Patients caught between Blue Cross and Condell

Found this site on google. A comparison of charges conducted by a non-for-profit organization found that “Condell Medical Center (Libertyville, IL) charges 392% times its costs. That is 316% times what Johns Hopkins charges!�

http://hospitalvictims.com/hv_hosp_anc.asp...

http://hospitalvictims.com/hv_hosp_main.asp...

http://hospitalvictims.com/hv_hosp_total.asp...

go to lake forest hospital.it is a great hospital with a great staff.ive been in condell and lfh and in my opinion lake forest is more comfortable and at night it is a quiet place unlike condell.

by the way many of condells docs are also members of the lfh staff.

From my perspective here are a couple of observations:
1. Deceptive and manipulative billing practices; billing separately under the following names Condell Medical Center, Condell Acute Care Centers, Lake County Acute Care LLP in order capture three times the contracted co-pay from its patients. Bottom line: What use to cost me 20.00 now costs me 60.00. They figured out a way to increase their bottom line, though deceptive and manipulative billing practices.
2. I was in the hospital for 2 days; I have 100 dollar Co-pay per day. Condell billed me $700.00, inflating the amount just over 3 times. I had to dispute the charge and get BCBS and Condell to get out of collections for the $700.00, in the end I owed them $200.00, the Condell representative said that they always bill 10%, despite the co- pay amount, and today was my “lucky� day because I only owed them $200.00. I wonder how many people just pay the $700.00 without questioning it and I wonder if Condell refunds the money.
I use to do billing work for a medical supply company, the medical industry is full of dirty little billing disputes where one side try’s to get out of paying, or get paid too much, over a technicality. It seems to me there is a new target for dirty little tricks, the patient. What is scary though is the patient doesn’t have a reconciliation or material management department to reconcile their bills, worse they are dealing with an illness and are in a weak position. In case you are wondering I got out of the medical business because I was uncomfortable with its lack of ethics.

One more observation, I received two pieces of propaganda in the mail regarding this issue, and I was struck by the differences in the costs of producing these materials.(Now I work in a position that considers, among other things, the costs of producing customer communication materials.)

1. Condell Medical Center: In a word “slick�. Double sided, tri-fold, 4 color, with 1 graphic and 1 photo, 21 paragraphs including a provider chart and a list of board members printed on high-quality, heavy gauge gloss paper. The cost associated with the putting something together like this, including legal review, are astronomical and there is website dedicated to this issue. Wow.
2. Blue Cross Blue Shield: In a word “plain�. Paper letter mailed in an envelope, 2 colors, bold for emphasis points, white medium gauge copy paper. 8 paragraphs. No marketing pizzazz. I did receive 4 copies, one for every person in the house including the kids, so obviously they didn’t pay someone to index their mailing list on address, and ended up wasting money on postage. They did reference their normal website.

My conclusion is Condell has a whole lot more money to blow / waste. Oh yeah didn’t this article state “it “needed the increases to stay in business and expand. EXPAND? They are looking for growth and will do what is takes to get it.

Chuck Rogers wrote:

Just Wonderin what Resurrection feels about this as it sounds like Millirons is gearing up to sell and management staff coming in are from "Rez". Wonderin how much he's getting from underneath the table.

Dont quite get the Resurrection connection, are they going to buy Condell?

I have to say I am just appalled at the whole situation. I work for BCBS and I had a member call me about a claim. When I contacted Condel Patient Relations, I assumed they would honor their agreement from their website that if a member has claims prior to November 1st, Condell would submit the claim on behalf of the member. Well, when I called, I got a very bitter Manager from Condell who refused to honor the November 1st deadline. Condell personnel refused to work with me. I feel both sides of the situation, but it;s the member who is caught in the middle. What really gets me is that Condell and BCBS are extremely large companies that fight like two small time bullies on the playground. Grow up! It's the member who pays the premium and they are the one's caught in the middle. It's truly sad. Condell & BCBS should really grow up and find a compromise.

i write again. BTW, I work for BCBS, but for another state, I handle members who are scattered around the country. Again, I reiterate, members are caught in the middle and they should not be. Condell and BCBS of Illinois should come to an agreement. It's not one-sided. Condell signed an agreement and should abide by that agreement and BCBS of IL should try to resolve the issue. I have seen claims come into our system for $400 for a simple innoculation shot. Should the doctor bill that much? Not in my opinion. BCBS tries to keep the cost into perspective, but doctors seem to think they have the right to charge an enormous amount because thay have paid lots of money in schooling and training, but come on, lets be real. Most people do not have $400 when the insurance company will not pay the $400 because the insurance company thinks that too high for that service. But doctors do not have any heart when they bill the member that amount when they know damn good and well they themselves would not pay that kind of price for a shot. It's time for someone to call this shit on the carpet.

