Heart Holter

[Nickneely]

My daughter does not have health insurance, but her boy friend's father is a cardiologist and says he will handle administering  the heart holter, etc., at a reduced fee. What would a doctor charge if he was charging full price for this service? She was told that it would cost her $300.  Could it be done cheaper than this through a clinic or ???

[Nickneely]

Update:

Daughter received a statement in mail today.  They are charging her $800.

[Nickneely]

I figured out in the middle of this question/process that I was trying to zero in on an non insurance cost with a procedure which had no 'frills'.And that this then meant..whaaa?

Daughter did the 24 hour wonder last weekend with an understanding  that it would cost $300 but nothing was discussed.  Future Mother in Law to be (?) read out the data in the family room of their home. Everything seemed to be okay.  Daughter didn't receive a read out statement so I am in the dark as to what transpired.

[itdood]

Depends on what she gets, a 24 hour holter or an event monitor.

I had a 14 day event monitor and i remember the bill saying it was $3200 my cost.  Insurance paid $2200.

[Nickneely]

Thank you both for your responses to my question.  My daughter will be traveling up to northern California next week.  She had been feeling faint and it was suggested that the heart holter might detect if there is any problems. (I had so many questions and advice, bet hey!  She's an adult!)

Again, thank you!

[Jerry_NJ]

The only direct experience I have with monitors is with a Cardionet which I wore for a couple of weeks.  This generated two bills, on for the Cardionet which was high and one for the cardiologist.  So, if a doctor can provide a monitor (holter) that could reduce costs and the price charged.  That said, an office visit with a cardiologist must be in the neighborhood of $200, so a complete package cost of $300 sounds like a reduced price  to me.

I assume the advice to get a Holter monitor comes from a reliable source, and that she has some intermittent heart rhythm problems/symptoms that need to be diagnosed.  

[cindy707]

You may want to ask him if he has a transtelephonic system in his office where you get a small unit that looks like a credit card and when you have an event you press it to your chest and after the event you just dial up the phone number they give you and place the unit up to the mouth piece and it sends the results of exactly what happened to you to your heart docs computer pushing it out as a EKG/ECG among others.  I used one and it was pretty cool.  Alot of the heart docs have the cards sitting in their offices.  This could def. defray the cost of the holter.  But be aware if the issue is while you are fast asleep this won't work for you as a holter would.  It tracks everything while you are awake.  Good luck..............................