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Saturday, 18 December 2010 06:00

Patients are seeing additions to the cost of their treatment to the tune of hundreds of dollars when they undergo procedures in their doctors' offices. A Squirrel Hill man who had a skin tag removed and sent for biopsy at an Oakland medical office was stunned by a $705 operating room fee. A Point Breeze man who underwent a physical in his doctor's office was charged as an outpatient. They aren't alone in telling the Post-Gazette's Steve Twedt of being hit with fees, including one that covers hospital overhead expenses.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and West Penn Allegheny Health System do it, and the same is true at hospitals across the nation.

Under the rules for Medicare, which accounts for at least 20 percent of health care spending in the nation, hospitals may bill extra for services in doctor's offices if the hospital owns the physician's office and designates it as an outpatient department. Likewise, the contracts that health insurers have with hospitals OK the fees.

In what could become a clash of titans locally, Highmark said it will press UPMC to stop assessing the fees when it negotiates its next contract. The fees weren't an issue when the current one was signed in 2002, but it doesn't expire until June 30, 2012.

What can patients do? Be vigilant. Read those hospital bills and insurer statements carefully. Speak up when something doesn't match your understanding of procedures that were undertaken. And keep complaining.

Just because something can be done doesn't mean it's a good idea.

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