Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  02/14/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  they charged my card that I used to pay copay with. without my permission to take care of 34 balance. send it to collections for 34 bucks they will laugh at you. but charging a card without my permission is illegal..

  Business response

  02/16/2024

  This patient had a new patient appointment with us on 10/4/23.  She paid her $80 copay that day only.  Her insurance processed her claim and left her with $34.36 additional towards her co-insurance on 10/20/23.  We mailed the patient 2 regular statements, one on 11/10/23 then again on 12/1/23. On 1/12/24 a collection warning statement was mailed to the patient.  The due date on the statement was 2/2/24. As we do for all of our pre-collection patients, we placed a phone to her on 2/6 and verbally spoke with the patient to let her know that we have not received her past due balance and her account would be sent to collections within a few days.  The patient stated she would call back on 2/9 to pay the balance.  On 2/14/24, the patient still had not made payment so as per the the financial policy the patient signed (attached), we left a message stating the card on file would be charged to avoid her being sent to collections and her credit being affected.  We follow this process with all patients:  2 regular statements, 1 pre-colleciton statement, and 2 phone calls.  We are able to send patients to collecitons for any balance that is unpaid.  We do not have a minimum limit.  Once the patient is sent to collections, the additional collections fee is added to the patient balance which is typical business practice. This patient had ample notice via billing statements and phone calls to handle her balance but never followed through with payment that was due for services that were already provided to her.

  In addition to this, the patient has called twice as of yesterday.  On 2/14, she left an aggressive voicemail complaining about this and stating she didn't care if she was sent to collections for $34, "what is only $34", and that we had no right to charge her card on file. She then called back yesterday and spoke directly to *******, our billing analyst, stating she didn't give us permission to charge her card. She said she was going to initiate a charge back with her credit card company and has contacted a lawyer. She was made aware that she signed the financial policy.  She then called ******* a b**** to which ****** replied that she had no right to speak to her that way and disconnected the call.

  Should you have any further questions, please feel free to let me know.

  Sincerely,

  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  10/24/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have attached emails and documents to provide most of the info needed. In short, from my first visit onward I discussed in length with the Dr and the front desk that I would be paying out of pocket so I would be doing a price comparison on different labs' prices for bloodwork to be done. The Dr at VA Fertility provided me with a price sheet for the lab she indicated she would use and told me that if my blood was drawn there, that was the pricing. That price list, as it was given to me, is attached here. After they **** my blood, I received a surprise bill from the lab I intended not to use. I requested an itemized statement to figure out what happened, since the office had never sent me an itemized statement. The office had sent my blood to another lab (the one I specifically asked not to use). I called, then emailed them in detail to get a response from the Practice Manager. She was unhelpful - her supposed excuse was that I was supposed to notify the actual person who **** my blood as to where my blood should have gone - that talking to the Doctor and to multiple front desk staff (the ones who took payment each time) was not enough to be valid to her. This is a clear example of lying about pricing, since I spoke to multiple people there (most namely, the DOCTOR) about sending my labs to a specific place, and the Doctor herself provided me with the price list. This is also an example of untrustworthy business practices. They provided a small refund of $65 but are refusing to refund me for the full difference ($177) in what their provided price list said I would pay and what I was actually charged between their office and the other lab that they sent my blood to without my permission to send it there.

  Business response

  10/25/2022

  Here is the email correspondances betweem the patient and myself explaining what happened and why.  In summary for the BBB, the lab she wanted to use was down that day so we were unable to send any **** to them.  Also, part of the **** she had ran, we run in house.  It is our policy to run all **** that we are able to run in house and not out source those.  I did adjust our bill down from what she would have paid had Bioreference been available but I am unable to do anything with the Labcorp bill.  I did recommend that she call to ask for the self pay pricing.  Also the handouts that she attached tell the patient they will receive a separate bill from the lab that ran the bloods that we could not run in house.  My front desk staff has no way of knowing when **** are sent outside so would not be able to speak to that billing at check out.  We have 3 MD's, 5 nurses and 4 front desk staff, so if patients have a unique request, it would need to be verbalized to that nurse they are working with on that specific visit.  This is a unique request that we've not had of any other patient.  

