Business ProfileforIsland Audiology LLC

I am a nurse practitioner from Hawaii. Island Audiology of Kailua-Kona fraudulently billed me for a deposit of over 500 dollars down payment on a hearing aid even after I contacted them and asked them to hold the deposit pending insurance authorization. My insurance covers the majority of the cost and I am/was happy to pay the balance. Instead of correcting the situation, or showing the slightest degree of professionalism towards a Hawaii medical provider served the Big Island for past 22 years, I received nasty emails and they cashed my check anyway, with not even attempting to correct the issue This leaves me with the only recourse of reporting such illegal business practice to the authorities. I am forwarding complaint to Hawaii DCCA and the Hawaii Insurance commissioner regarding their shady medical billing practices and their unwillingness to correct fraud on their part. Sincerely, Elizabeth **** APRN

Aloha- On Feb 9, 2021, the patient came to us for a hearing test and evaluation for hearing aids. We estimated that her insurance would pay just over $1600 as a benefit towards new hearing aids, leaving her with an out of pocket expense of about $4500. She agreed and paid the non-refundable deposit of $500 + tax by check, leaving a balance due at fitting of just under $4000. The pre-fitting purchase agreement, signed by both parties, can be forwarded to you. We ordered the devices and custom earpieces immediately, incurring costs for shipping and the earpieces. On Mar 17 2021 we called patient to schedule an appointment to fit the devices which had arrived. We reminded patient of the balance due, at which time she requested that we first file a claim with her insurance company for the device before she would come in to be fit. We informed her that we could not follow that practice, as it would be a fraudulent claim and in violation of the FCA False Claims Act to file that claim before actually rendering the service of dispensing the item. I do not believe that patient knew this or was asking us to explicitly violate the law; rather that she was unaware. She now seems to think we have accused her of knowingly asking us to violate the FCA, this is not the case. Patient then told our staff to cancel the order because she insisted we file the claim first. We did so, returning the devices, incurring more shipping costs. These costs for shipping and custom earpieces are part of the reason we ask for a non-refundable deposit with the device order. We deposited her initial check for the non-refundable deposit in accordance with the pre-fitting agreement, and as part of our normal banking operations. After that check was deposited, patient began hostile communication, insisting we had lied to her, hidden details of the agreement, and refused to bill her insurance company. She claims to be a veteran health care professional, but she is apparently unaware of the FCA. I have invited her to contact her insurance company directly to ask one question: is it fraudulent for a provider to file a claim before the service has actually been rendered? This one call would resolve her misunderstanding, but she refuses to call. I have asked her insurance company to call her directly now to explain. When patients return or cancel, that non-refundable deposit is not lost- we hold it in credit for that patient in case they want to try again later. We do not hold any ill will, and hope that she will be willing to listen to the authority on the question at hand- her insurance company. Please feel free to call me at 808-375-2253 with any questions, or by email.