Gerlach v. Cove Apartments, LLC, 446 P.3d 624 (2019)

Citation: Gerlach v. Cove Apartments, LLC, 446 P.3d 624 (2019)
Parent Document: Gerlach v. Cove Apartments, LLC, 446 P.3d 624 (2019)
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
Effective Date: 2019-05-13
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/6659245/gerlach-v-cove-apartments-llc/ ↗

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¶32 Here, Cove intended to call Dr. Wickizer, a health economist, as an expert witness to testify about the medical billing process and provide a comparative analysis of the cost of medical services. Specifically, Dr. Wickizer authored an analysis on the reasonableness of Gerlach's medical expenses, in which he explained that billing for the same procedures can vary greatly from hospital to hospital and the billed amount is not necessarily reasonable. In the analysis, he recalculated the "reasonable value" of all of Gerlach's medical expenses by applying a cost-to-charge ratio from the hospital's Federal Cost Report to each hospital inpatient charge. The Federal Cost Reports are compiled by the federal government and include cost and revenue information for all patients receiving care at that hospital. Additionally, Dr. Wickizer estimated the reasonable value of Gerlach's physician charges by applying the physician's agreed Medicare reimbursement rate to each physician charge. Cove intended this testimony to assist the jury in evaluating the reasonableness of Gerlach's medical bills.

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