   

  *******,
  
  I am sorry you are not satisfied with my response.Unfortunately, the front desk would have no way of knowing if a specific lab was down or not.  Any lab tests that we run here, weve always run as a standard of care so to send something out that we run would not have automatically been done and would have had to be specified by the patient when the **** were drawn.  Our lab handout that the physicians give patients about recommended **** to be drawn does specify that patients will receive a separate bill from the facility for those specific ****.  Our staff is aware that we cannot bill for **** that are run by another facility. The best way to communicate special requests would be to inform the nurse/person helping you on that specific appointment because we do have multiple nurses,phlebotomists and front desk employees so it would not be feasible for everyone to know special requests.
  
  We know that the entire fertility journey can be stressful and confusing and based on patient feedback, we make changes when appropriate. 
  
  I will process a refund of $60 (there was a $5 balance on your account from the *** because the physician has to use twice the amount of contrast than usual) this Friday.
  
  We are sorry we were unable to meet your needs and expectations.
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  ****************************, CPC
  Practice Manager
  Virginia Fertility & IVF
  4100 **************
  Suite 201
  ***************, ** 22911
  (p) ************
  (f)  ************
  www.vafertility.com
  Like us on ********  
  
  PHI HIPAA Compliance Statement
  
  This communication may contain confidential Protected Health Information. This information including any attachment is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The authorized recipient of this information is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or action taken in reliance on the contents of these documents is STRICTLY PROHIBITED by federal law. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this transmission.
  
  From: ***************************** <********************>
  Sent: Monday, October 17, 2022 10:58 AM
  To: ************************* <******************************************************>
  Subject: Re: FW: secure itemized statement
  
  Hi ****,
  Thank you for writing me back. I have to say, I don't see this as resolved. I was clear when I spoke to the person on the phone when I called Friday morning 9/23 that I had done the price comparison myself and was choosing you all as the place to do bloodwork since I was going off that BioReference Sheet your ****** provided. I told everyone in your ****** I spoke to on my initial visit 9/20 that I was doing the price comparison between you all and LabCorp, and everyone there said ** Fertility used BioReference/GenPath. I am not sure how else I was supposed to communicate to you all that I was choosing you all / the BioReference Lab, other than telling you in person and on the phone, which I did. No one at your ******, both when I called 9/23 at 11am to let them know I was coming there, and when I visited at 1:45pm on 9/23 for the bloodwork, told me that the BioReference/GenPath Lab was down and my **** would be sent to a more expensive LabCorp that I had specifically said I was not using for price reasons.
  
  I am aware that you all can only bill for what you do there,but your Doctor and your staff provided me the price list for BioReference, and said that was the pricing for the **** you draw there, and said that was where the bloodwork would be sent to from your ******, and that was the pricing that I would pay through you all. I asked these questions, and those are the answers I got from your ******. I thought I paid for those **** through you all the day I visited and that you simply sent them off-site but took payment there.
  
  How was I supposed to know that you all sent the **** to the place I said I was specifically not going to use? No one told me that at the ******. How was I supposed to know exactly what I was being billed for? There was no itemized receipt the day of or on my patient portal or in the mail - I had to request it only after I saw something was wrong (since I got a surprise bill in the mail from LabCorp).
  
  Please send the $65 credit as a refund to my address: *************************************************************************************. If these are the kind of miscommunications that occur when I made it a point to ask multiple people, I am not sure whether or not I feel comfortable coming back at this point. I will really have to think about it.
  
  Thank you,
  *******
  
  On Thu, Oct 13, 2022 at 3:43 PM ************************* <******************************************************>wrote:
  This message was sent securely using Zix
  
  *******,
  
  I am sorry for any miscommunication or misunderstanding.  The $192 you paid for that day was for the **** we run in house: FSH, TSH and estradiol.  We have never sent these **** out for any reason unless a patient has a lab capitation for LabCorp.  If someone wanted them sent elsewhere, they would need to inform us of that while their blood is being drawn so the nurses can create the correct requisitions, use the correct vials, and the correct courier. During your visit, there was one blood draw fee and multiple vials drawn.  We can only bill for the blood that we run here in house and the blood draw.  We cannot bill for **** that are run elsewhere as per the disclaimer on the handout you received.  ********** have to be billed by the entity that runs the blood.  This is typical of any doctors ******.
  
