These towns relied on a doctor to set up a covid test. Sample patient fee: 9,944.

Rebecca Susman received a coronavirus test because she was encouraged by city officials in Bedford, NY.

“If you haven’t gotten tested yet, please do it for yourself, your family and our community,” Town Supervisor Chris Berdych said in an email. He said more tests would mean lower positivity rates and a faster way to reopen. He pointed residents to the city’s new test site, located on an empty parking lot at the railway station.

Ms. 51 years. Susman took her whole family for testing, and the results came back negative.

Then came the paperwork: cor 6,816 were insured for four coronavirus tests. Susman’s fee alone was $ 1,944.

He started looking at itemized costs. An insurance claim showed she had been tested for dozens of respiratory diseases. She found it strange; Town emails only announce a coronavirus test. The results also came as a surprise 480 for a short phone call relay.

“That’s when I realized something was wrong,” Ms. Said Susman. “When in the history of medical appointments does it ever cost you a phone to get a test result?”

The bills did not come from the town. They d Green. Steven Murphy, Greenwich, con. No interns, whom Bedford chose to run its test site.

Ms. Susman and 10 other patients argue that Dr. Mur. Murphy used this public testing venue and others nearby to run unnecessary and expensive tests. He did so with little supervision from town officials, who widely advertised his services.

In health care, this type of billing is often described as upcoding, using codes that pay high returns but are not a guarantee for the medical care being delivered.

Dr. for the New York Times. “What appears to be happening is that he is billing every code he can,” said Suzanne Nall, a medical billing expert who reviewed patient billing documents from Murphy’s practice.

Patients tested in a privately owned emergency room faced similarly high bills. Dr. Mur. Many of those tested by Murphy were surprised that test sites built by their cities and towns would include such high fees.

Dr. Murphy estimates he has examined at least 60,000 patients with coronavirus. He defends his billing methods, saying he has brought an important service to the communities he serves.

“I jumped on this,” he said. “I have decided, let’s work on these patients. Let’s take care of them in a drive-throw. “

The Times asks readers to submit their bills so we can understand the cost of coronavirus testing and treatment. A collection of more than than 100 bills has revealed that some coronavirus patients face heavy medical debt and that, nationwide, many Americans face illegal fees for their tests. If you have a bill to submit, you can do so here.

Dr. Mur. Murphy has generated more submissions to the Times database than other individual providers, often with patients worried that their fees would increase the higher the health premium.

“Just because I have a zero-dollar co-salary doesn’t mean, in the long run, I’m not paying for it,” she said. Said Susman. “My husband works for a company with amazing benefits, but our premium increases every year. This is a part of it. ”

Lack of tests, and attractive offers

City officials were eager to work with Dr. Murphy when he offered to set up coronavirus testing sites in early spring. There is no national testing framework, and cities, hospitals, and doctor’s offices were scrambling to build testing capacity on their own.

The northern suburbs of New York City were particularly desperate. Westchester County experienced one of the country’s earliest diseases, a cluster centered in a synagogue in New Rochelle.

Dr. Murphy offered to provide thousands of tests, something other doctors and hospitals could not match.

“He reached out to me, then we realized he was working in other towns,” said Justin Illiker, mayor of New Haven, the mayor of Conn., Who met with Drs. Began testing place with Murphy. “We called them for references and they were all happy.”

Cities and towns gave Dr. Murphy access to public property free of charge and rented on his behalf. A city provides hot spots on the internet. Bedford, where Mrs. Susman lives, recruited volunteers to assist Murmur in her work and arranged for food offerings to residents.

Dr. Murphy vowed not to bill patients directly but maintained control over how they would examine patients and what they would charge from health insurers.

Billing documents show that Dr. Murphy did not test patients for coronavirus alone. He regularly billed the insurer for a large panel test for at least 20 respiratory diseases, including rhinovirus and enterovirus.

A major national health plan has stated that it will have a large panel for testing this spring. Murphy has received more than 1000 claims. Less than a dozen claims for stand-alone coronavirus tests have been received from him in the same period. Insurance companies typically pay for panel testing at a higher rate, often paying six times as much for a regular coronavirus test, according to data provided by the for-profit Health Care Cost Institute.

