Hospital Corporation of America – one of the world’s largest for-profit operators of healthcare facilities – has announced that it will give a “discount” on its notorious “trauma activation” fees, but only to patients who are uninsured. According to Stephen Ecenia, an attorney for HCA, a “100 percent” discount will be given to these patients. 
Medical Billing Advocates of America, the nation’s leading medical billing advocacy organization, has several questions for the corporate healthcare giant.
- Why should everyone else still have to pay this enormous fee, especially when the reasoning for charging tens of thousands of dollars cannot be justified?
- Will the under-insured receive a “discount”?
- Many insured individuals have an extremely high deductible… How will you help them out?
- Are you going to discriminate against the insured? And what about when those who are insured are charged this amount – which often tops $30 thousand at many of HCA’s trauma centers – and they file these hefty bills with their insurance company and their premiums rise? How will you make it up to them?
- And most importantly, by offering a “100 percent discount” on these fees (even if only to a select group of individuals), aren’t you inadvertently admitting that these colossal fees are unjustified and unwarranted?
The Tampa Bay Times and Tampa’s ABC-WFTS Action News interviewed MBAA’s Pat Palmer in early March 2014 to discuss her experiences with clients who have encountered over-priced “trauma activation” fees. Palmer admitted that these rampant charges are overwhelming Floridians whose arrival to one of their trauma centers by pre-hospital personnel triggers the use of these fees, and that trauma centers owned by HCA are infamous for charging up to $33 thousand to enact a “trauma team”.
“Trauma activation” fees originated in 2002, when Medicare began paying a fee to participating trauma centers for trauma patients whose arrival to the facility had been announced ahead of time, which causes the facility to carry out a trauma code. The trauma team is notified, which often includes physicians, nurses, lab, radiology, respiratory therapy and any other departments within the facility pertinent to the trauma situation.
WFTS-ABC Action News in Tampa Bay, Florida and the Tampa Bay Times partnered to bring a two-part television series on their news broadcast entitled “Hospital Chain Stands out When Billing Florida Trauma Patients”. According to this television report, which featured MBAA’s Pat Palmer, the average price charged by HCA for trauma activation fees is $27,000. However, their neighboring trauma centers charge an average of $6,000 for trauma activation fees, which is less than a fourth of the price charged by HCA. Additionally, the average daily fee for a trauma patient in an HCA hospital averages more than $20,500 per day, while other neighboring hospitals charge an average of less than $12,000 per day. The WFTS-ABC Action News – Tampa Bay Times television series generated awareness of these over-pricing issues.
