Blue Ridge Internal Medicine

Per your request for a response to customer complaint ID# [redacted] , we wish to present the facts leading to the dismissal of the complainantThis person has had a history of untimely payments for services rendered at our officeThe first delinquency was in May for a patient balance of $ Her insurance had paid and applied this amount to her responsibilityAfter several billing statements and two letters (see attached), the patient paid $on April 22, 2013--eleven months after her insurance had paidShe was compliant with payments for services rendered until April 13, She paid $at the time of service, however, her responsibility after insurance paid was $This was the visit she referenced in her statement "Ever since, I have owed Blue Ridge Internal Medicine money for the test I had done." This $balance was eventually paid on October 21, after several billing statements and speaking with our billing departmentOn this same date, she agreed to pay $per month towards her outstanding balance of $from dates of service 5/19/16, 6/17/16, 8/16/16, 9/23/16, and 10/21/However, after making this payment arrangement, she failed to make payment for the months of November and December She had since been seen on 11/23/She has then been seen on dates of service 1/3/17, 2/9/17, and 2/16/17, increasing the balance due from her to an additional $Her visits of 3/13/and 4/14/are currently pending insurance paymentOur billing department spoke with her again on January 3, regarding her delinquent balanceThe patient requested to reduce the original payment of $per month to $per month which was agreed upon by both partiesShe made $payments on 1/3/17, 2/9/17, 2/23/($payment) and 3/13/as she picked up her prescriptions.On April 13, the patient came into pick up her monthly prescription and was told by our receptionist she needed to make her April payment of $I have attached the inner office message sent to Dr [redacted] regarding her behaviorAs indicated in the message, the patient became irateThis episode was witnessed by the receptionist, the billing clerk and several patients in our waiting room.We have tried to work with this patient to accommodate her financial boundaries and maintain a positive outcome for both partiesWe feel $per month is reasonable and she had agreed to this budget amountAs she has presented her $on her monthly visits from January through March 2017, she realizes this payment is necessary each time she comes in for her prescriptionHer behavior and demeanor were unnecessary and cannot be tolerated when we have diligently tried to work with her on her paymentsAt this time, she has a balance due of $266.65.Unfortunately, the patient has tried to make this a personal issue between herself and our billing clerkWe have full confidence in our billing staff and their relations with our patientsWe do try to financially work with our patients as evidenced with our budget policyAs we honor our side of this agreement, we request the same from our patients without negotiation

This is in response to the message from the consumer complaint ID [redacted] . This person was dismissed for the facts presented in our initial response of April 24, 2017. We have worked with this person to try to find a budget best suited for their financial constraints. Payment for services is a vital part of our practice--as it is for any business. As indicated in our first response, we honor our side of the budget agreement and request the same from our patients. The monthly budget was set at a minimum of $5.00. This patient presented to our office expecting us to provide our service without honoring the payment plan they had previously agreed upon.In addition to payment for services, we expect our staff to be treated respectfully. Slandering and cursing of our employees is not tolerated. The behavior of this person was witnessed and verified by our receptionist and several patrons in our waiting area. Therefore, the dismissal was based upon the patient's payment history and the behavior exhibited when asked for the payment.As this person requests the privacy of their identity, we are requesting the same of the named employees in the complaint, We will reiterate the fact that we have total confidence in the skills and relations of our staff. We have been established for 17 years and have maintained a practice of satisfactory physician/staff/patient relationships. We will gladly make this person's medical records, financial records, etc. available upon receiving a medical release authorization from this person.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]
Regards,
*** *** Upon reading the letter sent from *** *** to Dr***, I have found SEVERAL statementsI DID NOT bring my debit card in that day, I had left it at home by accident as I told the woman at the front desk after looking in my walletI had $in cash on me that I asked if *** could take, and told her that I could mail in the additional $the next day as I had things to do later on that day from a family member passing away just hours beforeI NEVER once cussed at this woman, nor do I come in every month and complain about the amount I have to payI PAY THEM EVERY TIME I COME IN FOR MY MEDICATION*** made this a personal issue when I stood my ground and demanded answers as to why I couldn't do what I stated above after she gave me several excuses that didn't add upI have never had an issue with it before, EVERI also agreed to pay $a month when I set up my payment plan, not $The woman who set it up with me said that I could even miss payments if I needed to because she understood my situation, as long as I let them know ahead of time - which I always did. I missed the payments in November and December because of one of my children's birthdays and then of course ChristmasI also moved out of my mother's house years ago, and was just recently able to change my address with them to even receive their mail. But I always, always, always talked to them about my account every time I came into their office - which was once a monthI may have had a stern tone, but I NEVER cussed at *** - that's not in my natureIt's funny that I've been a faithful patient there for years and have never had a problem until I came across herYou have to wonder why that isThe way I see it is, she was upset with me and took it upon herself to lie to my doctor in order to have me released to feel superior to me. I have heard nothing but negative remarks from several other patients who have gone to Blue Ridge Internal Medicine from the past - commenting on how rude and inconsiderate the staff isSo apparently, I'm not the only oneI just may be the only one brave enough to take it to the Revdex.com. This woman has spewed nothing but lies since she has went to Dr***, and quite frankly, I'm completely disgusted. I refuse to be slandered and treated unfairly only to sit back and not do anything about it. I wrote the Revdex.com to bring to light what is going on in that office, in hopes that it will give Blue Ridge Internal Medicine the motivation they need to make better decisions so this doesn't happen to anyone elseReferring back to her letter, I told *** that I didn't know why I even came to Blue Ridge Internal Medicine in the first place if I was going to be treated so poorly because I was genuinely repulsed by her behaviorHow are you going to be so rude and tell me to come back when I can actually afford my medication? As if I'm less of a person than her because I'm a struggling college studentBy the way, I'm in my senior year of my health service management degree at Bluefield State College and I can assure you that no employee of mine will be acting this way towards any of my patientsI called Blue Ridge Internal Medicine on the phone when I received my letter of release, and one of the billing ladies (I couldn't even tell you if it was *** or not) on the phone told me that I was released because I "threw a fit," yet my letter said I refused to pay themSo, which is it? If I threw such a fit, why wasn't that listed as the reason they were releasing me since they claimed it was over the phone? I have receipts from where I pay them, and will scan them at my earliest convenience if I have to in order to prove myself (I don't own a scanner at home)I will never set foot into Blue Ridge Internal Medicine again, and I will never recommend them to anyoneI find it highly unprofessional that even my doctor wouldn't take the time to contact me in order to see what was going on - I trusted him (as I should as a patient) and he broke that trust in an instantQuite frankly, I don't even feel comfortable with Blue Ridge Internal Medicine having my medical records and would like to have them all mailed to me as soon as possibleI also don't feel comfortable having anyone over in that office to be in charge of my account, as I have no clue what else they will do at this pointI will gladly continue to pay the facility, but I need to know 100% that my account won't be tampered with and I just can't trust that after all of thisSo, I would appreciate it if I could receive all of my medical records in the mail so I can switch to a better doctor, and I don't want to hear anything else in response from this businessI've heard and seen enough negativity to last a lifetimePlease keep in mind that I've never went to the Revdex.com over anything, much less had ANY problems of ANY kind with ANY medical provider I've EVER hadIt's crazy to me, but I'm done with Blue Ridge Internal Medicine and would like to make them a thing of the past in my lifeI can only ask the RevDex.com to take my side as a patient and human being into consideration, because whether they want to admit it or not - the way they treated me was highly unprofessional, much less morally wrongThank you for your time

