List date(s) this work was published or aired.
11/4/2012
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
– Why you might pay twice for one visit to doctor (facility fees): Explains the baffling and unwelcome “facility fee” charge imposed on patients seen in clinics and doctors’ offices operated by hospitals ¬– an increasingly common practice as hospitals consolidate and buy private practices. Findings included how much the practice has increased costs of health care and that the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission was recommending a change.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
– Facility fee story: I collected bills from patients, hospital billing-practice statements, policy papers from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and other Medicare data, hospital 990s, cost information from various clinics, hospitals and insurers; I combed local blogs, Lexis/Nexis, national bloggers and local and national lawmakers’ statements and proposals on facility fees. A state study on tax-exemptions and some decisions by the state Board of Tax Appeals led me to the state Department of Revenue and tax-rebate statistics.
Explain types of human sources used.
– Facility fee story: Lots of stories and bills from angry patients, cardiologists (because hospitals acquired their practices at a high rate over the last few years), leaders of hospitals and still-independent clinics, insurers, state lawmakers, a lawyer who has sued hospitals previously for these fees.
Results:
– Facility fees: Not sure yet, but may be an investigation by state AG into consolidations, especially where clinics and practices newly absorbed by nonprofit hospitals now pay no property tax, causing tax bills for others to rise.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
NA
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
– Facility fees: Collect string. I collected a lot of patient stories & bills long before I really began putting the story together. Also, because I have written about this issue before, it was easier to pick out the larger issues.