Finance and Billing FAQs

We are staffed with representatives who are dedicated to assisting patients with any questions or concerns regarding hospital and/or physician billing and financial assistance.

• Sheppard Pratt Hospital Bill Questions (account # will begin with an H): Call 410-938-3370, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
• Sheppard Pratt Physician Bill Questions: Call 410-938-3380 or toll free 1-800-264-0949, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
• American Anesthesiology Bill Questions: Call 410-296-4616 to speak to American Anesthesiology directly
• Premier Healthcare Bill Questions: Call 301-444-4402 to speak to Premier Healthcare directly
• The Center for Eating Disorders Physician Bill Questions: Call 410-427-3895 to speak to The Center for Eating Disorders directly

Not all insurance provides 100% coverage. Coverage amounts vary with each insurance policy and most require a deductible; co-insurance and/or co-payments. Your insurance provides you with an Explanation of Benefit (EOB) / Explanation of Payment (EOP) which outlines billed charges, insurance payment and your responsibility. If you do not agree with the amount your insurance company paid or if you do not agree with the amount they indicate you owe, please contact your insurance member services at the phone number available on your insurance card.

If you disagree with the amount paid by your insurance or if you believe that you should owe less than the amount on your statement, contact your insurance member services at the phone number listed on your insurance card and ask them to review how the claim was processed. If they find that an error was made, your claim should be reprocessed for the correct payment amount and you should receive a new EOB/EOP. If they find the claim was correctly processed and you are still not satisfied, ask how you can file a formal "appeal" to request a reconsideration of the payment amount.

All standard forms of payment are accepted including: 

• Cash
• Check
• Visa
• MasterCard
• American Express
• Discover
• Money Order
• Wire Transfer

To pay online, please go to www.sheppardpratt.org and click the link ONLINE BILL PAY, which can be found at the bottom of each page.

To make a payment by phone using a credit/debit card, please call 410-938-3370 for hospital bills and 410-938-3380 or toll free 1-800-264-0949 for physician bills.

You may also pay in person at the hospital or mail your payment to the address listed on your statement. 

Yes. Payment arrangements of limited duration can be made by contacting one of our representatives.

For your hospital bill, please call us at 410-938-3370 and for your physician bill, please call us at 410-938-3380 or toll free 1-800-264-0949, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

If you cannot pay for all or part of your health care costs, you may be able to get free or lower cost services for medically necessary services. Sheppard Pratt offers Financial Assistance for those experiencing a financial hardship. Please call one of our representatives to discuss this option.

For your hospital bill, please call us at 410-938-3370, and for your physician bill, please call us at 410-938-3380 or toll free 1-800-264-0949, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Click here to learn about our Financial Assistance Policy. This page will explain Financial Assistance, how you can qualify, and provides a link to our application. 

You may also call one of our representatives to discuss Financial Assistance. For your hospital bill, please call us at 410-938-3370 and for your physician bill, please call us at 410-938-3380 or toll free 1-800-264-0949, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Typically, you will receive 2 bills for each hospital visit.  One includes the Physician's charges and the other includes the Facility charges. Physician charges are for the actual doctor services; facility charges are for the use of the room, equipment, etc. You may also receive bills for services provided to you while at Sheppard Pratt, but that bill independently of Sheppard Pratt Physician's Practice such as: Anesthesiology; Physical Exam; reading of X-Rays; MRIs; etc.

A separate account number is generated each time you are admitted to the hospital, whether for an inpatient or outpatient service. This enables us to bill for charges related to your care for specific dates of service, and enables your insurance company to process and apply proper benefits.

All Maryland hospitals must provide you with a Summary Statement of your account within 30 days after you are discharged. This summary lists Inpatient Hospital charges that will be billed to you or on your behalf to the insurance of record. It may include Room/Board, Pharmacy, Laboratory, or Radiology to name a few. It does not include any services separately billed by a physician.

This Summary Statement is for your records, and should be saved to match to the Explanation of Benefit/Payment (EOB/EOP) that you should receive from your insurance carrier once benefits are paid.

For questions regarding this Summary Statement, please call us at 410-938-3370.

It could be due to any of the following reasons:

• We may have had an incorrect billing address in our files which was recently updated, and billing was able to resume.
• Insurance may have taken an extended period of time to process and pay your claims.
• Insurance may have recently made an adjustment to a previous payment, and now you have a balance due.

You may also call one of our representatives to discuss the reason this happened. For your hospital bill, please call us at 410-938-3370, and for your physician bill, please call us at 410-938-3380 or toll free at 1-800-264-0949, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

In certain instances, Sheppard Pratt can assist you in applying for Maryland Medical Assistance. Please call our Entitlement Specialist at 410-938-3816.  

Health insurance Coordination of Benefits (COB) applies to those who are covered by more than one insurance. Making each insurance aware that you have more than one insurance insures that they are not overpaying or underpaying for services on your behalf. It is a common practice by insurance, after receiving a claim for payment, to require the member to contact them to discuss a Coordination of Benefits BEFORE the claim can be processed for payment. They want to be sure that there is no other insurance that would be responsible for paying your claim.

Our representatives are calling you as a courtesy to notify you to contact your insurance to do a COB in order that your claim can be paid. Otherwise, your insurance will deny claim payment and hold you liable for the charges.

Learn about the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) here.

If, after 120 days, no payment has been received or payment has been received for less than the entire balance due,  payment arrangements have not been made, or if there is no pending determination for financial assistance, your account will be sent to our collection agency for collection.

NOTE: If we do not have a valid address on file for you, your account will also be sent to our collection agency.

A deductible is the amount you must pay before your health plan makes payment toward covered services       

Your deductible amount is determined by your plan benefit with your insurance carrier. This information should be available in your benefit handbook or you can contact your carrier at the phone number listed on your insurance card.

Co-insurance is the percentage of costs that you must pay toward covered services.                                                 

Your co-insurance amount is determined by your plan benefit with your insurance carrier. This information should be available in your benefit handbook or you can contact your carrier at the phone number listed on your insurance card.

Co-payment is a fixed amount you must pay each time a medical service is received.                                               

Your co-payment amount is determined by your plan benefit with your insurance carrier. This information should be available in your benefit handbook or you can contact your carrier at the phone number listed on your insurance card. 

An ABN is a written notice from Medicare (standard government form CMS-R-131), given to you before receiving certain items or services. It is provided to notify you that Medicare may deny payment for that specific procedure or treatment AND that you will be personally responsible for full payment if Medicare denies payment. An ABN gives you the opportunity to accept or refuse the items or services and protects you from unexpected financial liability in cases where Medicare denies payment. It also offers you the right to appeal Medicare's decision.

Charges and Out-of-Pocket (OOP) costs vary from person to person, and program to program.

The OOP cost is dependent on various factors, including the type of program; length of stay; medication/laboratory; needs to name just a few. Health insurance benefits also affect individual costs depending upon deductibles/co-insurances/co-payments, etc.

To discuss your insurance benefits, please contact your member services at the number on your insurance card.