Honor Health

STAY AWAY from Honor health. My primary doctor saw that my annual blood work came back with slightly elevated white blood count. After a repeat test 3 months later, same slightly elevated reading. Out of an abundance of caution she referred me to a hematologist--even though she had no concerns that I had cancer. She referred me to Dr. Joan Dahmer at Honor Health in Sun City West. Upon arrival, I ran through the usual several pages of new-patient paperwork including the financial disclosure statement indicating that I am responsible if my insurance pays. At no time was I told anything else--details-wise about this paperwork. First visit, I waited about 30 minutes, was seen by the doctor for maybe 3-4 minutes. She asked a phlebotomist to come in and they took my blood. Then I left. I returned a month later. Waited 75 minutes to be called back and another 20 in the small room. A gal came in and took my blood - and they tested right then. Same elevated WBC. Doctor came in, spent about 2 minutes. Said that like a bell curve some people have higher natural white counts and that by all accounts I did not have anything amiss as best as she could tell. The doctor is very competent and professional. I have no issues with her. However, the billing practices of Honor Health are incredibly suspect and it seems like they are preying on something they can get away with. I visited this doctors's office in a standard medical building. It is not attached to a hospital. I did not receive any services other than standard doctor visit and blood draw. I was billed my co-pay of $50, no problem. The billed $155.65 TWICE. I had given permission for the co-pay's to come off my FSA Debit card and in doing so, agreed to these other 2 charges, not realizing. That is not even my issue though. When I called to question the billing of the additional amounts the agent told me the amounts were "for oncology services at the hospital facility" I was at work and didn't really process that. I took some time out the next day, away from the office to call. Apparently there are additional charged by Honor Health--well, for no reason. They say for "hospital services and facility charges." Really? Highway robbery. They say "well you signed the form." Apparently one of the forms--the one I though was the standard financial disclosure was really stating --in language confusing to the average non-hospital lingo specialist - that you may also be charged other fees. It is completely misleading and total fraud. I have called their billing department several times. I let them know the confusion, what I was told about the charges being for "oncology services" then the story changed, I received NO HOSPITAL SERVICES. I should not pay over $31 above my co-pays for a REGULAR specialist doctor visit just because this person I was referred to works for Honor Health. I let the billing agent (who happens to be extremely kind) that I would wait and give them an opportunity to fix this egregious billing issue before I took it public. Well, 2 times and 2 denials. I am sharing with the world that this organization has NO interest in anything other than bilking you out of your money.

This organization does not even deserve 1 star! They are billing individuals for sitting in a room and have a conversation with them! Not only should this be unlawful but unethical. If you are reading this, please DO NOT GO TO HONOR HEALTH! They bill insurance companies so that they can profit. I will NEVER GO TO HONOR HEALTH AGAIN AND ALSO TELL EVERYONE I POSSIBLY KNOW not to go there either! Don't ever go to Dana Brown, suppose to be a Genetic Counselor because she will NOT TELL you that she will bill for just talking to you and doing NOTHING else. Doesn't return your calls. Also, Hailey (in billing department) is a flat out lies to you. They are a disgrace to call themselves Honor Health because they are nothing but HONOR! Go anywhere else but this organization.

The doctors at Honor Health: Scottsdale Osborne are wonderful, however once you leave the building the service goes south fast.

To those who run this hospital: you are going to lose patients if your patient financial service division does not become more competent and more respectful fast. My payments have been misapplied at least 3 times in the last year, which has led to a ridiculous amount of time on the phone attempting to get the account up to date. When I asked to speak to the supervisor I left a message explaining the situation. Nearly a week later I got a message that said, "Hi, this is Rachel from Honor Health returning your call." That was it.

I would rate this hospital a ten if it were not the difficulty of paying and viewing your account. The inability to see account details online would be only a minor frustration if it were not for the late arriving statements and incompetent or unhelpful "customer service" representatives. The stress of making sure they know you have paid your bill on time makes it so that really can't say I would recommend the hospital to a family member. If doctors don't want to lose patients, you need to retrain and get this figured out!!

Patient was seen by me secondary to chronic recurrent symptoms, which warranted further testing in order to properly diagnose and treat.
I discussed the needed testing with the patient and explained the necessity.
Patient called the Practice Manager regarding her laboratory...

bill. The Practice Manager contacted the laboratory and worked with them to reduce the patient's out of pocket charges by 50%.

