Aurora Health Care, Inc.

Revdex.com of Wisconsin
March
RE: Aurora Health Care complaint ***
Revdex.com,
We have been unable to reach *** regarding her complaint so the attached letter has been sent to her. Our records indicate the disputed billed amount of $was applied to
***'s deductible by her insurance and if she were to compare the bill to her explanation of benefits it would confirm this information alsoPlease accept this notice as our attempt to resolve this matter

Revdex.com of Wisconsin
November
RE: Aurora Health Care complaint ***
Revdex.com personnel,
We have spoken to *** regarding her complaint and informed her of the steps we have taken to resolve it but ultimately, the $balance in question remains
There is no
disagreement that her husband *** came to Aurora as a new patient looking to establish care with a doctor but the details of ***'s visit also contains record of in-depth discussion between he and the doctor of ***'s weightAs explained to ***, the coding for a doctor visit is based on the details of the visit itself and not just the scheduled reason for the visit. In this case, since there was a lengthy discussion of ***'s weight and associated factors, the coding is correct and can't be changedIt must also be stated that it is both unethical and illegal for a health care provider to code a visit for the sole purpose of payment from an insurance company
Based on the findings of our professional coding review we appealed the denied claim, provided medical records to their insurance for reconsideration and follow up with their insurance by phone but despite those efforts the denial was upheld*** was given this information and encouraged to file an appeal separate from Aurora'sShe was also given the option of an interest free payment plan to pay the balance over time; she agreed to the appeal but declined the payment plan offer without indicating if payment would be made
Having exhausted our options with their insurance and presenting all remaining options to ***, we respectfully consider this matter to be resolved and ask for the complaint to be closed

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
What a sub-standard way to conduct business I manage a small business and am happy to say that I don't settle for this kind of thinking So I will not agree that this is resolved or ok
Regards,
*** *** ***

Revdex.com of Wisconsin
April
RE: Aurora Health Care complaint ***
Revdex.com,
*** has been contacted regarding this complaint and was receptive to the information given to herShe says *** took too much Benadryl and went to the ER as a result but the visit was
coded as a physical and thus denied by her insurance
After we were contacted in February with concerns for the hospital coding, a review was completed by our professional coding staff; their results confirmed the coding was correct on the initial insurance claimWe also spoke to personnel from the insurance and per their request sent records for ***'s visitThe insurance conducted their own review but eventually upheld denial of the claim
*** acknowledged law enforcement removed *** from her home but *** also disclosed to them that he took the Benadryl in an attempt to harm himself* disputes this intent and says she will follow up with both the insurance and police department but based on this documented information, her insurance won't cover the visit and *** will remain the responsible partyWe are happy to offer her the option of an interest free payment plan so the balance can be paid over time but that is the sole option availableThe account is in good standing but if a payment plan isn't established soon or if the balance isn’t paid, this account will eventually be placed with an external collection agency

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
There were two charges for the visit in question: the "office visit" and the "surgery" charge which was later explained to me as "global fracture care." The second was actually $1,021. There simply and emphatically was no "care" provided. The doctor looked at the x-ray, confirmed the metatarsal was broken and sent me on my way. The entire encounter lasted ten minutes. There was no "application of first cast or splint" and there was no follcare as is supposedly included in the global fracture care charge. Neither the doctor nor anyone else touched my foot. The ten-minute appointment seems adequately billed as "office visit."
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com of Wisconsin
December
RE: Aurora Health Care complaint ***
Revdex.com personnel,
There was a significant delay in receiving this complaint due to it being filed initially with the Revdex.com of IllinoisWe are happy to inform you however that this matter had already
been resolved
A refund totaling $was processed for ***'s account back on October The complaint wasn't received until December but we did attempt to reach *** by phone to ensure the refund was receivedUnfortunately we have been unable to make contact with her but since the refund was given and there's been no additional contact from her, we respectfully ask that this complaint be closed

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
The only reason I have rejected the response from Aurora is that I don't want this complaint to be filed as "satisfied" with the Revdex.com. I understand that taking on a giant like Aurora and the medical establishment is futile and I expect and request no further response from Aurora as their justifications for screwing the public only serve to infuriate me.
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
And as I have previously stated, that is not good enough. So essentially what you are saying is that if I hadn't paid the bill you would negotiate with me, but since I have you don't care. Well, I have a current bill due and I will be taking the $out of that balance to cover the difference of that bill. No worries.
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
When I spoke to the representative on the phone from Aurora, he assured me that my payment arrangement would be honored by the COLLECTION AGENCY that these accounts have turned over to.today I received my first bills from Alliance Business Services For my husband's account, where the payment arrangement was $per month, and I was paying $per month, They are charging me $per month I can handle that that is what I was paying For myself, where I was paying $per month as per our payment arrangement, This company is charging me $ It seems to appease me, that I was told what I wanted to hear I was told that my payment arrangement would be honored My expectation is that this will be rectified, and that there will be a conversation held between the gentleman who phoned me and Alliance Business Services, and that my payment arrangements will indeed be honored as I was told
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com of WisconsinSeptember 1 2016RE: Aurora Health Care complaint [redacted]Revdex.com personnel,This complaint has several complex factors but we believe this matter has been addressed.David and his son have the same first and last names with [redacted] designation separating them. [redacted]....

