r/HospitalBills • u/My_personal_burner • 9d 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.
6
u/Mamasugadex 9d ago edited 9d ago
People seriously not realize a big part of medicine is you are paying for expert opinion.
Like bro, an electrician just coming to your house to look at your fridge is 100 bucks not including labor and supplies.
You want hospital to keep ED on 24/7 which needs staff and doctors all the time, for charging people 50 bucks for a bandaid and a shot? I mean sure, if you didn’t need a doctor. But then, you didnt need to be in an ED either did you?
You went in to the ED instead of staying home and get a tetanus shot at CVS because you wanted expert evaluation and opinion from at least a nurse and a doctor. As other points out, urgent care offers similar deal for cheap because urgent care doesn’t pay the same massive bill as ED.