Duke Hospital's Billing Practices are Shameful and Deceitful!

A Piece Anyone in the Raleigh-Durham Should Read

Today we needed to find a new doctor for my daughter. Having dealt with Duke's Hospital practices before, I called ahead to inquire about the cost and coverage of her upcoming appointment.

She needed to go to a doctor's office to determine whether she needed physical therapy. We were recommended to a clinic Duke runs offsite from the main hospital by a physician at Durham Pediatrics. People like us go to these appointments, which are just the same as visiting any doctor's office, pay our co-pay, and think we are done with the matter. Not so!

We found that a visit to their offsite clinics, like the one's inside the hospital, are billed like an outpatient hospital procedure. Furthermore, nobody tells you this up front. We've had the experience where you go there, pay the co-pay and think you're done--only to be billed for hundreds of dollars later on. This practice is rotten. they offer services that are the same as any doctor's office and then surprise you with a bill, later, for non-existent hospital care.

In my husband's case he was once recommended for an MRI by a Dr. Jellesoff (another Duke clinic doctor). We paid for the MRI with our insurance plus the copay and later (years later) found out we still owed $400+ dollars to another doctor that looked at the image for a minute and said his adrenal glands had no visible tumors--we were never told this uncovered fee would be forthcoming, the diagnosis not "visible" was tentative at best, and his personal physician, a great guy, later informed him that an MRI is practically useless for what it was indicated for.

Is Duke Hospital in financial trouble or are they just that greedy and underhanded? If all you need is a doctor's office visit I would stay away from that place and their associated facilities.

Thanks,
Patricia Ladensack