Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Highline Urgent Care Clinic
- This topic has 54 replies, 24 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 11 months ago by maighdlin.
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March 7, 2012 at 6:52 pm #602415
zoezmomMemberThere is now a $100 fee for the “pleasure of walking in the door” at the UC clinic at West Seattle Family Medicine. (direct quote from Highline staff.) This fee is not covered by insurance, by mine anyway, and does not fall to your deductible or policy out of pocket. I know I assumed (shame on me) that the paper I signed acknowledging the $100 charge was a non-issue since I have great insurance – WRONG. And the fact I had been twice before and visits were fully covered.
I have been a “Highline” patient for the past 40 years, I will be transferring my care to the Polyclinic. Thought other West Seattle folks ought to know.
March 7, 2012 at 7:12 pm #750292
sacatoshParticipantThis was discussed here ad nauseum 3 months ago:
March 7, 2012 at 7:26 pm #750293
zoezmomMemberActually, it had a little different flavor to it – the previous thread was about a “deposit” to be applied or refunded once insurance was processed. This is completely different. It is a $100 charge, not a deposit, simply a charge for seeking care at the UC clinic, which is not covered by insurance due to coding and does not fall to deductible.
March 7, 2012 at 7:45 pm #750294
BonnieParticipantWell I won’t be going there. Thanks.
March 7, 2012 at 8:26 pm #750295
SueParticipantThe whole thing is really weird. I just emailed them (with links to the two discussions here) to ask if they could clarify what is going on with fees, deposits, etc.
I assumed that if they are a provider under your insurance that they cannot contractually bill you for anything other than copays, coinsurance and deductibles. I’m going to try and find out some official info on that, and if my assumption is correct or not. They are a few blocks from me and I assume at some point I’ll need their services. I’d like to understand what the true story is. Not that I’m accusing you of lying about this zoezmom – I’m sure your experience is correct … I mean I want to clarify with Highline what the true story is about what their policy is supposed to be, and to make sure everyone in the office actually understands it. Seems like too many people are hearing very different things from them, and it’s confusing and not putting them in a great light.
March 7, 2012 at 9:27 pm #750296
zoezmomMemberI made the same assumption, but the paper I signed said I would pay it. And so I pay it and won’t return.
This is very different than the deposit, this is a fee for going to the Urgent Care clinic. I did all my pre-work by calling and verifying with my insurance that an UC visit would be covered under my insurance. It is, except how they are coding this one thing. Curious is that I had made two visits to the UC the month prior, and they were covered 100%. The difference was on this November visit they had me “sign the paper”. The worst part is that it does not fall to deductible by insurance view.
It is what it is and I will show my opinion of this decision by taking my “business” elsewhere. I just wanted to let unsuspecting neighbors of what to expect.
March 8, 2012 at 12:17 am #750297
SemeleParticipantZoezmom, I feel your pain. I just got my bill and couldn’t figure out why I was added a $100 fee I have to pay. This is what I get not paying attention to what I sign. When I signed that form I thought it was for the deposit (which I didn’t have to pay as I had previously been seen at the clinic) or a non issue since I as well have great insurance. Sad thing is I have another visit I went there for again a month later. So, looks like I need to come up with $200. next time I will suck it up and just be super sick and wait until my regular doctor can get me in.
** When I called today they said the $100 fee billed at EVERY time you go is to keep the clinic open ***
March 8, 2012 at 1:17 am #750298
goosefaceParticipantHere’s summary of my experience in Nov:
I went in on 11/5 to be seen about a cold that wouldn’t go away. The $125 deposit made sense, but then on one of the forms I had to sign it mentioned a $100 fee specific to the clinic and that not all insurance companies cover the fee. The $125 deposit was completely different from the $100 fee. Since I just had a cold, I didn’t feel like paying $100 extra, so I left.
March 8, 2012 at 1:27 am #750299
zoezmomMemberEmergency Dept copay $100
Urgent Care copay $15
Urgent Care fee, non-insurance covered – $100
If I’m feeling crummy, guess where I’ll go.
March 8, 2012 at 1:28 am #750300
zoezmomMemberAnd not Highline’s.
March 8, 2012 at 1:49 am #750301
gabrayellMemberThis also happened to me. I actually talked to my insurance and the billing person at HL about this. I think the practice is a bit misleading on the urgent care part, even if it’s not their intention to do so.
The $100 is a new fee that they added for the Urgent Care. It is likely they knew full well that most insurances wouldn’t cover it based on the coding that they’ll use. They expect to be rejected by the insurance company, thus the reason they are having potential patients sign a contract agreeing to it. That’s generally because when they have a contract with the insurance company, it is part of their contract that they cannot pass the difference in cost to patients. However, I guess they somehow found a loop hole to do so by adding in an extra contract when you naively sign in and don’t pay attention.
