ComplaintsforVCU Health/ VCU Physicians

• Initial Complaint

  08/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On April 12th of this year I had an appointment with *************************. Before my appointment *** charged my credit card that I had on file $90.45. I dont know why because I have insurance. On May 2 my insurance payed the full bill. I have called **** billing department numerous times trying to get my $90.45 refunded. I have asked to speak to supervisor but no called me back. They keep telling me that it is pending.

  Customer response

  08/07/2023

  My ID is included on the document provided. Also the amount I am owed.

  

  Business response

  08/08/2023

  Good afternoon, 

   

  I'm forwarding this complaint to my billing advocate to investigate the account further and I have asked that she make contact with the patient. 

   

  Thank you, 

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

• Initial Complaint

  08/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Medical bills for my sons medical service between Feb 22 - April 22 . I received a bill in May 22 that was in**rrect for the 4 service dates ( 4/12/22 Visit #1, 2/16/22 Visit #2, 3/14/22 Visit #3 and 4/12/22 Visit #4). The bills were **ded wrong per the ins **. I started calling *** Health on 5/2/22 about the bill and explained the **ding needs **rrected and resubmitted. I was explained its the old billing system and need to wait ***** days. I have called every month since trying to get this **rrected with NO help or **rrections. In May 23 Visit #1 - 4/12/2023 was finally fixed and I owed a balance, I called *** spoke to ****** who explained that Visit #2,3,4 were still being adjusted and needed to wait ***** more days. I explained I did not want to pay visit #1 balance until the other bills were **rrected as I feared my payment would be applied wrong, she said not an problem. I received new bill in June 23 and called on 6/19, spoke to ****** who passed me to ******. She explained that bills #2,3,4 were still in **ding review and I needed to make a payment on Visit #1 or it was going to **llections. I explained my **ncerns and she promised me if I paid over the phone with her it would apply **rrectly. I paid $50 as I didn't trust it would be right. on 7/19/2023 spoke to ***** again to pay the balance of $276.68 for visit #1 ( as she promised it would be applied **rrectly) and as Visit #2,3,4 were waiting on ***************** payment now ( finally) I paid $276.68 and ****** said the payment applied wrong- $267 went to visit #3 ( which was awaiting ****** payment) and $11.68 went to visit #1, she said I needed to wait 3-5 days for the CASH **** to **rrect it. Still no **rrection, now visit #3 which should have been paid by the ins ** is no longer showing due and Visit #1 is past due and *** is sending it to **llections, BUT I paid this bill and *** applied it wrong and will NOT fix it.. Isn't 16 Months long enough to wait? How can I get help to fix this *** mess?

  

  Business response

  08/02/2023

  Good morning, 

   

  I have looped in our escalations representative and asked that she fully investigate this and work with the appropriate departments to resolve this matter. I have also asked my representative to reach out to the patient and keep her updated until this issue is fully resolved. 

   

  Thank you. 

   

  ************** 
  

  Customer response

  08/02/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's offer.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me if it is actually resolved and I am contacted to discuss the situation. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: **********************************************. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************
  
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  07/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have used *** physicians and hospital services for several health issues. I am pleased with the hospital and physician care however the billing is horrendous!Payments, whether from insurance or myself are applied to the oldest balance instead of to the specific dates of service that the payments were intended. For instance, I sent a check to pay for my emergency room copay and it was split up and applied to three different dates of service for other things. The billing statements make no sense as payments are not applied in the proper way. These statements show that I made payments which I did not, as well. I have no idea what my true balance is and I CANNOT GET AN ITEMIZED DETAILED STATEMENT FROM THEM. The website says one thing and the billing statements mailed to me say another.I called the corporate office and complained to Customer relations and the person I spoke with told me that *** contracts out their billing and that it was a mess with the current company and that they were receiving many complaints about the billing. I think she said the contract with this company was up in October of 2023. The last conversation I had with someone in billing told me that many patients were upset like me about the billing and that their system of applying payments had negatively affected the out of pocket cost calculations and deductibles for patients. If I had another choice for health care services I would go there but I live in a rural area with very little choices.I WANT A DETAILED, ITEMIZED STATEMENT SHOWING ALL DATES OF SERVICE AND ALL PAYMENTS AND WHO EXACTLY THE PAYMENTS WERE FROM. I have requested this several times and only one time did I get something but it was incomplete and incorrect.When I call billing , people I speak with seem as confused as I am. Nothing has gone into collections yet but only because I have stayed on top of it with many phone calls.

  

  Business response

  07/05/2023

  Hello, 

   

  I'm having my billing Patient Advocate investigate the complaint and asked that she reach out to speak with the patient, and asked that she send the itemized bills out that the patient needs as proof as to where the payments posted. 

   

  Have a great day. 

• Initial Complaint

  05/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have made payments on the bill that I owe but the health provider (*** Health) says they did not receive payments on the bill. I have proof, sent it to them and it is still not resolved. It has been almost six months and they still have not resolved this problem..

