By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    bowl of vegetable salad
    Raw Foods: benefits and harms
    November 9, 2021
    pros and cons of the keto diet
    Read This Before You Follow the Keto Diet
    May 18, 2022
    spinal cord injuries
    4 Potential Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries (and How to Seek Compensation)
    May 25, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    TBI: Some Surprising Statistics
    February 9, 2016
    Your Keys to Safer, Even More Secure Healthcare Cloud Services
    January 13, 2015
    4 Career Options in Healthcare Industry that Combine Big Data & Healthcare
    February 5, 2021
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: $6,500 for Narcotics
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Finance > $6,500 for Narcotics
BusinessFinanceHospital Administration

$6,500 for Narcotics

Lisa Jacobs
Lisa Jacobs
Share
6 Min Read
Image
SHARE

Image

The following essay is by Lisa Jacobs, MBA, a third-year medical student at Brown University and a contestant in the 2012 Costs of Care Essay Contest.

Image

The following essay is by Lisa Jacobs, MBA, a third-year medical student at Brown University and a contestant in the 2012 Costs of Care Essay Contest.

More Read

digital health
10 Digital Health Mavens to Watch – And Why We Need You to Pick Yourself
The Consumer Impact Of Health Care Mergers
Medical Device Marketers: Let Digital DTP Turn You into a Sales Hero
Medical Technology Financings Over $400 million in May 2011
CVS Kicks the Habit, with Implications for Consumer-Centered Healthcare

I did not want to go to the emergency room. I really didn’t.  Resisting the idea, I lay doubled over with the worst abdominal pain of my life for 12 hours, unable to eat or drink or move, and finally vomiting before I considered it. I was well aware that this sequence of symptoms made me a textbook case of appendicitis, but I still consulted an ER doctor to ask: was he sure I needed to go?

Business school taught me that ERs are centers of waste and inefficiency, and that their overuse is both the cause and effect of many of our healthcare system’s problems. I learned in medical school that ERs are hectic and dirty, and wait times are long.

Plus, I couldn’t afford it. I was finishing my second year of medical school and already $200,000 in debt. My loans allowed a yearly budget of $17,000 for all of my expenses. Two of my cousins, both in their 20s and healthy, had recently gone into debt after racking up huge bills from hospital visits that started in the ER.

Here’s what happened during my nine-hour ER visit: I got fluids and morphine. I told the doctors I thought I had appendicitis. They also thought I had appendicitis. According to my history and physical exam, the suspicion of appendicitis was high enough to justify taking me straight to the operating room without imaging. Instead, they ordered a CT scan.

Hours passed while it was taken and read. The results were upsetting. Perhaps it was because it was 4 AM and I was on narcotics, but I felt jolted by shock and anger at the results: inconclusive. Apparently, I was too thin, so there wasn’t enough fat contrast. It was impossible to identify my appendix at all, let alone tell whether it was inflamed.

“Why couldn’t they see how thin I am before ordering a test that costs thousands of dollars?” I demanded. They laughed, as if I was making a joke.

I was admitted for observation and discharged 12 hours later at my own pleading. During my stay, I saw six doctors once or twice each and was never diagnosed. Surgery was repeatedly mentioned as a possibility, but no one explained its risks and benefits. I don’t know if or why they ultimately decided against it.

The final cost of my one-day hospital stay was $16,500. After discounts or perhaps negotiations, the insurer actually paid $6,500. I paid $100 personally. I am still not sure what came of the large sum my insurer paid on my behalf.

In a larger sense, I don’t understand the value of my first experience as a healthcare consumer: I still don’t know if I had appendicitis or whether it was an initial bout of something chronic that may bring me back to the ER repeatedly before getting diagnosed. Or maybe it was just passing gastroenteritis.  Either way, I still have my appendix, so there is a 7% chance I will return to the ER with appendicitis some day.

The $6,500 only bought pain-control. My trip has no potential long-term benefits. Knowing what I know now, having discussed my case with surgeons during my hospital rotation, I would have opted to have my appendix removed and intestines examined laparoscopically. My visit would have been more expensive, but at least it would have accomplished something.

I also don’t understand the value of the money spent in a literal sense, since my bill is so complex. Documenting my stay of less than 24 hours were 32 billing lines, each with a CPT payment code. I tried to click on the codes in my bill online to analyze the care to which they corresponded. I was interested in reflecting on the course of events, and thought the activity would be a fine illustration of how hospitals bill for services.

I was surprised that the codes were not hyperlinked, so they didn’t lead to word-based explanations of the goods or services they represented.  I eventually resorted to Google, and after a huge amount of time wasted, was only partially successful. Finally, I gave up, deciding that understanding my bill was not very important, anyway, since someone else paid for it. This is probably how most insured people think about their healthcare.

I went to business school, where I took graduate courses in accounting and healthcare economics, and in 18 months, I’ll be a doctor, but I can’t understand my hospital bill.  If I can’t, how can anyone?

image: healthcarecosts/shutterstock

Original Post

TAGGED:healthcare costs
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Hot Spots

March 10, 2011
public speaking
Business

Leadership, Reputation and the Trade Secrets of World Class Presenters

March 29, 2014

Making The Case for Behavioral Health Integration

March 18, 2016
collaborative physician engagement
Business

Collaborative Physician Engagement

March 18, 2015
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?