Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians has agreed to drop a surcharge added to patients' bills for receiving late-night care at five hospital emergency rooms in the Boston area, according to a report in the Boston Globe.
The decision to drop the fee came after a local health workers union protested the $30 fees at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston. The other hospitals that will drop the fee are Beth Israel Deaconess-Needham, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester and Milton Hospital, which dropped the fee this month.
According to the report, patients with insurance may not have noticed the fee because Medicaid, Medicare and many private insurers do not pay physicians who bill such a fee. Patients without insurance may have been charged the fee.
Read the Globe's report about the five Massachusetts hospitals' decision to drop the late-night ER fee.