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Hi Scott,
Your experience may have impressed you,but the experience my wife had a few weeks ago in this facility did not impress either of us.We arrived at the emergency dept on a Sat morning with my wife suffering from a severely dislocated shoulder.She waited for about 3 hours for a physician to see her,and the cost for his services- a staggering $1000.He claimed his fee is normally 4 times that of the anesthesiologist who charged us $250.Cima incidentals were $220.
We are now processing the claim with INS ,both with baited breath and fingers crossed.The hospital did not even inform us that apparently there is an INS office in the hospital to take care of the billings directly.I can’t help but think that the hospital wanted to pound my credit card,rather than accept INS’s meager payments direct.I am surprised to hear this…I had my shoulder x-rayed and a sonogram done as well as am exam by two doctors. Costa about $200 for the whole thing.
Sorry that your experience was not a positive one and it unfortunately sounds like that you had a more avaricious Doctor attending you…
I have visited CIMA on about six occasions in the last two years, four ‘incidents’ were with my parents when they visited and one was an executive check-up that I had plus the dengue visit…
On all occasions, my parents and I were treated more professionally, quicker and with more genuine care than any of us have experienced with any Doctor in any hospital anywhere in the world and between us we have lived in about 15 different countries including the USA and the UK…. Oh! And yes the costs were most affordable on every occasion.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comWOW …would have cost at least 10k or more up North…and taken as much time or more for the Doc to take care of you in an emergency room. Have had many visits including the birth of my child… $1,800 C-Section which included one night in Hospital… granted that was 5 years ago and with 3 Doctors 2 anesthesioligists and 3 nurses but was told from friends would have been 18k in the states…it may not be perfect …but my family and I have had several E room visits with excellent care.
Ticopaz
I fortunantly have not had the need for care at Cima but have heard nothing but good things about the care there. My good friend just a couple of weeks ago broke his leg in two places and crushed his ankle in a fall. A medivac flight from Quepos with two medical technicians on board was $2200. compare that to $10K to $15K in the states. His surgery, drugs, attending physician, nurses, etc. and two nights stay in the hospital I believe came to $9000. It was a long surgery requiring two internal pins being placed in his leg, and a brace being attached with two metal rods going into his leg and two other metal rods going into his ankle. A little steeper than I had thought it might be, but again compare surgery and two nights stay in the hospital in the States and you’d be looking at probably $30K minimum. The one thing I did not know, was that he needed to have a name of a doctor before arriving at Cima. A doctor at the Quepos hospital was very adament about letting him set up a doctor to meet him when he arrived. In my friends words, you could see the salavation of a big referral fee in his eyes. My friend called his attorney and had him arrange for a recommended doctor to meet them when they arrived. Does anyone know if this is true that even arriving on an emergency basis, you need to have the name of a doctor? If so, I will try to establish a relationship with a couple of good recommended doctors that practice there so we will have the names and relationship ahead of time.
Roger,
Hope she is feeling better, I agree you may have received a bum deal by CR standard… But just this last week my wife went in for 2 days of tests at CIMA and 2 outpatient surgeries with the Gastroenterologist.. Our total cost (no insurance) was less than 1,000 including 2 nights at the Mariott Courtyard… (drinks not included)
We priced just one of the procedures in Florida through our United Healthcare policy and it came to over 5,000…
We’ve been very happy with the level of care and attention provided. On Saturday we met with the specialist for a followup consult visit at CIMA he spent close to 2 hours with her. He charged us 30,000 colones (less than 60 usd)… Fee for service was the rule in the US before we let the trial lawyers and insurers muck it up. As we left his office he asked for his fee, we set the money on his desk, he put it in his pocket. No mess no fuss, no forms… That’s progress… Lets hope it never changes….
ANOTHER VOTE FOR CIMA
I had a general check up plus some specifics. This included lots of bloodwork, urinalysis, and a stress test, plus two hours with the doctor for only $200. Couldn’t believe it. The tests showed I have a fairly good case of diabetes and a slight heart problem. None of the tens of thousands of dollars testing I had in Florida showed either of these things. It took the dedication of some good, caring CIMA doctors to get to get the information I needed. I don’t like the results, but I’m happy I now know what needs to be done. The American doctors can keep their fancy offices and high priced eqipment. They don’t know what to do with it anyway.
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