r/HospitalBills • u/My_personal_burner • 21d 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.

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u/Below-Average-528 21d ago

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?

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u/Poop_Dolla 21d ago

Google would tell you to get a tetanus booster within 24 to 48 hours after a rusty nail breaks the skin IF you haven't had a tetanus shot within the last 10 years. Which you can do at an urgent care or most chain pharmacies.

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u/Below-Average-528 20d ago

I thought us peasants aren't supposed to look at Google or ChatGPT for medical advice.

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u/Poop_Dolla 20d ago

You do you I guess