Now we have "facility fees"! No wonder our local hospitals have been going whole hog building outpatient facilities and clinics all over town and the county even as the population count has been going down and down!!!!!
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/October/06/fees.aspx
Quote:
... Called "provider-based billing," it allows hospitals that own physician practices and outpatient clinics that meet certain federal requirements to bill separately for the facility as well as for physician services. Because hospitals that bill Medicare beneficiaries this way must do so for all other patients, facility fees affect patients of all ages. Doctors' offices owned by physicians and freestanding clinics are not permitted to charge them. ...