Samitivej Hospital

[GungaDin]

A friend was recently in the Samitivej Hospital for 1 to3 days.

Before he was accepted for admission he was asked for 50,000bt deposit.

Guess what his bill came to........ 49,800bt

They then couldn't find the 200bt they owed him in change!!!

Sharp scalpels, eh.

or sharp practice?

[MJo]

One could check the pricing for the rooms etc and get estimation for the procedures beforehand to see how much it will be. Maybe it was package price payable in advance in your friends case ?

[GungaDin]

One could check the pricing for the rooms etc and get estimation for the procedures beforehand to see how much it will be. Maybe it was package price payable in advance in your friends case ?

Not at all, he was very pissed off. He considered he was conned.

[mrtoad]

[MJo]

One could check the pricing for the rooms etc and get estimation for the procedures beforehand to see how much it will be. Maybe it was package price payable in advance in your friends case ?

Not at all, he was very pissed off. He considered he was conned.

Well he has only himself to blame if he did not check the price list beforehand.

[GungaDin]

^^^^ I'll be sure to pass your message on to him.

[JoePai]

Why would they not accept his medical insurance card ?

[JimmyTheMook]

Is this the one in Siracha ?

[TheGoodDoctor]

They saved him taxi fare home. How sweet!

[GungaDin]

29 posts on yr first day, how sweet is that?

[GungaDin]

Is this the one in Siracha ?

Not sure, Jimmy, he lives behind Emporium so he wouldn't travel too far.

[harrry]

Maybe they have good estimators.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

A friend was recently in the Samitivej Hospital for 1 to3 days.

Before he was accepted for admission he was asked for 50,000bt deposit.

Guess what his bill came to........ 49,800bt

They then couldn't find the 200bt they owed him in change!!!

Sharp scalpels, eh.

or sharp practice?

Hmmm, thought better of them, perhaps just being in the Sukumvit area with all the expats along there has made the distrustful?

I've been in-patient three times, once of an op, once prior to a colonoscopy, an lastly fo ran acute asthma attack, no Q about up-front baht or med insurance card, just check in and pay on departure. I'd been there before, tho, for a couple annual exams so I was in their computer, perhaps that helped, don't know.

Mac

[richard_smith237]

After a sporting accident earlier this year I ended up walking / hobbling out of Samitivej and going to Bumrungrad. The Dr at Bumrungrad confirmed my suspicion that the Dr at Samitivej was very wrong with his 'pulled muscle diagnosis and an X-Ray then MRI confirmed further damage.

At Bumrungrad they requested a deposit for a B12,000 MRI. I refused, but showed them the card I'll be paying with anyway, they carried on.

GF's mum just had a shoulder op. B630,000 at Bumrungrad which I thought was a crazy price, but apparently thats the going rate for this type of surgery, I'm not sure if she was asked for a deposit.

[harrry]

Paying in advance seems to be getting more prevelant. Generally at the Special Medical Service in Chiengmai I paid after seeing the doctor but now my partnerhad to pay before seeing the doctor and before having each test. She is Thai. They seem to have changed and are applying this to everone. A little awkward with Card payments as there are a multitude of small charges.

[GungaDin]

Paying in advance was not the problem.

The bill was!....... amazing how it totted up to within 200bt of his 50,000bt deposit.

I smell a rat, so did he.

[Deke]

My niece recently had some tests done at Bumrungrad and they asked for a deposit up front equal to what they figured the fee would be because they said it would take to long to verify her insurance coverage.

[MJo]

My niece recently had some tests done at Bumrungrad and they asked for a deposit up front equal to what they figured the fee would be because they said it would take to long to verify her insurance coverage.

Exactly, they know the price for different ops very well. Only if something unexpected happens it will escalate but routine stuff they know.

So if it was within 200 baht short of the deposit i assume he did not order room service for guests...

[Sheryl]

It is pretty common practice in Thai hospitals to ask private pay (as opposed to insured) patients to pay in advance if being admitted for inpatient care or undergoing an extensive procedure. The amount requested is based on an estimate of what it is expected to cost taking into account expected length of stay and cost of surgery (if applicable) etc. If asked they will explain how the estimate was derived but often only in Thai as finance office staff usually have limited English.

On discharge the bill is then reconciled and any difference refunded or paid as case may be. Normally if all went as expected with no unplanned procedures etc the cost will come out very close to the estimation.

