You Are Not Going to Sue Us, Are You?

…is what a nice lady asked me when we were discussing the charges her office submitted for drug addiction treatments. You see, this office billed $3,800.00 per day for inpatient detox, and separately, under a different corporate name (but same billing office), they billed our client for drug screenings at a whopping $4,000.00 per screen – with one screen performed per day.

Our communication with their office (written and sent by one of our attorneys) was stern but professional; we seriously questioned the propriety of those charges and made it clear that our client would not pay for them since they are considered part of the per diem for detox.  

“You are not going to sue us, are you?”  They were worried about a class action.  Think about that.  The provider representative’s guilty conscience was palpable.  We settled the claims at a small percentage above the Medicare equivalent rate, and we closed the account…no lawsuit needed.  Everyone walked away happy.

We are seeing more and more of these types of billing practices sprouting up in sunbelt regions.  

Treating addiction is a serious issue, and I am absolutely not diminishing the need for this type of service. In fact, I am married to a family and marriage therapist, so I understand mental health issues better than most.  That said, it is somewhat ironic that this particular example is of addiction claims, as it would seem that such high billed charges and ridiculous margins are a serious form of corporate addiction within the provider community. Effectively, we have addicts treating addicts.

If you have claims from providers that are “getting high”… let us know. We can help.