Companion Animal Hospital, Inc.

To Whom It May Concern,
We are willing to refund $1093.56, the amount she wanted refunded via care credit , if she is willing to sign a settlement agreement to not pursue any further action on this matterThis document will be drawn up by our attorney who will contact the client for her signature.
Sincerely,
DrStowell-H***

[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.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*** ***

This letter is in reference to a billing dispute notification with the reference number [redacted]. The patient, owned by a client in Middleburg, PA, was presented to Companion Animal Hospital (CAH) on January 5, 2015 for a possible gastrointestinal foreign body. She was given two estimates at that...

time. One was for 24 hours of medical therapy with a range of cost of $438,64-548.32. The second estimate was for surgery with a range of  $888.12- $1148.41. The owner chose to do medical therapy rather than surgery. After completing radiographs and blood work, an attempt was made to contact the owner at 4:10 pm by Dr. Stowell-H[redacted]. A message was left on the cellphone indicating that the blood work suggested there was GI bleeding and the radiograph were strongly suggestive of an obstruction. The need for follow up radiographs the next morning was left on the cellphone.The patient's status had deteriorated by the next morning, Dr. Kubat attempted to reach the owner at 8:00am to indicate an immediate, critical need for surgery in order to save the patient's life. The owner called back at 8:25am and spoke with Dr. Kubat. The doctor told the owner that depending on the seriousness of what we might find in surgery, we may not be able to safely perform the elective procedures that were quoted in the estimate. Complications from obstruction can be Severe and we wouldn't know the extent until wo get into her abdomen. The owner agreed to proceed with surgery.Instead of being a simple straight forward single enterotomy incision and closure with one surgeon, what was found in the abdomen required two surgeons and twice the amount of time that was originally quoted on the estimate signed by the owner, The client was billed for one rather than two hours for each surgeon's time in the operating room, as a way of helping defray extra expenses. The client was billed for 120 minutes of anesthesiatime which was the actual amount of time the patient was in the operating room. There were multiple enterotomy sites and a single gastrotomy site. Due to the jejunum being dark purple in color rather than a healthy pink, additional medications were administered to stabilize the patient. The abdomen had to be flushed multiple times to limit peritonitis from occurring. All these life-saving measures had to be taken at a moment's notice. None of these complications could have been accurately predicted prior to opening the dog's abdomen.Surgery started at 10:20am and ended at 12:20pm. At 11 am, Amber R[redacted] CVT, called the ?wner to tell her that the operation was going to be much more involved and that the surgeons would not be able to safely spay, nor tack her stomach at that time. At 12:30pm, Dr. Kubat called the owner and told her that the patient's SI was very compromised and that she would require overnight care at the local emergency hospital. She was told that due to the severity of the patient's illness, additional pain medications (CRI of MLK) and antibiotics were needed. At 5:00pm Dr. Beth M[redacted] called and spoke with the client's husband to report the dog was resting comfortably, but the repeated severe bloody diarrhea was due to the compromised intestines. The surgery was complicated due to the rope toy stuck throughout the intestines. He was told that the dog won't be out of the woods for another 24 hours. The dog needs to go to AEC for overnight care. Owner said he would come pick up the patient at 6:30 pm.The patient was transferred to the local emergency hospital for continued critical care overnight. The owners were told that the prognosis was guarded. The patient lived through the night and the owner's transferred her back to our hospital the morning of January 6th, 2015 for further care. They were given an estimate for care for $267.31-$339.33. At 8:30am Dr. McCaffery spoke with client to say that the K9 looked much better that morning, we would offer water that morning and if no vomiting would try to start bland diet, if she is able to eat and hold it down we will change to oral meds and send home. At 4:30 pm 4:15 pm Dr. McCaffery spoke with client and explained that the patient was still not eating. She was drinking water, with no vomiting but the client declincdrcfcrral due to financial restrictions. Explained we would turn fluids down and give pain meds and let her rest here overnight. The following morning at 9:25am, Dr. Scheckter called to update the client's husband. The patient is brighter, we would try to send her home that evening but call about 3PM to check on progress. The patient was discharged to the owner that evening.On January 22nd, 2015. Office Manager, Beth K[redacted], called and spoke to the client about her invoice. That conversation is documented and will be attached to this letter. You will also findattached to this letter, the estimates and client invoices,Please feel free to contact us with any questions about this case,