filed the complaint and is not an Aurora patient. [redacted]. is an Aurora patient with an Aurora billing account but his account contained pertinent information for [redacted]. Due to this information, [redacted]. says his credit has been negatively effected and believes Aurora is both responsible for the error and correcting it. If an account has an unpaid balance, it will go through our standard process which ultimately includes placement with a third party collection agency if necessary. While it is accurate that [redacted].'s credit was impacted it must be stated that Aurora merely utilized the information on file provided by [redacted].To ensure this matter is resolved, we have notified the external collection agency to update their records accordingly. The collection agency will also notify the credit bureau to remove the charges in question from [redacted].'s credit report and send him a letter for his own records.We have contacted [redacted]. and given this same information to him. Unfortunately however, despite these efforts he was not convinced that this matter will be resolved. [redacted]. says he has made several efforts including coming to an Aurora office in person to address this matter and thus he remains skeptical. In that regard it must be respectfully stated that patients share a responsibility to ensure accurate billing and as such, [redacted]. has regrettably provided little assistance with this matter.We have record of a signed document from [redacted]. verifying the information initially provided was accurate. When Aurora was contacted by [redacted]. to dispute the information on his credit report, several attempts were made to contact [redacted]. but no return contact was received. By his own admission, [redacted]. contacted Aurora more than [redacted]. though he had no definitive reason why.Having provided this detail explanation there is no further action that [redacted]. needs to take at this time. He will soon receive the written confirmation from the collection agency referenced earlier that he is again welcome to keep for his records. We only ask that he allow time for the credit bureau information to be updated. Please accept this response as our confirmation that his complaint has been successfully resolved.

This complaint was received in our office and we have sent an acknowledgement letter and release consent to Christopher.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
I understand the billing department is saying there is nothing they can do at this point. And I appreciate them ensuring my bill is not sent to third party collections. However, I do not intend to accept that my visit cannot be recoded as a physical. The record from my visit clearly states as the first thing on the page that I was there for a physical. Two nurses and two office employees have verified this to me. I was told a complaint would be filed on my behalf with Aurora Administration by the Account Specialist I spoke with on June 5. She said a supervisor would be required to contact me. Today is June 17 and I have had no contact or confirmation that a complaint was actually filed. If the complaint does not result in recoding my visit, I will be consulting an attorney. 
Regards,
[redacted]

This complaint has been received and we have sent an acknowledgement letter and release consent to Julie.

Revdex.com of WisconsinOctober 23 2015RE: Aurora Health Care complaint [redacted]Revdex.com,We have contacted [redacted] to address his concern and wanted to provide an update.To quickly recap, [redacted] went to our DePere clinic for an urgent care visit and his benefits would leave him with a $50 co-pay responsibility...

if the visit is billed to his insurance as urgent care. [redacted] paid $50 upon arrival but the visit was billed as an office visit instead of an urgent care visit and his insurance assessed the charge to his deductible.The medical definition of an urgent care facility is defined as:"Location, distinct from a hospital emergency room, an office, or a clinic, whose purpose is to diagnose and treat illness or injury for unscheduled, ambulatory patients seeking immediate medical attention" The facility [redacted] went to does provide the services mentioned above but that facility also has patients with scheduled appointments. Due to those appointments, that facility does not meet the definition of urgent care so it legally cannot bill as such to an insurance company. Signage is present at the clinic to inform patients of the billing process and [redacted] has now been informed of this as well.To help resolve this issue, we have sent additional records to his insurance to reconsider the claim and [redacted] indicated he filed his own appeal also. The balance will remain while we wait for a response from his insurance but we will take no collection activity against his account. At this time there is no further action needed from [redacted] and we will follow up with him when his insurance does respond. He was in agreement with this course of action so please accept this response to his concern.

