Really interesting story in the Times about how doctors are using new methods to try and get around typical insurance reimbursement and end up screwing patients and insurance companies and all of us (that is, when we allow somebody to actually get away with charging $117,000 to assist in a surgery yet their efforts are worth somewhere between 0 and $5000, we all pay in the form of higher medical costs. It’s hard to summarize, but here’s the intro:
Before his three-hour neck surgery for herniated disks in December, Peter Drier, 37, signed a pile of consent forms. A bank technology manager who had researched his insurance coverage, Mr. Drier was prepared when the bills started arriving: $56,000 from Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, $4,300 from the anesthesiologist and even $133,000 from his orthopedist, who he knew would accept a fraction of that fee.
He was blindsided, though, by a bill of about $117,000 from an “assistant surgeon,” a Queens-based neurosurgeon whom Mr. Drier did not recall meeting.
“I thought I understood the risks,” Mr. Drier, who lives in New York City, said later. “But this was just so wrong — I had no choice and no negotiating power.”
In operating rooms and on hospital wards across the country, physicians and other health providers typically help one another in patient care. But in an increasingly common practice that some medical experts call drive-by doctoring, assistants, consultants and other hospital employees are charging patients or their insurers hefty fees. They may be called in when the need for them is questionable. And patients usually do not realize they have been involved or are charging until the bill arrives.
The practice increases revenue for physicians and other health care workers at a time when insurers are cutting down reimbursement for many services. The surprise charges can be especially significant because, as in Mr. Drier’s case, they may involve out-of-network providers who bill 20 to 40 times the usual local rates and often collect the full amount, or a substantial portion. [emphasis mine]
Yes, you read that right, 20-40 times the usual rate.
I think most doctors truly are good people who are in the profession because they want to help others. But, boy, some are really after the money and the evidence is pretty clear in the article. To wit:
The United States has more neurosurgeons per capita than almost any other developed country, and they compete with orthopedists for spinal surgery. At the same time, Medicare and private insurers have reduced payments to surgeons. The average base salary for neurosurgeons decreased to $590,000 in 2014 from $630,000 in 2010, according to Merritt Hawkins, a physician staffing firm.
To counter that trend, some spinal surgeons have turned to consultants — including a Long Island company called Business Dynamics RCM and a subsidiary, the Business of Spine — that offer advice on how to increase revenue through “innovative” coding, claim generation and collection services.
Some strategies used by surgeons, including billing large amounts for a second surgeon in the room or declaring an operation an emergency, raise serious questions. The indications for immediate spinal surgery, such as loss of bladder function or rapidly progressive paralysis, are rare. But insurers are more likely to reimburse a hospital or surgeon with whom they do not have a contract if a case is labeled an emergency.
Just so wrong. I don’t often read the comments on articles, but this one was filled with all sorts of similar horror stories to the ones within the article. Good on the state of NY for trying to address this problem. But it is unfortunate that it has gotten so bad and most other states are lagging. One thing I would have really liked was more international comparison. I strongly suspect that countries with true national health care systems don’t have this problem.
Fully Myelinated 
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