This is in response to the message from the consumer complaint ID [redacted]. This person was dismissed for the facts presented in our initial response of April 24, 2017. We have worked with this person to try to find a budget best suited for their financial constraints. Payment for services is a vital part of our practice--as it is for any business. As indicated in our first response, we honor our side of the budget agreement and request the same from our patients. The monthly budget was set at a minimum of $5.00. This patient presented to our office expecting us to provide our service without honoring the payment plan they had previously agreed upon.In addition to payment for services, we expect our staff to be treated respectfully. Slandering and cursing of our employees is not tolerated. The behavior of this person was witnessed and verified by our receptionist and several patrons in our waiting area. Therefore, the dismissal was based upon the patient's payment history and the behavior exhibited when asked for the payment.As this person requests the privacy of their identity, we are requesting the same of the named employees in the complaint, We will reiterate the fact that we have total confidence in the skills and relations of our staff. We have been established for 17 years and have maintained a practice of satisfactory physician/staff/patient relationships. We will gladly make this person's medical records, financial records, etc. available upon receiving a medical release authorization from this person.

Per your request for a response to customer complaint ID# [redacted], we wish to present the facts leading to the dismissal of the complainant. This person has had a history of untimely payments for services rendered at our office. The first delinquency was in May 2012 for a patient balance of $20.00....

Her insurance had paid and applied this amount to her responsibility. After several billing statements and two letters (see attached), the patient paid $20.00 on April 22, 2013--eleven months after her insurance had paid. She was compliant with payments for services rendered until April 13, 2016. She paid $20.00 at the time of service, however, her responsibility after insurance paid was $25.00. This was the visit she referenced in her statement "Ever since, I have owed Blue Ridge Internal Medicine money for the test I had done." This $5.00 balance was eventually paid on October 21, 2016 after several billing statements and speaking with our billing department. On this same date, she agreed to pay $10.00 per month towards her outstanding balance of $157.04 from dates of service 5/19/16, 6/17/16, 8/16/16, 9/23/16, and 10/21/16. However, after making this payment arrangement, she failed to make payment for the months of November 2016 and December 2016. She had since been seen on 11/23/16. She has then been seen on dates of service 1/3/17, 2/9/17, and 2/16/17, increasing the balance due from her to an additional $149.61. Her visits of 3/13/17 and 4/14/17 are currently pending insurance payment. Our billing department spoke with her again on January 3, 2017 regarding her delinquent balance. The patient requested to reduce the original payment of $10.00 per month to $5.00 per month which was agreed upon by both parties. She made $5.00 payments on 1/3/17, 2/9/17, 2/23/17 ($20.00 payment) and 3/13/17 as she picked up her prescriptions.On April 13, 2017 the patient came into pick up her monthly prescription and was told by our receptionist she needed to make her April payment of $5.00. I have attached the inner office message sent to Dr. [redacted] regarding her behavior. As indicated in the message, the patient became irate. This episode was witnessed by the receptionist, the billing clerk and several patients in our waiting room.We have tried to work with this patient to accommodate her financial boundaries and maintain a positive outcome for both parties. We feel $5.00 per month is reasonable and she had agreed to this budget amount. As she has presented her $5.00 on her monthly visits from January 2017 through March 2017, she realizes this payment is necessary each time she comes in for her prescription. Her behavior and demeanor were unnecessary and cannot be tolerated when we have diligently tried to work with her on her payments. At this time, she has a balance due of $266.65.Unfortunately, the patient has tried to make this a personal issue between herself and our billing clerk. We have full confidence in our billing staff and their relations with our patients. We do try to financially work with our patients as evidenced with our budget policy. As we honor our side of this agreement, we request the same from our patients without negotiation.