When I read the waiver, I assumed I would be liable for the $100 if my insurance didn’t pay. But I’ve used their services before, as well as other Urgent Cares and never had to pay more than a co-pay. I was basically billed twice. $100 for the office visit, which my insurance paid for, and then $100 for services, which I had to pay for.
I told Highline that I felt it was important to clarify that with patients, as it is not really evident what the $100 charge is for. I assumed it was there to protect themselves in case people didn’t understand their coverage, thinking they had coverage but really didn’t. But the reality is that they knew they were adding an extra fee that would be denied by most insurances, thus causing customers to have to pay out of pocket and then complain to their insurance company. In theory, this should encourage insurance companies to pay for service charges in the future. However, the only thing they succeeded in doing is upsetting their patients.
It was explained to me by a HL staff that currently only two insurance companies (I think Aetna and Regence) pay the $100 “service fee” but I’m not 100% sure on that. So before you go to ANY Urgent Care in the future, make sure you are aware of the $100 charge. It may not just be Highline that is doing that. And yes, depending on your insurance, it may be cheaper just to go to the E.R.
Lastly, I did direct a staff from HL to this forum re: the discussion that is happening around the service charge. Maybe they will come on here and clarify some things for people.
March 8, 2012 at 2:08 am #750302
trickycooljParticipantSounds like something that should possibly be reported to the state Attorney General to make sure this practice is legal. My ER copay is something like $75-100 so I guess I’d much rather do that.
(On another note, is there a Polyclinic in West Seattle? I’m moving out that way from Northgate in the next month or so and I’ve been spoiled having the Polyclinic practically across the street!)
March 8, 2012 at 2:31 am #750303
EscondidoMemberMy son went to see them for a bad cut on his leg. We had cleaned and bandaged the wound until he could be seen. The doctor spent all of five minutes with him, said we had done a great job and did absolutely nothing for him. Nothing. Did not even remove the bandage. This cost us the $100. Regence denied the claim saying it was a non-covered service. It is getting to the point where health care is way beyond the common person’s reach.
March 8, 2012 at 2:35 am #750304
oddrealityParticipantIs this at the entire clinic or just the urgent care?I go there for my yearly physical but will find somewhere else if I am going to have to pay an extra $100.
March 9, 2012 at 5:19 pm #750305
SueParticipantAs I mentioned, I had emailed Highline to ask for clarification on this policy, with links back to these threads here on the Forum. This was the reply I just got from a marketing manager:
“Thank you so much for your email and for alerting us to this issue. We recognize there has been some confusion about the clinic’s policy. We will contact the clinic and provide an update to assist in clarifying this issue and will send you a copy as well. Thank you again.”
I will let you know if and when I receive that update from them with more info.
March 9, 2012 at 5:31 pm #750306
maighdlinMemberI recently took my daughter here and yes, you pay $100 every time you want to be seen. I too, naively, figured that the fee would be covered by my insurance. NOT.
We too, will be going somewhere else. For that $100, we can just go to the emergency room…or better yet, drive to Children’s and pay only our deductable at their urgent care clinic.
Bad business, Highline. I suspect that we’ll see that storefront empty soon.
March 9, 2012 at 8:09 pm #750307
oddrealityParticipantIs it the Urgent care clinic only or regular doctors visits as well? Help please!
March 9, 2012 at 11:56 pm #750308
dhgParticipantIf clinics can charge a fee outside the coverage of your insurance then there is no stopping them from charging a heck of a lot more, all of it coded as “not covered”. This needs to be challenged.
March 10, 2012 at 12:20 am #750309
skeeterParticipantThis seems SUPER shady to me. The entire insurance model is based on providers agreeing to perform services for a pre-negotiated amount of money. A provider CANNOT charge even one cent beyond the negotiated amount, otherwise the entire system breaks down.
If provider and insurance company agree that the fee for procedure XYZ is $75, then it is totally unfair for the provider to charge the insurance company $75 AND charge the patient an additional $100. Is that what is going on here??
March 10, 2012 at 7:44 pm #750310
evergreenMemberI don’t know if it’s illegal, but as a consumer I will choose to do business elsewhere. Urgent care is supposed to divert patients w/ minor health issues from seeking care in an ER, thus saving costs all around (for the hospital, insurance, and the consumer). If it’s more expensive than the ER, obviously there is no incentive to go to an urgent care clinic. Bad business model.
March 11, 2012 at 3:13 am #750311
gabrayellMemberI’m not sure if it’s legal or not. I spoke to my insurance company about it (Cigna), and they were just as confused as I am. I was told that they will contact HL to investigate what is going on and get back to me in 15 days or so.
Also, I wish the topic heading of this post could be changed to: BEWARE of $100 charge from Highline Urgent Care clinic. If nothing else, potential patients should be forewarned about this fee. I certainly wish I had been. I spent less than 5 minutes with the doctor and was told to take ibuprofen. For that pleasure, I had to pay more than $100 out of pocket.
