Clark Fork Valley Hospital

I MOVED TO PLAINS DISABLED IN 1996,I TRIED TO REGISTER WITH THIS HOSPITAL WHEN I FIRST MOVED HERE,THEY WERE RUDE,SO I LEFT UNTIL MY DOCTOR WENT TO WORK THERE WHAT A HASSLE HE FINALLY QUIT AND TOOK US BACK TO HIS PRIVATE PRACTICE.THEN A COUPLE YEARS AGO I WAS FORCED TO TRY THEM AGAIN.LASTED ABOUT A YEAR OF ROLLER COASTER RIDE,THEN THEY MAKE UP LIES AND SEND PEOPLE IN THERE COMMUNITY A LETTER THAT SAYS YOU CAN'T COME BACK.THIS HOSPITAL AND THERE STAFF ARE NOT LIKED VERY WELL AROUND HERE AND THEY KNOW IT THEY JUST DON'T CARE>PERIOD!

Review: 1. I moved from the area and before leaving called to make sure all bills were paid for my entire family. I also provided an updated address, this was evidently not entered into their system. I was assured all but one visit (disputed by insurance) was paid for. Today I received a call from a debt collector stating two outstanding bills, they were both covered by insurance but somehow were missed by the billing office at Clark Fork Valley Hospital when I called originally to make sure everything was paid for. I received no bills at my new or old address for these two outstanding bills. When my wife called the hospital today to confirm these two bills she again asked to make sure everyone in my family was covered, she was told about a third outstanding bill. How was this one also missed?2. The hospital has failed to correctly bill a visit for my daughter and our insurance company has refused to pay until they do so.Desired Settlement: I would like a billing summary for all four family members starting 9-1-12, including bills, payments received from us and where those payments were applied. I would like the hospital to correctly bill the visit my insurance is refusing to cover. I would like an apology from the hospital billing office for failing to update my address, failing to advise us on all of our bills when asked directly, and for sending two bills to a debt collection agency we were told were paid.

Business

Response:

To Whom it Concerns,

I am responding to a recent complaint you received in regards to our billing and collection practices. In reviewing this complaint I find that protocol was followed in the collection process.

My response to the complainant was:

“I have reviewed these accounts and find that statements were mailed on 3/28, 4729 and 5/29. On 7/5/13 a final notice was sent. The final notice informs the guarantor that the account is in arrears and will be turned for collection if no contact and/or payment is received within a set time (usually 30 days). When we had not heard from you by 8/29/13 the accounts were turned for collections. The standard protocol for collections is to send statements for 3-4 months, then a final notice and if no response from the guarantor then the account is turned for collections. This protocol was followed on both of these accounts. The self-pay collectors did not/could not know if you had received these statements as no statements were returned by the postal department From everything that we could see you were receiving these statements and had received the final notice mailed 7/5/13.

You also had received the Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from Tricare when these accounts were paid. The EOB explains what was paid, what was disallowed and what you owed.

Though I have ... worked with your mother-in-law for many years I would not be at liberty to discuss any of your financial accounts with her. Any discussion would go against both my ethical standards and HIPPA regulations.

I do not know (with any certainty) why the employee could not access all the outstanding balances when the complainant called. It could have been a computer problem or an employee error. Never the less I have addressed this with the staff and have instructed them to be diligent in obtaining accurate information and in turn to relay accurate information. At the time these charges were incurred we did not have “family billing" available. This basically means that every adult patient would receive their own statement(s). If the guarantor had called and asked about any bills on certain members of a family those are the only bills that would have been reviewed. There were two separate guarantor accounts for this family.

If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

[redacted], RHIT Revenue Cycle Manager

Consumer

Response:

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 never recieved any notification through the mail or email from Clark Fork Valley Hospital about the late notices on any of the three dates which they claim or that we were being sent to collections on the 29th of August. I also never recieved the notice that explained their reasoning for sending us to collections that was added to their response to the Revdex.com, the first time I saw that information was in CFVH's response to the Revdex.com.

CFVH also mentioned that they can only give information about accounts to the patient, this however does not take into account my two underaged children that I should be able to recieve information on whenever I want or need as they are under the age of 18.

I am glad the employee has been talked to about the issue, I still feel there was a let down somewhere in the process as we did not recieve these notifications about our account.

Regards,

Review: I had an appointment to see a Doctor, I had a couple issues I wanted to discuss. At the time of the appointment The not really a doctor ([redacted]) came in and saw me and ask what was wrong. I told him about the 2 main reasons I was there and would also like him to look at my knee because it had been in a lot of pain. He then tells me that those 3 things plus I was being called a new patient even though they had records of me being there before making it 4 things he had to see me for. he said he only had time to see me for 2 things and I had to pick what they would be. We discussed the 2 main issues of why I was there. Then he decided that he could look at my knee. After the appointment I went to the front desk to pay, I was told that if I paid at the time of appointment I would get a discount. My total bill was $188.00 plus $160.00 for the X-ray. Now I am being sent another bill for an additional $78.44 for the same appointment making it $267.00 total for as half hour appointment that [redacted] didn't even have enough time to see me for everything.Desired Settlement: I request the added bill of $78.44 be returned to me and for Clark Fork Valley Hospital to never contact me again!