  Unfortunately the day you came in, BioReference was down and we were not able to order or send any bloods to them.  All **** that day went to Labcorp due to this problem.
  
  We do not price check for patients and if the patient has a lab preference for all ****, specific ****, etc. they need to inform the nurse drawing the blood.  Otherwise they have no way of knowing to do something different.  Some of our patients have insurance, some have a lab capitation, and some do not so if there are special instructions, we need to be made aware in order to accommodate.
  
  It is not possible to get an itemized ledger on the day of the service, only a paid receipt as the billing is posted until the next day.  Once an encounter/service is posted, then an itemized ledger can be provided.
  
  I cannot do anything about the LabCorp bill.  You can call them and ask them if they have applied a self pay discount to your bill.
  
  What I can do is adjust the difference on our **** between what you had paid if they were able to be done at Bioreference as a one time adjustment.  This is $65.  I have applied the credit your account.
  
  I will also put an alert note on your account that notifies everyone to ask you where you want your **** drawn in case there are future issues with a specific lab in the future.  Do understand that the outside **** cannot run **** stat (same day) like we can for the **** we run in ******, so depending on what **** you are having drawn and your treatment plan, this could hinder care or medication dosing.
  
  Please let me know if you have any further questions.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  ***************************, CPC
  Practice Manager
  Virginia Fertility & IVF
  4100 **************
  Suite 201
  ***************, ** 22911
  (p)************
  (f) ************
  www.vafertility.com
  Like us on ********  
  
  PHI HIPAA Compliance Statement
  
  This communication may contain confidential Protected Health Information. This information including any attachment is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The authorized recipient of this information is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or action taken in reliance on the contents of these documents is STRICTLY PROHIBITED by federal law. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this transmission.
  
  From: ************************* <******************************************************>
  Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2022 12:53 PM
  To: ************************* <******************************************************>
  Subject: FW: secure itemized statement
  
  #***** LD
  
  
  
  From: ***************************** <********************>
  Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2022 12:43 PM
  To: ************************* <******************************************************>
  Subject: Re: secure itemized statement
  
  Hi *******,
  
  Here is the description of what I was discussing with you on the phone to send along to your clinic manager. Thank you for your help.
  
  When I came in for my initial appointment 9/20 and ************** gave me all of her recommended course of action/testing to be done, I told ************** that I was paying out of pocket and would need to get **** from wherever it cost less. We had a lengthy discussion of where to get the bloodwork done at, and whether it would be cheaper to have them done there at the ** Fertility ****** or whether it would be cheaper to go to Labcorp. I am on ******** so I said to ************** "Maybe Labcorp will be covered by ******** because I know I have gone there before" and she said **** ******** doesn't cover any testing that is Fertility related. It will probably be cheaper to get it done here because we use a different lab that Labcorp and I'll get you the pricing for that. But I can write you up orders for Labcorp if you look into it and see if that is cheaper. I'll give you the price list for here and you can compare them with Labcorp before you get the bloodwork done."
  
  When I went to check out at the front desk, I checked out with the petite African American woman who was sitting at the right desk. I had the list of pricing (Titled ******************* GenPath/BioReference, Virginia Fertility &IVF - V1043 AND V1061, Phone ************" in my hand. (photo attached of this document) I asked if there was any extra charge on top of the prices listed here for doing the blood draw at the ******. She told me there was just a $5 charge. I explained to her also during this conversation that I was comparing prices so that I could make my labwork as cheap as possible since I was out of pocket. At that point the woman to my left who was ***** said that these people "down in *********" did a great job, referring to the *******/Bioreferenve labwork price list. I asked about the specific **** that were circled on the sheet, and the petite woman said that ************** was the one who circled those **** on that sheet. That night I looked up the LabCorp pricing for these same **** and they were higher than this sheet ************** gave me, so I chose to come in and get the labwork done at the ** Fertility ******.So I called the morning of Friday 9/23 to let them know I was coming in and asked if I needed to do anything. The person who answered the phone said just to come on in, as long as it wasn't between 12 and 1.
  
