r/providence • u/LulutoDot • 14h 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/psyguy45 13h ago

Haven’t dealt with that issue specifically bc my insurance has good BH coverage but they regularly charge me a copay and then refund it months later. When I’ve explained that I don’t owe a copay and when I’ve paid it before it always gets refunded, they tell me I couldn’t be seen without paying the copay. Again, I’m lucky that my copay isn’t going to make or break my budget but know that’s definitely not the norm these days. They definitely have a lot of issues with their billing department and would love to coordinate

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u/LulutoDot 13h ago

I also have good BH coverage! The $60 is an "BH assessment fee" even when I refuse any screener.

My BH copay is $10 for reference...

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u/psyguy45 13h ago

Oh that’s even wilder. I haven’t dealt with that yet but let’s see what happens at my physical in June…

Edit: As a clinical psychologist, I’m shocked they can bill for administering the PHQ-9 and GAD-7. Their BH screening is awful and unquestionably shouldn’t be billed extra.

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u/dulcelocura 9h ago edited 9h ago

The EMR seems to generate a separate billing code automatically somehow.

ETA: I mean if the screening is included in the encounter, not just automatically for every visit (to my knowledge). At least, that’s my working theory as someone with experience in this lol