One evening last December, Tieqiao Zhang felt severe stomach pain.
After it subsided later that night, he thought it might be food poisoning . When the pain returned the next morning, Zhang realized the source of his pain might not be as "simple as bad food."
Total Bills: The in-network hospital charged $19,543 for the two visits. BlueCross and BlueShield of Texas paid $13,070.96. Zhang owed $1,000 to Parkland — a $500 emergency room copay for each of his two visits. But the difference between an urgent care clinic and a freestanding emergency room can be tough to discern.
Malaise provided photographs of posted notices stating, "This facility is a freestanding emergency medical care facility," and warning that patients would be charged emergency room fees and could also be charged a facility fee. He said the notices were posted in the exam rooms, lobby, and halls at the time of Zhang's visits.
The list of services that Parkland's freestanding emergency room offers resembles that of urgent care centers — including, for some centers, diagnosing a kidney stone, said Ateev Mehrotra, a health care policy professor at Harvard Medical School. The Urgent Care Emergency Center name is intended to prevent first responders and others facing life-threatening emergencies from visiting the center rather than the main emergency room, Malaise said.
The Resolution: Zhang said he paid $400 of the $1,000 he owes in total to avoid collections while he continues to dispute the amount.
Diagnostic Doctor Food Food Poisoning Health Care Hospital Kidney Kidney Stone Pain Poisoning Research Stomach Stomach Pain
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