Heavy bill of 22 week sonography?
Friday, July 30th, 2010 at
6:28 am
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?
Filed under: Fetal Doppler FAQs
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I would get some documentation, first off, regarding why they did a transvaginal study on a 22 week pregnancy. I have never done a transvag on a routine 2nd trimester pregnancy. Transvag. u/s is usually done in the first trimester, or late in the 3rd to check the cervical length.
The OB sono charge is just a regular 2nd trimester OB. Every 2nd trimester has the same study done, irregardless if they are diabetic or measuring large or small for dates etc.
I agree that the Doppler study is B.S. We can charge an outrageous amount of money by doing Doppler wavelengths on the three vessels of the umbilical cord. We used to do it routinely, and it was not an added cost. The insurance companies made a procedure code for it, so we can bill for it now. It takes about 3 minutes to do the Doppler study. Where I work, we do not charge cash paying patients for this.
Do you have someone in your OB’s office who could help you to negotiate with the imaging center? I am unsure if you can fight the charges, but maybe you can get a payment plan worked out. We do not require full payment at time of services, and we will continue to send out a bill every month until the balance is paid. But, even if a patient only sends ten dollars a month, we consider that account current, and we do not send the account to collections. I wish you luck, and I know you must feel deceived and cheated. I can’t say I blame you!
You can’t fight it once it’s already been performed. Next time, ask what the cost of the procedures are before going ahead with it.