Everywhere you turn, patients and consumers are facing more fees. But it's not right to take advantage of us when we turn to an Emergency Room for care. Patients cannot predict when they will need medical attention--and becoming ill or being hurt at the wrong time shouldn't result in an automatic fee increase.

Until last week, 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 10 p.m. But thanks to a public advocacy campaign launched by 1199SEIU, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and several other Massachusetts hospitals have ended the practice of charging "late-night" emergency room fees for care required after 10 p.m.

Last Tuesday, the healthcare workers of 1199SEIU launched a public awareness campaign to shed light on the practice -- and to ask BIDMC, 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.

On September 23, Milton Hospital announced that it had stopped charging patients the additional fee for being seen after 10 p.m. and would refund anyone who had been charged the late-night fee. And on September 24, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians announced that it was dropping "late night" fees charged to ER patients at the five Massachusetts hospitals.