  When I came in for my bloodwork on Friday 9/23 my boyfriend **** paid $192 that day,which we believed to be the correct cost for the total bloodwork. We did not add it up that day, and that is my fault to not have added up the itemized -but I was not given an itemized receipt either. Until today we received no itemized receipts, only the credit card transaction receipt, when checking out.I requested the itemized receipt today due to being completed surprised by getting a bill from Labcorp.
  
  The charge for the **** circled by ************** on the GenPath/ BioReference sheet should have been: 40+46+57+36+6+12+24+28 = $249.
  
  Today I received a bill from LabCorp for some of those ****: ABO,Rho, AMH, Rubella,Varicella, Antibody, totaling $239. In reviewing the itemized receipt that I received from you all today, the $192 that we paid on 9/23 didn't cover all the **** - it was only 3 of them: FSH, TSH, Estradiol, and the prices were significantly higher than on the sheet ************** gave me. So what I was told would cost $249 ended up costing me $239+$192 = $431? What happened here?
  
  Please understand, I knew that paying for this out of pocket would cost us a little bit of money. We have been more than willing to pay for the services as they were rendered. What is disturbing here is that I was lied to about not only the cost but also what lab they were sent to. I specifically talked with both ************* and with the front desk about doing a price comparison for **** since I was paying out of pocket, and both sources told me that coming there and doing the labwork with the people that you all usually used, this BioReference lab,would be cheaper than me going to Labcorp. Then to find out that I was charged more than I was told there at the ****** (and how was I to know? I didn't get an itemized receipt) and to receive a surprise bill in the mail for something I thought I had already paid in person, from a lab I specifically said I wasn't going to use? Makes no sense.
  
  I understand that misunderstandings happen, I have worked in a doctor's ****** before. But when the ****** makes a mistake, it is up to the provider to honor what they said to the patient at time of service. I asked for the prices in writing for what I would be paying prior to receiving the service. Then I was charged more than that. I would expect that at the very least you would reimburse me for the difference in the cost of the labwork as it did not match what you all gave me. Your ****** said it would cost $249+$5 venipuncture,$254. But you billed me for $192+$5+$239 for a total of $436. Reimbursing me for the $177 difference here would make sense to me.
  
  Thank you for reading. I can be reached at ************ with any questions.
  Photos are on ****** Drive here (I am unable to attach to this email, it seems)
  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DbVZ1SbSfUqo3ChitT3svX9cdj1A7F8c?usp=sharing
  
  *****************************
  
  
  
  On Mon, Oct 10, 2022 at 1:07 PM ***************************** <********************>wrote:
  Hi *******, I had to go into work after we got off the phone and won't have time during the work day to write it all down as you asked, so I will do so tonight so that your clinic manager can review once she's back tomorrow. Thanks for your help today.
  
  On Mon, Oct 10, 2022 at 10:41 AM ************************* <******************************************************>wrote:
  This message was sent securely using Zix
  
  
  Please let me know if you have any questions.
  
  Thanks.
  
  
  *************************
  Billing Analyst
  Virginia Fertility & IVF
  4100 **************
  Suite 201
  ***************,** 22911
  (p)************ Ext 4
  (f) ************
  www.vafertility.com
  
  
  PHI HIPAA Compliance Statement
  
  This communication may contain confidential Protected Health Information. This information including any attachment is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The authorized recipient of this information is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying,distribution, or action taken in reliance on the contents of these documents is STRICTLY PROHIBITED by federal law. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this transmission.
  
  
  
  
  This message was secured by ***.
  
  
  
  This message was secured by ***.

  Business response

  11/01/2022

  
  
  

  It appears I have no way of updating this complaint.  I would like for it to be documented that I was able to work with LabCorp and had the patients LabCorp bill completely wiped of any responsibility to the patient.  So she now owes $0 to Labcorp.

   

  Please let me know if you can update this ticket so you see we found a very good resolution.

   

  Thank you,

   

   

  ****************************, CPC

  Practice Manager

  Virginia Fertility & IVF

  4100 **************

  Suite 201

  ***************, ** 22911

  (p) ************

  (f)  ************

  www.vafertility.com

  Like us on Facebook  

   

  PHI HIPAA Compliance Statement

   

  This communication may contain confidential Protected Health Information. This information including any attachment is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The authorized recipient of this information is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or action taken in reliance on the contents of these documents is STRICTLY PROHIBITED by federal law. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this transmission.

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