I have read the letter and it is not consistent with what actually happened.
I asked about any deductibles or out of pocket payments BEFORE my treatment not after! It was the day if my first appointment.
She checked and said I had already met my deductible and that it was paid at 100% after meeting the deductible soo that I didn't have to worry about anything.
It was after she told me this that I signed the paper where you are responsible for payment if any not covered. But it was after she had just said to me that it was covered at 100%. 
So I went ahead and did the treatment and later to my surprise I get a bill. You can imagine my surprise and worry because barbara had already told me that it was "covered"
I ask her about this in my appt and she says to call my insurance which I did and they said that all the information that they gave her was correct except number of visits. 
When I talked to Barbara several times she said the insurance was probably the one that gave her the wrong information.
I contacted the insurance my self and they told me that they had listened to the call and that all the right information was given. 
I called Barbara back and told them that they are saying that they gave you all the correct information but number of visits she says that she had already called them herself and that yes all the information was correct.
I asked her if you had all the right info why did you tell me it was covered when it wasn't true, she told me that it was a mistake and that she was "sorry" and I kept asking her why she did that because I understand making a mistake once but twice? In 2 different occasions I asked her about payments or deductibles and she clearly stated that my deductible was met and that it was covered. She apologized again and said "I said I'm sorry, I don't know what else you want me to do"
I told her that I expect her to go to her supervisor and admitt to him that it was HER "mistake" and that it wasn't my responsibility to pay after someone else's mistakes. Clearly after she was admitting she gave the wrong information on 2 different occasions. She said she wouldn't do that because I had already signed the paper anyway so I was still responsible for payment. So I told her "Soo it's ok to lie to the patient about insurance, as long as you make them sign the paper?" And she said well I didn't lie it was a mistake. 
So after she apologized I asked to speak to her supervisor, she told me that he wasn't in.
I asked her what times is he there and she said that the only way to contact him was thru email.
But that there was no point in emailing him because she had already talked to him.
This is why I know she did NOT give him the correct information on what really happened. I'm sure she doesn't want to admit she's at fault in front of her boss.
This is the truth of what happened.
I did apply for the charity because I didn't have the resources to pay for this bill, which is why I asked Barbara beforehand if there was any payment or deductible. Because if there was I wasnt going to do treatment since I didn't  have the resources to do so. I asked right up front in the beginning of the first session. 
This is why it's unfair that I was made responsible for something I was told was "covered". However they did not pay the full amount they only covered partial so there is still a balance to be payed. $297.07
1 would like this to be removed and finalize this once and for all.

From: A[redacted], Jeff Sent: Friday, October 28, 2016 2:10 AMTo: P[redacted] <[redacted]@HonorHealth.com>; B[redacted], Jerry <Jerry.B[redacted]@HonorHealth.com>Subject: RE: Revdex.com complaint  
rgb(31, 73, 125);">Hi [redacted],   I have performed an investigation of this complaint and matter.  I have met with Barbara G[redacted] and asked her to explain anything she might remember about [redacted].  She indicated a very different history of communication between herself and [redacted] compared to the complaint.  Barbara followed our previously designed workflow, which was not designed well and offered ambiguity for these types of complaints.  There is no documented conversations between [redacted] and Barb and Barb indicates that this is a result of the fact that [redacted] did not ask her about her out of pocket expenses until the very end of care after she had received bills from Honorhealth.   There were two Insurance Verification forms filed on this case.  One was dated on 6/7/16 and one was 7/11/16.  The one from 7/11/16 was performed after the patient had been seen for 5 visits leaving 6 sessions remaining for the year.  Barbara printed off the 6/7/16 Insurance verification sheet and refiled it with two changes on 7/11/16.  The two changes were a correction to the visit count and a correction to include “After deductible” next to the original 100% written in the Coverage line.  There was not a new patient signature.   Because of the vagueness of this hand written form, it is easy to see how miscommunication can occur. As a result of similar instance of patients claiming they did not understand what they were signing or understanding their financial obligation to a deductible, we have revised and been using a new form across Therapy services that removes this ambiguity and has standardized script and workflow.   I have not spoken to [redacted] directly, but Barb did indicate that at the end of her sessions she asked for my contact information.  It appears that she addressed her concerns with PFS as indicated by the notes in the account history.  In September, she started the process of investigating her options for payments, applied for Charity and this was approved in early October.   In Barbara’s defense, she followed the current workflow for explanation and verification of benefits.  Although this was the case, Barbara clearly could have stated the benefits better on the sheet the patient was signing on 6/7/16 as indicated by her added verbiage on the 7/11/16 Insurance verification she printed off, corrected and rescanned.  [redacted] was not yet out of benefits.  So the only reason Barb would recheck insurance would be to check benefits at the patient request.  This indicates the patint had a valid concern (probably after receiving June’s bill.   In the patient’s defense, she never signed the Insurance verification again after 6/7/16.  The form that was corrected on 7/11/16.  This was her original form and there is no indication she acknowledged this change on the form and it is possible she did misunderstand the original information portrayed.  This is also indicated by her continuation of 4 sessions of therapy after the 7/11/16 date where the insurance had been called a second time.

