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| - I was diagnosed by a nearby urgent care facility with a left ankle fracture (an avulsion fracture, which is a fracture where the ligament tears off a piece of bone -- I basically rolled over my foot while walking home) on May 28 and quickly got a needed appointment on May 29 with the orthopedist at St. Margaret). It was the only appointment available so soon, and I definitely needed help.
The fracture was evaluated, and I was fitted for a boot. I was given another appointment five weeks later and told to be as non-active as possible, stay off of it even with the boot almost all the time, even when I called in I was told to not do any exercise until the next appointment! That turned out to be overprotective advice as I did two things -- first, I made another appointment at the Kaufman building's orthopedist where a great doctor told me that the injury on a scale of 0 to 10 was a 2. St. Margaret made no such evaluation.
The Kaufman building's doctor (which I believe is considered UPMC Presbyterian or Montefiore) ordered immediate physical therapy, so the second thing done was to start a regimen of physical therapy at UPMC Sports Medicine and they more sensibly gave me latitude to strengthen the healing bone, and I was cleared for exercise by my third visit. Had I listened to Orthopedics at St. Margaret, none of this would have happened, and it would have taken several more weeks to heal.
I received the bill in the mail more recently. There was an $830 charge for "surgical services" at this appointment along with the dr.'s visit charges. (I am only responsible for $52, so my then-insurance company paid a great deal. But it is the principle of the thing.) When I called the hospital billing office, first I was told that it was for "closing the fracture." It took several more calls to determine that this was an allowable charge for fitting the boot according to CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services). I am fine paying the bill, but it would be a nice gesture if UPMC office actually were to confirm that $830 was what the boot cost. Calling it "closing the fracture" appears fraudulent, and I thought it was. There is a lack of transparency.
I would say do not go to St. Margaret Orthopedics UNLESS you need to be seen immediately and no one else has any openings. It is very hard to get appointments for Orthopedics and the fact that St. Margaret had a vacancy and the fact that it's not a teaching hospital should tell you something.
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