March 11, 2012 at 4:00 am #750312
SemeleParticipantI spoke with my insurance (United Healthcare) and they said they show that I am not responsible for that fee. BUT, since I signed the form saying I would pay if the insurane denied it unfortunately I must pay it. So, not I pay $130 for a visit that had I gone to the ER I would have only paid $100. Oh, and they only billed it as a family physician visit so I really only needed to pay my $15 co-pay, not the $30 urgent care co-pay. Add insult to injury. Yep, my fault for signing. I know better and will never go back and will make darned sure nobody I know makes the same mistake.
March 11, 2012 at 6:00 am #750313
waterworldParticipantSemele & Zoezmom: Most insurance companies have an appeals process available so you can challenge the denial of coverage for the fee. If you go through the process of challenging it with the insurance company, you might get the fee covered, and the company might be more inclined to follow up with Highline (meaning, telling them to stop billing their insureds).
My reaction to this is that it could be illegal. As someone else posted earlier, most insurance plans require the health care provider to agree not to impose any fees on the patient other than the co-pay or deductible. The provider is required to agree to take what the insurance company will pay, and the provider can’t look to the patient to make up the difference if the insurance payment is lower than what the provider charges.
A few years back, there were a couple of class action lawsuits in Seattle against Virginia Mason and the UW Medical Center over “facility fees” that were being imposed on patients depending on which clinic the patient visited. For example, a patient might go to one VM clinic and get a bill for, say, $100 for the doctor visit, but if that same patient went to a different clinic, he or she would get a bill for an additional “facility fee” that might be hundreds of dollars on top of the $100 for the doctor visit.
Both cases resulted in refunds to thousands of patients who had been billed and paid the extra fees. However, I think the cases were settled out of court, in which case there won’t be a court decision with a legal holding in either case. I would not be surprised if the fallout from those cases is that hospitals and clinics like the Highline Urgent Care clinic are now giving patients advance notice of extra fees and requiring the patient to sign an agreement to pay, because they think that solves their problem.
But I tend to think that unless it is made very clear to the patient that insurance won’t cover the fee, which Highline apparently knows, then it is unlawful for Highline to impose the fees. It’s especially misleading to be imposing the fee in this manner when there is already a process for collecting a “deposit” from many patients. Patients are much more likely to be confused about what they are signing up for. And if this fee is just another way of jacking up the price of the visit because the clinic is not satisfied with the insurance payments, then it would be unlawful. (This is all just my opinion and belief; don’t rely on legal postulating in a forum.)
Unfortunately, these things usually just continue unless people take action, whether in the form of lots of complaints to Highline, or getting the attorney general to investigate, or getting a class action lawyer involved. Whether any of that will happen, who knows. But you can at least push your insurance company to either cover the fee or take on Highline on behalf of its customers.
March 12, 2012 at 5:45 am #750314
adamkParticipantWell, I was bitten by this. I just filed a complaint with the State Attorney General’s office. I’ll post the complaint number once it gets generated so others can add their feedback.
I also registered a domain name and put a simple page up in an attempt to warn others of this fee before they fall prey to it: http://www.highlinemedicalwarning.com/
I’ll flesh it out a bit more and hope that it ends up in the first page of search results for “highline medical urgent care”.
The class action lawsuit against Virginia Mason was much more benign than what’s going on here. Virginia Mason was billing insurance companies different codes based on which place of business you saw your doctor. The insurance companies then turned and charged their customers differently based on which codes were used.
In this case, Highline is getting patients to waive their right to their insurance, while at the same time claiming that they accept your insurance. It’s absurd. I have never been scammed like this in my entire life; and here it’s a health care *provider* doing it, not an insurance company!
I’ll also be filing a BBB complaint (even though the BBB is also a scam) and posting reviews on every site I can find.
I am furious that Highline is preying on the sick and confused, tricking people into getting charged more for urgent care visits than they might pay if they had gone to the ER.
I complained in person at the Highline Urgent Care clinic today, which is where I got the form. The response I got was unhelpful.
Is there any chance the WSB could investigate this? They might be able to get more information or effect change as they are members of the press. The party line for patients is that it’s a fee that your insurance should pay.
March 16, 2012 at 6:13 pm #750315
BonnieParticipantThe other day I got something in the mail from Children’s Hospital. I put it aside and just now looked at it. It says:
Clinic and Urgent Care Facility Charges
Seattle Children’s bills a facility charge for hospital based clinic visits including urgent care. Here are some details about the charges.
Who does this affect?
All patients except Medicaid, Healthy Options, Basic Health and Children’s financial assistance recipients.
What is a facility charge?
A facility charge includes hospital expenses for a clinic visit that are seperate from the cost of the medical provider. You will receive a separate charge from your medical provider for their services. The facility charge includes cost for running the facility like supplies, equipment, exam rooms and other Children’s hospital staff.
anyway…bla bla bla….lots of other stuff bt it now looks like Seattle Children’s is doing that too. We have a non urgent care appointment next week so I’ll be interested to see what we get charged for. I almost want to cancel now.
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