca Raton brimming with 55-and-up gated communities. But in the years after the Cleveland Clinic's blue and green signs popped up outside dozens of medical offices, patients began receiving unexpected bills: an additional $95 for a consultation with a neurosurgeon. An extra $112 to see a family medicine physician. And $174 more for a neurologist appointment that previously cost only a $50 co-pay. Baffled, the patients contacted their doctors' offices and insurers and learned that the new costs were 'facility fees' — charges that hospitals have traditionally billed for inpatient stays and emergency room visits but are now increasingly charging for routine appointments in their outpatient clinics. The fees, which are often not fully covered by insurance, are meant to support the higher level of care that these doctors' offices provide, according to hospitals. For blindsided patients, that can mean paying a hospital fee — even if they never set foot in a hospital. 'My heart dropped,' said Brandy Macaluso-Owens, 43, a social worker who lives in Port St. Lucie. She received a $174 facility fee after a visit in March with a Cleveland Clinic gastroenterologist. 'I probably met with the doctor maybe as little as 15 minutes.' The Cleveland Clinic defended facility fees in an email, saying they are an 'appropriate practice' that align 'with government regulations and industry guidelines.' 'These fees help support just some of the costs of maintaining outpatient facilities so that we can continue providing high-quality, compassionate care to all patients,' the Cleveland Clinic said. The Cleveland Clinic is far from the only hospital charging facility fees, which amount to billions of dollars annually for patients across the country. The fees have become pervasive in recent years as major health systems have snapped up doctors' offices, making it harder for patients to find independent practices: More than half of all physicians nationally are now employed by hospitals or health systems, up from just a quarter in 2012. For more on facility fees, watch NBC's 'Nightly News with Tom Llamas' at 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT and 'Top Story' on NBC News NOW at 7 p.m. ET. At the same time, facility fees have become more noticeable because of a rise in high-deductible health insurance plans, which leave patients paying a larger share of their medical bills before their insurance kicks in. A study last year found that the average deductible for employer-sponsored coverage had risen about 47% in a decade. These factors are affecting many patients who are already teetering financially. About half of adults in the U.S. say they would be unable to pay an unexpected $500 medical bill or would have to go into debt to pay it, according to the health policy group KFF. Facility fees can run into the hundreds of dollars, and even small amounts can quickly add up. 'People are getting really high bills for simple, routine care,' said Christine Monahan, an assistant research professor at the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University who has studied the issue. 'They don't expect to be paying high bills for this. And it's not realistic to expect people to be able to afford this.' Opposition to outpatient facility fees is a rare area of agreement between patient advocates and insurance companies, which argue that hospitals are unnecessarily inflating the cost of care. While efforts to restrict facility fees have drawn bipartisan support at the state and federal levels, the hospital industry has pushed back, arguing that the fees are necessary to help fund core services like 24/7 emergency departments, and that insurers should cover them. These national forces are all colliding in southeast Florida, where 11 patients told NBC News that the Cleveland Clinic had charged them unexpected facility fees in the past several years. For some, the fees were a mere annoyance, a sign of the escalating cost of health care. For others, the bills were a financial burden too big to shoulder. And some are refusing to pay them. Billie Paukune Boorman, a waitress, was recently charged a $174 facility fee for her 13-year-old daughter's ear, nose and throat appointment, along with over $200 in other unanticipated charges. 'I don't have that kind of money laying around,' she said. The Cleveland Clinic declined an interview request from NBC News and declined to comment on individual cases but said in its email that patients are charged facility fees in doctors' offices that are classified as hospital outpatient departments, which must meet stricter quality and safety standards than nonaccredited physician practices. The facility fees reflect 'the significant added costs to hospitals of complying with these standards,' the Cleveland Clinic added. The Cleveland Clinic told NBC News that it has sent more than 250,000 letters to its Florida patients informing them of the fees ahead of their appointments, and said it posts signs at its offices saying that they are hospital outpatient departments. Medicare patients receive an additional notice at check-in. The letters that the Cleveland Clinic sent say patients may see 'a change from how you were billed in the past' but do not explicitly note that patients may be charged more out of pocket. Many of the patients who spoke to NBC News did not recall receiving the letters. The health system did not answer questions about how it determines the price of a facility fee but said the costs 'vary depending on the facility and the type of medical services provided.' Several patients said they did not notice any differences in their care after the fees were implemented. Last year, Irene Rauch, 66, a semiretired human resources executive, was charged a $95 facility fee for an appointment with a neurosurgeon she said she had seen for the same type of appointment three months earlier for just a $15 co-pay. The added charge was not something she had budgeted for.
