You’ve covered your copayment; now brace yourself for the ‘facility fee’
Even if you have health insurance, you might expect to be charged a copayment for some routine care, like office-based exams and consultations. But you probably don’t expect to receive a bill a few weeks later charging you an extra $100 or more.
That’s the situation an increasing number of state lawmakers are looking to change. In most states, a “hospital facility fee” can legally appear on your bill if your doctor is affiliated with a large hospital system — even if you never set foot on the hospital’s campus.
Traditionally, hospitals and health systems add facility fees to help cover the higher costs of operating a full-service, 24/7 hospital — which include expenses such as equipment, support staff, utilities, maintenance and security. They argue the fees help them provide critical services to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.
But increasingly, hospitals are tacking on facility fees for routine services at the smaller clinics and outpatient centers they own, even when those facilities aren’t anywhere near the hospital’s campus. The fees can add anywhere from $15 to $100 or more to a medical bill. Patients have reported being charged out-of-hospital facility fees of $503 for a pediatric visit, $488 for an appointment to get ADHD medication, and $355 for steroid injections for arthritis.