Facility fees were first intended to help health systems cover the costs of operating emergency rooms and hospitals 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In recent years, however, they have become far more pervasive – and far less justified.
Facility fees are being added to bills at outpatient practices that operate on normal business hours.
In many instances, the fees are huge.
$400 for an oncology checkup.
$250 to see a chronic care specialist.
$5,300 for a colonoscopy.
This is what it costs to walk through the door of the practice. None were at a hospital. All the charges were on top of the actual cost of care.
Many states are cracking down on these unjustified, added fees.
Legislation introduced at the General Assembly this year would add North Carolina to that list.
Senate Bill 316 would limit hospital facility fees from being charged at non-hospital settings.
The savings would be upwards of $200 million a year for consumers and businesses.
The powerful hospital lobby claims these fees are needed to keep systems running.
But it is important to know, the proposal would not eliminate the fees from being charged at hospital settings – only at outpatient facilities.
The idea is simple: patients should not have to pay a hospital facility fee if they are not using the hospital facility.
With North Carolina being the most expensive state for healthcare in the country, this is a commonsense proposal to save our state more than $200 million a year.
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