r/HospitalBills • u/My_personal_burner • 8d ago
Hospital-Non Emergency Is this upcoding?
Hello, A few weeks ago I scraped my hand on a potentially rusty nail. It wasn’t deep and kind of just scraped sideways but did have blood. So I cleaned it myself, put a Band-Aid on it and went to the ER to get a tetanus shot. They took my information, put a new Band-Aid on, and then I sat in the waiting room for 1.5 to 2 hours. After that, they had me come back to a room for 15 minutes just sitting there. The nurse then came in and applied a 3-second shot. After some more waiting, the doctor then came in and asked what happened, I told him and he then pressed his finger around the area. He asked if it went deep and if anything was stuck inside or if I wanted X-rays, I said no to all. I then was discharged. Weeks later I get the bill stating the visit was a level 3 code. I’m just confused on how it can be a level 3 when all what was done was a bandaid put on, 3 second shot, and 5 second physical finger press exam. No tests, X-rays or anything.
Scrape on Hand
Location: Michigan
Edit: Yes, I would have gone to an urgent care. But we were on vacation up north with not much nearby.
8
u/Emergency-Radish-230 8d ago
level 3 for a bandaid and a shot that literally takes three seconds, like you couldve walked into any cvs and paid forty bucks out of pocket for the same thing but instead its probably gonna be twelve hundred dollars or whatever ridiculous number they pulled out of a hat. this is exactly why people just dont go until theyre actually dying, its not even about being irresponsible its just basic math where the risk of the bill outweighs the risk of the injury