No, I don't think you are crazy at all. I have had the same type ultrasounds (ovarian cysts) and they routinely take some images BEFORE emptying the bladder and after. It was all in the same visit and charged as one procedure. $200 is definitely worth an argument. Miserable is right!

tina

I've had that same miserable procedure, too, and only got one bill. Don't take their word on this one. How can it be TWO US? Did they take you to a completely different room while the other was cleaned up? A different tech? This whole thing is silly...sorry you have to put up with it, but $200 is alot of $$$. Good luck...you better win, or I'd report that clinic to whatever agency that oversees them (state health dept?)

I've also had that procedure many times. On occasion, the tech would run into a problem because of the size of my cyst which made it difficult to get a good reading. Sometimes I'd have to drink more water and have to wait until the test continued. No matter how much longer the test took, I was only billed once.

As deedee said, if the imaging center doesn't credit back one of the charges, I'd report them to the appropriate agency. I'd also call the referring doctor.

No. The bathroom was immediately off the ultrasound room. It was the same room and tech with the same paper on the 'bed' as before.

Stand your ground. They're wrong about this one!

BS! Every ultrasound I had (for two kids) went exactly like that. Drink a bunch, hold it and hurt, ultrasound pictures, empty some, then more pictures.

If you can't get satisfaction from the US lab, go through your insurance. I'm sure they'll have something to say about it.

This reminds me of a completely unrelated story. My sister got stopped once on a traffic violation and the officer gave her two tickets for speeding. One before she stopped at the stop sign and one after she proceeded through! She fought it and won. She paid the one ticket, yes she was guilty of speeding, but the second ticket was ridiculous and the judge agreed!

It's entirely logical to me that it's one procedure; sometimes they get it in one step, other times in 2 and you're right to question the double billing.

If the procedure always called for 2 tries, one full and one empty, it would be stated in advance and the price would be higher to begin with, imo....

Are you kidding me!? Can't believe they did that. Heck yeah, I think it's fair to question the double charge. I hope everything works out in your favor, golddust, $200 is a chunk o'money.

Well, I am batting zero. The financial advisor said my Dr ordered two ultrasounds. I have a phone call in to my Dr to verify this. They will pull my chart and get back to me.

What I exactly remember is the tech telling me that my bladder was too full and she couldn't see my ovary so she wanted me to empty my bladder and come back. I assume the first try netted no information, though the hospital's financial advisor informed me that there are "two reports and I should talk to my Dr about the results." I told her that I had talked to my Dr about the results and everything is normal, thank you. I an now concerned about being billed twice without being told I was starting a new procedure.

I used deedee's points, saying that I had the same tech, the same room, the same paper on the bed, the same equipment. There was about 4 minutes between when the tech left the room while I "emptied my bladder." I guess that is when the new procedure started. Oy.

My $956. per month insurance premium only paid $15.25 for the procedure. I doubt they will care much if *I* am being double billed. $15. isn't worth their time to fight.

Sounds like one procedure to me? Was one vaginal and the other external? That is the only thing I can think.

You should have peed on the table. Then it would have been one procedure.

Seriously, sorry you're dealing with that idiocy. Who cares if your doctor ordered 2 ultrasounds? You only HAD one. You had ONE appointment, ONE ultrasound. They looked at ONE organ, your ovary. Taking pictures with bladder full and empty does not equal two different procedures. It's ridiculous.

Okay, let me be the trouble maker here.

You had two ultrasounds-one of the groin and one of the ovary. The fact that you went to the bathroom in between had nothing to do with it. It would be like taking your care to the mechanic and saying check the timing belt and the radiator. Just because they are in the same area(I think?) doesn't mean it's only one charge.

Unfortunately, I think the insurance company is right here. Sorry!!

Make that car above!!

Golddust.. I've just been through this as well. You may remember in the other post where we were talking about hot flashes; I said I had to have an ultrasound as well as a vaginal probe which is an internal one.

With my back problems and this may be TMI here, they did the ultrasound. The girl then said that my bladder had to be emptied, I couldn't due to the back problems (either you get incontinence or can't pee). She said to come back in 30 or so minutes. After getting home and going for 20 minutes or so, it still wouldn't empty so I had to reschedule for 2 days later.

I went back, she finished the ultrasound and did the vaginal probe. 2 tests in this case, not 3.

IMO, the ultrasound place is being greedy; find a new place if you have to redo it. From my experience most have you start with a full bladder so they can establish where the bladder is.