Apria Healthcare

Thank you for contacting Apria Healthcare regarding your billing experience. After a review of your account, we would like to apologize for any miscommunication you received regarding the rental of your respiratory equipment. Your insurance contracts for a 10 month rental with maintenance and services fees billed every 6 months after the 10th month has billed. You would be responsible for any balances not covered by the insurance or amounts processed and applied towards your yearly deductible. A monthly charge is billed in the amount of $58.84 for the rental of the CPAP unit. This would be billed to you if no payment from the insurance is received.
 
We welcome all patient feedback as this provides us with a valuable insight into our services from the patient’s perspective which allows us to coach our customer service representatives on the importance of verifying the details of an order accurately,  as it has done in this case.
 
Sincerely,
 
Apria Healthcare LLC

Item # 1:  Ms. [redacted] states that she began using the CPAP Unit in October 2013 and was initially told that a 3 month monitoring period was required & would be billed to the insurance during that timeframe. Ms. [redacted] was also informed that after the 3 month timeframe, she would have the...

option to purchase the CPAP Unit. Ms. [redacted] stated that the three month of compliance testing was completed & then she was informed that she would need an additional three months for compliance monitoring. During the additional three months, Ms. [redacted]’s insurance coverage changed as well. Ms. [redacted] states that she has requested an itemized statement of the account. Ms. [redacted] mentioned that she made an agreement over the telephone to pay $50.00 per month while waiting for the requested information.  RESPONSE: Ms. [redacted] received the CPAP Unit on November 11, 2013 while she was covered under [redacted] insurance which we billed through [redacted]. In regards to the compliance timeframe, as of February 27, 2014 we were notified that the authorization was extended for an additional three months of compliance and not purchase the equipment therefore we were not able to convert the equipment to sale at that time. Due to contractual agreements in regards to compliance monitoring, we must have purchase authorization from the insurance company to bill for the remaining purchase price. Per the account Ms. [redacted] contacted Apria on June 3, 2014 to inform Apria Healthcare of her new insurance coverage, [redacted] that became effective on March 1, 2014 which was verified and added to Ms. [redacted]’s account. Per the contract with [redacted] of Kansas, they only purchase the CPAP Unit’s and do not require rental period prior to purchase.  In regards to the amount of $656.57 that is currently in collections for the June 1, 2014 date of service for the purchase of the CPAP Unit under [redacted]. We submitted the claim to the insurance company on June 18, 2014 and received a response from [redacted] on July 23, 2014 stating that the amount of $565.26 was being applied to Ms. [redacted]’s annual deductible with [redacted]. The account in collections was placed on a 30 day hold as of March 11, 2015 pending further review of Ms. [redacted]’s account. Per our records an itemized statement was mailed out to Ms. [redacted] as well.  A payment of $141.31 was made by the patient for coinsurance for the purchase of the CPAP Unit & then an additional amount of $75.00 was paid on two separate occasions. Apria Healthcare did process a payment in the amount of $490.26 to Ms. [redacted]’s credit card which was later refunded to Ms. [redacted] being that the payment was not authorized by Ms. [redacted].  In addition to the refund that was sent to the Ms. [redacted], the credit card company recouped an additional amount of $316.31 on January 21, 2015, which actually only leaves an amount of $50.00 that was paid toward the purchase invoice from June 2014 for the purchase of the CPAP Unit.    We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.    Sincerely,   [redacted]Patient Pay Management Center Lead

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
My apologies.  I do not check email very often and have noticed the reply is closed. But if it is not to late I would like to reply. When I called Apria, all I heard from them, was I authorized auto-bill, which I did not, From there the representative kept repeating how much I owe them.  I asked for a statement and received a copy of accounts receivable. It looked like an internal document, not a statement. There wasn't much of an explanation there. It didn't match what they charged my card it didn't explain anything except what was shipped and the costs.  All that was shipped was refused by me as per Apria's instructions.  To this day I have not received a statement of account from Apria.  I never received anything in writing explaining what the charges were for, what I was credited for, what was paid or anticipated to be paid by the medical insurance.  I have received a credit on my credit card because I disputed the charges with the bank, not because Apria refunded the charge.  The communication from Apria and how they bill, needs a lot of work.
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
APRIA has not responded to my complaint regarding the 5/19/2015 statement indicating for the first time that payments from 5/10/204 through 9/04/2014 (OVER A YEAR AGO) in the amount of $128.93 were due IMMEDIATELY. I contacted APRIA to dispute the charges and to get an explanation as to why year old charges suddenly appeared on the 5/19/2015 statement for the FIRST time as past due. An explanation was never given and my account was sent to a collection agency. As a consumer I was forced to pay APRIA and received assurances from them the collection agency would not report this incident to the credit agencies. APRIA was to send me a letter documenting this which to date I have not received. APRIA would only adjust my account with full payment of the statement balance, without explanation of the year old charges, which I provided. APRIA's business practices have to be in violation of consumer protection laws when they can arbitrarily bill customers from dates as far back as years without any prior notice and deem them past due, sending them to collection agencies ruining peoples excellent credit. APRIA takes no accountability for its ABYSSAL, FRAUDULENT,  BILLING PRACTICES. This is a company that should be on every states Attorney Generals radar and investigated by the FCC.I AM REQUESTING THAT APRIA SEND ME THE RETRACTION LETTER SENT TO THE COLLECTION AGENCY THAT I WAS PROMISED AND TO REFUND ME THE MONEY THAT WAS PAID FOR 2014 CHARGES USED AS A TACTIC TO DISPARAGE MY CREDIT RATING.
Regards,
[redacted]

