Save big on Health-care costs

Save big on Health-care costs. Use an independent outpatient diagnostic center.

You can save lots of money by having your medical imaging performed at a licensed, accredited independent outpatient imaging center such as Lexington Diagnostic Center & Open MRI (LDC). You may not be aware of the crazy practice in which insurance companies pay hospital-based imaging centers much more for studies than they pay for the same studies at Lexington Diagnostic Center. Often times the insurance payment or allowable is 2, 3 or even 5 times higher for the hospital-based imaging centers! In this day and age of high deductibles and high co-pays these savings can make a huge difference to your pocketbook and can help keep down the cost of medical care and insurance premiums.

We have discovered two actual, recent examples of this situation in relation to Central Baptist Hospital outpatient centers. In one case a CT sinus exam had a Humana insurance allowable which was $300 more at CB’s Southland Drive location than LDC’s allowable would have been. In another situation a 2 view x-ray of the foot had an Anthem insurance allowable of $160 more at CB’s Hamburg location than it would have been at LDC (and at both hospital outpatient locations radiologist?s fees were not included).

On these insurance company websites, comparisons for fees allowed are published for various local facilities which show the same patterns. For example, an MRI of the lumbar spine is reimbursed $393 (which includes the radiologist fee) at Lexington Diagnostic Center, while the price is $707 + radiologist fee at several Lexington hospital outpatient centers and the price is $1,021 + radiologist fee for these procedures at hospitals in Georgetown, Versailles, Paris and Richmond. The differences are even more marked at hospitals in Eastern Kentucky.

These are unfair business practices and makes for an unequal playing field and we are trying to remedy this practice. However, until it changes this is an opportunity for you to demand that your doctor send you to LDC for High Field MRI, Open MRI, CT, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, DEXA, arthrograms, epidural and facet joint injections, and x-rays. Your friends, family and pocketbook will love you for this tip, as well as for recommending them to a facility that provides excellent services and treats all patients royally.

Our billing department is available to quote estimated benefits so you can make a cost comparison for any procedure. Please feel free to call us at 859-278-6724 or toll-free at 800-600-2797.