I received a quick response back from our Manager of Outpatient Therapy Services in Anthem, who reported that patient has a remaining balance of $272.07, after reductions from billing, although this is not consistent with patient's response statement.  Manager believes this issue is more of a miscommunication between their front office personnel and the patient.  Rather than spend more time on this matter, Manager has requested for adjustment to write off the entire remaining amount.  As mentioned in our first response, a process has been implemented to assure this does not happen again.  Manager wanted to remind patient that the adjustment can take some time.

I learned that this patient's complaint had nothing to do with care and treatment at [redacted]  Our Patient Financial Services department researched and determined that that the contact information for this complaint is below.  I have confirmed with the contact that...

this is correct.Annette I[redacted]
Supervisor of Self Pay Department in Physician Network Billing
Annette.I[redacted]

I received today the review response from our Patient Financial Services department.  They reported that the account patient’s father is referring to was re-processed by his insurance company, who paid the amount in full with no patient responsibility.  During the insurance...

re-processing period, the account was sent to CCI (Computer Credit Inc.) which is an HonorHealth internal collection agency.  This account did not get reported to his credit.  There is now no balance owed.

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.The Dr did not discuss the needed testing with the me nor explain the necessity. This is a lie.  I went in for one reason, and no need of additional testing.  If this was discused I would have declined as I new what I had..I just needed a perscription for it. The lab did call me and said they were working on removing the entire bill as I did not agree to the 11+ tests.  I have yet to here back from them.  The manager there said she would call me back the next day and never did. Regards,[redacted]

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the...

offer I reviewed appear below.
This is not about the doctor being paid what he did, it is about me being charge two co-pays for the same incident.Regards,[redacted]

According to our Customer Service Liaison, Laura W[redacted], the account was sent to collections in error and was returned yesterday (11/17/16) to continue on the payment plan with...

HonorHealth. Laura has talked to the patient and she was happy to hear the account was returned.  She was upset that the [redacted] representative (our customer service contractor) was rude to her when she called.  Laura apologized to her for the reps rudeness. Patient was happy with the outcome of her account being returned.

Dear Sir or Madam, We are in receipt of your correspondence dated  August 17, 2016. The patient indicated: - The cost of oral medication -Medicare and Tricare denied  the claim because the patient was under observation - If the patient is going to incur additional out-of-pocket costs,...

patient should be made aware - Patient  is requesting  a refund. For a visit that is classified  as an observation, self- administered  drugs  is not a covered  benefit under the Medicare plan B. Medicare plan D will cover these medications however,  Honor Health is not contracted  with Medicare plan D. Observation services are hospital  outpatient services given to help the physician  to decide  if the patient needs to be admitted  as an inpatient or can be discharged home. Ms. F[redacted]'s visit to the emergency department was classified  as an observation for her stay. Tricare  will follow Medicare guidelines when Medicare  is the primary  insurer. The patient signed an "Are you a Hospital  Inpatient or Outpatient?" from which gives a summary of the statuses, explains the self-administered drugs, and Skilled  Nursing Care coverage the statuses. Honor Health is obligated  to collect from the patients any responsibility assigned  by the insurance company. A refund will not be sent to the patient for the cost of the self-administered drugs.I  explained Inpatient  versus Out Patient status and the self-administered drugs guidelines. The patient can submit a request to the plan F coverage  and see if they will reimburse  the patient for the self-administered drugs. Attached  is "Are you a Hospital  Inpatient or Outpatient?" form, Medicare guidelines on patient status and a letter that the patient has been sent to submit  to their plan F coverage.If you have any additional  questions or we can be of additional assistance, please contact me at ###-###-####.