We have reviewed patient account and confirmed that she received the noninvasive ventilator machine (BIPAP) on August 30th, 2016. Our BIPAP department spoke with patient’s daughter on September 1st, 2016
and stated patient was unable to use the unit because her sats kept dropping too low and...

requested a new machine and our customer service team requested that patient be contacted by our respiratory therapist. Patient was approved for a 100% waiver from August 30, 2016 through February 30, 2016 pending the return of signed financial assistance form which was due back by September 13th, 2016.  We received the
signed financial assistance form information on August 31st, 2016, however, the file was damaged and could not be opened to be reviewed therefore, we mailed another form to patient on September 23, 2016 in order for the financial assistance approval process to be completed. The patient's equipment was picked up on September 27, 2016. At this time, the patient's account reflects an open balance of $211.05 for date of service August 30th, 2016 for the rental of the noninvasive ventilator machine (BIPAP).We do apologize for
the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.
 
Sincerely,
Apria Healthcare LLC

We have confirmed that the patient received a bipap July 08, 2016. Medicare paid the first ninety days during the trial period and has particular guidelines pertaining to Respiratory Assist Device policy. Providers are required to obtain additional documentation from the physician for patients...

using this therapy. Medicare require a statement of use and benefit of the machine to be completed following 60 days of treatment. The statement must indicate the date of evaluation and check the box stating whether the patient is using the device for an average of four hours per twenty four hour period and benefitting from its use or is not benefitting from usage. We have received this form twice from the physician in which the first one received, he didn’t choose either option and the second he chose both options. This statement was non-compliant with Medicare guidelines and the patient was sent an advanced beneficiary notice advising that Medicare may not cover the bipap machine November 21, 2016. We could not bill the patient prior to providing this form so adjustments were made for dates after the first ninety days and prior to receiving the advanced beneficiary notice. The patient will continue to be billed with a Medicare denial until the compliant documentation has been received. We believe all appropriate steps have been taken to resolve this matter and apologize for the inconvenience.   Sincerely,  Apria Healthcare, LLC

We have reviewed the patients account and confirmed that he received the durable medical equipment on April 25, 2016, and at the time of initial setup, he provided his credit card information. The credit card was placed on file but was not attached to automatically bill as recurring for services...

not covered by the insurance. Therefore, due to non-payment the invoices automatically rolled to collections after being outstanding for nine months. The invoices are now placed with State Collections amount $288.82 and they can be reached at 1.866.372.7141 for payment options. Once payment is made, they can provide the patient with a letter as confirmation that the information has been removed from his credit report is applicable. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.     Sincerely,  Apria Healthcare, LLC

Item # 1:Mr. [redacted] states that he has two insurance plans and has been told in the past that he has no charges for his Apria equipment. Mr. [redacted] request that we prevent his account from being sent to collections & remove any previous invoices that have been forwarded. Mr. [redacted] has also requested a specific contact to directly work with him to see that the account has been corrected.In conclusion, Mr. [redacted] asks that all contact with him will cease regarding new business.  RESPONSE:After full review of Mr. [redacted]’s account, It was confirmed that Mr. [redacted] contactedApria [redacted] on June 20, 2014 to inform of his new insurance coverage.When Mr. [redacted]’s insurance with [redacted] was verified, we were informed that he also had other commercial insurance. Apria [redacted] is taking the steps to correctMr. [redacted]’s account. In regards to Mr. [redacted]’s account, at this time there is no open balance. All balances are currently pending with Mr. [redacted]’s [redacted] plan. Apria [redacted] has also removed the telephone numbers on file from all dialers to cease any future calls being placed to Mr. [redacted].  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing. Sincerely,[redacted]Patient Account Resolution Team Lead

