STAT+：一次简单的尿路感染如何变成 1,756 美元账单
STAT+: How a simple UTI turns into a $1,756 bill
Kristin Gills 在得克萨斯州 Allen 的 Methodist Legacy ER & Urgent Care 就诊尿路感染，当场支付 211 美元后，又收到 1,756 美元账单。该机构由私募股权支持的 Intuitive Health 运营，兼具急诊与紧急护理功能，患者称因咳嗽、鼻塞、流感症状就诊却被按急诊收费。经投诉后院方提供现金支付折扣，将余额降至 667 美元，她仍拒付。
It was a simple urinary tract infection. A textbook urgent care visit.
Kristin Gills knew the drill. She peed in the cup, and the doctor confirmed her suspicion. He prescribed antibiotics. Before she left Methodist Legacy ER & Urgent Care in Allen, Texas, Gills paid her $211 bill and figured that was the end of it.
Then the real bill came, for another $1,756.
“I was like, ‘What in the world?’ I immediately tried calling them,” she said. When she couldn’t reach anyone, she sent three MyChart messages. Nothing.
So she took to the Internet, posting a negative Google review and writing about her experience in a local Facebook group for moms. Finally, a Methodist representative got back to her and offered a cash-pay discount that brought her balance down to $667. She’s still not paying.
“I’m going to fight it,” Gills said. “This will be the hill I die on.”
The facility Gills visited doubles as both an emergency room and an urgent care clinic. Intuitive Health, the private equity-backed company that runs the hybrid facility and nearly 50 others like it, says they’re great for patients because they prevent them from having to guess whether their conditions are emergencies. But patients told STAT they visited for what they thought were obvious urgent care issues — coughs, congestion, flu symptoms — and were shocked when they got bills for ER care instead, often totaling thousands of dollars.
来源：STAT News · statnews.com