Arthritis and Osteoporosis Center

Review: Trying to setup and appointment was extremely difficult, no returned calls after voicemails were left, finally had primary care doctor's nurse get involved for a second time and was able to get an appoint scheduled after trying for over a month. Appointment went well and they drew blood for lab test, follow up appointment was scheduled for one month later and doctor [redacted] said it wouldn't be necessary to keep if test results came back okay. Never received any calls about test results, finally called one week before follow up appointment and left voicemail since no one answers the phone typically. No return call, got flu virus two days before appointment and called in again, no answer again, left voicemail cancelling appointment and requesting a call back to reschedule or discuss test results. Two weeks go by no return call, call them again leave another voicemail, once month goes by, call them again, no answer leave voicemail. At this point I am receiving bills in the mail for over $1,0000 in services, for services that I have yet not received. Three months later, 6 voicemails later, and still no call back. At this point I have given up, I refuse to pay for something I have not received.Desired Settlement: I will never see any doctor at this poorly ran business again, would like to reduce and settle the amount I owe, pay it and be done. But do not want to pay the full amount when it is for something I never received.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com Complaint response

After an extensive review of this complaint, I have attached

the findings of this office. Please note

that all nursing and reception logs, as well as all electronically generated

tasks on this account, were reviewed.

All personnel involved in any manner were personally questioned.

Finding:

This patient was seen mid-September 2014 and subsequently

had labs drawn (the patient has the right to get their labs drawn wherever they

choose) and he was scheduled for a follow-up visit in mid-November 2014. They patient chose to get the labs drawn at

Quest Diagnostics. The lab results came

back to the doctor and the patient was sent a letter from the doctor with those

results on 10-06-14 (as recorded by the nurse that mailed them out) to the

address listed in the registration form completed by the patient. The mail was not sent certified (this is our

normal practice to send out these letters without sending them certified). The mail was not returned to our office. Any charges for lab tests would come to the

patient directly from the lab – not from our office as they are not part of our

office.

The patient left a message on 11-11-14 to cancel their 11-13-14

appointment due to illness. This was

done. There is no record of the patient

requesting lab results or asking to be called to reschedule the appointment at

that time.

No messages, tasks, or any other type of documentation was

found regarding calls and/or messages from 11-11-14 until last Thursday, January 29, 2015.

On 01-29-15 the patient called the office. His call was answered by the receptionist. He advised her that he wanted to speak to

someone about his bill and he also wanted to speak to a nurse about his test

results. She explained that she would transfer

him to the business office to discuss his outstanding balance (he requested to

speak to them first) and then the business office would transfer him to a nurse

to discuss the test results. During a

short conversation with the business office the patient became upset and hung

up on the Patient Service Representative.

There was not an opportunity to transfer him to the nurse since he had

hung up.

I understand the patient’s frustration if he, indeed, did

not receive the results that we mailed to him on October 6, 2014. We are mailing them out again and a registered nurse will be calling him to

discuss his results. It should also be

noted that he did have several additional options available to him. The labs are drawn at an independent facility

(not part of our office). Our nurse

explains to the patient that they can request a copy of their labs be sent

directly to them at the time they have their labs drawn. The lab also offers this to the patient at

the time of the draw. The lab results,

as well as a copy of the visit note, is also sent to the referring doctor so

that physician also has access to the information.

Our office works diligently on taking care of each and every

one of our patients and all departments make dozens of telephone calls each day. It is most unfortunate that he had this

negative experience.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.