Practice Management
It isn’t news that patients sometimes receive bills that seem out of proportion to the care they received in an emergency setting (especially a freestanding emergency rooms)—and that the media and state legislatures have taken notice. A new statewide survey in New Mexico reveals that nearly a third of patients say they received large “surprise bills” after seeing clinicians outside their insurer’s network. In addition, data from the Consumer Federation of America and the North …
Read More
Freestanding emergency rooms have been roundly criticized for their billing practices, most often as a result of “surprise bills” that patients don’t feel they should have to pay and insurers absolutely refuse to consider. In addition to angering patients and inspiring legislators to draft new consumer-protection laws, though, many freestanding ER companies are having a tough time getting paid at all. Adeptus, considered the leading provider in the industry, has been especially hard hit. Its …
Read More
Though much maligned in the press and the subject of legislation in a number of states, “surprise” bills are still an issue for patients after a trip to their local emergency room. In fact, a new study by Yale researchers published in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that nearly a quarter of in-network ED visits can be followed by a bill from an out-of-network doctor. The authors considered claims for more than 2 …
Read More