Cant tell wrote:

i write again. BTW, I work for BCBS, but for another state, I handle members who are scattered around the country. Again, I reiterate, members are caught in the middle and they should not be. Condell and BCBS of Illinois should come to an agreement. It's not one-sided. Condell signed an agreement and should abide by that agreement and BCBS of IL should try to resolve the issue. I have seen claims come into our system for $400 for a simple innoculation shot. Should the doctor bill that much? Not in my opinion. BCBS tries to keep the cost into perspective, but doctors seem to think they have the right to charge an enormous amount because thay have paid lots of money in schooling and training, but come on, lets be real. Most people do not have $400 when the insurance company will not pay the $400 because the insurance company thinks that too high for that service. But doctors do not have any heart when they bill the member that amount when they know damn good and well they themselves would not pay that kind of price for a shot. It's time for someone to call this shit on the carpet.

AMEN, I have had nothing but positive relations with BCBS when I call for assistance, on the other hand when I call Condell, they are not as nice and sometimes quite rude. I am one of the customers of both.

bcbs IL, or any other state is a self- funded organization... that means that the members premiums bay the bills, and when that money is gone or should there not be enough to cover the high cost of medical service then the Office Of Personel Management steps in and covers the bill, who is OPM you ask.. the federal government thats who. There are no corporate sponsors for BCBS, they make no profit, and per federal law all claims must be processed as received. So ask your dr. why they billed the way they did or why they charged so much. if you pay a bill for a dr. visit you dont pay it to bcbs you pay it to the dr. Condell wanted more money than anyone else was getting and 99% of the providers that work out of the hospital got their own contract with bcbs within a month of the Condell contract being cancelled. Condell literally put patients out on the street if they were insured by bcbs, people in hospital gowns, beds, wheelchairs just sitting on the sidewalk waiting for someone to hopefully come and get them. Why would anyone want to stick up for or even continue to go to a facility like this for their health care needs. My money is on bcbs and will stay there.

County of Lake Resident wrote:

Found this site on google. A comparison of charges conducted by a non-for-profit organization found that “Condell Medical Center (Libertyville, IL) charges 392% times its costs. That is 316% times what Johns Hopkins charges!”
http://hospitalvictims.com/hv_hosp_anc.asp...
http://hospitalvictims.com/hv_hosp_main.asp...
http://hospitalvictims.com/hv_hosp_total.asp...

Just who do you think i s paying for all of health care for the massive indigent population in Illinois? The hospital? Hell no! We are. Every bill coming from your hospital (regardless of where) should be accompanied by an itemized (and authorized by family member signatures) for every item. I knock $25,000 dollars off of an 8 day hospital stay by paying $11 for an itemized transcript and contesting charges for services never received. The hospitals cheat you with approximately 400% markup to cover these un-insured walk ins. Having family members closely related tot the medical profession pays off. Condell is asking for payment in advance of services and the insurance companies (that I loathe) are right in telling them to stuff it.

Lake Forest Hospital would be a breath of fresh air and quality in their management of Condell and Blue Cross.

Help... I am stucked between BCBS and Condell. All my claims (~USD16000) were not paid by BCBS and Condell is going after me. Anyone has any idea who should I talk to? This has been going on for 4 months now.

I am stuck between BCBS and Condell too. Condell billed me ELEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS for 3 hours in their operating room....and BCBS only paid $1500. Now they both claim that I owe Condell $9,000. We have appealed once, and plan on appealing again....but I know they will both screw us over. Paying 9k will devastate us financially....all over wisdom teeth removal. I am ready to go to the media with this.

Helli all i need help or advice ASAP! i had a baby girl November 1st,2007 and just found out about this
situation with condell and bcbs. My obgyne assured me that i would be covered because i was in my rd trimester! comes down to it im owing about 30,000.00 in medical bills and all bcbs wants to pay is 4700.00?? they said thats the allowed amount and when you call bcbs they keep giving different answers and condell can kiss my A** because there rude, have no empathy, inconsiderate, and dont care about nothing BUT MONEY....if they care as much as they say
why cant they put out a helping hand to people and understand someones situation?? bottom line
is why would bcbs give theses checks to the patients and not the hospital and say there paying in-network and why is condell a**holes?
i don't have no where near 30,000.00 to pay for this. I'm 23 2 kids no job!! and being threatened that condells lawyers are getting involved?? OMG.....

I went to a Condell Acute Care Center for a bad cold. They did exactly the following: nurse took my bp, temperature and a throat culture swab. The doctor listened to my lungs, swabbed my nose and looked in my ears. Diagnosis: sinusitis and upper respiratory infection and prescribed anti-biotics. For this, Condell is charging me a whopping $630.

Condell is beating families down, particularly the growing population of uninsured. Condell's billing is VERY excessive.

LakeCoResident wrote:

I went to a Condell Acute Care Center for a bad cold. They did exactly the following: nurse took my bp, temperature and a throat culture swab. The doctor listened to my lungs, swabbed my nose and looked in my ears. Diagnosis: sinusitis and upper respiratory infection and prescribed anti-biotics. For this, Condell is charging me a whopping $630.
Condell is beating families down, particularly the growing population of uninsured. Condell's billing is VERY excessive.

Why would you go to the acute care with a bad cold? The problem is people using the health care system for plain silliness!