Coronavirus vaccine bills sent in error to some Excela Health patients

Renatta Signorini, Tribune-Review, Greensburg, Pa.
·2 min read

May 5—Several hundred people who got vaccinated against the coronavirus through Excela Health were erroneously billed, a mistake being blamed on a quick effort to get clinics up and running, according to Tom Albanesi, the hospital system's chief financial officer.

Health system officials tried to contact those who got a bill in error to apologize, he said. Anyone who has received a bill can disregard it.

More than 20,000 people have gotten their immunizations through Excela Health and the majority of those patients were properly processed and didn't receive a bill, Albanesi said.

"We are proud of what we've accomplished in helping to contain the spread of the virus in Westmoreland County," he said.

Excela Health started vaccinating employees in mid-December and then doses were slowly rolled out to the public as demand far outweighed supply earlier this year. The health system opened an appointment-only clinic to the public in North Huntingdon in mid-March and has worked with community groups to connect doses to elderly citizens and homebound residents.

Getting the clinic running meant information technology software sometimes had to perform functions it wasn't designed to handle, resulting in the errors, Albanesi said.

"Patients are not responsible for any cost for receiving the covid-19 vaccine, and Excela strongly encourages those who haven't received the vaccine yet to do so immediately," he said.

In Westmoreland County, 44,000 people have gotten the first dose of a two-shot immunization, according to state department of health statistics. More than 110,000 others are fully protected by the vaccine.

The federal government is providing the vaccines for free and providers cannot charge a patient any fees or co-pays, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A provider can get reimbursement from the patient's insurance for an administration fee.

Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Renatta at 724-837-5374, rsignorini@triblive.com or via Twitter .