Kean Chiropractic Center

Privacy Violation; verbal harassment; failure to correct billing & provide itemized list.On 7/23 I started therapy for spinal treatment with this provider. As of date, I did not receive the full treatment plan, however I was billed for it & provider received payment they have yet to reimburse to both myself & insurance company. Today ,On a conference call with [redacted], a corrected form for duplicate billing(10/2) was requested, as well as a follow up on other services that were billed for that I did not receive(third time asking provider for correctional reimbursement). Date 9/17; service: ,massage therapy. I did not receive full treatments in the following three visits do to poor time management from the provider. The operations manager stated she was informed by physical therapists that I did not "feel like" the service making them unhappy. A fabrication due to the fact I had my toddler with me and I had to leave to attend to her needs, I thought I made that very clear with more than one employee. What was the reasoning for that behavior? I was told by an employee treatment is based on the quality of one's insurance, not an actual need for therapy. There was a privacy notice that the doctors were not to discuss my treatment visits&discussions with other coworkers. Employees would inquire about private discussions I had with the doctors;they were informed of every issue& was openly discussed with other patients which lead to false accusations toward me. I was never allowed to speak with the owner about this or any issue. August 23rd was the first conference call regarding billing. The first request for itemized billing was on 7/24. On this same call the operations manager said I would not benefit from the five remaining visits I had. Upon request, I never received itemized billing; I can not get a response to any requests to collect files. Verbal outbursts are recorded on [redacted] systems: Inquiry number is provided. I never received any therapy checks during visits to track progress. I was not comfortable in the office due to the open discussion of patients needs, including my own. I have a voicemail requesting I set up the rest of my treatment plan on Thursday & today I am being banned for asking them to fix their financial claims to my insurance company for services not rendered. Customer service & communication is non-existent in this office. If this provider is in business to provide a service to improve one's wellbeing, I have yet to see it. They took money for a service they did not provide, and did not care if I benefited or not. When I said I was still in pain during this process, there was no change in therapy. Please contact me with any questions in regards to dates, emails, billing, & documented discussions. Desired SettlementI wasted a lot of time, money & aggravation with these treatments. My toddler would visible shake during outbursts from employees. I would like my records, X-rays, and any duplicate billing refunded, as well as my payment plan corrected. I am being dismissed in an email b/c I am no longer receiving treatment from provider. They got paid to the tune of $8000.00. I never received results, & cannot get proper billing. I have a payment with them for two years. Customer service is not yelling at patients over the phone about gossip from other coworkers & deciding to file fraudulent claims b/c they are "unhappy" with me b/c I dared call them out for it. NONE OF MY THERAPY IS TO BE DISCUSSED; it is a violation of an individuals privacy and signed agreement [redacted] has given them 30 days to correct the billing. I was told my payment amount was insignificant. Business Response To whom this may concern, To address the listed complaints above we first would like to apologize for the inconvenience the patient has experienced here in our office. We take pride in making sure every patient leaves happy and satisfied with the care and treatment they receive. We have numerous testimonials from patients who have completed their recommended care plans who feel that we have gone above and beyond what is called for us to do. Some even refer to us as family and become lifelong patients. So when this letter came across my desk I was astonished by the remarks that were listed. With every patient that comes into our office we lay down the rules and regulations upon signing up for care, one of which states that as a medical team we get together to discuss the care and services that we can offer each individual patient. So for the patient to list that the medical team knew what she has discussed with the doctors, that is precisely what we pride our self on here, understanding what the patient needs and communicating to the rest of the team the needs and issues of each patient so that we can better assist in every way. Patient listed it was a lack of communication and in the same sense says we communicated too much. Our office has a strict policy on having children in the rehab area at any point because of the number of patients and equipment that is not suitable for small children. The patient constantly violated the policy as bringing her child with her every single time. We believe while unfortunate her child being visibly upset was a direct result of her inability to follow our policies. As far as the billing mishap, the patient has met with the billing department and had already discussed that the issue would be resolved with the insurance company. On the phone the patient agreed to understanding that it takes anywhere between 30-45 days to return to the insurance account. The insurance company verified the above information and the patient got off the phone happy and understanding of how things work. Our office has never had an issue in the past with duplicate billing, this is a rare occasion. The massage therapy in question on 9/17 was for a visit that she elected not to receive after she was routed to that department. Upon directing her there the paper billing was marked and unfortunately the fact that she left before receiving went unnoticed by the billing department. The duplicate office visit on 10/2 was due to the patient seeing both providers in our office in the same day. As previously discussed with the patient we have completed the procedures to reimburse the insurance company the $28.13 in question. We have spoke to this patient several times via three way calls with the insurance companies and one on one conversations here in our office about the same issues discussed and we came to a mutual agreement on 10/22 that due to the number of visit's she has missed and based on our success depending on dedication to the scheduled treatment plan the remaining few visits wouldn't benefit in the best way possible because of the lack of attendance. Patient never once expressed concerns in our office of her treatment being unsuccessful, only continuously vocalized how much better she was feeling. The patient was only billed for the services that she has received up until the point of discontinued care. The patient was only asked to not return to our office after the several pleasant conversations followed by constant harassing emails to our billing department on issues that she has discussed prior. The amount financed includes deductibles, co-payments and co-insurances on services that were rendered. It does not include the two services we are reimbursing. Our billing department applied all payments and re-calculated her exact out of pocket. The remainder financed amount is handled through a third party that the patient signed agreements with when she started treatment. In our final email to the patient she was given the phone number to call to discuss lowering her payment plan, never was she told she could not speak to our owner nor was she denied an itemized statement, as she never asked for these things. In conclusion, we truly believe we had covered all bases to rectify all the patients complaints, we have refunded insurance, reduced her payment plan, offered to re-take x-rays and re-evaluation and had our physicians speak with her about the benefit of sticking to her treatment plan. If the patient would like to return to our office to complete a release form we would be more than happy to give her the asked for x-rays, medical records and itemized statement she requested, within a 24-48 window. We apologize that the patient did not feel this was a great experience in health for her and we wish her the best in the future.Final Consumer Response My response is as follows: I find it oddly unsettling that this provider chose to praise their services instead of concentrate on the issue at hand; my pain and frustration. That speaks volumes in itself to lack of interest of my health & wellbeing. There should be no astonishment by my raised questions and concerns for their are multiple documents in regards to financial billing , pain increase, and immobility. Since they claim to be about customer satisfaction, these issues should have been resolved in-house without any defenses raised and accusations aimed toward the paying consumer. Doctor patient confidentiality is just that. Reception and employees knew the nature of my complains and concerns by this issue being breached. I was advised to bring my child with me by reception when expressed concerns of non-available childcare. Many parents brought their children with them, including an a employee's immediate family. Civil rights does not constitute different rules for different folk. It is a shame anyone would condone mistreatment of a child. I do not understand why this facility believes it is above accepting responsibility for their actions. All parties involved knew the nature of my complaints both physically & financially for this is why we are at a standstill. Both emails I sent in regards to billing were legal advised, reviewed, and CC'ed to all parties. Duplicate billing is a direct result of incompetence in filing correct insurance claims from their internal staff. You cannot fault the consumer in a fabrication. Proposed completed treatment plan was $6900.00, where as my insurance was billed $11,400.00 for 17 whole visits and 4 partials. This is a billing surplus of $8000.00; at this time all monies have been received by provider. I should not have to pay for inadequate quality of care, and failure to meet service standards. Proper diagnosis was also inadequate. How can the reduction in physical abilities be a great health experience as they claim? It seems they have confused happy with polite , and harassing with concern and questions. Thanks, [redacted]