  

  Business response

  05/30/2023

  Good afternoon,

  The patient complaint is currently under investigation, and the patient will be followed up with in a timely manner. Our escalations agent made an outbound call to the patient to advise that she is currently working with the cash posting supervisor to locate his missing payments, and she advised that she left a message with her direct phone number to call her back. She will continue to work this complaint until it is resolved. 

   

  Thank you. 

• Initial Complaint

  04/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  *** billing is contracted I have complained about billing the wrong insurance numerous times. I advised to bill me self pay. The insurance should have been discontinued. I have told them over and over filed complaints. We to hospital for work. Filed complaint in person still no one has called. This is holding up my payment from an insurance company as a result of their mistake. I need it fixed yesterday.

  

  Business response

  04/13/2023

  Good morning, 

  Our patient advocate within the billing department made contact with the patient to address the complaint. The patient advised that she did tell registration at the facility that she needed to be billed as self pay, not to bill her insurance but her insurance was added and billed anyway. The patient is asking that we refund her insurance, and supply her with an itemized bill without insurance payment and adjustments listed. Afterwards a request was then sent by the patient advocate over to the insurance follow up supervisor to investigate, and that supervisor stated that the patient should have been asked to sign a waiver of liability during registration. Upon investigation there is no waiver of liability scanned into the patient's chart. We are in process of refunding her insurance, in order to do that a letter has been sent out to the patient's insurance asking that they recoup their funds and adjustment and we were advised this process can take up to 30 days. Once insurance performs the recoupment, then the full balance can be presented on an itemized bill as self pay. This information was communicated back to the patient on 4/12/2023, the patient requested that someone within administration at the facility reach back out to her in regards to the registration error. A  request has been made by the patient advocate in the billing department to have someone from administration at the facility to reach back out to the patient.

  Thank you. 

• Initial Complaint

  04/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Good Morning! My dad has been receiving bills for service since December of 2022. He has never been a patient of *** and hasnt signed any new patient paper. He made an appointment last year but had to cancel shortly after because of conflicts. Every time he receives a bill, we call and talk to billing and they put in requests to escalate. No reach outs, follow-*** or call backs ever. And this has been going on since December. Each month we have to explain our concerns over again. My dad should not be billed any fee for services as again he is not a patient and has never been one. We seem to be going around in circles each month with no resolution!

  

  Business response

  04/10/2023

  Good morning, 

  One of our patient advocates has made contact with the patient's daughter and communicated that we are investigating the matter. Our patient advocate will follow up again once she has an answer in regards to the current bill. 

  Thank you. 

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

  Customer response

  04/12/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's offer.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this is a start in finding a resolution to this issue. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it is satisfactory and addresses the issues leading to the complaint, will consider this complaint resolved. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: **********************************************.
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************
  
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  12/28/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I used *** Health on May 10th for a visit. I got 3 separate bills from them for $50/$2.50 and $19.96 respectively.I used Cigna my health care portal to pay them. I used Instamed through the portal. *** claimed they never received any of the 3 payments Instamed made on my behalf. Instamed refunded me the $50 and $2.50 I paid them. Instamed said they could not refund the $19.96 as *** did in fact receive that and use the funds. Merchant ID: ************ Merchant Name: PT **** HEALTH Amount Approved: $19.96 Processed Date: 06/06/22 Authorization Code: ****** Settlement Date: 06/07/22 Mastercard ending in: ******************************************************************** and said *** needs to. The last case I opened with Instamed was on 11/22/22. Case #: CASE-******** They confirmed that your payment of $19.96 was posted on June 27th. For any further questions or concerns please contact your provider directly and ask to speak with ************* patient info with *** is Guarantor #****** I have tried with no luck to call *** myself and here are the days and who I spoke with:1.August 25th - 15 minutes - ******* 2.September 20th - 34 minutes - *************************** 3.9/22 - Escalated to management 4.October 7th - No one answered but sounded like they picked up 5.October 12th - Spoke with ******* again 6.November 14th - ****** - 19 minutes Everytime I call *** they say a refund is pending or that Instamed owes me. It is a different answer every time. It is ridiculous and I would love my refund going on 7 months now. Thank you *********************

  

  Business response

  01/11/2023

  Good morning, a *** Escalations representative is currently trying to make contact with the patient regarding the complaint that way she may work with the patient to investigate and resolve the issue. The representative has advised that payments being made via Bank Pay and Instamed come to our cash posting department with limited identifiers causing the payments to sometimes not be posted. So more information will need to be requested from the patient in the form of Proof of Payment with a transaction ID listed to help us locate and post the payment. 

• Initial Complaint

  12/23/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had a surgical procedure in March of 2022. The appointments leading up to the procedure, as well as the actual day of surgery, were completely horrific. All appointments were running over 2 hours behind schedule. Since then, I've attempted to contact the billing department over the bill to settle an affordable amount to pay monthly. The asking rate from the automatic calculation was well over $300 per month. I have called and written emails to every contact on the *** website explaining the dilemma. After 6 months of no response, I paid what I could to avoid collections. Despite these payments, I was still sent to collections. When questioned about the status of my account, there was finally a response only to tell me that they refuse to remove the account from collections.

