I'd love to hear peoples thoughts on this situation. Sorry for the length of this post. About 2 months ago I hurt my back. Ive had back problems forever and know how to manage it but did something stupid and hurt it badly. I went to the doctor and got some meds. It helped some. I went back for a follow-up and the doc prescribed physical therapy. My wife's uncle is a physical therapist so he took care of me.
Fast forward to a few days ago. I had a followup visit with the doctor. My back feels good but I still have pain and numbness in my leg from my Sciatic nerve. She recommended a steroid injection which requires an MRI. Here's where it gets interesting / sketchy. My wife's uncle told me to shop around because MRI prices are all over the map. I told the doctor this and she said to not get the MRI done in the hospital because it will be very expensive. She told me the "schedulers" could call and get a price before I decided.
So I go to the "schedulers" in the office and the first thing the woman says to me is "let me call down to the hospital and see when they have an opening". I told her I was advised not to have it done in the hospital because of the cost. She gave me a strange look and said something like "they are expensive everywhere". I asked her if she could check around closer to where I live for a cheaper alternative that takes United Healthcare (I have a $3000 deductible that hasnt been met). She looks on her computer and finds a place right down the street from me (the docs office is 30 mins away). She finds out that they will charge me $231. The hospital wanted $3000. Obviously the doctor knew the hospital was ridiculously overpriced. You would think the scheduler who does this for a living would know?
I get the MRI immediatley (Mon) and have an appt to have it read by the doc 2 days later (today). I wake up on Tue feeling better for the first time in a while. Still have numbness but alot of pain is gone. I go back today and the doc tells me I have 4 herniated discs. Some worse than others and she recommends two steroid injections. Now, Ive had a few of these 20 years ago and they were done in the docs office for about $100.
I agree to the injections even though I'm thinking now I might not need them. I go back to the scheduler sitting right next to the original one who says "let me call down to the hospital and see when we can get this done". I asked why we needed a hospital and she said thats how its done. The doctor charges $200 for the injections. The hospital charges $2200!!!
The doctor also has an office at a different hospital which is closer to me so I asked what the price at that hospital would be. The scheduler says that all Presybyterian Hospitals are the same. I asked her to call them anyway. The other hospital is in a less expensive area of town. What do you know....the other hospital charges $1100. HALF! Again, you would think the scheduler would know this?
Questions:
1) Does this sound like a scam where the schedulers are getting some kind of kickback to use this expensive hospital?
2) Does anyone know if some doctors still give lumbar steroid injections in their office?
Its getting close to healing now. Im not paying $1300 for injections that cant even be scheduled until April 28th. There's a decent chance Ill be fine by then. If anyone has had this done in a doctors office recently, Ill call around an find one and gladly pay the $200 for immediate relief.
Fast forward to a few days ago. I had a followup visit with the doctor. My back feels good but I still have pain and numbness in my leg from my Sciatic nerve. She recommended a steroid injection which requires an MRI. Here's where it gets interesting / sketchy. My wife's uncle told me to shop around because MRI prices are all over the map. I told the doctor this and she said to not get the MRI done in the hospital because it will be very expensive. She told me the "schedulers" could call and get a price before I decided.
So I go to the "schedulers" in the office and the first thing the woman says to me is "let me call down to the hospital and see when they have an opening". I told her I was advised not to have it done in the hospital because of the cost. She gave me a strange look and said something like "they are expensive everywhere". I asked her if she could check around closer to where I live for a cheaper alternative that takes United Healthcare (I have a $3000 deductible that hasnt been met). She looks on her computer and finds a place right down the street from me (the docs office is 30 mins away). She finds out that they will charge me $231. The hospital wanted $3000. Obviously the doctor knew the hospital was ridiculously overpriced. You would think the scheduler who does this for a living would know?
I get the MRI immediatley (Mon) and have an appt to have it read by the doc 2 days later (today). I wake up on Tue feeling better for the first time in a while. Still have numbness but alot of pain is gone. I go back today and the doc tells me I have 4 herniated discs. Some worse than others and she recommends two steroid injections. Now, Ive had a few of these 20 years ago and they were done in the docs office for about $100.
I agree to the injections even though I'm thinking now I might not need them. I go back to the scheduler sitting right next to the original one who says "let me call down to the hospital and see when we can get this done". I asked why we needed a hospital and she said thats how its done. The doctor charges $200 for the injections. The hospital charges $2200!!!
The doctor also has an office at a different hospital which is closer to me so I asked what the price at that hospital would be. The scheduler says that all Presybyterian Hospitals are the same. I asked her to call them anyway. The other hospital is in a less expensive area of town. What do you know....the other hospital charges $1100. HALF! Again, you would think the scheduler would know this?
Questions:
1) Does this sound like a scam where the schedulers are getting some kind of kickback to use this expensive hospital?
2) Does anyone know if some doctors still give lumbar steroid injections in their office?
Its getting close to healing now. Im not paying $1300 for injections that cant even be scheduled until April 28th. There's a decent chance Ill be fine by then. If anyone has had this done in a doctors office recently, Ill call around an find one and gladly pay the $200 for immediate relief.