Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  09/19/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  This business is a scam. The woman uses her doctorate as an excuse to scam people out of money. I was searching for a real psychiatrist and this woman is a phony. I found her on psychology today stating that she was a psychiatrist who could diagnose what I was looking to get tested for. I then found out at my appointment that she is a nurse practitioner with a doctorate in nursing and she had lied. (Her page now states that she’s a nurse practitioner now that she’s verified with psychology today.) She will try to pump you full of meds despite making it very clear that my therapy is working better for me and that I am looking for a diagnosis. She then told me that she could not diagnose me with what I came to her for and that I would need a referral to someone else. The appointment was less than 15 minutes and the front desk told me I owed her nothing as my appointment did not bring any services or benefits for me and she was not a good fit. I am now being charged several months later for $270 and I want these fees waived as I feel I was scammed by someone who only wanted money by repeat sessions to monitor people on medication.

  Business response

  09/21/2023

  Dear Sir/Madam,
  
  I am writing in response to the complaint filed by ** *. ID # ********, which was received by our office on September 19, 2023.
  At High Desert Psychiatry LLC, we take all complaints very seriously and strive to provide the highest standard of care to all our patients. We understand that patients may occasionally have concerns or complaints, and we appreciate the opportunity to address and rectify these issues.
  The complaint in question has many different concerns that I will address separately, the first being about my credentials and accuracy of how they are posted on Psychology Today. For a professional to have their profile published on their website, you must submit proof of degree and licensure. Only when this is verified is a profile published on their website. In addition, a month prior to her appointment the patient completed and signed new patient paperwork that has my credentials DNP, CNP, PMHNP-BC listed throughout. It also entails a summary of the practice and what to expect during the psychiatric evaluation (initial visit) and follow-up visits.
  The nature of my practice is psychiatric medication management (clearly stated in the signed practice policy). During the appointment, a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation was performed which consists of a psychiatric history, complete medical history, diagnosis, assessment, treatment plan, education, medication recommendations, and vital signs. The patient also completed 4 screening forms and was provided resources.  It would be impossible for this to occur in 15 minutes. The patient was billed using the appropriate CPT code Per the American Psychiatric Association (APA). In addition to the time spent during the psychiatric evaluation, the APA states Physician/other qualified health care professional time includes the following activities when performed during the calendar day of the encounter: preparing to see the patient (review of tests); obtaining and or/reviewing separately obtained history; performing a medically appropriate examination and/or evaluation; counseling and educating the patient/family/caregiver; ordering medication, tests, or procedures; referring and communicating with other health care professionals (when not separately reported),; documenting clinical information in the electronic or other health record; independently interpreting results (when not separately reported) and communicating results to the patient/family/caregiver; and/or care coordination(when not separately reported).
  The patient was informed of her diagnosis. She was seeking an alternate diagnosis that she did not meet criteria for during the evaluation. Because of this, she was offered a resource list with places to schedule a Neuropsychological Evaluation for further testing should she choose. No medications were prescribed to the patient.  The patient reached out to the practice via EMR portal the day after her appointment requesting a referral for a Neuropsychological Evaluation. It was provided. She did not express dissatisfaction at this time.
  The front desk is solely to inform the practice a patient has arrived. All other services (scheduling, billing, etc.) were managed by a separate company at that time (stated in the signed practice policy).
  The patient reached out to this provider via EMR portal on August 22, 2023, expressing she did not feel she should have to pay $270, “for you to do nothing for me.” She was informed of the nature of a psychiatric evaluation and that her health insurance claim reflected she had a deductible to pay. I explained to her, the claim states the patient responsibility is $157.58. I did not receive a response from her.  
  We sincerely regret any inconvenience or distress caused to the individual. We value our patients' feedback and use it to continually improve our services. We believe that the steps taken have satisfactorily addressed the concerns raised in the complaint.
  We would like to assure the Better Business Bureau, as well as the patient, that we hold ourselves to the highest standards of patient care and professionalism. We are committed to learning from this experience and ensuring that such an incident does not recur.
  We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter. Should you require any further information or clarification (signed practice policy, medical records, EMR messages and information about Psychology Today), please do not hesitate to contact me.
  
  Thank you for your attention to this matter.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *******
  High Desert Psychiatry LLC 

  Customer response

  09/25/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  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. As I do not wish to continue to fight an endless battle of he said she said. I received a refund for an amount that I was not informed of but I will be closing this case and no longer dealing with this. Thank you. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** ***

*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. ↩