24 Seven October 2021

Confusing
And Predatory
Hospital Billing
Written by Doris Zito
Are there any large hospital bills looming over
you in your life? A recent article from Axios, How
America’s Top Hospitals Hound Patients with
Predatory Billing, caught my eye as it speaks to
the reality of how insane hospital medical billing
processes can be. It is a real pressure cooker for
those caught in the crosshairs.
At HealthLink Advocates, we see a lot of these
situations. Most often, we get involved when
a patient is hit with a huge hospital bill and
becomes panicked when he or she is unable to
immediately pay the bill, or disagrees with the
bill.
The entire situation can quickly become
intimidating, as hospitals have zero personal
relationships with patients and can be brutal
in their efforts to collect funds due. While most
patients are uncomfortable calling out their
private physician or any physician on a larger
than expected bill, they will eventually make those
calls to physician’s billing offices to talk about
the bill. Often that will lead to some negotiation
for a payment plan, correct a billing error, or
just leave them with a better understanding of
how the bill amount was arrived at. Telephone
calls to hospitals about a large bill are a different
challenge.
A hospital bill can be a big unknown – with very
little assistance from the hospital billing service
to help you understand what you are looking at.