The Case of the Two Grace Elliotts: A Medical Billing Mystery
https://khn.org/news/article/mistaken-identity-two-grace-elliotts-medical-billing-mystery/
The Case of the Two Grace Elliotts: A Medical Billing Mystery
By Mark Kreidler
DECEMBER 21, 2022
Earlier this year, Grace Elizabeth Elliott got a mysterious hospital bill for medical care she had never received.
This story also ran on NPR. It can be republished for free.
She soon discovered how far a clerical error can reach even across a continent and how frustrating it can be to fix.
During a college break in 2013, Elliott, then 22, began to feel faint and feverish while visiting her parents in Venice, Florida, about an hour south of Tampa. Her mother, a nurse, drove her to a facility that locals knew simply as Venice Hospital.
In the emergency department, Elliott was diagnosed with a kidney infection and held overnight before being discharged with a prescription for antibiotics, a common treatment for the illness.
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