We have reviewed the patients account and confirmed that all payments received by him have been applied to his account. The last payment that reflects being applied to his account was November 30, 2017, therefore may not reflect payments that were recently made. We reached out to the patient’s...

spouse and provided a direct contact to assist with reviewing payments made and to assist with other issues that may require assistance. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.   Sincerely,   Apria Healthcare, LLC

We have confirmed that the patient has been billed for service dates August 28, 2015 and December 7, 2015 for cpap supplies. The patient’s insurance denied the claims due to authorization was not obtained.  Per directive it is our policy to bill the patient for this denial, however the contract...

with the insurance is in review and Apria Healthcare has requested a review of her account as well to see if an adjustment can be made. Upon review the patient will be notified by Apria Healthcare. The patient isn’t set for auto shipping of supplies, a form must be filled out in order to receive supplies automatically and she requested this form April 12, 2016 previous orders have been made by phone. The patient called January 11, 2016 to place an order for new style of mask and was informed that she was not eligible at that time. Unfortunately we can’t give the patient a direct number to a customer service representative due to being a call center and calls are answered in order received. We do apologize if this is an inconvenience.
 
Sincerely,
 
Apria Healthcare LLC

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
I reject the reply by this...

company because I have never been told the details of WHAT I am being billed for.  I wrote my insurance carrier months ago. At that time, they reasonably requested that I send them the Invoice detailing what the company is asking me to pay for:  which I should have received from this company as a matter of normal bill collection. I have never been informed as to what I am being billed for.  In fact, I have never been given a written agreement to accept or decline as to what this company sends me every three months. Hence, I duly request a detailed list of supplies and the cost thereof for each of their supply deliveries. I also request a full report of what they have billed my insurance for during 2015, including the dates they were refused payment by my insurance.  If my insurance did not cover some items which they sent me in 2015, and yet continued to send me those supplies, I consider that the company’s responsibility. I have No agreement with them as to what they consider mandatory supplies.  The company should not have continued to send me the supplies which my insurance refused to pay for.  I am extremely disturbed by the fact the company sent these NON-Invoiced, unpaid bills to a collection agency since this will adversely affect my credit scores.
Regards,
[redacted]

Apria strives to provide the highest level of service to our patients. During our review of your account, we have determined the $33.73 payment for the patient’s copay did not post in Apria’s system to remove the balance until 2/18/2016 which was two days after the normal statement date. This caused...

the patient to receive a statement two days prior to payment posting, the patient has no balance due at this time.
In addition, we apologize for the misinformation provided about the warranty of your respiratory equipment. Equipment warranty information is based on the manufacturer warranty. We continue to educate our customer service staff to provide complete and accurate information regarding the products and services we provide.
Thank you for taking the time to bring your concerns to our attention. We welcome all patient feedback as this provides us with a valuable insight into our services from the patient’s perspective which allows us to make service improvements, as it has done in this case.
Sincerely,
Apria Healthcare LLC

We have reviewed patient account and confirmed that patient was billed in error for the charge of $53.12; therefore our billing team has entered an adjustment for the outstanding balance and patient is no longer responsible for the charge. At this time patient account reflects a zero balance as the...

account is paid in full. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Apria Healthcare LLC

