Northwest Medical Center - Bentonville

After it was established that I had a serious problem with my heart and my cardiologist decided to grant me a visit, and tests, I was waiting for my final test . Symptoms; severe chest pain left side of chest, difficulty breathing, weakness, clammy skin. .One afternoon symptoms became severe causing me to take an ambulance ride to this hospital. While on the way EKG showed problems, I was given nitro tablets 3 different times along with morphine. Once the ER I received immediate attention, after additional tests ER confirmed serious issues with my heart. They notified my Cardiologist Dr Singh who has the personality of a piece of coal. I was admitted to the ICU unit awaiting a dye / angiogram . Never was seen or heard from any doctor. During that night at the ICU I had a male nurse who's first comment was "why is he here and not on the cardiac floor". The RN that brought me there stated he has severe blockage in his heart valve, this was the first time I heard this. The male nurse, Terry, had an attitude like I was a burden. After setting up all the monitors / wires, he left. I was still having pain and difficulty breathing, and given heparin. I was never given the call handheld device, not explained how things worked, laid in the bed half dressed, scared and no idea what would happen next. After an hour or so I was able to flag him down, get a cold stale sandwich, and a remote control with someone else's dry blood on it. Worst part, the door was open, curtain open, I was right across from nurse's station and heard every negative comment being made. I was unable to stand on my own and had to wait to get an urinal to use the bathroom. Finally I was able to get the attention of another male nurse who was at the desk asking for a urinal. He informed me that he was not my nurse and he would let him know. Now I have prostate issues and waiting is very difficult. I was able to hold it until I could get a urinal. I began to experience severe chest pain, and trouble breathing so I hit the call nurse button. Approx seven minutes later my nurse showed up. Really! My heart rate kept dropping below 50 and the alarm on the machine would chime. No body came. All night I could not attempt to sleep because of this alarm. I asked Terry to switch the alarm to silent mode he stated he could not. 7:00 am came and there was shift change. A nurse and an intern came in both were pleasant. About ten minutes later the intern Brian came back in and stated he was going to take some blood. I watched as he gathered his supplies, searching as though he could not find what he needed. I watched him with gloves on open the lid to the garbage can and dig around inside. He came up with a couple items, one being the rubber tourniquet. He went to the sink and rinsed them off, dried them, and came over to me to draw blood. I questioned him about this and he stated it was ok. He took the blood and left. I contacted the RN and told her about this, she said she would talk to him. I told her I did not want him in my room. Later I could see that the intern was still on the floor. In this day and age with a deadly virus this is your accepted protocol? This hospital will never see me or my family again.

The doctors and nurses were great to work withThe billing department on the other hand is a messAfter having gone to the hospital times within a month I ended up with different accountsThey seem to not want to transfer money from the account that was over paid on to the other accountsMeanwhile over the past months I have made over a dozen phone calls trying to get the money transferredThey have now sent me to collections on one of the accountsNot sure why it takes two months to get money transferred

On July 7, 2015 I received blood tests to monitor my prostate cancer and a diabetes screen at Northwest Medical Plaza: [redacted]). My doctor is [redacted]. Medicare will not cover charges for my prostate cancer screening labs and diabetes screening labs because the test codes for Mdicare billing were submitted incorrectly to [redacted] affiliate hospital: Northwest Medical Center: [redacted].I've received a FINAL NOTICE for $647.63 for blood tests related to my prostate cancer and a diabetes screen. Medicare covers these tests but Northwest Medical must correct their mistake and submit a corrected bill first. [redacted] and [redacted] acknowledged their mistake in writing through [redacted] online Patient Portal. I have been trying to solve this problem with [redacted] by calling them, The Labs and working through the online portal for 6 weeks to date. They are not helping to rectify the mistake they made. Phone calls are not being returned by The Labs. [redacted] has been rude and evasive. I am being held responsible for this bill as a consequence. The FINAL NOTICE I received on September 14, 2015 is threatening to use a collection agency.Product_Or_Service: Test results for cancer and diabetes screeningAccount_Number: Acount number: [redacted]Desired SettlementIt is the Northwest Medical's responsibility to retract this bill. The Clinic made the mistake and should easily be able to work with The Labs to fix it. They are both Northwest Medical Center businesses. I need written confirmation that the billing error is resolved so that I won't be harassed by a collection agency. I do not want my excellent credit rating damaged either.Business Response After further review of this patients bill for date of service July 7,2015. Due to a technical error this claim was billed incorrectly which we have taken steps to correct this from happening in the future. On October 28th this claim was submitted for an adjustment which will reflect a zero balance due for the patient.Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)Northwest Medical must repair their billing process. In the beginning there was a lack of communication and support from the staff at the Bella Vista Clinic. Once they began to help, Northwest's billing processes proved to be too complex to navigate effectively. All of this is a nightmare for any customer hoping to resolve billing problems in a timely manner so that credit ratings aren't damaged and payments aren't made for services that have not been rendered.Thankfully this ordeal is over.

