After Surgery, $117,000 Bill for Doctor He Didn’t Know, Report

Peter Drier had had a neck surgery for herniated disks in December, but when his bills started appearing in the mail, he couldn’t believe his eyes: A bill of approximately $117,000 from an “assistant surgeon” he didn’t know. He also received three other bills: One from the hospital, as well as a bill from the anesthesiologist and his orthopedist. These bills, however, didn’t come as a surprise to Drier.

Peter Drier stated that the bills from the Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan in the amounts of $56,000 and $4,300 as well as a $133,000 bill from his orthopedist were expected, but that he was completely blindsided when he received a bill from an unknown Dr. Harrison T. Mu in the amount of $177,000 for reportedly acting as an ‘assistant surgeon’ for the procedure.

According to Drier, each surgeon has billed him for every step of the procedure and he had already received a bill from his primary surgeon, Dr. Nathaniel L. Tindel, in the amounts of $74,000 and $50,000 for removing the two disks and inserting hardware to stabilize his spine.

Mu, on the other hand, billed for the same things that Tindel did. The same steps amounted to $67,000 and $50,000 respectively. It was found out that Mu was the chief of neurosurgery at the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.

Drier noted that what happened was wrong but he did not have any choice but to pay it since he had no “negotiating power.”

Furthermore, the hospital sent his blood tests to an out-of-network lab for cardiac tests which Drier claims were unnecessary. The lab test are said to have amounted to another $950.

This has been backed by The American Society of Echocardiography, noting that patients who do not have a heart problem should not undergo these lab tests.

Drier also claimed that the morning after his surgery he was requested to sign a financial consent form as his Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance plan refused to cover his operation.

Reportedly, these tactics are not new to the health industry as doctors are allowed to make price controls by increasing the number of things they do for a patient during certain procedures in order to hike up medical bills.

This leads to drive-by doctors, assistants, consultants, and other hospital employees to being called even if there is no need for them.

Patients are generally unaware of the presence of these extra professionals and only find out once they are billed for them.

Due to this, other health care workers’ revenue has significantly improved. The Republican insurance commissioner from Louisiana, James J. Donelon, commented about the issue saying that it has already gotten out of hand and is totally wrong.

According to reports, these “assistants” are opportunities for the initial doctors to make up for the surgical fees that have been slashed by the insurance companies. Dr. Abeel A. Mangi, a professor at Yale said that this practice is now common amongst doctors.

Most insurers just pay for the extra charges so the doctors are all the more encouraged to keep billing more and asking “assistants” to be with them in the operating room.

Agencies/Canadajournal