Incorrectly charged for two days of NICU care
I had a baby on 6/29 and we were both discharged from the hospital on 7/2.
He came out perfectly healthy, but was unable to eat until about an hour after his birth because my C-section stitches took a while. This led to a drop in blood sugar. He then started sweating, which led to a drop in his temperature, which led to him spending about an hour under a warmer. Once his blood sugar and temperature were considered "normal", about 3 hours after birth (2 would have been standard), we were moved from the recovery area to the standard shared postpartum room "mother baby unit". As far as I remember he never left my room again. There were a couple more blood sugar checks as a follow up on 6/29. As of 6/30 all of his care was very standard, or so I was told at the time.
I saw the EOB first, so I anxiously awaited the hospital bill. When I received it I called the phone number on the bill to request an itemized one, and only spoke to a robot who eventually told me where to find it on the hospital website (very well hidden). I also requested the robot send me one in the mail.
The EOB shows these line items (amount billed only, to show how it matches the itemized statement): Nursery room $1717.80 Nursery int care unit $43434.00
The itemized statement from the hospital website shows these matching line items: Room & Care 6/29 / qty 1 / rev code 0171 / $1717.80 Room & Care 6/30 / qty 2 / rev code 0172 / $43434.00
Luckily I have decent insurance and a max out of pocket so I'm not paying that giant number regardless, but I still don't think the billing is correct here. If there was any "higher level" newborn care it should be only on 6/29. And honestly I don't think an hour under the warmer and a few blood sugar checks justifies a $20,000 charge either. Am I off base? Are there any keywords I need to use to get the right person on the phone (getting through the robot) and get them to show me (or fail to show) why 2 days of low level NICU (from what I can tell) was charged for a healthy baby?
submitted by /u/canadiantopaz
[comments]
