Belgrade Urgent Care

Review: My mother in law was born deaf but can hear slightly with very high powered (very outdated) hearing aids. She reads lips. She lives mostly alone in the country with no internet so has asked me to be her representative in this matter. I am [redacted]. At approx. 3:00 on Oct 20,2013 [redacted] arrived at my home In Three Forks complaining of indigestion. She asked me to drive her to Belgrade Urgent care. We arrived 15mins before closing & then waited as there was a toddler ahead of us whose screams could be heard throughout the building. When it was our turn. The nurse was very nice & courteous. Before the doctor entered the room I could hear the nurse & Doc talking in the hall. They were complaining in their words "only OLD Women & Toddlers" come in at this hour. It was about 4:05 which was after closing. The doctor walked into the room without knocking. Which being a larger woman took us by surprise. She asked what was going on. We told her. She took one look at [redacted] said "your lips are white clearly you are anemic!" Stick out your tongue...white! "You could be bleeding to death somewhere internally"! The nurse had taken her vitals & they were "EXCELLENT" with no pain! The doc asked [redacted] if she had any black stools(she was looking for proof of her "bleeding to death"! [redacted] very scared at this point said "well yes sometimes they are dark"! The doctor said "you need to go to the hospital immediately"! This all took place in less than 10min! Our heads were reeling! So we signed a waiver of ambulance & I drove her to the hospital. She went on & on during the 20 min drive tortured sure she was going to die! The VERY unprofessional doctor Who clearly wanted to go home had scared her to death! She neglected to tell us WHY she could be "bleeding to death"! I kept having to assure her she was ok! At the hospital her vitals were once again EXCELLENT! It took 2 EKGs to catch that [redacted] needed a pacemaker. [redacted] has NEVER held a job has no savings or major assets or health insuranceDesired Settlement: We were told before appt & over phone typically a $93 charge(with no xrays or lab). Bill was $337! We appealed to the office manger, the doc herself (who is part owner)gave us a verbal sorry you felt things didn't go well & the billing co all of who felt comfortable keeping the charge at $337! The doc received copies of the hospital visit & was then able to justify her decision! There was NO Bleeding! We are glad we went but it was a fluke! The doc wanted to go home! Can you get charge reduced?

Business

Response:

March 11, 2014

Due to HIPAA we cannot discuss why the patient was seen at our clinic. I can only say that the provider based her decisions on supporting documentation in her chart. It was felt that the patient needed further testing that is not available in our clinic. We wanted what was best for the patient and not to order tests here and then send her to the hospital where she would get more tests ordered, many of them duplicates of what we ordered. This would drive up the costs to the patient and we did not want to do that. I was not present when this patient was in the clinic, so I can only relay that we took the complaint of the patient overhearing rude comments from the doctor and the medical technician seriously. We have strongly reminded all our employees that rude comments will not be tolerated. We also reminded our employees that partial conversations can be taken out of context when heard by patients, so they should keep their voices down. Perception is in the eye of the perceiver, so care should be taken when discussing anything with in ear shot of the patients. Personal conversations between staff members may be taken as staff discussing patients.

The issue over the charge seems to be a misunderstanding. When the patient arrived it was explained that since they were a self pay patient, they would receive a discount if they paid that day or the next morning. They stated the son would come in and pay the next day and they understood that they would lose the discount if they didn’t pay then.

There have been several phone calls between the daughter in law and staff members. By all accounts, everyone on our end was patient and nice to the daughter in law. This chart was reviewed by many team members, from billing department to the medical director to the owner. The visit was properly documented and charged. The patient did have a chance to receive the discount. This patient was treated properly by all accounts. We appreciate any feedback we get in order to improve out treatment of patients by all of the staff. We strive to make a visit to our clinic an outstanding visit. We understand that this patient did not feel satisfied and will review internally changes we can make. We will contact the patient with our evaluation.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received, your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

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.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]

Regards,

To be clear the "staff" bad mouthing the situation within ear shot included the doctor who is part owner of the facility. The discount offered for paying at time of visit was 10%. Still nothing that justifies the outrageous fee! Over $300 for a 15 min appointment to listened to [redacted]'s heart and take her pulse. The doctor DID tell us they were unable to run more test for which we clearly understood (I told the Revdex.com this verbally 3/18/14 as there was not enough room on the original complaint form). I am honest and felt all the facts should be included. The off the cuff comments made by the doctor such as "clearly she could be bleeding to death somewhere internally" were unprofessional and unrelated to anything actually going on! Not elaborating on these comments even more unprofessional! I am a 45 year old woman and my mother in law is 64 we are mature adults that can make reasonable decisions when given the facts. Instead we were scared into the next step. Talking to the doctor after the fact she was able to support her action. She had read the hospital file and would drop this information into our conversation supporting her decisions as though she had KNOWN! AND TRUST ME SHE DIDN"T! REMEMBER according to her [redacted] was bleeding internally!!!!! We did responsibly and actively talk to several staff members about the outrageous charge and again they felt comfortable with their decision. They have taken the ENTIRE personal experience out of their clinic and made it about marking the "correct" box on the billing form. Its all business! The office manager that delivered the last message of "we are standing firm on our charge decision" ..honestly gotta hand it to her also. She had no compassion and you could hear the smile through the phone. Like she was getting the best of us. Whatever becomes of this issue...the doctor KNOWS what took place and if shes happy with the way she conducted herself and how her operation is being ran then so be it. She must really be needing every penny she can collect! Tell ya what our community is a very small close knit community. Most work very hard for the low incomes they earn. And maybe the public should be made aware of the very real outrageous charges being charged by the Belgrade urgent care. Maybe they should know the very real treatment of an over 60 year old deaf woman and how unprofessional etc she was treated. I'm thinking since these are true accounts not made up I am okay with contacting the editorial section of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. And I am comfortable doing so just as you are to make the decision to operate the way you are! Thank you for your time. By the way I will state once more for the record I have raised two children in the Belgrade community. Our primary physicians were at the Belgrade urgent care because they were competent and reasonably priced. That was previous owners.