Friday, June 26, 2009

No Talking!

I took AK to the pediatrician today. She has been congested for a while and it finally manifested in a cough and gunky eyes. As expected, double ear infection. Sweetness.

However, this was not the high point of our trip to the doctor.

Rather, it was when the person checking me in informed me that I had a $47 balance on our account from our last visit. The last visit were combined well child visits for the girls. Turns out the balance was for an assessment of LP.

I found this odd, since they didn't draw any blood from LP, she didn't receive any shots, and we had established that the hearing and vision tests were included as part of the visit.

Turns out LP had both a lead and TB assessment. When I inquired what this consisted of, I was told it was my conversation with the nurse on if the girls had been exposed to lead or TB since their last visit.

I was incredulous. I talk to Theresa, the head nurse for the girls' pediatrician every time I encounter her. I had no idea I as charged for the privilege. She is lovely (as attested to in this previous post) but not that nice.

I mean what kind of service could she provide that costs $50 for a minute?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Thanks for the heads up... I guess I also had that "assessment" last week at MK's 3 year appt. That is nuts!
-MLH

Stamford Talk said...

that is outrageous- should she not have informed you of a charge- "informed consent"? if that is a Stamford doc, please tell me name so i can avoid!

Adam said...

Did you fight the charge? You should be able to get them to reverse it. What about your insurance? They won't cover it?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the heads up too! I just LD's physical form from the school yesterday stating that TB assessment is required by state law. I will be sure to look into the charges before we go!

-DTS