Patient billed $6,000 for a urine drug test. Now she’s suing the hospital company
%20(2)_fitted.png "A woman who took a trip to the emergency room in fear she was having an overdose was charged $6,000 for a urine drug test, a California lawsuit says.")
After having “an adverse reaction” to what she believed was fentanyl, Savannah Thompson feared she had overdosed, a California lawsuit said.
Though she had insurance through Kaiser Permanente, Thompson “required immediate care” and sought the closest care, walking into John Muir Health Walnut Creek Emergency just after midnight on June 14, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Oct. 4.
During her visit she was evaluated and checked with an electrocardiogram, as well as given intravenous fluids and naloxone, the lawsuit said. Naloxone is “a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose,” according to the National Institutes of Health. She also gave blood and urine samples.
Thompson signed a contract agreeing to payment for services, the lawsuit said, but there was no mention of cost or rates for her treatment.
“Less than three hours after her arrival,” Thompson was sent home, the lawsuit said.
A little more than two weeks later, she found herself staring at a bill for $7,084.57, the lawsuit said. This cost was in addition to the more than “$6,000, for the services rendered … that night” paid by Kaiser.
Surprised by the total, Thompson requested an itemized statement from the hospital, the lawsuit said, and among the amounts listed was a $6,095.70 charge for a urine drug test.
“The nature of emergency care is that patients cannot shop for services based on reasonable rates,” attorney Peter Fredman of Hagens Berman said in a news release. “In this case, John Muir never disclosed that it intended to charge Ms. Thompson 100 times the value for the procedure.”
The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, alleges that the company’s “billing practices are ‘unlawful, unfair, and fraudulent,’” the release said.
In an emailed statement from John Muir Health, the company said that outpatient costs will always be less than those in “an emergency department or hospital,” as in an emergency setting the facility “must have expert physicians, nurses and staff, as well as comprehensive services available 24/7/365.”
As for not disclosing costs prior to treatment, the company said that it must first treat patients and discuss “payment after treatment to stabilize the patient’s condition.”
“By law, hospitals are not allowed to discuss payment prior to treatment or give out price lists,” the statement said.
The company said the lawsuit’s “claims will not withstand scrutiny in a court of law.”
The more than $6,000 fee charged to Thompson for a urine drug test is nearly 100 times greater than the Medicare $62.14 reimbursement for the service, according to the lawsuit.
A “common rule of thumb is that 135%-140% of a Medicare reimbursement allowance is reasonable,” the lawsuit said.
Since 2018, per state data, the company has been charging more than $5,000 for a urine drug test, the lawsuit said, while the typical cost in an emergency setting for the test ranges between $600 and $700.
Thompson’s charge is “unconscionable relative to the services rendered and its actual value,” according to the lawsuit.
She’s made a partial payment but is unable to pay the full amount, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit is seeking a court order that requires John Muir Health to have “fair value” test prices, as well as to return any money charged beyond value to Thompson and others.
Walnut Creek is about 25 miles northeast of San Francisco.
This story was originally published October 6, 2022 at 11:35 AM with the headline "Patient billed $6,000 for a urine drug test. Now she’s suing the hospital company."