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
I don't know why Apria Healthcare is telling you that I have a zero balance because just yesterday I got a message from them indicating that I had received two bill-backs on that amount and still owe them $124.08.  Since I c[redacted]ot call in and speak directly to the person who did the investigation, I don't know how to deal with this.  They are asking for my [redacted] statements to prove that they did not refund this money twice.  When I investigated, it does look like there were two refunds, which I did not realize at the time because in August, the credit card company provisionally refunded the money and then in September Apria Healthcare refunded it again.  I thought the second notification of the refund was just the credit card company making the provisional refund final.It may be that I owe them $124.08, but I don't understand why they did not let me know that the amount had been mistakenly refunded twice and that they needed me to pay them again.  Instead, I just got bills for that amount and whenever I called to check on it, I was told it was taken care of and not to worry about it.  Then in March, I got a bill that said they had sent me to collections for that amount.  I don't understand, why when Apria Healthcare made a mistake they did not communicate that with an explanation and work it out with me.  Instead they sent me to collections.  I am willing to pay them the $124.08 again if I truly still owe it to them but I not until someone at the company to gives me the name and the phone number for the collections agency they sent me to so I can check to find out what the status is on the collection and whether this has been reported to credit bureaus.  If it has, I expect Apria Healthcare to get this corrected.  It is not my fault if Apria Healthcare employees are not properly trained and make mistakes like this one.  Once I know that my credit has not been impacted (or if it has that Apria Healthcare has corrected this with the credit bureaus) and Apria can prove that they did indeed refund the money twice I will be willing to make the payment of $124.08.  I have spend at [redacted]st 40 hours on the phone over the past several months trying to get this resolved, each time being told it was handled.  Now they tell you it I have a zero balance and tell me I still owe them the money.  I really don't know if they are dishonest or just incompetent.I would like to speak with someone from Apria Healthcare at a scheduled time to work this out.  I talked to a representative named [redacted] there on Wednesday and she promised me that either she or her supervisor [redacted] would call me back either Wednesday or Thursday.  They did not call me until Friday when I was out of my office.  I c[redacted]ot simply sit by the phone waiting for them to decide to talk to me.  When I call in to their Billing Specialist line, I c[redacted]ot reach the same person twice and each time I call I have to wait on hold between 30 and 90 minutes to speak to someone.  It seems to me, that the only way to work this out is to schedule a call.
Regards,
[redacted]

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for taking the time to convey your concerns to us and to apologize for any miscommunication on our part that may have resulted in your concern. After another review of your records, we have confirmed that the initial authorization for your respiratory equipment was for a rental. However, we have since received the required documentation to submit your equipment to be converted to a purchase.   We greatly appreciate you for taking the time to bring your concerns to our attention. We welcome all patient feedback as this provides us with a valuable insight into our services from the patient’s perspective which allows us to make service improvements, as it has done in this case.   Sincerely,  Apria Healthcare LLC

We would like to apologize for the level of customer service you recently experienced regarding your respiratory supplies.  After a review of your records, we confirmed you were sent the respiratory supplies in error. The customer service agent informed you that the outstanding balance of...

$103.03 has been removed from your account and you are no longer responsible for the balance.  Apria prides itself in providing excellent customer care, and in this situation, it has given us an opportunity for coaching to ensure this does not happen again.   Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or challenges this issue may have caused you. We greatly appreciate you for taking the time to bring your concerns to our attention. We welcome all patient feedback as this provides us with a valuable insight into our services from the patient’s perspective which allows us to make service improvements, as it has done in this case.   Sincerely,     Apria Healthcare LLC

We have confirmed that the portable gas system was returned December 31, 2015 and replaced with a portable oxygen concentrator. The equipment was still listed in the system which continued to bill. All previous charges have been reversed and adjusted from the patient’s billing. The balance of $48.56...

consisted of billings for two months, however $3.76 was billed for the portable system for July 9, 2016 and August 9, 2016. An adjustment has already been done for $3.76 for July 2016 and another adjustment is being done for $3.76 for August 2016. The equipment has been placed in a pickup status to remove from the system and discontinue billing. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.
 
Sincerely,
Apria Healthcare LLC

We have confirmed that the patient’s credit card was set for auto pay. Each month the oxygen concentrator bills $112.00 with a copay of $22.40 billed to the patient and $89.60 to insurance. The oxygen stationary is at no charge with the concentrator. Patient's physician was not enrolled in...

Medicare’s Pecos system causing her account to be billed self-pay for the dates of August 10, 2015, September 10, 2015, and October 10, 2015. She was charged $179.20 for August and September 2015. October 2015 was billed the correct self-pay price of $186.78 instead of the insurance allowable of $112.00 for the concentrator and the stationary for total charge of $373.56. The physician has been updated and a payment reversal has been done to bill the insurance. Unfortunately payments made towards the insurance portion of $89.60 for months August, September, and October totaling $268.80 will be refund only after the insurance pays. The remaining $261.56 will be refund immediately. We believe that we have taken all appropriate steps to resolve this problem to the patient’s satisfaction.

Desired Settlement: To never hear back from their company again. The calls must stop!    RESPONSE: Mr. [redacted] has been removed from any further automated calls or contact from Apria Healthcare per the request. Any system that would prompt these automated calls have...

been disabled on his account.  Sincerely,[redacted]Customer Service SupervisorApria Healthcare

Item # 1:  Patient stated her account has been marked as resolved but she received another phone call from Apria Healthcare.RESPONSE: We have reviewed patient's account and confirmed that her telephone number has been removed from our automated dialer system in order to discontinue the calls to her. I have sent another request to our automated dialer system team requesting they review this to confirm if additional steps should be taken to ensure this issue is resolved. We do apologize for the inconvenience as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.