Unexpectedly high ‘urgent care’ bill class action lawsuit investigation

Deceptive billing at urgent care medical facilities: Who’s affected?

Did you receive a surprisingly high bill from a hospital-owned facility that you thought was a regular urgent care clinic? You may be entitled to compensation through a class action lawsuit investigation. 

Patients rely on walk-in clinics for quick, affordable medical care. Many people will choose urgent care over an emergency room, especially if the injury or illness is minor, because urgent care facilities are less expensive than hospital emergency departments. By going to urgent care, patients can save time and money. But what happens when they unknowingly walk into a facility that is owned by a hospital?

Hospitals across the country are buying freestanding clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, and store-front physician practices and turning them into Hospital Outpatient Departments (HOPDs). These hospital-affiliated care facilities charge emergency room prices that are up to 10 times more than what an urgent care clinic would charge for the same procedure. 

These facilities do not look like hospitals, and it can be challenging or impossible to determine whether the facility is hospital-owned, as often there is no or insufficient notice. To add further confusion, some of these freestanding clinics have “urgent care” in their name (e.g., “Urgent Care Emergency Center.”) This leads patients to expect affordable billing, but they are mistaken. That unwitting mistake could cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The difference in price between hospitals and urgent care facilities

Patients who have unwittingly received care from a hospital-owned medical facility have learned the hard way that they charge a lot more than a true urgent care facility. According to the Annals of Emergency Medicine, HOPDs can charge 10 times more than urgent care clinics—even for the same diagnosis. 

A recent opinion article from The New York Times laid out these price differences side by side:

• The average price for a colonoscopy at an HOPD is $1,383 compared to $625 at a doctor’s office or other non-HOPD clinic. 
• Chemotherapy and other medications cost twice as much.
• Echocardiograms cost three times as much.
• Prostate biopsies cost over six times as much.

Your rights against high medical bills

In 2022, the government passed the federal No Surprise Act, which protects patients from unexpected out-of-network medical bills. However, there is no federal protection for patients who are hit with unexpectedly high bills after they unknowingly walk into a hospital-owned and operated facility.

Until federal regulations are established, legal action may be the only recourse. If you received an unexpectedly high bill after being treated at an urgent care facility or ambulatory surgery center that was, in fact, hospital-owned but that presented itself as a free-standing medical facility, you may be eligible to join a class action lawsuit.

Fill out the form on this page to see if you qualify for a free case evaluation.