NW Medical has sent me to collections even though I've paid my monthly payments as per the arrangement made with their [redacted] dept. as of 12/2015.On 12/2014 I made a payment arrangement with the [redacted] department at NW Medical Center for services rendered on 9/24/14. The arrangement was $100 a month for 12 months (total of 12 payments). My first payment made was 12/2014 and I have continued to make the monthly payments as per the arrangement made. On 9/16/15 I received a phone call from [redacted] at [redacted] (collections agency) in regards to a medical bill from Northwest Medical Center. I was accused of being 3 months behind on my medical bill for services rendered on 9/24/14. I told [redacted] that I made my payments and she needs to contact NW Medical, Billing Department. I decided to call NW Medical Billing Department on 9/17/15 to figure out why I've been sent to collections. The representative (name not given) told me the problem was that "I" made 2 payments in March (3/2/15 and 3/29/15) and the system won't recognize it as 2 payments. Therefore, "I" need to make sure to submit only one (1) payment a month. THIS IS RIDICULOUS! I told the representative that they need to audit their records better and not send an innocent person to collections. She kept telling me I was the problem and wasn't being cooperative. I got the same response from the Manager (name not given). I expressed to them that they need to contact [redacted] and figure it out and to stop calling me, harassing me for your mistake. They responded with "well, I can't promise the collections agency won't call if you continue to make 2 payments in a month. Here's my problem, we agreed to 12 payments of $100. I shouldn't be penalized for making payments to pay off my debt. I continue to be harassed by the collections agency and the billing office. They need to do a better job of auditing their records and stop harassing innocent people who are actually paying t off their debt. I have all my records to prove I have made my payments and shouldn't be sent to collections. NW Medical Center are bullies and they should be reprimanded for this.Desired SettlementNW Medical Center should waive any balance left on my account in regards to services rendered on 9/24/14 for harassing me and falsely accusing me of non-payment.

The doctors and nurses were great to work with. The billing department on the other hand is a mess. After having gone to the hospital 4 times within a month I ended up with 4 different accounts. They seem to not want to transfer money from the account that was over paid on to the other accounts. Meanwhile over the past 3 months I have made over a dozen phone calls trying to get the money transferred. They have now sent me to collections on one of the accounts. Not sure why it takes two months to get money transferred. ","neg-1

