A $6,000 urine test? Bay Area hospital company sued over ‘unconscionable’ fee

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Contra Costa County woman hit with test fee almost 100 times Medicare’s reimbursement amount, lawsuit filed Tuesday claims.

Savannah Thompson walked into the emergency department at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek just after midnight June 14, fearing she had ingested fentanyl — a synthetic opiate responsible for a North America-wide epidemic of fatal overdoses — in what she had been told was cocaine, according to a new lawsuit accusing John Muir Health of fraud.

The fee charged to Thompson, a Contra Costa County resident, was almost 100 times Medicare’s reimbursement rate of $62 for the test, the suit claims, adding that as a rule of thumb for medical billing, charging up to just under 1 1/2 times Medicare’s reimbursement amount is “considered reasonable.” John Muir Health received more than $6,000 from Thompson’s outside insurance provider, and wants her to pay an additional $7,100, the suit claims. The laboratory-services portion of the total bill amounted to nearly $10,000, the suit alleges.

 

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