pam schwartz

Review of Southern New Hampshire Medical...

I have a client that had a prostrate biopsy perfor...

I have a client that had a prostrate biopsy performed.
Medical needs were handled safely and professionally.

The business part leaves something to be desired. The client specifically made sure that SNHMC would be using its labs to be sure the provider was in the insurer s network. Over 2 months after the procedure, after paying a large bill from SNHMC out of pocket since it was within the client s high deductible plan, he received another large bill from an outside provider from which he had no prior relationship. After some calls he found out that this provider was the one who actually interpreted the biopsy sample and SNHMC charged separately for preparation. While the total combined cost is outrageous, the specific complaint here is that the lab forwarded this work outside of the patient s knowledge and the patient received a bill from what is essentially a subcontractor. After calling this subcontractor, who themselves apparently use billing subcontractors, there was apparently a billing error, so we will undoubtedly have another round of phone calls in a few months.

In my 35 years of practicing law I have seen this in no other business relationship. The mechanic working on my car does not bill separately from the garage that employs him, and the dental hygienist does not bill the patient in addition to the bill from the dentist s office. Essentially the situation here is the same. If SNHMC opts to subcontract out the work, SNHMC should include the charge as part of its bill, and be responsible for paying the sub-contractor it hired. Fortunately the biopsy was negative and my client has the health and energy to sit on the phone for hours trying to resolve this between the hospital, the insurer and the sub-contractor. I have no idea how critically ill patients fighting for their lives are supposed to handle these sorts of issues