Internal Medicine Specialists

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 9, 2016/02/19) */ Response to Case #: XXXXXXXX pages of backup are attached to this letter showing statements, Explanation of Benefits from the Patient's insurance company and the Patients Cease and Desist request Internal Medicine Specialists (IMS) had previously sent this Patient statements on 12/4/and on 1/30/for services rendered to him on 9/19/and 9/30/No payment or other correspondence was received from the Patient for those outstanding chargesPer our office policy, the Patient would then be moved into a Pre-Collections status and all statements would be stoppedUnfortunately, his account was not reviewed again until November even though he had continued to be see numerous timesAt that time, he was issued new statements since he was not actually sent to collections, showing the previously billed services plus the additional balances that had accumulated since the last statement The Patient was seen at IMS on: 9/19/2011, 9/30/2011, 1/21/2013, 3/29/2013, 6/11/2013, 6/20/2013, 7/9/2013, 7/16/2013, 2/28/2014, 3/28/and 5/9/The Patient would have received an Explanation of Benefits from his insurance company for each of those dates of service to validate and confirm our billingsHis EOBs show all amounts due to IMS The Patient received the new statements on 11/17/and 12/14/showing his account balance now totaling $The Patient's account was sent to Transworld Systems Incso letters would be sent on our behalf The Patient's letter to Transworld Systems shows a different mailing address than the one IMS had on fileThe last address we had on file was on [redacted] Rd in Cathedral City, CA The Patient's letter to Transworld Systems included a Cease and Desist requestTransworld treated this letter as a cease and desist per the language in bold and underlined textAll further letters to the Patient from Transworld were stopped IMS moved his account to a local collection agency and has provided that agency with all the Explanation of Benefits from his insurance company showing the balances owed to IMSWe do not contact any patient that sends a Cease and Desist letterAlso, per our contract with the collection agency, we are instructed not to have correspondence with the patients for potential legal reasons Mr [redacted] has rights under FDCPA, Fair Debt Collection Practices ActWe contract with a local collections company so that all laws are followed Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 13, 2016/02/21) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) They have admitted in their response to you that they did not review my account until Nov 2015! That's my point why take so long to send me a bill for services over years agoI cannot verify now that the bills are so old! Why did they send you copies but ignored my requests? All they did continue to send me year invoices and threaten me with collection lettersThey have harmed me by ruining the doctor-patient relationship I had with DrLopezHe will no longer see me in fact he thinks I am a flake and he told the receptionist that 'he fired me'! Now I can not see him again and I am embarrassed to return to his office to see other doctors there They also harmed my excellent credit by reporting me to collection servicesThat excellent credit took me a life time to accomplish! There should be a law to limit old billings that can not be verified and the billing service should be held libel for damages to patientsPatients are not just an account number, we are humans with lives and can be damaged by poor accounting practices

Response to complaint ID #*** The outstanding balances for Ms*** were for two different dates of serviceBoth services in question have been reviewed by the providers and verified that the patient was seen in the office on those datesThe first was 4/15/This visit was with the
podiatrist, Dr***, a specialistPer her insurance card and EOB, her copay is $for the specialist visitThis copay was not received by the staff or documented into the software systemThe patient cannot provide a receipt for the payment of servicesThe patient does not dispute that the doctor saw herAfter receiving payment from United HealthCare for the services rendered, the patient had an outstanding balance of $On her Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from UHC, UHC assumes that the patient would have paid the necessary copayWe do not submit claims information with payments made by the patientOur software does not allow thisTherefore, her EOB states that nothing further is owed by the patient (if the copay was paid at the time of service). The second date of service was on 4/30/This visit was with one of the internists, Dr***Per her insurance card and EOB, her copay is $for a non-specialist office visitThis copay was not received by the staff or documented into the software systemThe patient has not provided a receipt for the payment of this serviceThe patient does not dispute that the doctor saw herAfter receiving payment from United HealthCare for the services rendered, the patient had an outstanding balance of $Again, her EOB from UHC shows that a copay of $was to be owed by the patient with no further payment remining for the patientOnce again, we do to transmit data to the insurance carrier about payments received at the time of service so UHC would not know if the copay was collected or notUHC assumes that the copay is a known patient portion and then shows that no additional payment is owed by the patient. The patient was billed for the total of $on 6/11/2014, 7/13/2014, and finally on 10/21/She was then referred to Collections in January 2015. The patient did make phone calls to our office questioning the balances in October At that time, she was told that the balances were for her copay for the office visit and no other servicesBecause the PT sees copayment owed on her EOB, she believes that she paid at the time of serviceIt was notOnce we turn an account over to collections, we refrain from communicating with the patient due to their rights under the federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. The patient never provided us with a receipt that would have been given to her if she paid at the time of service. I have spoken to the collection agency and they confirm that the patient has paid the $balance with them on 12/22/and deleted any credit related information from her report

