Is this charge fair? (dr office)

[3lilbubs]

Backstory: My kids were out playing in the yard with sticks and stuff. My DS1 actually made a "bow" and arrow out of stuff he'd rigged together. It was actually pretty effective because he shot DS2 the face with said "arrow" and actually lodged a 1.5 in stick about the size and shape of a toothpick in his cheek. Dh and I weren't sure we could get it all out with normal tweezers.

I took DS2 to urgent care (it was 7pm) where we waited 2 hours before being taken back and then the dr briefly discussed taking it out surgically. We both agreed wasn't ideal or probably necessary before he removed it with a pair of clamps and massaged it out with his fingers and irrigated with saline. No stitches, no cutting, no big deal. I get the bill the other day and they've charged me $150 AFTER insurance under the notation "surgery". The office visit alone was billed at $568. I feel that's a little outrageous. Am I overreacting? Did I get charged for prep, because there wasn't any! I want to ask that they recode that and bill me properly but under what?

[s@hmommy]

We had the doctor dig something our of DS's foot this summer. Give me a bit and I will see how they coded it. They did pretty much exactly what you said and I thing I might have paid a little more than a normal office visit.

[kaia.aline]

Ask for an itemized bill

[3 ladybugs]

I am sorry that happened to you mama!

Honestly based on my experience, you did have a surgery. I know it doesn't sound like it should be, but the hospital bills me for a surgery every time I have my port flushed. This is essentially a blood draw only from a device that makes it EASIER to get blood! The whole "procedure" takes about as long as a standard blood draw. It stinks. I KNOW it stinks but considering that you are going to an after hours clinic and such, it actually sounds like you are getting the good end of the stick. My port flush is about $400-$600 when I don't have insurance. With insurance, it is closer to $400 because we have stinky insurance till we hit our deductible.

[Kiliki]

Sounds about right to me.... Sadly.

[Rockinmama24]

Yup, sounds right to me. My ds stuck a foam craft leaf in his ear. I discovered it while we were half a continent away & because he was complaining of pain(he did it several days before) I took him to the nearest ER. They took him back, used mini forceps, a small hook, pulled it out. The bill came back surgery. Any surgeries at the time went to my deductible. A nice, big payment for me.

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[peverroad]

Originally Posted by 3 ladybugs I am sorry that happened to you mama! Honestly based on my experience, you did have a surgery. I know it doesn't sound like it should be, but the hospital bills me for a surgery every time I have my port flushed. This is essentially a blood draw only from a device that makes it EASIER to get blood! The whole "procedure" takes about as long as a standard blood draw. It stinks. I KNOW it stinks but considering that you are going to an after hours clinic and such, it actually sounds like you are getting the good end of the stick. My port flush is about $400-$600 when I don't have insurance. With insurance, it is closer to $400 because we have stinky insurance till we hit our deductible.

They charge you to flush your port? Wow I'm a phlebotomist and when someone has a port we have the nurse draw from it and they have to flush but the army charged extra, I don't even believe they are charged for the heperin or saline

[Harmony96]

When DS1 was born, he had a skin tag on his back. The doctor offered to take care of it, and she ended up using suturing thread to tie around it a few times so it would painlessly die and fall off.

Our bill for that part said something like "destruct benign lesion" and was somewhere between $150 and $200.

[CarrieMF]

He removed a foreign object from the body. technically that is surgery. IT's a minor one & he wasn't put out, but it is still surgery.

If he charged for a "real surgery" it would have been in the thousands. The charge is probably similar to having a mole removed.

[3lilbubs]

Yes, basically insurance only paid $20 toward that, the rest was ours. I feel like I'm getting ripped off b/c I have a PPO.

Shocking that it's normal, but I'm glad I asked before I went in there up in arms. Technically I'm a surgeon, dh's a surgeon and my parents are surgeons by that definition.

Jennifer, that is just awful.