PLEASE HELP!! HOW MUCH DID YOUR PSYCH EVALUATION COST?

Hi Amos friends. I need your help. I just found out that my psychological evaluation for approval for the WLS is costing in excess of $1,300. Our insurance is only paying for $600 and we will have to pay for the rest. Does this seem out of line? It does to me. I am being billed for 6-1/2 hours of time at $194. I was initially quoted a price of $114 when I first called about the evaluation. I took the battery of written tests, but I know that the psychologist used a template in order to score those results. She dictated a long report, but she said that she did not bill for the time she spent dictating nor was I billed for the time it spent transcribing the report. When I talked to them about the amount, I was told that they were allowed to bill for up to 10 hours and that 6-1/2 hours is not very much compared to others, in fact the person right after me was billed for 7 hours. I asked if she is spending that much time on each patient, when does she have time to see other patients? She had no answer. My surgeon had given me a long list of almost 50 names of various people from around the state where I could have had the psych evaluation. If this amount turns out to be excessive, then I want to tell my surgeon to take them off of the list of suggestions. I'm really upset because I feel that since they do get a lot of business referred to them from the surgeon, they should be up front as to the exact amount it will cost in total on average so I could pick someone to go to based on that. Also, during the 1-1/2 hour interview, the psychologist mostly talked about herself and even took a phone call. Frankly I didn't care at the time, because all I wanted was the okay for surgery. Now I care. Also, in the multi-page evaluation she dictated, she said that I had a disease called "spondomyothesis." I never said that, and there is no such disease!!! What I have is spondylolisthesis (slipped disc of lower spine). For the amount of money I'm spending, I guess I'm wanting perfection. AMOS family, am I out of line here? Please be honest with me--if I'm making too much out of this just let me know. But if it's alot more than you were charged I'd like to know that too. (I know prices range differently across the country and depend on what tests you had, etc., but I would like some idea of comparsion.) In the mean time while I'm waiting for you guys to help me, I'm going to call some of the other names on the list the surgeon gave me and just ask them outright how much they would have charged. I need to know so I can call the business administrator and complain. Thank you so very much for your help. -Judi

i think that is highway robbery.......mine is $250.00 i go march18th

I am here in Alaska where usually everything is more expensive and mine was only $300.00. That does sound excessive.

My insurance was billed 265.00 for my hour long visit. I don't know what amount of time he put down. It just said one psych office visit. I only had to pay 15 co-pay.

OMG! NO WAY! My physc eval took 1 hour and all I paid was my regular office copay. You need to check with someone else. Call around. Good Luck!

Judi, I feel your anger!! I was calling around for my evaluation and one quoted me 125.00 but as soon as they found out it was for WLS they said 350.00!!! So with that I went to the psyc that works inside of my surgeons office and she charged 150.00 but she did not make me fill out any long survey, which surprised me as I have heard so many do. I would complain to the highest person that will listen if I were you. I dont blame you for being angry...

judi, you are not out of line and i would tell the insurance actually how much time you spent with her. this is so wrong. i think , huggs elsa

I dont think you're out of line. That sounds ridiculous!!! I had to pay out of pocket for my psch eval, whick cost me $160. Let them know that you only need clearance to have the gastric bypass surgery. It sounds like theyre trying to give you tests that aren't needed. Please do not pay those outrageos fees. Seek out another doctor. Good luck!!!

$170: I had mine in January. It lasted 1 hour. I was charged $170, which my insurance paid all but 30 some dollars of because he was "out of network." He covered only the questions that were listed on the paper that my surgeon had given me, which I gave to him when I saw down. I didn't have to take any tests. I got his number when I called a counselling group that my granddaughter had gone to, and they told me they didn't do WLS evaluations, but gave me a list of numbers of about 5 people who did. I just chose one. I have heard so many horror stories about people's experiences with psych evals. Sorry you had a bad experience. Susan S.

I think that is way out of line. I paid 350 for an psych evaluation. I spent maybe an hour there. They had me do a questionaire(which is very lengthy) and I spent less than 15 minutes with the psychologist.