I am rejecting this response because:
The dispute has never been about the visits to the office actually occurring I paid the two copays at the time of the visits in cash They did not give me a receipt I started contacting the office by phone when the bills came for the two copays $and $ I called immediately after receiving the bills No one replied starting in until finally in late I received the first call backI sent two certified letters and got no response I went to the office to discuss with the manager, again no response I estimate 20-efforts to contact the office and collection agency They needed to discuss this issue with the receptionist that left the practice, not the medical assistant This office with a podiatrist, Dr*** that creates stress by telling a patient they have symptoms (blood clots in the brain) that end up being due to ageism needs to be looked at closer The extra visits and copays were due to the two doctors (Dr*** and Dr***) for visits not needed. Lastly, I paid the $again and expect a refund as it was a duplicate payment I will confirm my perfect credit history has been restored There poor office management is not justifiable cause to put a $bill in collections

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2016/02/19) */
Response to Case #: XXXXXXXX
20 pages of backup are attached to this letter showing statements, Explanation of Benefits from the Patient's insurance company and the Patients Cease and Desist request.
Internal Medicine Specialists (IMS) had...

previously sent this Patient statements on 12/4/2011 and on 1/30/2012 for services rendered to him on 9/19/2011 and 9/30/2011. No payment or other correspondence was received from the Patient for those outstanding charges. Per our office policy, the Patient would then be moved into a Pre-Collections status and all statements would be stopped. Unfortunately, his account was not reviewed again until November 2015 even though he had continued to be see numerous times. At that time, he was issued new statements since he was not actually sent to collections, showing the previously billed services plus the additional balances that had accumulated since the last statement.
The Patient was seen at IMS on:
9/19/2011, 9/30/2011, 1/21/2013, 3/29/2013, 6/11/2013, 6/20/2013, 7/9/2013, 7/16/2013, 2/28/2014, 3/28/2014 and 5/9/2014. The Patient would have received an Explanation of Benefits from his insurance company for each of those dates of service to validate and confirm our billings. His EOBs show all amounts due to IMS.
The Patient received the new statements on 11/17/2015 and 12/14/2015 showing his account balance now totaling $969.63. The Patient's account was sent to Transworld Systems Inc. so letters would be sent on our behalf.
The Patient's letter to Transworld Systems shows a different mailing address than the one IMS had on file. The last address we had on file was on [redacted] Rd in Cathedral City, CA.
The Patient's letter to Transworld Systems included a Cease and Desist request. Transworld treated this letter as a cease and desist per the language in bold and underlined text. All further letters to the Patient from Transworld were stopped.
IMS moved his account to a local collection agency and has provided that agency with all the Explanation of Benefits from his insurance company showing the balances owed to IMS. We do not contact any patient that sends a Cease and Desist letter. Also, per our contract with the collection agency, we are instructed not to have correspondence with the patients for potential legal reasons.
Mr. [redacted] has rights under FDCPA, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. We contract with a local collections company so that all laws are followed.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 13, 2016/02/21) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
They have admitted in their response to you that they did not review my account until Nov 2015! That's my point why take so long to send me a bill for services over 4 years ago. I cannot verify now that the bills are so old! Why did they send you copies but ignored my requests? All they did continue to send me 4 year invoices and threaten me with collection letters. They have harmed me by ruining the doctor-patient relationship I had with Dr. Lopez. He will no longer see me in fact he thinks I am a flake and he told the receptionist that 'he fired me'! Now I can not see him again and I am embarrassed to return to his office to see other doctors there . They also harmed my excellent credit by reporting me to collection services. That excellent credit took me a life time to accomplish! There should be a law to limit old billings that can not be verified and the billing service should be held libel for damages to patients. Patients are not just an account number, we are humans with lives and can be damaged by poor accounting practices.