Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/17/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I am filing a complaint for questionable conduct in response to separate 1-star ****** reviews posted by my husband and myself. The facility implied a connection between our reviews and insinuated our relationship status publicly. This action appears to be an attempt at retaliation and violates our privacy and HIPAA rights. Furthermore, my husband was never prompted by me to make a review.

  Business response

  06/18/2024

  To BBB,

  As the patient reports, her husband and herself left a 1 star ****** review for our services.

  As is public on ****** currently, here complaint was "I regret to say that my experience with this establishment was disappointing. Following a car accident and the discovery of my hEDS condition, the relationship I had built over the years quickly deteriorated. There appeared to be a noticeable change in attitude towards me, perhaps due to misunderstandings about my condition. Despite my efforts to reconcile, it seems the situation cannot be resolved, and there are lingering issues. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this place. Despite past positive interactions, it seems that personal connections and gestures are not valued as they should be in the end."

  Our response was, "Thanks for your feedback, ******. We shall review your case and see if there were any areas we could have improved on."

  According to ******'s information, an hour after ****** posted her one star review, her husband, who listed his public name (but has since edited his profile to reflect B K) also left a 1 star review without a description.

  Our response was, "Hey **** (which was public at the time), we understand your review comes on behalf of another patient. Point taken. We'll review her case and see if there were any areas of care we could have improved on."

  The 1 star reviews were submitted when ****** kindly asked if we could take her back on as a patient and we kindly refused. She resent an email indicating she was upset that we wouldn't take her back on. It was apparent that "B K"s one star review was prompted by our refusal to take ****** back on as a patient given how close apart their one star reviews were.

  We did not specifically state there was a connection between the two reviews and the two reviewers have different last names. There is no obvious connection between the two individuals, other than the quick timing in which the reviews took place. We said we would review "her" case, which is non-discrete, and does not violate HIPAA.

  However, we don't have any issues adjusting our response to the message if they have concerns about their privacy - we'd like to honor that as far as we can. We have edited our response to "B K" to say "Hey B K, we are sorry to see that you were unsatisfied with our services. We will look into your case and discuss as a team where we could have improved our services." The only remaining discerning connection is in a string of 5 star reviews, how quickly two 1 star reviews came in.

  Since we are addressing concerns, I'd appreciate if ****** and "B K" would reconsider their one star review. As they indicated in their public review, they were patients, and we provided care they were satisfied with for a significant amount of time. We received several kind letters from them and still have the small angel **** sitting on our desk - these are indicators that at one time they were satisfied with our care. In my interpretation of our time together, a one star seems disingenuous to the very subjective star rating system. 

  Customer response

  06/18/2024

   
  Complaint: 21863210
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  
  Under HIPAA, healthcare providers are required to protect the privacy of my health information, even if I have disclosed my own information publicly. The fact that I posted a review indicating that I was a former patient does not give the healthcare provider the right to disclose any additional information about my treatment or health history without my explicit consent.
  
  Even if I have publicly disclosed my status as a former patient, the healthcare provider is still bound by HIPAA regulations to safeguard my protected health information (PHI) and only disclose it in accordance with the law. The healthcare provider should not confirm or deny my status as a patient to others without my authorization, as doing so could be a violation of my privacy rights.

  Furthermore, my husband is unhappy with the lack of care he received for the infected abscess he once sought care for from ****. His review is a direct reflection of his own patent experience.

  The lack of professionalism and disregard for my husband as an independent person and former patient is offensive.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business response

  07/03/2024

  The individuals complaint and rebuttal through BBB has been reviewed. Our response on the individual's ****** review and rating acknowledges their review in a manner that does not release any of the individuals protected health information.

  Customer response

  07/03/2024

   
  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.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

*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. ↩