Suffield Township resident Tom Nader has mostly great things to say about Akron Children’s Hospital. His middle daughter made a series of visits this year and received top-notch treatment.
But he’s not nearly as excited about the hospital’s billing policies, which he thinks are bizarre.
He’s not alone. After looking into his case, I’m even more mystified than he is.
When Nader received his statements in the mail, he’d pay each one in full as soon as he received it. But at one point, he had a question about a particular bill and phoned the hospital’s customer-service folks for an explanation.
After a polite back and forth with the rep, he says, their conversation went like this:
Rep: “Well, you know you don’t have to pay the full amount on your invoice.”
Nader: “I know. I can pay part of that amount now and then a new invoice will be sent with the new amount I owe.”
Rep: “No. If you choose to pay the full amount of the bill on the first invoice, then you can deduct 10 percent off the amount.”
Nader: “How was I supposed to know that?”
Rep: “We don’t put it on the bill; you have to ask about it.”
Nader: “How do I ask about something I don’t know about?”
Good question.
The reason that hospitals such as Akron General Medical Center offer discounts for prompt payment — and make the offer with specific figures right on their bills — is that hospitals can make more money overall that way than if they have to repeatedly mail reminders and eventually hire collection agencies.
But if Children’s Hospital doesn’t even mention the discounts on the bills, how on earth does it expect to save that money?
Nader thought about all the other bills he had paid promptly and figured he would try to knock 10 percent off those, too. So he contacted a manager and, after pulling up his payment history, she agreed to reimburse him.
Nader says that when he asked why the invoices make no reference to the 10 percent deduction, the manager replied, “We don’t put it on there because most people don’t choose to pay the full amount on the first invoice.”
Which makes absolutely no sense if you’re trying to generate prompt payments.
So I asked the hospital, “If you guys offer a 10 percent discount for prompt payment, why isn’t it on the bill?”
The response from Robin DeFago, “director of the revenue cycle,” was almost as weird as her title:
“We don’t.”
Say what?
“As a result of [Nader’s] contact with you,” she said, “I have learned that my shop is a little bit too lenient in terms of extending a discount.”
Because employees are sympathetic to the many families struggling with high insurance deductibles and out-of-pocket limits, she says, “my staff has gotten a little lax.”
DeFago insists the discounts are supposed to be offered only in extenuating circumstances, which was not the case with Nader. However, she will honor the rebate promise because “it happened on my shift, and I need to work with the team.”
She says her staff and a third party that does some of the billing work will be re-educated. “I am in the process of scheduling lots and lots of in-services and reviewing the expectation for collections.”
When asked why discounts make economic sense for AGMC but not for Children’s, she initially blamed contracts with outside parties that prohibit discounts and also said, “We don’t have a huge pot of money sitting here to be able to finance that.”
But then she said “it’s time to revisit” billing practices initiated in 2010, and that Nader’s case “allows me to now go back administratively with some type of proposal. ... It’s on my agenda to get with my internal folks to have those discussions.
“I need to try to figure out what it would mean to the hospital’s bottom line to be offering that across the board.”
Bottom line: Unless your name is Tom Nader, you can forget about any fast-pay discounts.
Maybe.
For now.
I think.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com. He also is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bob.dyer.31