I learned that this patient's complaint had nothing to do with care and treatment at [redacted]  Our Patient Financial Services department researched and determined that that the contact information for this complaint is below.  I have confirmed with the contact that...

this is correct.Annette I[redacted]
Supervisor of Self Pay Department in Physician Network Billing
Annette.I[redacted]

The physician has reviewed the chart and will be adjusting off the charge and refunding the patient.

This patient scheduled her exam in early December and could not remember where her prior films were completed.  Notes were made in chart that patient did not know where her prior films were for comparison.  This is imperative in looking for small changes in breast tissue and to find cancer at its earliest stage and to reduce call backs of areas of dense tissue and calcifications.  Patient had exam on 12/10/15 and during that time technologist asked again regarding priors, notes made in mammography reporting system that she is not sure.  Patient named a few places and she said maybe Valley.  We called the next day and requested films from [redacted] .  Per MQSA regulations, we read films in a timely manner and found that there was a need for magnification views.  Patient said during phone call to Mikala E[redacted] that she may have waited for priors to arrive for comparison, so that she could have applied her deductible to 2016 and then maybe she would not due to anxiety.  Films did not arrive from [redacted] until 12/21/2016.  Patient had already came in for follow up and had been placed in a short term follow up. When films did arrive, comparison was made and an amendment was placed on her report.  This area was part of her previous exams and a six month follow up would not be needed. Comparison films are very important in diagnosing early breast cancer.  This is why we ask this question to each patient that is scheduled at our facility.  We have done our very best to discuss this with the patient, but the issue is actually that insurance companies have high deductibles and mammograms are cyclical.  If your mammogram has always been done in the last quarter of the year, the deductible you pay is only good towards that year.  If you have your mammogram in the first quarter of the year if will apply to the entire year, but you will always have the deductible as a charge because insurance starts the deductible process again in January. The [redacted] and [redacted] strives to reduce anxiety and offer the highest in patient care, we apologize that this patient feels that she was not given that high level of service.Sherry R. G[redacted]

This is exactly what I explained on the phone to this company.  They continued to not return my phone calls, and respond in such a way that they do not believe me.  The company uses horrible business tactics to threaten and strongarm customers and need to re-examine their business practices and phone support.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will...

wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

Practice Manager has spoken with patient and MDL labs. The lab is currently in contact with the patient to resolve the charges.

Patient stated she is satisfied, once the charges have been waived she feels this case has been resolved.

They need to do further research. This is specific to the Annual checkup and the hospital has the responsibility to ensure the cover[redacted] and guide patient on the charges. The Insurance policy covers the mammogram, and Insurance reps told it would have been, if hospital had billed it properly. Also it has come to my light that the hospital has done some tests which are not covered without letting us know like 3D mammogram which I don't know what it is.
A hospital just to make money cannot perform tests without patients knowledge. If we have come their for annual checkup, its should be limited to the allowed and covered tests and this hospital needs to confirm and inform the patient. A hospital cannot do anything that they want and bill us. Also, I am very surprised by the comment that hospital told to patient and patients husband, about the general deductible which is applicable. In fact husband was never there, which makes me feel that the hospital has not taken this complaint seriously and has just responded generically.
There was contacts made, but still no resolution. A covered mammogram has been charged by this hospital to the patient rather resolving with the hospital and with such hospital no one should be going. When asked specifically on the cover[redacted] and charges, the hospital can always get correct information from the insurance. There is no reason for extra charge or deductible charged, if the hospital had made genuine effort to figure it out. Well, we always ask to make sure, and it was told specifically that there will not be any charges, hence it is surprising that the responder has chosen to respond with generic statement on charges and deductible. Also they did confirm as we always ask a service provider to check as we are very concerned about these hospital charges.
Thanks