Johnston Psychiatric Associates, PA

They wish to collect for a "missed appointment" however the appointment was made at a time we told them we could not be there. I have received a notice of "delinquency" on our account and have attempted to correct this through their process, however they now wish to send our account to collections. I do beg to differ with their accounting. First, I have responded to their initial requests for payment. When pressed for payment, I responded to the appointment secretary at Dr. [redacted]'s office and explained that the original appointment was made by phone at a time we could not possibly keep. The person who made the original appointment was the wife of Dr. [redacted], who was minding the appointment desk at the time. (She was filling in for the secretary.) She absolutely insisted we take that particular time, although I assured her it would not fit our scheduleit would not work for my daughterand asked for a time later in the day. Her response was simply, "Well, try it." My reply to her was that when this appointment could not be kept and when we had to be rescheduled I would not be held liable for a missed appointment-period. When we were asked to pay for the missed appointment I explained the situation to Dr. [redacted], who insisted that no one could make an appointment for us without our approval. Actually, they can and they did. What it boils down to is our word against theirs. While I would pay for any appointment we missed through our own fault, this is not one of those, and I will not forfeit $35. Dr. [redacted]'s business practices are questionable at best. Although our appointments are no longer than 10 minutes, he keeps us waiting at least an hour until my daughter is seen. We have had to leave the office on more than one occasion because of this. [redacted] We have, of course, discontinued our association with this business. I would appreciate assistance with the fee they continue to try to charge us. Desired Settlement At this point they are sending our information to a collections agency. I would like them to strike our record of the "appointment", and clear our accounts with them so that our credit remains good. Business Response Revdex.comCase # XXXXXXXXDear Sir/Madam,In response to the allegations in the complaint referred to above:1. This patient missed three appointments and paid for two of them with no problem or debate. Charges for the third appointment that the patient's mother debated were actually cancelled out of courtesy and in response to the mother's call. Charges were cancelled on 3/5/2014 after the collection letter went out on 3/4/2014. The appointment was set up appropriately with the mother's consent but since she felt she was convinced to have it, charges were cancelled as soon as she called to protest.2. Collection letters sent from our billing company triggered settlement of the issue. Hence, the patient account was never sent to collection to start with and should have no impact on the family's credit. 3. Just like at any busy and successful medical practice, it is not unusual for a patient to wait for 15-45 minutes, depending on emergency calls the physician receives and sometimes walk in emergencies. Whenever a patient is unable to wait, we would call in their prescription for free and would set them up to be seen ASAP.4. In all cases and particularly in this particular patient's case, evaluations were extensive, comprehensive and involved detailed discussions with parents after which they always left satisfied. Medication was prescribed based on medical necessity, it elicited a very good response and improvement of all symptoms and caused no significant side effects. Nevertheless, patient dropped out of treatment and stopped coming to be seen after their visit on 11/25/2013 in which patient appeared to have been doing very well.5. Our practice is the largest and most successful psychiatric practice in [redacted] county, serving hundreds if not thousands of families and following most cutting edge practice guidelines. We have been in practice for almost 8 years during which we grew tremendously. Our practice encompasses the services and expertise of a board certified psychiatrist and eight highly qualified therapists. You can look at our credentials at our web site:www.johnstonpsychiatricassociates.com Consumer Response 1. Correct, we paid for appts. we honestly missed, but had to take this to task after several threats from them, not before. We have never received acknowledgement, aside from these statements, that the charges were dropped. 2. I have a letter from their collection agency in hand. Glad that seems to be resolved. 3. Never have we consistently waited over 45 minutes for an apt. We have had to leave on more than one occasion following an hour + wait because my daughter would otherwise be late for classes at [redacted] We had to literally beg Dr. ** (after a missed appointment) for a call in on a prescription.4. Evaluations lasted no more than 10-15 minutes at the most and I was consistently criticized by Dr. ** for my concerns regarding medications,although my husband was not. My daughter did not feel comfortable going to see Dr. ** because of his dismissive attitude. Further, he initially ignored our therapist's request to share information, saying it was not necessary and we should be seeing one of his therapists anyway. It took nearly six months and repeated requests for him to sign a release to share patient information. The patient, aka my daughter, was NOT doing particularly well under his care, but Dr. [redacted] attitude prevents good communication. This, more than the office charge, was the reason we left his practice. 5. Dr. [redacted] practice is large because it is readily available and many people are at the mercy of whatever mental health care they can receive. I am not qualified to review the therapists, as we have not made use of their services. We are quite happy with our new therapist and psychiatrist who give ample time and communicate effectively. I consider this issue resolved. Thanks for your help. I do think that getting the Revdex.com to act on this resolved the issue. Thanks.