Methodist Hospital Billing question

brynners

madisonsmom:

brynners:

madisonsmom:

The 2k is probably a combined estimate of clinic and hospital. Hard for me to say without seeing it. I'm going to email you some more info tomorrow.

My OB charge, not including tests and the ultrasound was $3200.  The hospital bill for me was around $3000 and for Isla was $1500.  This was a med free birth that took all of 30 minutes, and we were only in the hospital for 36 hours.

That's probably right, for total charges. Our estimates though are on your out of pocket amount.

That makes sense. I think we ended up paying $800 for both hospital bills.  I don't know if I've seen the actual OB bill yet or not.  Gotta love starting the year off with maxing out insurance.  Stubborn kid had to be breech, otherwise she probably would have been born in December and been almost free!  

katie00224

princess.jessi:

madisonsmom:

OxAMYxO:

Katie you might be right, I'm delivering at the Women's Hospital too. But, I was just going to blindly hand over the 2k and hope they were right.. although assuming I'd end up owing more since I'll have a c-section. But, now I realize it'd be smarter to ask for an itemized bill before I pay anything.

Amy...what you need to keep in mind is the upfront amount they are trying to set up on payments for you now is for Physicians Clinic only...not your hospital bill. The payment plans for your OB care are nothing new. They've done it for years. It has nothing to do with the WH being in financial trouble....which is news to me. (thank you Katie for sharing!)

I have heard this too, from Methodist employees. Not like its going to close, but they arent making what they thought that they would from it.

Exactly.

NebraskaBride06

katie00224:

princess.jessi:

madisonsmom:

OxAMYxO:

Katie you might be right, I'm delivering at the Women's Hospital too. But, I was just going to blindly hand over the 2k and hope they were right.. although assuming I'd end up owing more since I'll have a c-section. But, now I realize it'd be smarter to ask for an itemized bill before I pay anything.

Amy...what you need to keep in mind is the upfront amount they are trying to set up on payments for you now is for Physicians Clinic only...not your hospital bill. The payment plans for your OB care are nothing new. They've done it for years. It has nothing to do with the WH being in financial trouble....which is news to me. (thank you Katie for sharing!)

I have heard this too, from Methodist employees. Not like its going to close, but they arent making what they thought that they would from it.

Exactly.

Asking for payment upfront has nothing to do with whether the Women's Hospital is in financial trouble or not. I looked into things on the Alegent side for those that were wondering and this is what I found out:

On the clinic side: They complete an insurance verification on all New OB patients and attempt to contact them to set them up on payment arrangements. They have found this to actually be a satisfier because they find patients would prefer to make payments along the way versus being hit by a huge bill at the end.  If patients insist on paying it all at the end, they will allow them to do this.

On the hospital side:  They do have a pre-payment plan for those who don?t have insurance. They do try to collect deductibles and co-payments prior to services rendered. With the changes in healthcare, that is standard practice in today?s environment. 

cubluebride

I knew I was pregnant before open enrollment last year, so I was able to elect into my FSA with a good estimate for 2012.  I met with the Methodist financial lady, listened to her schpeal, including her telling us that there is no payment plan after birth, and then I informed her we had an FSA that we planned to use, and I cannot collect from that until the actual bill hits insurance.  She told me that makes total sense and I didn't have to make the monthly payments.  However, then I received a notice in the mail explaining the monthly payments due.  I called the billing office and inquired, again explaining my FSA plans, and was told the financial lady I had met with had since quit and her notes weren't up to date, so they would enter the notes into my account and I do not have to make monthly payments.

I learned this the hard way, kind of.  With my first pregnancy, I was with the RE for 12 weeks, then switched to my regular OB at Methodist.  So the monthly payment notice was sent to me in the mail without ever meeting with a financial office staff member.  I thought I was required to pay it.  I didn't call or meet with anyone to talk about it.  I just blindly thought, this is a bill, I better pay it.  It was annoying to me b/c I couldn't get the money out of my FSA until after the bills were submitted to insurance, 7 months later. 

I do not know if the "no payment plan after birth scare tactic" is legal or not.  I would suggest talking to the office about all of your options though.

I also agree with all the PPs that getting money back after you've paid it and it goes through insurance at different times, therefore hitting your deductible differently, is a giant PITA.