CHICAGO (WLS) — Ambulances are there for us when we need them, and the last thing on many people’s minds at the time is the cost.
One mother is now questioning the necessity of an ambulance to transfer her daughter between medical facilities, particularly due to an initial bill exceeding $7,000.
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“And I just wanted to get her something to help with the pain, so we decided we’d go over there,” Kathleen Dudzik said.
Dudzik initially brought her daughter to a satellite emergency room near their residence in Homer Glen. Following admission for cyst-related complications, she was informed that her daughter needed to be transferred to Silver Cross’ main hospital in New Lenox, approximately 11 miles away.
Expressing her concerns, Dudzik mentioned, “I inquired if I could transport her myself. My car was available, so I suggested driving her there. However, I was advised that the process would have to restart if I chose that option. This was puzzling since both facilities were part of Silver Cross. All medical records and test results should have been accessible electronically. Reluctantly, I deferred to their professional judgment, considering the possibility of it being related to her appendix. Following her transfer, she stayed overnight and was discharged the next day. It turned out not to be appendicitis but rather a ruptured cyst, as initially suspected. Dudzik recounted, “She returned home.”
Dudzik was relieved that her daughter was alright, but then she received a bill from a separate ambulance company, Superior Ambulance Service, for the transport from Homer Glen to New Lenox. it was for $7,260 dollars for 11 miles.
“Sticker shock was huge. Huge. Because it was over $7,000 for 11 miles. I couldn’t believe it,” Dudzik said.
Dudzik says she has excellent insurance under a union, so most of her bill was covered. She was left with a $1,300 balance.
“I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, you know, how is this not regulated?’ I started making phone calls. I called the union who controls our insurance, and they’re like, ‘It is the wild, wild west out there,'” Dudzik said of when she received the initial bill.
Dudzik also called the I-Team, wondering what others could be faced with.
“What if somebody doesn’t have good insurance and their insurance covered none of that and then they’re on the hook for over seven grand? That could bury somebody for a lot of years that they’re trying to pay it off,” Dudzik said.
Superior Ambulance Service declined comment but passed ABC7’s inquiries on to the Illinois State Ambulance Association.
“We don’t necessarily charge, or we don’t necessarily chase people right all the way to the collection agency. We do our best to collect, but we also understand that some people can’t pay. But you have to also understand that we provide the same sort of service,” said Andrew Thornton with the Illinois State Ambulance Association.
Thornton represents the association and says the priority is patient safety, and said he could understand the initial shock of a bill that large.
“So, what I can tell you is that broadly amongst our members do the same thing, right? We transport, you call. We transport. Whether it’s a 911 call, or a freestanding ER or rural hospital, you call, and we transport. We oftentimes don’t know what the patient’s insurance is until days later, from when our billing office follows up with a hospital,” Thornton said.
Thornton says ambulances are like an emergency department on wheels, and are expensive to operate with rising costs.
“That’s the reality. And we live in a world where the salaries for EMS clinicians are going up at two, three times the rate of inflation right now, because we’re in a massive shortage. So again, it comes down to, if you want the service, it’s costly,” Thornton said.
As for Dudzik’s concerns over hospital recommending the ambulance transport, Silver Cross Hospital did not comment specifically on her case. However, they said, generally, if a patient “requires a higher level of care at the hospital – or a direct admission to the hospital – the medically safest way to transport a patient is by ambulance. This ensures the patient is observed by medically trained pre-hospital providers during transport.”
Dudzik says she is thankful that insurance will cover most of the costs, but that was not what she thought when opening the original bill.
“I almost had a heart attack, because I just thought for 11 miles, for 11 miles, who can charge that?” Dudzik said.
There are some laws protecting consumers from excess billing, but they are limited. One says If you have an emergency condition, an out-of-network ambulance may only be able to bill you the in-network insurance cost.
If you’re fighting a big ambulance bill, experts say there are things you can do: Negotiate with the ambulance company, ask for payment options and go back to your insurance company to see if they will cover more.
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