Billed $1,500-plus for a brief ER visit — and my hand still hurts

I owe $1,572 for a visit to the New Milford Hospital Emergency Room (ER) for a minor injury to my hand, on a claim of $2,422 submitted to my insurance company .

Due to the COVID-19 situation, my doctor would not see me in person, and after three telehealth visits, she advised me to seek treatment at the ER as the only location that would see me in person and with the equipment required to treat what she suspected was an infection in my hand. Knowing that ER visits are generally expensive, I called my insurance company to determine whether there was anywhere else I could seek treatment. They did not offer any other viable options due to the COVID-19 situation. I called urgent care to see if they had the equipment my doctor said would likely be needed; they did not. I called the ER to see if I could make an appointment instead of using the ER. They said no, my only option was to walk into the ER.

Concerned that my injury might be infected and wanting to prevent a larger issue in my dominant hand later if the infection worsened, I decided to go. I made my doctor call ahead and explain the situation because the last thing I wanted to do was go to the ER and end up with a doctor with a different opinion about my injury who would just send me home with ibuprofen and a bill for several hundred dollars.

My visit consisted of the following.

After yelling enough personal information across the socially distanced checkin area for anyone in the vicinity to steal my identity, a nurse led me to an examination room and took down some information about my injury. Some time later, a physician’s assistant came in and examined my hand. This took about 5 minutes. Based on his in-person examination — the same examination that my own doctor could have done had she been willing to see me in person — the physician’s assistant determined that the swelling and pain in my hand was due to soft tissue damage and not an infection.

As a precaution, the physician’s assistant recommended that my hand be X-rayed to determine whether there was any material lodged in my hand, for which my insurance company was charged separately ($55, which became $14.40 after the insurance company adjusted the charge). The X-ray found no material in my hand, and the physician’s assistant returned to prescribe a high-dose ibuprofen-like drug. I was then discharged. I did not receive any treatment.

I saw a physician’s assistant for about 10 minutes total. I had an X-ray for which I was charged separately, and I was given a prescription for a drug that is essentially the same as over-the-counter ibuprofen. I expected this would cost me a few hundred dollars more than in if I had been able to see a doctor like in non-COVID-19 times. I did not expect it would cost me upwards of $1,000 more or that my insurance company would be billed more than $2,000.

My family has made multiple donations to the New Milford Hospital over the years, and I appreciate the facilities that are available for true emergencies and the heroic efforts that hospitals and medical professionals are making to address COVID-19. I am well aware that I was not experiencing a true emergency, nor, as far as I know, do I have COVID-19. I tried my best to find any other alternative to using the ER, but neither my doctor’s office, my insurance company, nor the ER itself offered any.

And now I am being told that I owe over $1,500 for a 10-minute visit with a physician’s assistant. And my hand is still swollen and in pain.

COVID-19 might be the highest priority right now, but that is no excuse for sending patients to the wrong place for care or for a healthcare provider to charge 20 times the amount charged by the CVS MinuteClinic for a similar level of care.