Absolute said:
Terribly sorry to hear.
I have no idea what level that should be, but had an experience with fraudulent coding years ago with my daughter.
She was probably 3 or 4 on labor day. We were watching movies and eating popcorn. She stuck a kernal up, way up, her nose. Screaming commenced, we are not the freak out type of parents, but had no clue how to safely get the thing out.
Being a holiday we took her to the er of the local hospital. Lucky to get in at a low volume time. Went back in 10 minutes. Nurse came in shot her nose full of afrin. Explained the doctor would be in in 5 minutes to extract. Doc came in with a a little plastic probe and popped the kernal right out. We were literally home in an hour.
Paid like 1500 to our deductible to the first round of bills. 6 months latter we got a bill for like 3 grand detailing a level 5 procedure from the doctor.
I called and asked for an explanation as to how what we had been through could possibly be on the same level as a horrific car crash, gunshot wounds, whatever. They had no answer.
So instead of paying I wrote a letter requesting a detailed explanation of the charges and in particular the level 5 coding. I sent it certified return receipt. No response. A few months later I got the same bill. Sent back the same letter. Thus began about a 2 or 3 year process. They never offered any explanation, they just elsent the same invoice. I always responded right away. Would just change the letter to say 4th request, 7th request, etc
Never heard anything. But my understanding was that as long as I responded they could not take further steps. Finally I received an invoice with a 0 amount owed.
Not sure if it will help. But it worked for me. Again, so sorry for your loss.
I had a very similar ER visit with my daughter, except Baylor in Dallas was more responsive when I called and asked about the coding, which was initially listed at level 4 for a plastic bead up a 3 year old's nose. The ER Dr. didn't even physically touch her, he walks in and says "try this first." I had to do all the work (hold the unblocked nostril closed, blow hard in mouth and out popped the bead). The nurses did all the normal nurse stuff (BP, temp, verify the bead in the nose, etc...). We received a bill for $3,000 about 6 weeks later. I called immediately after I looked up the coding of "moderate to severe trauma." They got back to me within a couple weeks. New bill was $350, which I paid. I never submitted anything in writing. I was firm but polite over the phone.
I got another bill about 3 months later from the ER Dr.'s billing company. I was unaware they had a different billing system from the hospital. It was just for the Doctor. I called and explained the situation, told the billing agent over the phone what happened and to look it up in the patient records. I received a $0 balance bill about 3 months later. All in all it was about 8 months from ER visit to $0 balance on both bills.