Discography costs
I have a client who was charged 20K for lumbar discography. I can't believe that there are service providers out there who take advantage of people in this way.
Another client will have discography soon... costing over 5K - not including post-disco-CT. This is a special price for 'payment, date of service'... kind of like a cash price.
I called an imaging center that I've used in the past and asked for 'payment, date of service' price. $1500 for the discography... post-disco-CT is another 600. This is for everything... facility fee, doctor administering test... everything.
Obviously, cost is not the only concern and getting quality results is paramount. Having said that, paying more does not insure quality and conversely, paying less does not necessarily mean that quality will be absent. It's just that some facilities will compete for our business and some don't feel the need to. Sadly, they'll provide the same services for a fraction of the cost for an insurance provider, then will hammer someone who can't afford it for several times their customary fee... because they can???
How the patients are supposed to insure that they get quality testing done is beyond me. There is a huge difference from one discography to the next.
Just a little rant and vent... this is always frustrating to watch.
Mark
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