After call from 1199SEIU, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Physicians Group stops practice of charging late-night fees to patients

Until recently, patients being treated by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's physician group, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians (HMFP), were charged extra fees, simply for going to the emergency room after 10PM.

In September, the healthcare workers of 1199SEIU launched a public awareness campaign to shed light on the practice -- and to ask BIDMC and HMFP to refund the money to patients -- including those who were charged at affiliates Nashoba Valley Medical Center, Milton Hospital, Saint Vincent Hospital and BID-Needham.

The next day, Milton Hospital announced that it had stopped charging patients the additional fee for being seen after 10PM and would refund anyone who had been charged the late-night fee. And then, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians announced that it was dropping "late night" fees charged to ER patients at the five Massachusetts hospitals. read more