Bellingham Surgery Center

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Insurance fraud is insurance fraud. I spoke with my insurance company today and I was reassured that the claim is still being reprocessed. The manager Pam N[redacted] is lying that she doesn't have a record of it since I provided her with the confirmation number. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

I am in receipt of your letter regarding patient complaint for billing of procedure which was not completed. My facility has been in contact with this patient multiple times. At each occasion she was hostile, rude and accused us of insurance fraud. In April I corresponded with her twice to explain...

the reason she was billed. The patient was unable to hold still during an attempted pain injection. The surgeon did not feel it was safe to continue, so cancelled the procedure. In our industry it is common practice to charge for procedures if the patient proceeds into the operating room, supplies are open, and staffing expenses have been incurred. Insurance companies, like the one used by this patient, recognize that it costs the facility most of the expense incurred for a full procedure, so pay accordingly. While I understood her frustration at owing money for a procedure she did not get, I do not generally waive what is owed unless the facility is responsible for the inability to proceed. We have copies of all correspondence from the patient’s insurance company and there was no “re-processing”; the original claim was paid with a modified procedure code for an incomplete procedure. The patient refused to pay her co-pay, which her insurance company indicated she owed.The patient contacted me again in May, and due to her continued distress I withdrew our referral to have her fees sought by collections. Please note that I did not receive your email communication to me, as you left out a letter in my email address. The ending is “surgerypartners.com”, not “surgerpartners.com”.Thank-you for your consideration,Pam N[redacted]AdministratorBellingham Ambulatory Surgery Center