Buyer Beware! If you have the misfortune of being in an emergency and go to Swedish Medical Center Ballard, you should know that the physicians that treat you are contracted by Swedish Ballard and do not necessarily take the insurance you have, even if the facility (the hospital itself) is in network. You may be liable for charges exceeding your insurance’s maximum allowed amount. This can be much more than what is the maximum allowed by Medicaid. This has happened to me as well as a friend of mine. We were not notified by our insurance, Premera Blue Cross of Washington, that we might be in this situation when seeking emergency care.
Who are the ER physicians? They are listed as Ballard Emergency Physicians, and their billing office is contracted out of Oklahoma. This puts them far away from the administrative offices, as well as the doctors who may serve you.
In case you wondered, here is the information for the Ballard Emergency Physicians, as made available on the Washington Secretary of State‘s website, and the Department of Licensing (1, 2) website.
For reference:
Location Address:
EMERGENCY DEPT SWEDISH M.C.
NW MARKET & BARNES
SEATTLE, WA, 98107Mailing Address:
5409 BARNES AVE NW
SEATTLE, WA, 98107-3840
and also:
Location Address:
5300 TALLMAN AVE NW
SEATTLE, WA, 98107-3932Mailing Address:
PO BOX 70707
SEATTLE, WA, 98127-1507
President JARRIS , RAY
Vice President SCOTT , MARK
Secretary WEXLER , ROBERT
Treasurer BROWN , MICHAEL
Please share if you’ve had the issue of non-coverage due to the physicians not being under your insurance, and if so, how you resolved it, or what you did to resolve it? I’ll update later with what I’m doing.
See previously: Emergency Room Charges.
Tags: ballard, ballard emergency physicians, health care, medical, premera, seattle, swedish medical center, washington state