Dr. Murphy said he has reserved a large panel test for pathological patients or those who need a quick change for their results. But in the interview, asymptomatic patients said they also received a more expensive test.

Mary Farley, 69, got a test on one of Murphy’s sites because she wanted to contribute to epidemiological data in her area, he said. There are no symptoms or any known contact with her positive case.

Panel 583 was paid for a drive-thru test of skilled Farley by Medicare, mostly due to panel testing. Medicare typically pays between $ 51.31 and $ 100 for a coronavirus test.

“A lot has been broken from the health system, and I think this is a reprehensible example of that,” Ms. Farley said. “A lot of people are worried about rising taxes, and these fees are a hidden tax on all of us.”

Dr. Mur. Murphy also billed patients hundreds of dollars for short calls to deliver results.

Ms. Furley asked Dr. to get his results. Murphy recalled making frequent phone calls to his office fees. “It was a 30-second phone call after I spent about two weeks getting someone on the phone,” he said. “Then to find out if they were charging 340d40 for that, it felt like there was no end to it.”

An ‘unusual and inappropriate’ approach

Some health insurers de Mur. Murphy is paying a large chunk of the bill charge. Mrs. Susman’s health plan, Anthem Blue Cross, paid more than $ 5,000 for family tests. Medicare also regularly reimburses Mr. Murphy’s claims.

Other schemes are refusing large fees or requesting more information. Dr. Murphy has sued Cigna over a large health plan over claims of denied coronavirus testing. When the Times first contacted Dr. Murphy, he replied with a photograph of what the insurer said was a big buck of denial.

He wrote, “Nearly, 000,000 denials or requests. “Non-refund at the cost of millions!”

Dr Murphy said it was inappropriate to test patients for coronavirus alone, as other diseases could be missed.

“Just testing for coronavirus is one of the most dangerous things you can do.” “It’s clear that the mindset is bad for public health.”

When Ms. When Farley emailed to inquire about his bill, Dr. Murphy’s staff described the giant panel test as a “super covid test.”

“Dr. Murphy is a very thorough doctor,” wrote one staff member. “Everyone is tested not only for covid, but also for other viruses that are active.” The email was received by a public record request filed by Sami Susman, son of Susie Susman, a student journalist who wrote about her test fees on Medium.

Medical experts said Dr Murphy’s testing and billing practices were inconsistent with current standards.

Dr. Alexander, director of infectious disease laboratories at Boston Children’s Hospital. “It’s unusual to have a large panel earing fur when looking for a virus, and in my opinion, it’s inappropriate,” said Alexander McDam. “Those panels should only be used for critically ill or immuno-compromised, so we don’t over-test our patients and don’t even produce a large amount of the bill.”

Dr. Mc. McDam Day also said that the “super covid test” did not exist, or that it would not describe a large respiratory panel.

Complaints about Mrs. Susman’s fees were sent to a town official, Dr. Murphy, who overcame her suggestion that the price was inappropriate.

To risk your life every day with a virus infection seven days a week, Mrs. Susman, what is acceptable as a payment? “In the snow? In the lightning? In the rain? In the oppressive heat?” He wrote in an email.

Elected officials in several cities have received complaints from residents about Dr. Murphy’s billing practice. Some other sites close test sites as resources become available.

“It raises enough concerns that we think it was easy to move in different directions,” said Mr. Iliker, mayor of New Haven.

Others say it’s not their place to regulate Murphy’s billing practices.

“We’re doing this from a billing perspective,” said David Knopf, director of health at the city of Darren, Conn. “It’s someone’s responsibility, not ours.”

The test site in Bedford closed in mid-July, shortly after Sammy Susman’s article on her test bill was published.

The inspector, Mr. Berdych, who directed city residents to the site, said the decision to close was taken by Dr. Not with Murphy’s billing practice. .Lata, the place was on community parking, and more general commuters in New York were expected to return soon.

“When other testing facilities opened, the requirement was no longer present,” he wrote in an email.

Dr. Murphy’s website still advertises six test sites: four in Connecticut and two in New York. For those waiting for a test result, their site says: “Daily telehealth visits are recommended for your health.”