[RightField]

In our case, hubby had knee surgeries with network doctors, at a network hospital. We thought we had signed all the admitting paperwork in the admitting office. Turns out he was given one additional waiver to sign once he was in the operating arena, and after the IV had been inserted. That waiver was for hubby to acknowledge that the anesthesiologist was a non-network provider. Of course, that piece of paper should have been included in the first set of admitting papers. At the least, informed consent was an issue because hubby was under IV at the time of signing.

When the bill for the anesthesiologist arrived, I was concerned because that service was supposed to be included in the hospital admission. It turns out that the hospital has an exclusive contract with the particular anesthesiology group. Our surgeon even said he had no choice of anesthesiologists... he always had to use the hospital-provided ones.

Upon further investigation, I found the hospital is a 501c3 charity. As they are a public charity, I asked them to provide a copy of their contract with the anesthesiology group. They refused. I mentioned that a call to the authorities might change their mind. I then got a call from the anesthesiology business office informing us that the bill was being reversed, and they were sorry for any "confusion."

This same hospital paid an $11M fine just a couple of years before because they had fraudulently billed outpatient surgeries. Guess they didn't want any scrutiny on their other shady dealings. While the amount of the bill was relatively small, it was the principal that mattered. I imagine most people pay it, grumbling about the non-network cost. But we took them on, and they backed down quickly.

[Thank You Rush]

“”Turns out he was given one additional waiver to sign once he was in the operating arena, and after the IV had been inserted.””

That definitely would have been reason to take them on. No excuse for that but clear to see it was purely intentional. Don’t blame you for fighting. The hospital my husband has been admitted to has notices all over the place that services are contracted to the hospital and are not hospital employees such as lab techs etc. Doctors are those with privileges at the hospital.

I think there can usually be problems when a patient gets handed off to an anesthesiologist. No one asks if they are in network. So far with several hospitalizations my husband had, we didn’t have any problems.

You did the right and only thing you could have done. I know it’s nerve wracking and frustrating but sometimes you just have to put aside other stuff and buckle down to phone calls and letters. I hate the follow up and say there is more stuff piled up on my desk now for follow up than there ever was on my desk when I worked. In other words, my inbox is always full. No one follows through on their promises and that really can get to a person. At my age, I keep a tablet going of all my phone calls and anything I am waiting for responses on.. I do what I say I’m going to do and wish others would do the same.