Am I responsible to pay a doctors surgical assistants bill because they are not covered by my Health plan?
Surgical Assistants are usually considered part of the operating room staff (I have one or two of them in the OR whenever I am performing surgery). They are considered part of the “Surgical Team”, and it should have been billed by the hospital as such (even if they used an outside contractor). That is one of the many benefits of surgery in a hospital. If your surgery was in an “Outpatient Surgical Center”, the insurance companies do not consider them “operating rooms” they consider them “procedure rooms” (just like in a doctor’s office, or in a plastic surgery office), even if they are fully equipped Operating Rooms. So, if this was the case, then it is covered as a “surgical procedure done in a medical office” instead of a “surgical procedure done in a hospital”. So that can make a big difference as far as the insurance companying paying (“Surgical Center” versus “Hospital Operating Room”), since you do not mention where you had the surgery… I just thought I would bring that up. Som
