Coastal Nephrology, PA

I was seen by Dr.[redacted] (**)in July 2014. As I was leaving the office, the clerical personnel insisted that I schedule another medical appointment to be seen in 6 months. I told them I did not know what my work schedule would be like and that if I needed an appointment I would call them, they insisted again and I refused again. In early February I received a billing statement from Coastal Nephrology for $50, as a no show fee for a missed appointment on 19 Jan 2015. I called the medical office and told them I did not schedule the appointment and that I would not be paying the fee. Since then I have contacted my medical insurance provider ([redacted]) and I have received another bill stating it is delinquent. I have called this business twice and tried to reasonably speak with them about dropping the no show fee and they have refused.Desired SettlementFor the $50 fee to be dropped and a billing statement to be sent to me reporting a $0 balance is due.Business Response Our office always try to best serve our patients. During each patient's initial visit to our practice,each of them read, review and sign our clinic policies if they agree. Our policy indicates that our office requires 24 hours notice to cancel appointments reserved for them, otherwise a NO SHOW Fee will be charged. This is also indicated in their appointment card given to them upon discharge from a previous visit. We do consider emergencies or other reasonble excuses to waive the fee. This cancellation notice give us the opportunity to give the appointment slot to another patient who may need to be seen urgently. We do not force patients to make an appointment. We respect their decisions if they just want to make an appointment at a later time. We also make courtesy calls to remind patients of their appointments 1-2 days prior to the appointment. If patients don't pick-up the phone we leave reminder messages if we are allowed to do so. This patient did not show-up nor called our office to cancel his appointment as required on January 19, 2015. Our front office staff called and talked to his wife to remind him of this appointment. If he truly did not make the appointment, he could have called the office to cancel the appointment. Thus, he was billed the NO Show Fee. He then made another appointment on February 26, 2015 when he called the office. Prior to that second appointment , our front office staff called to remind him of the appointment and was able to talk to his wife again. However, the patient did not show nor called our office to cancel his appointment once again. Due to a previous No Show Fee, we even did not charge him another No Show Fee for this second appointment. These were two appointments which could have given to somebody else who needs to be seen.Nevertheless, to resolve this issue, we mailed this patient a letter on March 13,2015 indicating that we are Waiving this NO Show Fee. This will be reflected to his account statement as well.Consumer Response I received the letter the business references in the above email around the 16th of March. The letter is NOT signed, it should be signed by either the Doctor of the Office manager or another billing invoice showing a zero balance.Final Business Response A Certified and signed letter including a most recent account statement indicating $0 balance (No Show Fee Waived) were sent to the patient on March 20, 2015.