Doctor asked us to go through 22 week sonography. What tests are included ?
We had the 22 sonography done some time back, Now, we got a huge bill from the sonography associates. its mentioned 1) OB Sono, Detail Fetal/Maternal EV
2) OB, Transvaginal
3) Doppler study
Are these all compulsary ( even when mother doesn’t have any disease like diabeties etc..)
Or is there any thing for which we can fight against this heavy bill?
Unfortunately , I have a deductible in my policy.. I have recently moved to US and so was not aware of this catch and now my insurance is asking me to pay the bills untill deductible is completely met and on top of this my deductible is an annual deductible that means I again have to pay for my bills next year in 2008 ( as pregnancy will be carried to the next yr as well)
The person who was performing ultra sound never mentioned that transvaginal ultra sound will not be included in the general ultrasound . All she mentioned was that she could not see the baby due to her position so has to perform transvaginal ultrasound and did it.
Filed under: Fetal Doppler FAQs
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You could have declined the service ahead of time. However, you had the service provided, so there isn’t really anything you can do to fight the bill. The health care providers who provided the service deserve to be compensated for their time and resources.
These charges are for - the abdominal ultrasound
- a transvaginal ultrasound
- doppler studies to evaluate fetal blood flow.
heh. i had this happen to me too. my bill was due to the deductable i had to pay for ultrasound on my ins. did you have an internal ultrasound with the probe thingy? that’s what transvaginal is. it’s a probe that they insert rather than the normal over the belly. that’s not usually done at 22 weeks, i don’t think. the only time i’ve had that was early on in pregnancy when i was having complications and surgery and they couldn’t see as well with the normal ultrasound. doppler study… i would ask what exactly that means. perhaps the, you know, experts studying the pictures. the first thing looks to me like it describes the normal ultrasound on your stomach.
It is usually routine to have sonography at 19-22 weeks pregnant. The things you listed are all part of the same thing, OB Sono Detail Fetal/Maternal is the actual imaging and the reading of the images, OB transvaginal means they did a "vaginal ultrasound" which is NOT typical at this stage of pregnancy. Unless, they place a wand (it is narrow and long and usually covered with a condom) into your vagina to perform the ultrasound, than this part of your bill can be fought. The doppler study can refer to heart beat portion and watching the arteries work (brachial, femoral, renal, cardiac and carotid, etc.) and can also include bladder and kidney function. Unfortunately, if you live in place where sonography is not covered, than this bill can be unbelievable. However, most states in the US and countries abroad consider this procedure as routine, compulsory and NECESSARY! It is also typically included in your maternity care. Call the billing department of the place where you had your sonogram done and ask them to double check to see if you are actually liable for the charges. In many (but not all) cases, you aren’t. I’ll hope for you that you don’t have to pay.