Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  12/01/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I received an epidural on 7/17/24 as part of delivery of my baby. I didn't realize that the anesthesia for the epidural was a separate charge from the hospital charges. I thought all my hospital charges were ok, but then I got sent to collections by this anesthesia company. It looks like they sent one notification of the charges, but it looks the same as all the hospital charges. I'm pretty surprised that a healthcare provider would just send patients to collections without notice. The nature of the anesthesia business is that patients are likely recovering from a serious medical procedure (e.g. surgery, birth) if they required anesthesia, but the patients can hardly recover and they are being sent to collections. In my case, I am recovering from giving birth and sleep deprived from caring for a newborn and being sent to collections because I didn't know anesthesia bills were not part of the hospital charges. On top of this, the man administering the anesthesia seemed cold & heartless. I want this company to reverse the collections. It also seems odd that this company has an A+ BBB rating with so many one-star reviews on this site and ****** reviews.

  Business response

  12/02/2024

  Good Morning,

      After looking into the patients account it does look like we did mail her 3 statements in regard to her anesthesia bills.  This would indicate that we are separate from the hospital.  Anesthesia is always billed separately.   It looks like she was given 90 days from when her insurance paid to respond.  I do show that she just set up an automatic payment plan online.  So, I will let the collection agency know and no further collection action will be taken.  

  Thank you,

  *****

  Customer response

  12/02/2024

   I am rejecting this response because:
  I believe they are lying (or something got lost in the mail). I have one notification from the company (which blends in with the hospital bills and I am paying online) and one from the collections agency. It seems like they could send a few notices to patients. 
  I have been recovering from the delivery, taking care of a newborn, managing bills from the delivery, managing bills from another hospital for the babys NICU stay, and this company has now ruined my credit and they are lying about it. Will they be reversing the damage to my credit? Why is this company rated A+ on BBB? Please at all the one-star reviews on your site and on Google. 

  
  

  Business response

  12/02/2024

  Good Afternoon,

      In response your complaint again.  We did mail out 3 statements to you and we did not receive any of them back in the mail.  Not sure what you mean that we are ruining your credit?  Your account is not on a credit bureau, there has been no damage to your credit.  Please contact our office if you see something different.  Please let us know how you are coming up that we have ruined your credit.

  Thanks,

  *****

  Customer response

  12/03/2024

   I am rejecting this response because:

  I'm not really rejecting/accepting the response, but I don't know how to respond to this company.  I did not receive 3 statements, so I believe they are lying.  I was contacted by a collections agency after 1 statement.  I guess it is my word against theirs, but so many people are saying similar things on ****** and BBB.  Regarding me credit, my understanding is that collection agencies contact credit bureaus and that damage credit.  I don't understand why nobody from the company contacted me (call/mail/email) to tell me a bill was past due before sending my account to a collections agency.  I did not realize that the epidural was not part of the hospital bills for the birth (why would I know this?) and have been managing my hospital bills through patient portal, so I thought everything was under control. I just don't understand why this company doesn't have the decency to contact patients in a professional manner before sending them to a collections agency.  It seems like a cruel way to treat patients that are already recovering from a medical procedure. I will just contact the hospital to tell them about this company's business practices. 
  
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  09/13/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Had a surgery back in may and received bills from 5 different providers. Metropolitan anesthesia network is the only provider out of the 5 that sent me to a collection agency. But yet, their bill has been paid in full before the day I got the call from a collection agency.

  Business response

  09/13/2024

  Good Afternoon,

   

       Looks like we mailed out 3 statements to the patient showing her balance after her insurance paid.  She responded to none of those.  We did then send the account to collections on 9/11/24.  Looks like we did receive her payment on 9/12/24.  We have contacted the collection agency on this also.  

  Thank you,

• Initial Complaint

  01/07/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have received mail from a debt collector seeking money for Metropolitan Anesthesia. However, I have never received a bill from the company. There is no record of when this charge would have occurred or why I am being billed in the first place.

  Business response

  01/08/2024

  Good Morning,

   

     This bill is for the patient's delivery on 2/12/23.  After her insurance processed the claim, this part went towards her deductible.  We then sent 3 statements to her on 3/2/23, 4/3/23 and 5/3/23.  We had no response from the patient and then on 5/31/23 her account was sent over for collections.

  Thank you,

• Initial Complaint

  12/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was served legal papers on 12/26/23 at approximately 7:12pm. In these legal papers I am being sued by Metro Anesthesia Network. I have never received a single bill from them. I have never received a single phone call from them. I have also not had any anesthesia services since November of 2020. They clearly had my name, address, and phone number for me to be served. But they themselves couldnt call me to discuss whatever account I have with them. I had a procedure at Alina **************** As far as I was aware, or informed, all my services were from there. In no way was I informed that I would be getting billed separately for my anesthesia services. This has also not been on my credit report. Normally when things go to collections, theyre reported to your credit report. Ive been working very closely with mine because Ive been working on building my credit to get a mortgage loan my score has gone up almost 150 points in a year and a half with nothing in relation to this being reported.

