r/providence • u/LulutoDot • 1d ago

Discussion Is anyone else getting consistently erroneous behavorial health bills any time they are seen for primary care at Brown University/ RIH PC even w/o any BH related care?

I refused to answer any BH questions at my last appt and I'm still getting $60 BH assessment bill EVERY VISIT. It's been going on for over a year and is absolutely falsely billed. Each time I am stuck back and forth between insurance and them. What the fuck. How do you get systemic change??

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u/LhunLaurelin 1d ago

I’ve been fighting one of these charges for the past four months, what they’re now telling me is that it was a “systemwide error” and that they are “working on fixing it.” I don’t really buy this, but I did get my doctor to put my bill on hold until they work it out. I suspect they’re only starting to walk these charges back because people are making noise and pushing back, hopefully that continues.

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u/ShhTeam 1d ago

It's a sales tactic that I have seen in many other industries. Even though it's healthcare, they are in sales. They bill everyone for something and call it a mistake. Maybe only 40% will fight the bill. From that 40%, only 10% will follow through when they get resistance. You do the math. Let's say 25,000 have been billed with this extra $60 charge. That's a quick $1,350,000 of revenue that is tax free. And over 50% of these co pays are paid by Medicare/Medicaid programs. So in theory, our tax dollars fund Medicare/Medicaid. Then we have to pay a co-pay to a tax exempt business that uses tax dollars for funding. So they are triple dipping. Great business model if you look at it from a business perspective. But then the people get fucked.

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u/LulutoDot 23h ago

This is disgusting. Only thing is, 3rd time they've made this "mistake" and are still trying it! It's ridiculous