An Urgent Care Treated Her Allergic Reaction. An ER Monitored Her - For $6,700.

https://kffhealthnews.org/health-industry/er-monitoring-anaphylactic-shock-allergic-reaction-bill-of-the-month-april-2026/

An Urgent Care Treated Her Allergic Reaction. An ER Monitored Her — For $6,700.
By Andrew Jones
April 28, 2026

Silvana Toska was playing in a grass field with her daughters late last fall when she felt a sting on her ankle. The family had come to listen for barred and great horned owls as the sun set on a large park near their Davidson, North Carolina, home.

It was “just like a mosquito bite, nothing major, and I just scratched it,” said Toska, a political science professor.

Then she began to itch everywhere. She couldn’t see anything in the dark, so her husband shined his phone light on her.

She was covered in hives.

Because she also felt pressure in her chest, the family quickly went to an urgent care clinic. A doctor there recognized she was experiencing anaphylactic shock, a life-threatening, fast-moving allergic reaction.

The doctor rushed her to a room without checking her in, saw her blood pressure was low, and administered two epinephrine injections and IV fluids, Toska said. The itching stopped, and the tightness in her chest went away.

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