Beware of Hospital Charges when Bringing Your Own CPAP

I stayed one night at a Texas hospital, and I had my wife bring me my machine. A nurse saw it when I had it plugged in and asked if I was all set. I was. When I got the bill there was a $3,200 charge for "Respiratory Therapy". My insurance company had already paid the agreed upon rate to the hospital and didn't really care that I had brought my own machine or that the hospital did nothing for me. After months of back and forth with the hospital's terrible billing department, I found the email address for the CEO of the hospital and sent him a note. He forwarded it to the right people. 7 months after my stay, the charge was removed. Unbelievable. I suspect this happens quite a bit and people just pay the amount. Don't!

Interesting...I assume it is different in different locations and different hospitals.. I have had 2 surgeries where I have brought and used my own CPAP. There has never been a charge that I know of. At one surgery, an RT brought a CPAP up to my room and was ready to set it up when I told them I had my own and my wife would help me set it up.

Thanks for the heads up. I watch for this kind of crap too. Insurance is usually no help. They just pass the fraudulent charge to all subscribers through higher rates. And so it goes.

JPB

I told them I plugged my mobile phone into the wall too and it got the same level of support from the hospital staff. Should that cost $3200?

The worst part was that I had to dispute the "Respiratory Therapy" charge before they would even say what that charge was for. I didn't know it was for my cpap until after their 45-day "audit" to which their response was that the charge was valid. I gave them an earful, but they didn't budge.

I'm sure the billing people enjoyed receiving that email from the CEO and the COO telling them to fix it for me.

The COO said he supports changing the policy. It was an Ascension hospital.

And maybe it would have been a good idea to tell that nurse it was your own machine.

When I had my mastectomies, the hospital tried to charge me for prescription eye drops.
Per their own literature, I was allowed to bring my own--and used my own drops.
The line item was over $400 .
I took the matter up the chain until the pharmacy had to be audited.
The charge was removed.

This blows my mind. In my part of the world (Australia) the hospitals do everything they can to facilitate the use of private CPAPs when patients are staying overnight. Certainly no extra charges!

Julie wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 13, 2021 10:01 pm

And maybe it would have been a good idea to tell that nurse it was your own machine.

She knew. It was their policy to bill me for my own.

Ridiculous!

I read once that 100% (yes, that's ONE HUNDRED PERCENT) of hospital billing in an audit was incorrect. You did well to review your own bill, especially if you were responsible for some part of the payment. Good for you for pursuing it.

I had an overnight stay, sans my own cpap. The hospital nurse wheeled in a bipap, but didn't know how to set it up. So I went the night without. The hospital billed for a bipap and when I got my new apap the insurance company claimed I already had a bipap and they weren't going to pay for my apap. Took months to get it fixed.

Since the bullfrog was 60 miles from home, he had no charger for his phone.
The nurses in the hyperbaric oxygen lab charged it for him when he was inside the chamber.
No extra charge. (Pun intended)
Of course, he kept them entertained.
While under pressure, he chose to re-watch Deadpool.
He's a character, all right.

makes me grateful that I am in Canada where it's rare to get billed for anything especially in a hospital. While I have no experience with a hospital stay that my spouse certain has and not once have we received a bill. I can't imagine the cost of healthcare in the US and how many Americans must suffer financial or get no treatment at all when they need it.

CPAPSteve wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:39 am

makes me grateful that I am in Canada where it's rare to get billed for anything especially in a hospital. While I have no experience with a hospital stay that my spouse certain has and not once have we received a bill. I can't imagine the cost of healthcare in the US and how many Americans must suffer financial or get no treatment at all when they need it.

I'm in Canada as well, and while I'm grateful about not going (personally) broke paying for healthcare, don't think for a second we aren't going broke paying for it through our tax dollars. Have you looked at our Federal and Provincial debt lately and how much of it is going toward healthcare and interest on the debt?

And don't believe for a second there aren't other costs, these costs may not be in dollars, but in:

• substandard services
• excessive wait times
• inability to get second opinion
• lack of choices for services
• minimal accountability of healthcare system

Cripes, just look at the vaccine rollout. As a country, we are 46th on the list of vaccine per person. Light years behind the US and the other western countries, and behind many third world nations.

Our healthcare system is simply not the panacea that many portray it to be.

I think the rollout problems are at least as much on Trudeau as the system - which is better than having to pay for everything... haven't paid a med. bill of any size or kind in 50 yrs including in-hospital etc. It's annoying at times, but wouldn't want the alternative.