Do swanky doctor's offices charge more?

[lucille]

I have had to spend quite a bit of time over the last year seeing doctors. I had some odd things going on so they were trying to figure out what it was, plus the routine dental and vision visits.

I noticed a pattern. Doctors that had lots of bells and whistles, expensive addresses and really swanky facilities tended to both charge more and try to upsell or do extra work that was not really needed. The places I found this were all independent doctor practices, not clinics that were part of a group. Clinics that were rather swanky with lots of bells and whistles but were part of big clinic chains or regional hospitals didn't have instances of over charging or trying to pad bills. Doctors that hand independent practices but were fairly bare bones simple practices didn't do this.

The dentist office that had all new gear, granite countertops, a fountain in the waiting room lied that they were in network for our provider, lied that they had gotten pre-approval from our insurance for something that wasn't totally necessary and then tried to charge us $900 when insurance rejected it. We found out later they never got pre approval and lied, thus they took the $900 off my bill. They also tried to double bill our insurance by breaking out things into individual charges.

One of the local vision clinics only sells one brand of contacts that happen to be about 4x the price of most of the typical brands. They also tried to sell us both into these training contact that were supposed to correct your vision permanently. My hubby and I have totally different eye issues. They also were trying to upsell very hard on everything. I later went back to the eye doctor I had used for years. They don't do the "correcting contacts" thing so I have to wonder if it questionable.

One specialist I went to that had again, the big swanky office in a very expensive address I found out after the first appointment charged me 4x as much as any other doctor doing the same outpatient procedure in the country. So I was paying extra for hardwood floors, professional decorating and a view of the lake? I went to a different doctor for the remaining procedures, he runs a small no frills very professional office, did a better job and charged within the appropriate ranges other doctors do.

Another specialist I was seeing, again the expensive address, tricked out clinic and complete with entirely electronic Apple network records system including a laptop for every staff member. They charged $100 to do a breathing blow test that most places don't even charge for. My insurance paid most of my bills but they were far more than the specialist I later went to at one of the big clinic groups.

I had another that wanted to do a $900 cat scan because they just got a new machine and my insurance would pay for it. I went in to get a medicine refill because it was hay fever season. When I pushed if I really needed a cat scan for some reason they dropped the whole thing and decided I didn't really need it.

I swear if I walk into a waiting room and it looks like the Hyatt I'm just going to turn around and leave.

I noticed a real trend so have others found this?

[amandajane]

Here in NZ we pay for doctors visits too, thankfully more funding has come through that has made these cheaper, but it's up to the doctors whether they offer the discount or not.

I've found that my gp's office (which he shares with other gp's) are taking advantage of it in one way or another. It's now $27 for a visit, compared to $38, which is great but they are making up for it with the people that can least afford to pay.

They now charge an extra $10 to those who need to pay later in the month, not including the $10 statement charge that automatically gets charged to your account also at the end of the month. That happens every month even if you are paying by negotiated installments.

They have a very well fitted surgery, air conditioning and a plasma tv screen on the wall which is a recent addition. Toys for the kids, magazines etc.

I really like my gp, he's very good at spending appropriate time with you during a visit where necessary. Others in that surgery aren't. So it's give and take I suppose.

However in the next town there is a gp that charges $10 to register and $10 per visit. This was before the recent increase in funding, so that would be interesting to check out.

[Philip Brewer]

A friend of mine who lived in Chicago told me that he had started going to a doctor's office in a less-affluent, mostly Hispanic neighborhood. For his purposes, the care was just as good and it was a lot cheaper.

It makes a lot of sense to me. If you have something rare or otherwise hard-to-diagnose, you'll probably end up needing to go to a specialist anyway, and you're not likely to get a much better referral from an expensive doc than from a cheap one.

Probably two-third of my doctor's visits are ones where I already know what I need. The only reason to go to a doctor you know for those is to have some sort of personal relationship with a doctor when it comes to the one-third of visits where I don't know what the right thing to do is.

[Mal Reynolds]

Last year I went to a doctor in a fairly affluent neighborhood. I picked that doctor thinking that someone serving the rich must be the most qualified. Instead of receiving first rate care, the doctor made me wait for 30 minutes, saw me for only 5 minutes, and immediately dismissed my condition as a something easily fixed by a rather general medication.

The information he gave me was something I could've looked up on the Internet.

I didn't exactly receive bad care, but I certainly felt processed. I wonder if I got that treatment because my condition really is that easy to treat or because I'm on a health care plan so he had no incentive to go above and beyond the basics.

[momof2ballerinas]

I have noticed that as well. I prefer the nice offices that aren't really fancy, but well clean, lol, with a nice doctor. When you start getting to the nicer areas, you are totally paying for the flat screen in the waiting room, nice furniture, etc. Totally not worth it!

I had the same thing happen at a dentist. They would charge our insurance for things they didn't do, double bill, lie about having enough money for your insurance to cover & then oops you went over, etc. The reason I found out about the billing wrong things was that they made a mistake & billed for something not covered. They tried charging hubby a small fortune, I called the insurance to find out what was going on. They told us the name of the procedure which we couldn't figure out. My hubby went to his childhood dentist & he told him it what it was {nowhere near what he had done} plus told him that the procedure was rarely done! We ended up getting it taken off the bill.

I prefer doctors & dentists in the nice middle class areas, not to expensive but not scary cheap, LOL

[khorrell]

Ditto! My dentist, with the posh fireplace in the waiting room and cappuccino maker, decided to drop our insurance as it didn't reimburse at high enough rates. Which really was fine with me, as I always felt like my mouth was an opportunity for them to think of some more work to do.

New dentist is a little more down-to-earth and I'm delighted.

[rachael24]

I tend to look for doctors who seem like they are closer to my level and lifestyle, since I can relate to them. I think the swanky offices and doctors are compensating for something. IMO.