Hospital Rant
by Michael B. Druxman on 10/31/11
November 1, 2011
Today, I am going to rant about my hospital's billing policies.
I had a minor procedure done there in early July of this year. Everything, thank God, turned out fine, but the hospital did not bill my insurance company until September 26th.
The claim was paid on October 7th.
Yesterday, October 31st, I got a dunning phone call from the hospital's collection department. They claimed they had not received payment and wanted me to call my insurance company. I did that and was given the information I related in the previous paragraph.
I called back the hospital and they still claimed they had not received payment. Then, they told me that, not only does it take 30-45 days from receipt for a payment to be credited to a patient's account, but they start dunning patients for payment 30 days after the initial bill has been presented.
How stupid is that?
My insurance company pays within approximately 10 days, but it is going to take the hospital between 30-45 days FROM RECEIPT before they know that they even have the payment. In the meantime, they are harassing the patient.
This is the 4th or 5th time since we've been in Austin that this has happened... and it has always involved this hospital.
I spoke to the Administration office and told them that, the next time this happens, I'm going to tell the caller that they should call my insurance company and if they don't want to do that, they can sue me. Then, I will hang up.
End of rant. Have a creative day.
Michael
