Questions about hospital bill

MetroidZoid

Had a kidney stone earlier this month, and finally got the bill in this week. What's odd is that it lists three charges for an IV. Now, I was under the influence of either (A) intense pain or (B) intense pain medication, but did they bill me wrong or was there a cocktail of medicine in there? I'm thinking the latter is more likely, but I'm not sure how hospitals bill you on stuff like that. This was my first visit to the ER.

Jasconius

One per bag... were you awake the whole time?

Did they not switch out bags?

MetroidZoid

Not that I remember, I'll have to ask my wife. I'm pretty sure it was just one IV.

Bucketman

How long were you in? A few hours? A few days? And does it say what was in the IV? It really depends a lot on those things

MetroidZoid

I was only in for about three hours, and the bill from my insurance for what it didn't cover just says 'IV'. There's three seperate IV charges, different prices. No details.

Esh

Call the hospital? They're the ones who will know for sure. Anything here is just conjecture.

Ketar

The last time I really looked at an itemized bill for an ER visit was for an allergic reaction my wife had. Hers also had 3 separate IV charges for a fairly short visit - one for establishing the IV, one for the saline bag, and one for the medication. Call the hospital to be sure, but it's likely broken down along those lines.

MetroidZoid

That would make sense, thank you Ketar. And I will double check when I call up the hospital on Monday to schedule payments. Thank you, I think this thread can be closed now.

dispatch.o

I'd just like to say do not trust a hospital to be honest, about anything, ever. Get an itemized list of charges, hospital billing is flakey as fuck, always. Especially in surgery, I've seen some crazy shit that the staff just seem to not care that the patient will end out having to pay for. I say this working in a major hospital, in surgery.

Edit: Before you schedule payments, find out if you can get your bill reduced. You nearly always should be able to if you are persistent enough. Sometimes by a great amount, too.