There are two main hospital chains in my city - one more expensive than the other. I recently went to my spine doctor at the expensive one and he ordered me an ultrasound. Here's what I've learned on how to save money in this area.
Once doctor from Hospital A schedules you an appointment for diagnostic imaging:
1) get the CPT code(s), also called procedure codes, from your assigned diagnostic imaging location
2) call hospital A's billing department, get the price to go through your insurance. You'll need to tell them your deductible if you want them to calculate/estimate what your actual cost will be to go through insurance. You'll also give them your CPT codes if they can't find them in their system.
3) ask them for the self-pay cost of the procedure. For example, my deductible resets on Jan 1st (today is 12/21), and I'm nowhere near meeting it. If I went through my insurance, it would cost $944. Self pay price is $344 - it won't go towards my deductible, but that won't matter because I'll be nowhere near meeting it.
4) Now that you have the CPT codes and the prices for Hospital A, look around on the web for other radiology services in your area. Call their billing departments, give them your CPT codes, and get their self-pay prices (and through-insurance prices if you want).
5) Lastly, if you decide to switch from Hospital A to lower-priced Hospital B, you'll need to call Hospital A's radiology dept back up and have them send your order (usually by fax) to Hospital B.
DISCLAIMER: I know little about navigating healthcare costs, hence my excitement about sharing this new piece of knowledge that many of you may already know. Just posting in case it helps. I'm making the assumption that B's radiology team is as good as A's.
Submitted December 21, 2018 at 09:58AM by losercantdance http://bit.ly/2PSX6uT