We have been overbilled, lied to, and threatened by Northwest Hospital and its affiliate (PASI). Our son's ENT suggested putting tubes in his ears as a means to alleviating frequent ear infections. In making a decision on the procedure we had an in-person visit with the finance/admissions people at NWH to inquire as to what the hospital's costs would be for the procedure. Note that the costs of the procedure were a significant factor in our decision. As the procedure of putting tubes in ears is simple and common, the two women helping us ran the codes and confidently told us that the hospital's price would be $992. They ran this with our BCBS insurance, assuming the deductible had not been met. They also informed us that if we paid "at the door" that we could receive a 20% discount and pay $737.60. They even gave us this on a hand written note (Exhibit A).On the day of the procedure, April 17, 2015, while checking our son in, we paid the $737 in full (Exhibit A). As we had received the number from the in-person visit to NWH, confirmed it with the scheduler, and then paid it at the door, we rightfully assumed our liability to the hospital was over. Additionally, the procedure lasted just a few minutes and was free of complications. Nothing happened during the procedure that would have increased the costs that was not known at the time of pricing.We subsequently received an explanation of benefits ("EOB") from our insurance company, saying that $9986.30 had been billed with $1,696.84 allowed, leaving us with a responsibility of $1,696.84 (Exhibit B). Again, we had received the same $992 ($737 with discount) price from finance/admissions, from a follow-up call with the scheduler, and at check-in. All parties knew what type of insurance we had, and all parties knew our deductible was not met. We were told that the procure was routine and went without complication. NWH did not then, nor has communicated with us any reason for the actual patient responsibility being nearly double the price we were given.We made multiple phone calls in June and left messages asking someone to call us to discuss. We never heard back. PASI claims to have made calls at some point, but they never left voicemails so we did not know they were calling. Once we finally made contact with PASI on the week of July 15, 2015, they were very disagreeable and unable to explain the bill to us. Different PASI agents gave us conflicting information and in some cases lied to us.We finally reached someone in billing at NWH after many attempts. We had to reconcile the bill for her (Table 1). We explained to her why we should not owe the hospital any further balance and she said that we needed to discuss with the "Patient Access Director," as this person has the authority to deal with bad estimates. She said that she would put a hold on any collection attempts from PASI until they could send us the "corrected" bill. She told us it would probably take six weeks and that PASI would not make any attempts to collect until we received a "corrected" bill. She also mentioned that PASI was some relation of NWH and not a true third-party collection agency, which I also heard from legal counsel.In the meantime, we tried to get in touch with the "Patient Access Director." After making multiple phone calls, there is not a "Patient Access Director" that anyone can find for us on the NWH directory. While waiting for that "corrected" bill, we got a call from [redacted] at PASI on September 2, informing us that we would be sued within the week. I told her that in our last discussion with NWH, that NWH admitted to not even having provided us a correct bill, and that there would be no collection attempts until they sorted out the bill and contacted us. She said we were being sued and that we could try to contact NWH, but that the file was going to an attorney that week. The only way we could avoid the suit was to start making payments on a bill that we completely disagree with. Thus, we were coerced into a payment plan to avoid a law suit.Desired SettlementWe have been in contact with [redacted]. She is somehow affiliated with NWH. Customer Service Manager [redacted]She was supposed to speak with the CFO and get things resolved in November, but after several emails back and forth, we have not heard from her in over a month and PASI is still billing our card for payments we do not feel we owe.It is our position that our obligation was paid in full on the day of the procedure. Again, we were given the same price three times with the agents having an understanding of a straight forward procedure, our insurance plan, and our deductible. This price was part of our decision on the procedure and we relied on it. NWH has not provided us with any explanation as to why the actual responsibility billed differs from the price they gave. We have received inadequate cooperation with the NWH billing office and PASI in resolving this issue. The only person to contact that they have given us that is supposed to protect us is the "Patient Access Director" who no one can connect us with.Further, while being told by NWH that there would be no collection attempts on us until they came up with what they felt was an accurate bill, we were threaten by PASI with a law suit weeks before receiving NWH's updated bill. These threats caused embarrassment and mental anguish.Additionally, it is our position that NWH owes us $146 of credits from past overpayments. This has been confirmed multiple times by NWH as they are trying to use it to apply to the bill in dispute. We are offer the following:1. To not seek legal action against NWH for deceptive billing practices on this procedure,2. To not seek legal action against NWH and PASI for pain and suffering of threats against us when we had not even received a reconcilable bill, and 3. To consider using NWH again in the future.Our offer is contingent on NWH's and PASI's cooperation in doing the following:1. A paid in full-balance on the patient account - [redacted],2. A refund of the 9/30/15, 10/30/15, 11/30/15 payments of $104.81 each that Professional Account Services, Inc ("PASI") coerced us into by threatening a law suit, as well as a termination of the remaining payment plan with PASI,3. A refund of our overpayment credits of $146 that NWH owed us from past overpayments that they have wrongfully applied to the disputed amount, and4. An acknowledgement that we were threatened with a law suit before NWH could even produce a bill that reconciled to the EOB and payments made.