  Business response

  12/28/2023

  Good morning,

      This charge is from your date of service of 11/25/20.  Your insurance company processed the charges and left this *************** as part of your deductible.  You would have received an explanation of benefits from your insurance showing you owed this amount.  We also sent you 3 statements to you at your address with no call back.  After the 3rd statement, with no mail return back to us, we transferred the account to a collection agency.  At that point they would be the ones trying to contact you by either phone or mail.  

  Thank you,

  Customer response

  12/28/2023

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  I have never received any bills from your business. You have never called me to contact me either. I never received anything from my insurance from that procedure. I only have the paperwork from the hospital in regards to the procedure. On those papers it says I was charged for anesthesia through them. 
  

  you are suing me currently for an account I was not made aware of. I received no calls from any bill collectors, and this has not shown up on my credit score - if it was in collections, it would show up. 
  

  im asking for you to remove my account from collections, and from the court system, and Im asking you to send me a bill, so I may begin to make payments. 
  

  on 12/26/23 when I was served the papers is the first time I had ever heard of your company. Judging by the reviews on ******* and the BBB I am not the first person you have done this too. 

  Business response

  01/04/2024

  I spoke to our collection agency.  They told me that they spoke to the patient a few times and she set up payment plans.  All of them fell through as she did not have the money in her account to make the payment.  Also, they have left many messages for this patient before it went to the attorney's office.

• Initial Complaint

  09/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On February 22, 2023, I had emergency surgery at ****************** in ********, **. I never received a bill from Metropolitan Anesthesia Network at my home address. The first I heard that I owed money was from a collection agency stating my account was 90+ days overdue. I received many, many calls and letters from a collection agency asking for payment. I informed them I never received a bill so they sent one to me. When we verified my address, they had an old address on file from a previous residence (more than 7 years ago). I had many medical bills after the surgery and this is the only one that did not come to my current address. I paid the bill in full to Metropolitan Anesthesia Network with a check dated July 18, 2023. On September 15, 2023, I received a letter in the mail from ****************************** telling me I still owed money and this was an attempt to collect the debt. I called ******************************, *** on September 15, 2023, to tell them I paid the debt on July 18th. They recommended I call Metropolitan Anesthesia Network to get a current itemized bill.

  Business response

  09/18/2023

  Good Morning,

     I looked into the address we have on file, and this is the one that we received from the Hospital.  We did mail 3 statements out to the patient, and we did not receive anything back from the post office stating undeliverable.  I do apologize that you did not receive a statement.  I did let the collection agency know that the account is paid and there is no blemishes on your credit report for this charge.

  sorry for you inconvenience,

  *****

  Customer response

  09/20/2023

   I am rejecting this response because:

  This response does not do anything to ***************** rating or fix the problem within your system.  I had multiple bills from the medical emergency and this is the only company that did not send a bill to the correct address.  The problems this causes for me extend far beyond this immediate request.  Fix the credit report!

   

   
  

  
  

  Business response

  09/20/2023

  As the last response stated, there will be no blemishes on your credit report.

  Thank You,

  Customer response

  09/21/2023

   Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

• Initial Complaint

  02/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had surgery on 4/13/22. I received a bill today from a collections company that I owe $336 to Metropolitan Anesthesia. This is the first I have heard that I owed money for the anesthesia from my surgery. I have not received one bill from Metropolitan Anesthesia. My phone number and address have not changed. To put someone in collections without sending a bill and/or contacting a person in poor business practice.

  Business response

  02/07/2023

  We have no patient here with this name.  Were you the patient? or do you have an account?  We are located in *********.  Just wanted to make sure you have the correct company also.

  Thanks,

  *****

  Metropolitan Anesthesia Network

• Initial Complaint

  05/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Acct#*******(metropolitan anesthesia)Acct#******(high pointe surgery)Hi,I received a **** for $841 for a anesthesia **** for metropolitan anesthesia for a breast implant revision I had In April of 2021. This was during pandemic, I lost my job. It went to collections. Later this year of 2022 I received a notice of $141 is owed for (unknown). The invoice shows nothing, but I paid the $141, thinking it was for metropolitan anesthesia to pay down the $141. But on my credit report it shows the balanced owed is still ($841). I sent a written letter to both high point surgery and metropolitan anesthesia asking for more information. Because how it works is when you have cosmetic surgery the amount for the actual breast in many surgery and facility charges are due before you get on the surgery table, which I paid to high point and ************ who was performing the procedure. The only portion that was still owed is anesthesia charges which were $841. They stated that is due AFTER surgery. So the mysterious $141 needs to be explained, it is illegal to take money from a patient with no explanation on the ****. I have reached out via mail/letters, with no response.I am filing this complaint to get further information on where the $141 went toward, and how is it owed a year later? Also want a written response on how its legal to report a medical **** to my credit, I am hearing after doing my research, this breaks my HIPPA rights and I want that removed.

  Business response

  05/02/2022

  The account# is wrong and there is no patient name on this.  I am not able to look up until we have this information.

  THanks,

  *****

  Metropolitan Anesthesia

  Customer response

  05/02/2022

   Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

   

  i actually reached out to ******************, they have responded and stated the audit was done a year later to show my surgery time went over, and thats where the charge came from. 
  

  sorry for the confusion m!

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