Greedy US hospitals add billions of dollars in 'facility fees' to routine medical bills with patients charged for using the OFFICE where they meet doctors - as the worst states are revealed

American hospitals are making billions of dollars by charging unsuspecting patients so-called 'facility fees' for routine check ups in outpatient centers.

A new Wall Street Journal report examines the frustration afflicting everyday Americans who are unwittingly being billed hundreds of extra dollars that will go toward a hospital's overhead costs.

The fees are becoming unavoidable, according to the Journal, as hospitals continue a pattern of steady acquisitions of medical practices.

The fees significantly inflate the cost of standard medical procedures, including mammograms, colonoscopies, and heart exams by hundreds of dollars.

A new Wall Street Journal report examines the frustration afflicting everyday Americans who are unwittingly being billed hundreds of extra dollars in 'facility fees'

Facility fees, which generally amount to essentially charging an individual for use of the room in which they meet with their medical practitioner, are used to offset the cost of running a hospital

Hospitals claim the facility fees, which generally amount to essentially charging an individual for use of the room in which they meet with their medical practitioner, are necessary to offset the cost of federal regulations.

Outpatient service facility fees help hospitals afford services such as neonatal ICUs, so the argument goes.

In Maine and Ohio, four out of five medical bills for heart screenings that are now sent to each state's largest insurer has a facility fee tacked on.

After hospitals purchase clinics and doctors, the fees begin to show up on patients' bills.

Hospitals categorize the once boutique clinics as extensions of their centralized operations, leaving longtime patients with the option to pay the hefty fee or find a new provider.

The Journal report claims that many hospital systems are now earning at least half of their revenue from patients who have not been admitted.

Those numbers add up in the context of how much buying hospitals have done in recent years. One estimate suggests that some 50 percent of doctors work for hospitals.

According to some who study such matters, the fees are not justified. Medicare advisers said that the fees collected in 2021 allowed the government program to overpay by $6billion for a slate of services.

Some lawmakers in Congress have proposed limiting the fees covered by Medicare.

The US House of Representatives passed a bill in December that would prevent Medicare from paying hospital fees for chemo and other drug infusions delivered by doctors in clinics not on a hospital campus.

The move would save the federal insurer just under $4billion in the next decade.

After major hospitals purchase clinics and doctors, the fees begin to show up on patients' bills

Some states have taken matters into their own hands. In Indiana, clinics located off hospital campuses affiliated with the largest nonprofit health systems, cannot charge fees

The group representing the interest of major hospitals - The American Hospital Association - does not want Congress to limit fees.

It argues that those sorts of restrictions would deprive hospitals of revenue they need in an unforgiving financial market.

Some states have taken matters into their own hands. In Indiana, clinics located off hospital campuses affiliated with the largest nonprofit health systems, cannot charge fees.

Other states have banned the fees attached to telehealth or preventative care visits.

Some require hospitals to notify patients about the fees before an appointment is booked.

Starting in July, hospitals in Colorado will have to disclose the fees to potential patients.