Medical Billing Forum

Payments => Patient Billing => : citizen activist June 29, 2009, 06:57:37 PM

: Charges vs. Time with Doctor
: citizen activist June 29, 2009, 06:57:37 PM
Don't doctors bill for their time?  On my second visit to a dermatologist, he billed me $95.90 (99213, Level 3) for a full-body exam.  I was with him 45 minutes for a followup on a liquid nitrogen treatment for actinic keratoses on my arms that he did on my first appointment.  At my third appointment, he billed me $145.37 (99214, Level 4) when I was with him only 25 minutes.  The reason he gave for the higher bill was that he diagnosed rosacea.  He gave me prescriptions each visit.  I believe I should be billed less for the third appointment because of taking less of his time.  Can he bill me extra for simply making a diagnosis?
: Re: Charges vs. Time with Doctor
: Michele June 30, 2009, 11:52:50 PM
There are actually several things that a Dr uses to decide what level of service to bill.  It is not just based on time.  If you really feel that the Dr is billing inappropriately then you can contact his office and express your concern.  If you do it pleasantly and ask them to check into it they can review the dr's office notes to make sure a coding error has not occurred.  It may not have even been the dr, it's possible it happened in the billing department.

Michele