Bills disputed after Scott & White changes fees to support hospital

Feb. 27--A top Texas A&M University System official opposes new fees from Baylor Scott & White Health which have been, in part, erroneously charged to A&M staff and faculty.

Scott & White changed the way it charges customers in November as a direct result of its new hospital opening in August. Five clinics within the Bryan-College Station area, now administered by the College Station Scott & White Hospital, started billing facility charges that go to the hospital, a practice known as provider-based billing that is used at its Temple hospital and area clinics. The practice is common at other hospital systems as well.

Spokespersons for Scott & White said Wednesday morning they would explain the new billing, take questions and issue a statement, but did not return calls later in the day.

A memo from Scott & White said the charges help cover non-physician support staff, equipment, supplies, building maintenance and its medical record system. Essentially, some customers were charged higher rates than they were used to and some were charged outpatient hospital prices for doctors' visits at the clinics.

It's unclear how many people were impacted or the amount of money charged to patients in excess or error.

Still, the changes caused the county's largest employer to take action.

Kevin McGinnis, the A&M System's director of risk management and benefits administration, sent out a memo on Monday to inform A&M employees of the hospital's fee changes. The memo also served to alert A&M employees who were charged erroneously during the rollout of the billing changes.

"The A&M System has been assured by Scott & White that this will not apply to most services performed in the physician's exam room," McGinnis wrote. "Scott & White is working with BlueCross BlueShield to review and correct bills for employees who were billed as outpatient services for certain procedures done in a physician's exam room."

McGinnis said Scott & White established a help line at the A&M System's request to help customers with questions about the new billing.

"Administration at Scott & White College Station has informed us they are committed to addressing this situation in a manner fitting with their long history of service to this community," McGinnis wrote.

On Wednesday, McGinnis released a prepared statement to The Eagle that clarified his position against the changes.

"The Texas A&M University System Office of Benefits Administration has communicated our objection to Scott and White on their shift to provider-based billing in College Station," McGinnis said in the statement. "Many of our employees utilize Scott & White for their health care needs. Since Scott & White has proceeded with this billing practice, with limited notice to their patients, the attached communication was distributed to employees to provide them additional information to be better informed health care consumers."

McGinnis also said increased prices were not A&M's fault.

"While provider-based billing will increase out of pocket costs to our employees utilizing Scott & White, it is not a result of any change to the benefit plan offered by the A&M System," he wrote in the statement.

Change comes too slowly for some Scott & White patients who said they were blindsided by the billing.

College Station resident Matt Wofford said he first learned about an $85 facility fee when it showed up on his bill on Tuesday. He had a mole removed in December and he said the procedure lasted about 20 minutes. He said he called Scott & White and an employee told him the fee is standard practice for the hospital system. Wofford said it would be cheaper to drive to the Brenham clinic, which is outside of the College Station hospital's fee zone.

"With this, I will probably be asking up front what are the charges that are going to be incurred," Wofford said. "This is enough for me to change my health care that I've had for 15-plus years, it truly is."

A&M associate professor Wenhao Wu hopes charges on his Scott & White bill will be dropped. In September, he went to see his family doctor at the clinic on University Drive for an annual physical exam. In December, he said, he received a $2,500 bill for what is typically a $35 copay. He said the charges were for routine blood work. He said a BlueCross BlueShield employee said Scott & White incorrectly charged him for outpatient services. He said he hadn't heard back from the hospital or called the help line promoted by A&M. Wu said there was no advance warning of the billing changes.

"It's really not a very good experience," Wu said. "Later on, I was talking to my wife and said maybe I should just go to St. Joseph in the future."

A spokesman for the College Station Medical Center said its clinics do not charge hospital facility fees. A spokeswoman said the St. Joseph Health System does not use provider-based billing for commercially insured or self-pay patients but does for government-paid plans.

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