PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — When the Cleveland Clinic started acquiring hospitals and medical offices in this palm tree-lined region six years ago, many Floridians were excited.
The Ohio nonprofit, ranked among the top hospitals in the world, pledged to bring expert care and an infusion of cash to the state’s Treasure Coast, an area north of Boca Raton brimming with 55-and-up gated communities.
But in the years after the Cleveland Clinic’s blue and green signs popped up outside dozens of medical offices, patients began receiving unexpected bills:
an additional $95 for a consultation with a neurosurgeon. An extra $112 to see a family medicine physician. And $174 more for a neurologist appointment that previously cost only a $50 co-pay.
Baffled, the patients contacted their doctors’ offices and insurers and learned that the new costs were “facility fees” — charges that hospitals have traditionally billed for inpatient stays and emergency room visits but are now increasingly charging for routine appointments in their outpatient clinics.
The fees, which are often not fully covered by insurance, are meant to support the higher level of care that these doctors’ offices provide, according to hospitals.
For blindsided patients, that can mean paying a hospital fee — even if they never set foot in a hospital.
“My heart dropped,” said Brandy Macaluso-Owens, 43. She received a $174 facility fee after a visit in March with a Cleveland Clinic gastroenterologist. “I probably met with the doctor maybe as little as 15 minutes.”
The Cleveland Clinic defended facility fees in an email, saying they are an “appropriate practice” that align “with government regulations and industry guidelines.”
“These fees help support just some of the costs of maintaining outpatient facilities so that we can continue providing high-quality, compassionate care to all patients,” the Cleveland Clinic said.
The Cleveland Clinic is far from the only hospital charging facility fees …
