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Woman gives birth in car, hospital charges full delivery fee
Woman gives birth in car, hospital charges full delivery fee
BOCA RATON, FL (AP) - A South Florida mother says she's being charged thousands of dollars in delivery charges even though she gave birth in a car in the hospital parking lot. Paula D'Amore tells WSVN-TV that wasn't how she expected to deliver her daughter, Daniella, who was born in the fire lane at Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
news10.com




I don't understand American healthcare at all :(
The article doesn't mention a refusal from the hospital to update the billing, so this story seems quite sensationalized, and I wouldn't report it to the press without first trying to resolve it with the hospital.
It's not as ridiculous as it sounds, unless the hospital refuses to amend the charges.
Each procedure has a billing code associated with it, and it's entered by the provider (doctor, nurse, etc.) into an electronic medical record during the visit. Then a coding specialist goes in for verification a few weeks later. Unless the provider has to correct a charting mistake, these two are not allowed to talk to each other because it violates HIPAA.
The codes are also standardized, so there isn't a discount code, or a "partial procedure" code, nor is there the ability to create one. The hospital has to apply discounts manually, and with the way billing and HIPAA works, it can only be done after the bill has been sent out.
Oh yeah, this is one of the hospital's 'special experience' packages. :/
Hospital is trying to rip the customer, talk to the supervisor.