I would certainly not assume that because the amount came to exactly the estimate something was wrong. In addition to protecting the hospital against non-payment, one of the purposes of this proceeding is to ensure that the patient is aware, going in, of the likely cost of their care so as to avoid the type of reaction that in this case seems to have happened. Perhaps there was some miscommunication around the estimate i.e. sounds like he thought it was a deposit which his actual costs would not come anywhere near, when in fact it was pre-payment of the minimum expected cost.

Given that the room rates alone, without doctor fees, meds, tests, other treatments etc are around 6,000 Baht a night at Samitivej (standard semi-private; much more for private, VIP etc) it is not hard to imagine that a 3 day stay could reach the amount mentioned. Prices at all the private hiospitals in Bangkok have gone up dramatrically in recent years and especially at the big "international" ones, and while I think outpatient consultation costs are still within reason, I would if possible opt for one of the non-profits for any extended inpatient stay or major surgery in the case of someone without insurance.

I have always received itemized bills from Samitivej, did your friend not get one? This would show how the total was arrived at. Should always check these carefully, mistakes are not unknown at this or any other hospital.

[jackoneilone]

as Sheryl pointed out pretty standard practice. I too had often paid a deposit in advance. And the rate he had paid is completely normal considering it was 3 days at a high end hospital and that would prolly have included possible some meds doc fees etc.

[LongThaimer]

Is this the one in Siracha ?

after 2nd night checked cost it was TB 19,000+ for 2 nights.........normal room admitted for fever, no special tests involved,

doctor insisted that patient stayed minimum 7 days ......... knew we we were being ripped off so when told them that patient be allowed to leave then they got really mad including the doctor and made us sign document stating hospital was not responsible........... <deleted>

[jackoneilone]

Is this the one in Siracha ?

after 2nd night checked cost it was TB 19,000+ for 2 nights.........normal room admitted for fever, no special tests involved,

doctor insisted that patient stayed minimum 7 days ......... knew we we were being ripped off so when told them that patient be allowed to leave then they got really mad including the doctor and made us sign document stating hospital was not responsible........... <deleted>

lol thats pretty normal anywhere as your going contrary to medical advise EVEN if in your view that medical advise is expensive, unneccessary and only good for their profit. its there to safe guard them and the hospital ie so they could always say TOLD YOU SO.

[Sheryl]

Is this the one in Siracha ?

after 2nd night checked cost it was TB 19,000+ for 2 nights.........normal room admitted for fever, no special tests involved,

doctor insisted that patient stayed minimum 7 days ......... knew we we were being ripped off so when told them that patient be allowed to leave then they got really mad including the doctor and made us sign document stating hospital was not responsible........... <deleted>

You don't get admitted to a hospital for fever. You get admitted to a hospital either because the cause of the fever is something serious enough to warrant inpatient treatment or because the cause is unknown and suspected to possibly be something serious.

I can't comment on the "7 days" bit without knowing medical details but may have had to do with time needed to get results of blood or other cultures or a wish to observe and document the pattern of the fever, especially if the history was that the fever had persisted for some time or was recurrent.

19,000 baht fior 2 night stay entirely normal for that hospital. Room rate alone would have been around 12,000 (assuming a shared room and not private), food if western (which they tend to automatically put foreign patients on unless told to do otherwise) believe it or not another 500-1,000/day, then the cost of medications, IVs etc. You say "no special tests" but I doubt that they did not at least draw some blood including a blood culture if it was a fever of unknown origin.

The having to sign a release form is universal practice, in all countries.

In short I don't see a "rip off" here, just the normal known costs of an expensive hospital.

I think that if instead of assuming "rip off" and reacting accordingly there had been a collegial discussion with the doctor as to whether what was needed could be handled on an outpatient basis outocme might have been better. If the doctor's English wasn't up to that, or if the doctor was of the type not open to involving patients in that sort of decision-making, should have chiosen a different dcotor.

In my experince vast majority of the problems reported by farangs in Thai hospitals boil down to ones of communication rather than either rip-off or incompetent treatment. Not understanding the diagnosis or differential diagnosis, not knowing what the doctor's plan of treatment is and reasons for it, leads to doubts, mistrust and conflict. In the West we expect doctors to tell us these things as a matter of course; Thai doctors do not , which is one of the reasons why I always advise selection of a doctor whio trained/worked in a western country.