I went to an Urgent Care center on 2/6 for a fractured fibula. I had xrays performed and then was dispensed a short air boot and Rx for crutches and discharged. The next day, I went to an orthopedic clinic and was informed that I had been dispensed the wrong device and should have been dispensed a TALL boot, which they promptly dispensed. I called Urgent Care and they apologized but said they couldn’t take the boot back, since it had already been dispensed and was a single patient item. I talked with the TX company that supplied the short boot that was dispensed by Urgent Care and said it’s up to the MD to dispense the correct boot and they’re sorry but can’t do anything.
I have just now been billed for my $65.38 copay for the short boot and expect I will also be billed for the tall boot (in full or at least the copay).
I’m just irked about having to pay $65.38 for the copay for the WRONG boot and having to wait to see what my bill will be for the CORRECT tall boot as well. Anyone with suggestions? The emergency doc at Urgent Care was nice, but don’t understand why she had me discharged with the wrong boot.
I would write a letter to the billing office saying you are unwilling to pay and outlining the hospital’s incompetence. Then see what there next move is.
Complain to the insurance company and see if they’ll address it. They can sometimes have more power than you.
I guess I don’t want to get the urgent care MD in trouble. She was nice, but it just seems wrong to have to pay for a boot that was incorrect and I only wore for less than 24 hours when I was told it was the wrong one. I guess for other patients, it would be a major financial hardship.
The billing office for the Urgent Care is different from the billing office for the boot. The boot folks (in TX) just point their finger at the MD and say it was their responsibility to dispense the correct boot. I paid the $15 copay for that visit.
I wouldn’t worry about getting the MD “in trouble”. Did the doctor want you in the tall boot, and someone else on staff gave you the wrong one? In that case, they should reimburse you, and I would try to go through the insurance and not worry about the MD. You would be doing her a favor, actually, because the next time they make a careless mistake is might actually end up with someone being hurt and bringing a malpractice suit.
But perhaps it is just two different opinions. Maybe the first doctor thought the low boot was adequate, and the orthopedist thought you should be in a tall boot. In that case, don’t expect to get reimbursed. You will just have the first doctor saying low boot, and the orthopedist saying tall boot. Of course the orthopedist is the specialist so it sounds like you eventually got what you needed. You could try to talk to the doctor or write, and perhaps they will reimburse you, but I think it’s unlikely if that doctor really believed you needed the low boot.
The good news is that you now have a new pair of boots, and boots are very fashionable right now. :))
Especially irksome is that you can buy the blasted boot on amazon.com for a fraction of MY COPAY! It’s only $38.65 with free shipping on Amazon.com! They billed insurance $526.58 and insurance already paid $261.57 and disallowed $199.62. Even the equipment company that I spoke with agreed that for a fractured fibula I should have received the tall boot. I don’t know if they had any tall boots in stock, but they should NOT have dispensed the wrong item and billed me for it.
There are two different entities–the Urgent Care place and the company in TX which supplies the boots & whatever other medical equipment.
Well, just talked with insurer and she said just pay it and there is really no recourse to anyone. She agrees that the boot was charged at a very high but allowable price, even tho it’s many times what it could have been purchased for on amazon.com or another source. Oh well!
Nah, we may donate it to the nonprofit, Aloha Medical Mission–using the basis that the medical equipment company claimed! The orthopedist recommended keeping it around, just so no one breaks anything (like carrying an umbrella so it won’t rain).
When we moved recently I finally got rid of the contents of our “orthopedic closet”. I offered them all on freecycle and they were quite popular! D2 was a bit mad at me for getting rid of her boot.