Revdex.com of WisconsinSeptember 27 2016RE: Aurora Health Care complaint [redacted]Revdex.com,Our office is aware Jeffrey rejected the response to his complaint but the information it contained was accurate.In both the original complaint and the rejection of our last response, Jeffrey stated his son should receive a full refund on the $493 charged for removing a splinter. When contacted by phone he repeated his concern that the charge was excessive and asked what could be done about it; our mention of a partial refund was simply to reference that Jeffrey was seeking something in monetary terms to be returned.Unfortunately, we understand that it is unlikely that there will be a mutual understanding with Jeffrey regarding the charge in question. We have informed him that Aurora's fees are not negotiable and informed him that our fees are not set by any one person. We do fully acknowledge that the charge to remove his son's splinter was likely greater than expected but there was no attempt on our part to gouge his son. Every effort is made to keep our costs as low as possible which directly benefits our patients.As stated in our previous response this disputed balance has already been satisfied by Jeffrey and or his son. If he wishes to continue this dispute it is his right to do so but it must be said again that there is no wrong doing on Aurora's part. A service was provided to his son and he was billed for it accordingly. At this time we again respectfully ask the Revdex.com to close this complaint.

Complaint [redacted] was received in our office yesterday March 1. Our acknowledgement letter and consent form was mailed to the complainant [redacted] today.[redacted]Aurora Health CareCustomer Service Representative III3301 W. Forest Home Ave

Revdex.com of WisconsinJuly 8 2016RE: Aurora Health Care complaint [redacted] Revdex.com, We have contacted James regarding his complaint and believe this matter has been addressed.As stated in his complaint, James had a balance he was making incremental payments on and that balance was placed with...

a third party collection agency. He was under the impression that sending payment on the balance would prevent collections from happening but regrettably, he was mistaken.In our billing system, once a patient has a balance it will be billed to them for a minimum of four consecutive months. After the first bill statement, all following statements will include a message that the account is past due and encourage the patient to either pay the balance in full or contact us to establish a payment plan. The bill statement message is Aurora's way of notifying patients of the possibility of collections and after four months, any remaining balance after any payments received will be placed with an external agency.James understood the explanation given to him to but was disappointed that the account will remain in collections. He acknowledged getting monthly bill statements but didn't think setting up a payment plan was necessary. James has also been in contact with the collection agency regarding arrangements but remained concerned that he may not be able to pay off the balance before his credit is impacted; something neither he nor Aurora can confirm at this time.Please accept this response as we respectfully ask for this complaint to be closed.

This complaint has been received and the consent release has been mailed to the patient.

Revdex.com of Wisconsin
April 10 2015
RE: Aurora Health Care complaint [redacted]
 
Revdex.com personnel,
 
[redacted] has been contacted regarding her complaint and an attempt was made to clarify and explain the billing for this visit but unfortunately [redacted] didn't accept it.
The location [redacted]...

went to in September 2014 is a walk up clinic that is capable of providing urgent care service but it is not a free standing urgent care clinic. That specific location is a satellite location of, and owned by St. Luke's hospital and as such, a visit there is billed as visit to St. Luke's. There is signage present at the clinic to inform patients of this and patients are also encouraged to review their coverage benefits. The $170.05 in question was assessed by [redacted]'s insurance to her deductible and payment in that amount was received March 10 2015.
Despite these efforts [redacted] continues to believe that Aurora took advantage by not disclosing how the visit would be billed. She insists no one told her she would be charged for a hospital visit and eventually said she had to leave and ended the call.

Revdex.com of WisconsinSeptember 13 2016RE: Aurora Health Care complaint [redacted] Revdex.com personnel, We aware that [redacted]. has rejected our response to his complaint but the information previously presented still stands. [redacted]. still insists that it is Aurora's responsibility to correctly bill our patients and on that point we agree with him. However, he refuses to acknowledge the increased probability of error when dealing with different individuals with the same name. [redacted]. is also not acknowledging the role his son had in this matter.While we fully acknowledge that some of [redacted].'s information was inadvertently used for [redacted].'s billing, [redacted].'s billing account is protected by the same HIPAA laws as all other Aurora patients. As such, we are limited by the information that can be released without [redacted].'s written consent. This explanation was previously given but bears repeating since we cannot legally do what [redacted]. is asking. Similarly, as explained in our previous response, the collection agency would be the entity that provides written confirmation of the credit bureau removing the Aurora information from [redacted].'s credit report. We have verified that this step has been completed and [redacted]. should have this documentation now.Lastly, with respect to both [redacted]. and [redacted]. we still have no record of contact from [redacted]. despite our attempts to reach him. By his own admission [redacted]. has contacted Aurora by phone, in person and it was him who ultimately filed this complaint but he has not addressed or acknowledged the non-response from [redacted].With this response we again respectfully ask the Revdex.com to close this complaint. There is no further action [redacted]. needs to take on this matter as we are confident this has been resolved.