Sarasota Memorial Hospital SMH SARASOTA MEMORIAL HOSPITAL - Withhold Info on Urgent Care for forced ER Treatment when Uneeded North Port Florida

Your update just goes to show you really do have some strange definitions and concepts.

First and foremost I posted that for purely informative purposes to other people that feel they can trust a medical facility to be forthright with information when asked and am not going to spend any more time defending my position.
- Yet right after that you posted another 6 paragraphs and an additional post "defending" your position.

A matter of distance is in the eye of the beholder. Had I been given the answers to my question, I the consumer, could have made that call. Coming from a sizable city 22 miles is a pittance.
- You can consider it what ever you want. But it is unreasonable for you to expect them to know your definition and very unreasonable if you are basing your "Rip Off" on how they should "know" what you mean. Not everyone is as privileged to be from the "Big City", and a 22 mile trip to most is more than just a walk across the street. They answered the question based on what THEY(and a majority of people) would have considered reasonable.  Perhaps you would have been clearer had you stated "Where is the closest Urgent Care Center, I don't care about how far away it is".

I didn’t find the closest hospital, After being at our new location for 2 weeks it’s the only facility I visually saw and figured I’d stop in and ask the questions I did.
- There you go again. You say it wasn't the "closest" hospital yet it was the only one you visually saw. Really?
So are you saying that there were hospitals closer that were perhaps invisible. Again...your "word games" don't prove any sort of RipOff.

But the real kicker is that I actually was trying to give you some benefit of the doubt, where perhaps this happened while you were out doing errands and passed this hospital thinking you wanted to get it checked out. But No that is not what happened. This had actually been going on for a week. Where in that week you would have more than enough time to look up Urgent Care centers on the Internet. Enough time to ask around your work, neighbors...etc. Enough time to go "old school" and call your Insurance Company. So once you stated this little fact....there is now for sure only 1 person responsible for this ER bill and one person only...and it is the same person who wrote the original post.

In the end I will say that perhaps if you "fight" enough they may reduce the bill. If they do great. But if they don't
it still isn't a RipOff.. I also know you will probably go to your grave thinking that this ER committed the biggest fraud on earth and the nurse that told you that there were no centers "Close By" should be arrested and jailed for fraud. I get that but the situation you laid out does NOT show that.

So good luck.

Again I should get to choose what "close by" means, not them. They did not have to make a determination on the bee sting, I did that for them when I asserted that it was a non-emergency. At no point did I complain or was worried about any effect, It was merely informative about what was going on, so that I could further ask my questions. Which I was blatantly lied too.

Having a bill was expected, but the amount was ludicrous, close to $900.00. Especially after being lied too. I think you keep forgetting that major detail. And the only reason I ended up going to this ER, is only cause I was misled.

I wasn’t having a heart attack, I had some minor effects from a bee sting. Big difference.

Had I been informed of a UC center 22 miles away, at that point I could have made a decision on if it was too far away or not. But I was not given honest information to begin with.

Again I knew some sort of charge would be involved, nothing is for free. I do feel I was ripped off, by not allowing me to dictate where I get treatment by direct result of fraudulent information my bill went from around $200.00 (estimate of UC) to $800.00.

First and foremost I posted that for purely informative purposes to other people that feel they can trust a medical facility to be forthright with information when asked and am not going to spend any more time defending my position.

A matter of distance is in the eye of the beholder. Had I been given the answers to my question, I the consumer, could have made that call. Coming from a sizable city 22 miles is a pittance. I never indicated it needed to be immediately checked out, they were informed that it was a non-emergency issue and that it had been going on for a week.

I didn’t find the closest hospital, After being at our new location for 2 weeks it’s the only facility I visually saw and figured I’d stop in and ask the questions I did. The reason I didn’t do the things you listed is because I “HAD” faith in the ethics and morality of medical institutions to give honest and accurate information to a potential patient. I’m pretty sure if you did a survey on how many people call their insurance company,  that percentage would be quite low.

I think it was around noon when I stopped in to the ER, So the UC center would have been a viable option, had my wants been put in front of their needs.

The billing codes were researched after the fact with the help of a family member who is a retired medical coder.

Unfortunately I have yet to receive a response back. Depending on which way it goes, I either have to pay it and they lose my family’s future business. Or they work with me and they potentially lose a family’s business.

In conclusion, it boils down to ethics and morals. Unless I am unconscious, they should not be allowed to misguide, give misleading or false information to a Human being/possible patient.

I am sure that Florida must seem like an entirely different planet. Where they have all sorts of strange definitions and processes. So let me help you out.

Most people do not consider 22 miles "close by". Same Zip Code..okay 5-10 miles..sure. But to most people what would be a 25-40 minute drive depending on the time of day is not really "close" especially when it comes to medical issues that you feel the need to immediately get checked out.

Now you define this as a "Non-Emergency" situation. But to most people something that isn't an emergency would not cause them to apparently find the first Hospital they could and pull in. Rather they would call their insurance company and ask where the closest Urgent Care is. Your Insurance ID card has all of the contact information. If you didn't want to call you could go Online and search for yourself.

You can't say it was a time issue because if it was between 8AM and 8PM I don't think there isn't an insurance company who would not have had some sort of help available during this time period. Yes, even a Saturday.

Next, you say that this Urgent Care was open until 8pm. What time did you attempt to get care? As the Urgent Care centers I have dealt with aren't like a store where if you are in at 7:59PM they will still help you. If it is late in the day and they know they won't be able to see more patients before closing they won't. Even if this cut-off time is only 6 or 7PM.

Then finally just as an observation someone when people start to add "fluff" this is often(but not always) done to make themselves sound more knowledgeable than they actually are. After all can you really say that the "normal" person knows what the medical Billing Codes are? So yes when a person starts to ask about how a facility bills, but fails to apparently take what would be more logical steps you have to wonder how much knowledge they actually have.  Yes, this was a direct copy of a letter to the Hospital but since it was written in December and it is now February when you posted this report one has to figure that they also probably declined to change the billing code.

What you posted, refutes nothing i submitted in my complaint.

I the patient should get to choose where/when i get treatment not them. Honesty would have been forthcoming with the requested information requested from them.

Please go troll elsewhere

 I think the issue is YOUR definition of "close by". THEY cannot KNOW what the effects of that bee sting is going to do to YOU. It would be sheer negligence on THIER part to just let YOU leave and drive 20-40 mins to another location when YOU are complaining about the effects. Either way, YOU have access to the web, so WHY didnt YOU use it before leaving?? I can tell YOU why. YOU WERE WORRIED!!!! NOW that the bill is due YOU complain about the costs. THEY arent going to change the code because YOU say so. You DID recieve treatment there. SO YOU get to pay for it. Pretty cut and dry. If cost was a factor then WHY did YOU go to an emergency room?? YOU KNOW that the ER is MORE expensive. YOU cannot now play the victim AFTER using thier services. THEY did thier part and treated YOU. It doesnt matter if the doctor was ONLY there for 10 mins. ITS AN EMERGENCY ROOM!!! TIME IS A FACTOR!!! If YOU were having a heart attack YOU would want the doctor THERE!! Get over it and move on. LEARN from the mistake YOU MADE, instead of bashing THEM for just doing thier job. 22 miles is a LONG WAY AWAY!!!! SO the receptionist answered YOU HONESTLY!!!! 22 miles is NOT near or close by. YOU are just butthurt that YOU have to pay a premium cost FOR A BEE STING!!!! But it was YOUR CHOICE!! YOU could have walked out at ANY TIME!!! But YOU DID NOT!!! So YOU have to pay for it. NOT A RIPOFF!!! JUST A WHINER!!!