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[quote=Anonymous]My Inova doctor wanted me to get some scans recently and referred me to Inova's radiology and diagnostic imaging center.  Upon arrival, there were signs directing me to check-in electronically at the kiosk.  The kiosk told me that Inova had estimated my out-of-pocket cost for the scans at $XXX, and forced me to prepay this amount (with a credit card) in order to complete the check-in for my procedure.

I am just dumbfounded by this -- never had it happen before.  And can't say I like it.  The normal SOP has always been for Inova to bill my insurance, see the reconciliation on the EOB statement, and then pay the remaining patient amount out-of-pocket.  Inova is essentially circumventing the insurance benefits process to get their money 30 to 60 days earlier and make money on that money.  It forces the patient to add an extra reconciliation step and takes the money out of the patient's bank account.

I called Inova's financial department afterwards to ask to opt out of this policy.  They would only refer to me to the estimating department to gain my confidence that their estimates are correct (which presupposes that I wish to continue relying on their estimates), or referred me to the office manager at the radiology and diagnostic imaging center.  Apparently they said it was the decision of that department to do this, and claimed it was not a policy that Inova had across its enterprise, so needed to be handled at a unit by unit level by the patient.

This has really shaken my trust with Inova.  The whole practice is borderline predatory and should be illegal.  Anyone have any experience with it?  I saw an older post on DCUM from 2011 about someone havind to do this with Inova before having a baby, but nothing since.[/quote]

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