  

  Business response

  12/30/2022

  Good evening, 

  After having a senior billing specialist review the case and the account, I have found that we have exhausted all avenues as far as billing goes. The patient had voiced her concerns prior about not being able to afford the minimum monthly payment, it was advised that she could fill out for Financial Assistance, and if approved for the assistance which is based on level of household income, and number in the household, the bill would be reduced and that would lower the monthly payment amount. The patient failed to supply her husbands income documents and refused to disclose his income, so the financial application could not be completed and the balance aged to a collection agency. The patient had made a couple of payments towards the balance but was unable to agree to the terms of the monthly payment plan.

  Today our billing representative followed up with the patient to see if she could work out a payment plan with her and get the balance back from collections. ****** advised that she could no longer pay anything on the balance that she had lost her job. 

   

  Thank you. 

  Customer response

  01/03/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer and/or response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
    As previously stated, I was more than willing to agree to a monthly payment plan if it was much lower than $330/month. When I received a phone call stating that *** is apologetic for how my account was handled, I was informed that I could have set up a payment plan for $114/month. Since I have lost my job in December 2022, I have not been able to provide any money for this bill especially since it is still in collections. The lack of response from *** caused this account to age into collections and it is unacceptable to know that I could have been paying on this account if I was treated fairly. At the time of applying for financial assistance, I was still married but about to file for separation. Since I am not a person who indulges in deception, I answered every question fairly and to the best of my ability. Unfortunately, ***'s representatives do no seem to share this belief and will continue to harass me despite knowing that I was not given proper information regarding my account to avoid this interaction. The attachment is the original letter I've sent to *** via email to ***************** and ************************************************************** as well as multiple calls and requests for reconsideration.

  If there are additional inquiries, please respond only via the Better Business Bureau. Calls and emails will no longer be accepted if *** refuses to correct the actions of their billing department. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************
  
  
  
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  12/19/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My problem is with billing, specifically with a bill that has been paid by me, but *** Health says I still owe.January 17, 2022, is the date of the office visit The bill was mailed to me and paid through Bill *** from the **** of ********* *******.I have contacted the bank several times to confirm that the bill was paid, and I have the returned check that was posted by the bank.I have contacted *** Health Billing at least four time about this and they keep telling me that is has been turned over to an investigating team and that I will have to wait for that process to happen, meanwhile I am still getting bills in the mail regularly. My problem is not with the doctor, only with billing but I am including the Doctors name, ************************************************ MD.

  

  Business response

  01/11/2023

  Good morning, at this time contact has been made with the patient, and a *** Escalations representative is currently working with the patient to get the issue resolved. I will provide an update as soon as possible.

   

  Thank you. 

  Customer response

  01/17/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's offer.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:

  I have been contacted by ***************************** who is representing me with my complaint, she contacted me with a phone call on 1/11/23. I emailed her a copy of the bill pay check that was paid by the **** of ***** Side ******** and a copy of the bill from *** Health. Today is 1/17/23 and I have not heard back from her. I accepted the offer from *** Health in regard to the fact that someone is looking into my complaint, but the complaint has not been resolved. ***************************** did confirm that the email with attachments that I sent her has been received by her. 
  
  I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ******** and find that this resolution would not be satisfactory to me. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: **********************************************.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************
  
  
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  12/05/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  *** billing has been very unpleasant, and representatives answering the phone very unprofessional. Called several times trying to get a supervisor, and one never has called me back. I did not owe anything on this bill, since I payed my copay, and went within network. Cigna my insurance company at the time of this appointment finally helped me, and insured me the faxed over the proper paperwork to get this billed taken care of. Which could have been solved a long time if a *** billing supervisor would have got back in touch with me. Now I had the bill go into collections, and those annoying collection calls coming in on something I'm totally not reliable for paying. This has been a very unpleasant, and unprofessional experience from *** billing. Especially from the phone representative from *** billing from home. Noisy backgrounds, and arguments with someone in their household while talking to me. I was very surprised on the unprofessional manner of the representative, and have wondered if she even put the request for a supervisor in. This bill was from a department handling bills before 12/04/2021. I did not even know about this until a get a bill in the mail on 07/19/2022 on an appointment on 09/28/2022

  

  Business response

  12/08/2022

  Hello,

  We do offer our sincerest apologies for the unacceptable **************** that you experienced with our call center reps.  Our records indicate that you made several calls into our **************** Call ********************** and certainly your expressed concerns could have been resolved quite some time ago.  Due to that extended time frame with no resolution, your account was personally reviewed by our division manager today and she deemed it appropriate to adjust the patient portion previously billed to you.  There is now a zero balance and we have notified the collection agency that we have cleared the account.  Again, our apologies as your account and/or billing issue was not handled correctly.  We hope you find this to be satisfactory.

  Sincerely,

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

  **************** Supervisor

   

*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. ↩