Woman charged for crying during surgery

Authored by boingboing.net and submitted by speckz

Don't cry during a stressful or painful medical procedure, unless you're willing to pay extra. One woman learned this the hard way when she went to her doctor to get a mole removed. She cried at one point during the operation, and her bill, which she posted to Twitter, showed an $11 charge for "Brief Emotion" and a billing code of CPT Code 96127.

She got off easy! According to a Mentegram article titled, "CPT Code 96127: How to Increase Revenue with This NEW Behavioral or Emotional Assessment" CPT Code 96127 "is a code that may be used to report brief behavioral or emotional assessments for reimbursement" and "may be billed four times for each patient per visit, utilizing four different instruments or assessments. So not only will clinicians have more efficient practices by utilizing these screenings, but they can also use them to build revenue." The article concludes with "Can you see how this missed income can really add up?"

meara on November 9th, 2021 at 18:27 UTC »

Billing for incidental emotional assessments is crazy. I took my kids to the pediatrician for well visits. Along with the medical history forms, they handed us a simple yes/no depression questionnaire and a survey about healthy eating habits. We were later charged $25 for each of those surveys, and insurance wouldn’t pay. At no time did the office inform us that we would be charged extra for filling out the forms they handed us, and I don’t remember any discussion of the contents of those forms. I’ve refused to fill them out ever since.

clemfandangoihearu on November 9th, 2021 at 17:39 UTC »

I was 55 and being prepped for kidney stone surgery. They gave me a pregnancy test without my knowledge or permission and charged me for it AFTER I told them my tubes have been tied since I was 28. I think it was $55, I could have had someone bring me an EPT test for a fraction of that.

Kayge on November 9th, 2021 at 16:36 UTC »

My favourite story about the US hospital billig sytem was from a new dad. Dude has a kid, insurance pays the bill, but he gets a copy. One of the many line items is circ. set. He looks at it, and calls up his insurance company asking what that is.

"I don't know" comes the answer "the hospital is a trusted partner so we pay in full."

Dude isn't satisfied and calls the hospital for details. "It's a circumcision set, standard for births"

He calls the insurance company again. "We're getting scammed, don't pay that bill"

"The hospital is a trusted partner so we pay in full".

"No matter what?"

"Yes sir."

"You don't seem to understand, I had a girl"