Healthcare is a service which is
very unpredictable in its cost. Patients often has very little say in his/her
own treatment and thus may not have adequate control over the cost. Information
of cost is also not always given and very frequently patients find a bill at
the end of treatment which is way beyond what they anticipated.
While it is expected from
hospitals to inform the patient about the cost from time to time, patients must
be aware about what can actually drive their cost on a higher side. By just
being aware of these expense heads, can help a lot in keeping cost under
control. (Also check this post on 'Pricing of Hospital Services' to know more)
1.
Category
of accommodation can impact cost of treatment
While charges
for different category of accommodation in hospital may differ, it can also affect
the charges of other treatment given to you. Many hospitals charge a premium
price on same hospital services to the patients staying in higher category
accommodation. Hence, a CT scan may cost Rs. 4000/- to a patient in general
ward but Rs. 6,500/- to a patient in single room. The difference in charges
could be as high as 200% between lowest and highest category of accommodation
available in hospital. Worst still is that some hospitals may knowingly or
unknowingly not inform about the premium pricing to a patient opting for admission
in higher category.
While all
hospital does not have this kind of pricing policy, it is always better to ask,
if the choice of category is going to impact the cost of other healthcare
services.
2.
Charges
for materials that you may not have thought
A variety of
consumable materials are used by hospital’s staff while providing patient care.
Many of these is such that you may consider them as routine hospital supplies. These
include things like gloves worn by doctors and nurses while providing treatment
to patients, hand rub solution for maintaining hand hygiene, dressing materials
such as cotton, bandages, syringes used for injections and blood sample
collection etc. Such items may not be perceived as chargeable, but in most
hospitals they get billed to patient as per the quantity used for their care.
As hospital do not bear the cost of these items, the staff may not be very
mindful about the wastages which may unnecessarily increase the price you pay
for these items.
In your own
interest, it is advised to question, if these consumables will be charged to
your bill. If it is the case, you may like to keep a vigil on it to ensure its
efficient usage.
3.
Doctor’s
visit fee
Patients are
visited by the doctors during their admission duration for assessment and
treatment. Every visit made by the doctor is charged at a specific rate. The
rate could be different for different doctors depending upon their
specialization. Some patient remains misguided as they think that doctor’s
visit is a part of their hospitalization charges and may be requesting doctors
to visit frequently, thus increasing their own cost. This can be one major
expense at-least for non-surgical patients. If a doctor charge 500 Rs. as visit
fee and make 3 visits a day during the 7-day stay of a patient the total doctor
fee would be Rs. 10,500/-.
While doctors’
visit is important, as a patient you must be take a note if you think that
frequent unnecessary visits are being made. It may be just to increase the bill
amount.
4.
Referral
doctor’s fee
This is same
like doctor’s visit fee, but in this case a different doctor who has been
referred by your primary doctor, attends the patient. The referral doctor’s fee
may be different, often higher than the regular visit fee. In many cases, the patient
may not have been informed about the referral doctor attending and the cost
associated with it.
As a patient,
you have a right to know, if some a reference has been requested by your
doctor, because ultimately you will be paying for that reference.
5.
Nursing
and medical officer charges
In some
hospitals, nursing charges and duty medical officer charge may not be a part of
the room charges but are billed additionally. It increases the per day accommodation
cost to patient as these services are charged on daily basis.
Hence before
getting admitted, it is better to clarify what does the room charges includes
and excludes
6.
Charges
for unused medicines
While in
hospital, patients are issued medicines as per prescription of doctors. Many
times these medicines are in excess. Sometimes the prescription is changed and
new medicines are ordered while the earlier medicine still remains in patients’
room. At the time of billing a patient is charged for all the medicine, used
and unused. It might be the case that the medicine has not been prescribed
post-discharge and patient may never be using that medicine. All price paid for
such unused and never to be used medicine is a waste of money for patient.
To prevent paying
for unnecessary payment, most hospitals do allow patients to return the unused
medicine to pharmacy and the relevant amount is subtracted from the bill. As a
patient you may enquire about such provisions and reduce your bill.
