Prior to Your Visit
Our hospital works with you and your health insurance coverage provider to ensure that the care for your child is covered prior to your visit.
During Your Visit
During your visit, our staff will work with you to collect payment from you for the copayments, coinsurance amounts or deductibles (or installment payments, as in the case of self-pay patients), for which you are responsible. Not all charges may be known at the time of your visit, admission or discharge. As a result, there may be charges added to your bill after you leave our hospital.
You Will Receive Two Bills
Your insurance provider or health plan will receive two claims for payment. If your health provider does not cover the entire amount of the services rendered for your child's care, you will receive a bill. These bills are described below.
Hospital Bill
The bill you receive from Children's Hospital Los Angeles will cover charges for clinic visits, tests, procedures and room charges (for overnight stays). It also includes charges for services provided by clinical staff like nurses, therapists, psychologists, etc.
Questions | Phone Payments
Customer Service Department
8 a.m. - 4 p.m. PST
323-361-2515
Physician Bill
Children's Hospital Los Angeles Medical Group will send you a separate bill for physician services.
This will include Pathologists, Radiologists, Attendings, Fellows and other physicians involved in your child's care.
Make a Payment Online
Questions | Phone Payments
Customer Service Department
8 a.m. - 4 p.m. PST
323-361-2336
Frequently Asked Questions about Your Bill
Q. How do I update my insurance or address information?
A. Please contact both customer service numbers above with your new information.
Q. What insurance plans does CHLA accept?
A. The list of providers and health plans with which we work is quite extensive. Please consult our Insurance Agreements page to find the top providers we work with most often. To verify that your provider is a contracted insurance provider for our hospital, please contact your health plan directly to receive pre-authorization for your child's care prior to making an appointment.
Q. May I apply for Medi-Cal at your facility?
A. Yes, please call 323-660-2450 and ask for the Admitting Financial Counselor.
Q. Do you establish payment plans with families?
A. Yes, please call appropriate Customer Service Department based on the bill for which you wish to work out a payment plan, and we will work with you.
Q. Why am I being charged a deductible instead of a co-pay for a office visit?
A. A visit to a clinic at our hospital provides you with access to a multitude of specialists, all on-site. At a doctor's office, you would only be able to access the doctor with whom you had scheduled an appointment. As a result, insurance providers treat these types of visits differently and reflect that in their billing practices.
Q. I provided my insurance or Medi-Cal information when I arrived for my child's visit. Why am I receiving a bill?
A. If you are responsible for a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible payment and you have not paid this, you will receive a bill.
Q. Why hasn't my insurance paid my claim?
A. It can take up to 45 days for health plans to process claims. If the health plan requests additional information such as medical records, it can then take up to 60-90 days for them to process our claim.
Q. How can I provide feedback about my child's care?
A. Feedback is very important to us. We use feedback from parents and guardians to modify our policies and procedures. Please visit our Feedback Page to share your thoughts with us about something we did well or ways in which we can improve.
Q. What will my bill look like?
A. View a sample of a Hospital Bill and a sample of a Physician Bill.
Q. I haven’t received a bill. Who should I call?
A. If you do not receive both of your bills within 30 days of your child's visit to our hospital for care, please contact us at the appropriate customer service number listed above.
Q. I overpaid. Who do I call for a refund?
A. If you have overpaid and are due a refund, please contact the Customer Service Department for the bill on which you have made the overpayment. Our staff will verify that an overpayment was indeed made and will request a check to be sent to you. Please allow a minimum of four weeks for this investigation and reversal process to be completed.
Q. My statement is incorrect. Who do I speak with?
A. You are welcome to contact either of our Customer Service Departments (based on the bill) listed at the top of this page.
Q. May I apply for charity care or discounted care?
A. If you do not have health insurance or you have high health care bills, we may be able to help. Our staff works with patients and families to find programs that cover health care costs for certain care and services from Children’s Hospital. We can even help you fill out forms for these programs. We can also help families with our charity care and discounted care program. This type of help is open for those with a family income less than or equal to 350 percent of the federal proverty level, and who do not have insurance or have insurance that does not cover your health care costs. To talk to someone or get help finding a program that may help pay the hospital or health care services bill, please call Patient Business Services at (323) 361-2515.
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