Mid Hudson Medical Group, PC

Review: I became an OB patient of this medical practice in November of 2012. During my whole pregnancy, I only paid 1 co-pay at the beginning....all other appts were "free." I was due 7/*/13 and in the 2nd week of June 2013, I received a call from the billing department stating that I would have a $1200 deductible for the birth, and that they wanted their money before I went into the hospital. I was perplexed by this because I have never gone out of network for anything and have always had co-pays. I asked them why they didn't tell me this in the beginning when I first became a patient? I told them I wasn't able to work my whole pregnancy and literally had no money. We almost lost our house to foreclosure and putting a roof over the baby's head was more important at that time. She told me they tried several ways in the past but telling people towards their due date worked best for them. I have NEVER heard of this method and found it odd. I called my insurance and because Putnam Hospital was not our "home host" hospital that it was treated as out of network (and the dr too for the birth). Again, nobody told me that. I was told that if I gave birth at Westchester Medical Center (where my husband works) that I would pay NOTHING!! The staff at the doctors office told me they knew this and I think that is why they never told me earlier...they know I would have gone elsewhere to where I could afford it. With 3 weeks til my due date, there was NO WAY that I could get established with another doctor. I wasn't able to send money for a few months and recently got a letter stating I would be sent to collections if I didn't pay the balance which was over $400. I emailed [redacted] but never heard back from her. I don't feel I should be sent to collections due to their billing practices which is totally unfair. I was blindsided and to be treated like that is so wrong.Desired Settlement: I do not want my account to be sent to collections. I have recently gone back to work and am able to pay a few dollars a month now. It would also be nice if they would eliminate my bill altogether because I never would have stayed with these doctors if I knew this from the beginning.

Business

Response:

The business response is below:

This is in response to a complaint we received from your office regarding a billing issue our Patient, [redacted] had.

We are not billing the patient $1200.00 she is being billed a total of $438.88 the 10% representing her out of pocket portion per her benefits with Aetna Insurance. I have attached all the explanations of benefits. We do not bill patients co pays for antepartum care only if the Maternity benefits states they are required. The amount [redacted] is being billed for are due to diagnostic testing she had performed during the antepartum period. [redacted]’s Insurance benefits require that she pays 10% of the allowed cost of her delivery. I will contact the patient and reassure her that we are very willing to work out a payment plan and that her account will not be sent to our collection agency. If you need any additional information please call me directly or via email.

Thank you,

General Phone Number

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

I will also be contacting [redacted] directly because when I've been sending money, they have not been applying the correct amount.