Hello all,
First I want to thank you folks for creating this site, and for performing the work you do here. This is a great asset!
Now, on to our problem.
My wife broke her leg last October and was treated at Renown Medical Center in Reno (Washoe County). The treatment involved a surgery to place a titanium nail in her right tibia. She stayed for 3 nights total at a rate of $30,000, and the surgery itself was $4,000.
The entire $34,000 was billed to our health insurance carrier, who paid roughly $12,000 of it in a settlement with the hospital. That was the end of that.
Complications at the fracture site continued, so this April my wife went back in for another surgery. The same Doctor performed the work but this time it was performed at Northern Nevada Medical Center (NNMC) in Sparks, NV, rather than Renown. After discussing options with her Doctor we opted for a combined approach of a larger titanium nail and a "bone patch" (brand name: Infuse) for the anterior part of the tibia (to promote healing where she had none).
Money was never discussed, but we weren't too concerned since this was going to be very similar to her first surgery. One major difference was that she was an outpatient for this one, arriving at the hospital at 1400 local, and I picked her up at about 1900 local. Due to the outpatient status we expected to incur much less charges than the first time.
The surgery went well and my wife is healing nicely, and the fees for the surgery itself were about $7,000, which were paid to the Doctor by our carrier.
However, we received a notice this week from NNMC advising us that their fees for the 5 hours my wife were there are $48,000, of which our carrier has paid only $13,000. They are demanding that we provide the remainder of the funds.
$48,000?! We spoke with NNMC's billing and admittance/administration and requested an explanation. We received a shallow one which basically told us the bone patch was $18,000 by itself (whoa...). We had a hard time getting anything more than that from them, so we have demanded an auditing of the event, which we are still waiting for.
We have spoken with her Doctor's staff, which basically shrugged it off and said they can do nothing.
We have spoken with our insurance carrier, who states the charges are outrageous and way outside the curve for this kind of event, especially one with no complications.
I know we were remiss in not asking for detailed financial information ahead of time, but her Doctor would never have willingly walked us into an $18,000 option (and it definitely was an option, rather than a necessity). Even discounting that $18,000, there is no way that a 5 hour stay in NNMC is worth the same amount that Renown charged us for a 3 night inpatient stay ($30,000).
Also, Renown had no issue negotiating a settlement with our carrier, while it seems NNMC is attempting to "double dip", hitting up both the carrier and us.
What are our rights here, please, and what else should we be doing at this moment?
First I want to thank you folks for creating this site, and for performing the work you do here. This is a great asset!
Now, on to our problem.
My wife broke her leg last October and was treated at Renown Medical Center in Reno (Washoe County). The treatment involved a surgery to place a titanium nail in her right tibia. She stayed for 3 nights total at a rate of $30,000, and the surgery itself was $4,000.
The entire $34,000 was billed to our health insurance carrier, who paid roughly $12,000 of it in a settlement with the hospital. That was the end of that.
Complications at the fracture site continued, so this April my wife went back in for another surgery. The same Doctor performed the work but this time it was performed at Northern Nevada Medical Center (NNMC) in Sparks, NV, rather than Renown. After discussing options with her Doctor we opted for a combined approach of a larger titanium nail and a "bone patch" (brand name: Infuse) for the anterior part of the tibia (to promote healing where she had none).
Money was never discussed, but we weren't too concerned since this was going to be very similar to her first surgery. One major difference was that she was an outpatient for this one, arriving at the hospital at 1400 local, and I picked her up at about 1900 local. Due to the outpatient status we expected to incur much less charges than the first time.
The surgery went well and my wife is healing nicely, and the fees for the surgery itself were about $7,000, which were paid to the Doctor by our carrier.
However, we received a notice this week from NNMC advising us that their fees for the 5 hours my wife were there are $48,000, of which our carrier has paid only $13,000. They are demanding that we provide the remainder of the funds.
$48,000?! We spoke with NNMC's billing and admittance/administration and requested an explanation. We received a shallow one which basically told us the bone patch was $18,000 by itself (whoa...). We had a hard time getting anything more than that from them, so we have demanded an auditing of the event, which we are still waiting for.
We have spoken with her Doctor's staff, which basically shrugged it off and said they can do nothing.
We have spoken with our insurance carrier, who states the charges are outrageous and way outside the curve for this kind of event, especially one with no complications.
I know we were remiss in not asking for detailed financial information ahead of time, but her Doctor would never have willingly walked us into an $18,000 option (and it definitely was an option, rather than a necessity). Even discounting that $18,000, there is no way that a 5 hour stay in NNMC is worth the same amount that Renown charged us for a 3 night inpatient stay ($30,000).
Also, Renown had no issue negotiating a settlement with our carrier, while it seems NNMC is attempting to "double dip", hitting up both the carrier and us.
What are our rights here, please, and what else should we be doing at this moment?
