Sep 15, 2010

More About Hockins

A hilarious addendum to last night's post about the bill from Hopkins for the Breast Cancer Clinical Trial interview. I opened a letter received in the mail from them. They want me to contribute to the "Fund for Johns Hopkins Medicine"! Oh, the irony. I can't stop laughing...

Sep 14, 2010

A Raw Deal

I have given up the fight with Johns Hopkins. On Aug 16, I blogged about my experience with trying to enter a Breast Cancer Clinical Trial at Hopkins. I had received a bill for almost $400.00 and was upset that it could cost me money to participate in a trial. I mean, who ever heard of paying money to be in a drug regimen trial? I hadn't, but apparently I'm behind the curve. I called and called Hopkins. The Billing Dept, the Outpatient Medical office, and Dr Emens herself, twice. Dr Emens was just emphatic that the interview she gave me earlier in the month was billable to my insurance and that whatever portion of the bill not paid by my insurance was up to me to pay. She told me that this was standard practice, that all her interviews for the trial were billable. This was new to me but, as I said, I am out of the loop. Sometime in the last 15 years, doctors and medical institutions starting billing insurance companies for trial activities like interviews and blood tests. Surprisingly, the insurance companies pay for 'reasonable and customary' fees. And the rest is left up to the insured, just like 'real' medical care. Who knew? Still, I kept arguing with Hopkins and Dr Emens. I was not told until after the fact that I would be billed for the interview.I was billed just as if I had sought medical treatment at Hopkins, which I didn't, because I get perfectly adequate - better than adequate!, wonderful! - treatment from my docs at Sinai. Not to mention the fact that finances are tough now for us. I usually only work two days per week; quite a drop in pay! The "I can't afford this because I have cancer and have been unable to work much" excuse holds absolutely no water with anyone at Hopkins. Plus, when I told some of the story to my Oncologist, she knew the secret already - that patients now pay to be in clinical trials. So, instead of letting Hopkins send my bill to a collection agency and ruin my good credit, I pay. Not much at a time, though. I did manage to weasel them into only $10.00 per month with no interest!