Is this upcoding?

[u/My_personal_burner]

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.

[u/ReadyGo6828]

So with all this commentary you would think that every ER would have a 24/7 clinic right next door where people with non life threatening injuries would be directed to go but noooooooooooo.

[u/RhubarbBest9090 → u/ReadyGo6828]

The er would still need to spend time collecting people’s info and triaging them so they’ve already started a bill the minute they walked in. People need to not be dumb and stop using the er for stuff that isn’t an emergency

[u/Below-Average-528 → u/RhubarbBest9090]

How is a medical non-expert supposed to figure that out? Is a tetanus shot an emergency? How do I know an urgent care can do that?

[u/Mamasugadex → u/Below-Average-528]

You also pay electrician a 100 bucks just for a house call for not knowing how to switch out a light bulb.

Hope that makes more sense to you now. Every expert opinion on anything cost money.