Ochsner Clinic

I am writing to express my extreme disappointment and frustration with the recent encounters at the urology practice of Dr. Brandon S. Cottrell within Ochsner Medical Complex - The Grove. Being a patient with a background of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), I had anticipated receiving comprehensive and expert attention during my appointments. Regrettably, my interactions with both Dr. Cottrell and his nursing staff have resulted in a profound sense of dissatisfaction.

I have had the unfortunate occasion to see Dr. Cottrell twice, most recently on August 7, 2023. On both occasions, I was dismayed by the lack of adherence to even the most basic routine procedures for a urology annual exam. Within the scope of this routine examination, I had expected that one or more of the following procedures would be carried out:
* Collection of a urine specimen for analysis.
* A comprehensive physical examination focusing on the genitourinary system.
* A genital exam along with a digital rectal exam to assess the prostate.
* Sonography of the kidneys, bladder, and prostate, or other appropriate imaging tests.
* PSA test to monitor prostate health.

Yet, to my astonishment, in both instances, particularly during the most recent appointment on August 7, 2023, Dr. Cottrell omitted all of these vital protocols. Instead, he merely went over my past test outcomes, which I was already well-acquainted with. This evident neglect for a thorough assessment has caused me to doubt the caliber of the healthcare I am being provided.

Compounding the situation, during my most recent appointment, I made a specific request for a urine sample to be collected as a standard part of the examination. Unfortunately, the nurse responsible for my care exhibited an alarming lack of professionalism. She appeared hesitant to furnish me with a sample container and, even more concerning, it seems that the sample I provided was mishandled or discarded. This conduct is wholly unacceptable and erodes the confidence that patients rely on when seeking assistance from healthcare professionals.

Furthermore, I believe it's crucial to highlight yet another incident that has raised considerable concern. During the course of my recent visit, I deemed it necessary to discuss the subject of conducting a bladder check in order to ensure a comprehensive emptying of the bladder. To my noticeable surprise, the nurse assigned to my care displayed an evident hesitance to proceed with this test. It wasn't until I persevered and insisted that she reluctantly acquiesced to performing the procedure.

Nonetheless, I find myself compelled to express my lingering reservations concerning the accuracy and validity of the result that was ultimately provided. What intensifies these concerns is the fact that shortly after the appointment concluded, I was able to successfully and completely empty my bladder. This development undoubtedly raises questions about the thoroughness and effectiveness of the test procedure itself, as well as the precision with which the results were communicated.

Regrettably, this particular situation has done nothing but exacerbate my existing doubts regarding the standard of care that I am currently receiving. It underscores a recurring pattern of disconcerting experiences that have cumulatively contributed to the erosion of my confidence in the quality of the healthcare services provided.

Following the visit, I have noted a discrepancy in Dr. Cottrell's records. He mentioned that I am taking saw palmetto, a detail I never communicated during the appointment. Moreover, it's important to clarify that I did not claim any notable improvements in my condition. What I did mention was that sporadic intake of blueberry pills seemed to result in improved sleep patterns and fewer overnight bathroom trips.

I want to emphasize the seriousness of my dissatisfaction with the care provided by Dr. Cottrell and his nurse. I not only was billed for these visits but also entrusted my health and well-being to their expertise. Their actions, or lack thereof, have left me feeling unheard, neglected, and disrespected as a patient.

I find myself driven to escalate this issue, and I intend to formally file a complaint with both the LA Department of Health and Hospitals and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana (BCBSLA). It is imperative that you are made aware of my experience, as the unprofessional behavior exhibited by both Dr. Cottrell and his nurse is unacceptable and tarnishes the reputation of Ochsner Health Care.

I believe in the value of feedback and improvement, and I hope that by bringing this issue to your attention, appropriate measures will be taken to rectify the situation. My intention is not to cast a negative light on your institution, but to highlight the need for consistent, high-quality care for all patients.

I sent my complaint to the patient advocacy department, and someone from there contacted me through phone calls and emails. However, it became apparent that their primary concern was to protect their colleagues' wrongdoings, despite acknowledging that I should not have had to go through this ordeal. This left me with no choice but to leave negative feedback, as it seemed their advocacy department was more focused on safeguarding their employees rather than prioritizing the well-being of their customers. My interactions were primarily with Supervisor Urology Clinical Services in the Baton Rouge Region, and this experience has left me deeply dissatisfied with the institution's commitment to patient care and accountability.

The OCHSNER SYSTEM fails in some many areas! I have been through to many of their nightmares and it's a shame that they fail badly to correct their problems. The E.R. I went to was snail slow on so many levels. There needs to be less bsing and more working! You get put in a exam room waiting forever to see a slow moving doctor. They shut the door of the room and have a dumb sign on the wall "CALL DON'T FALL" But there is NO CALL BUTTON! Nor do they at least open the door to check on you! They could at least check on you every 15 minutes instead of bsing at the nurse's desk. If you are in pain your screwed they could careless. Then if you are admitted in to the hospital what a joke that becomes the left hand hasn't a clue what the right hand is doing and to cover up their mistakes that may have been made you are lied to. I had a nurse finally come to the room after calling several times. I asked her for something for pain she said she could not give me anything unless the doctor ordered it. At that point you're screwed! It just about takes a act of congress to get the doctor from the E.R. or any doctor to authorize pain meds. Then there is the follow up visit to your primary doctor. What a headache that is! You have to make an appointment and you think the doctor is going to see you in person then at the last minute you're told without warning "oh the doctor is only doing virtual or audio/phone visits". If I'm going to be charged a full co-pay costs I want to see the doctor in person! Unless they have come up with a way to put a stethoscope through the camera to give me a full examination I want a in person office visit! It time for people to speak up because I sure will!

Revdex.com: At this time, I have not been contacted by Ochsner Clinic regarding complaint ID Regards, [redacted]

my wife was admitted into the emergency room at oschner main campus. On Friday the 17th of may 2019. during her time in the emergency room we asked questions that were
never answered . from 6-12 that night we didn't see a doctor one time. the nurses we had
lied to us several times about questions that were asked. once they had a room for my wife
it took them 2 and a half hours for trans port to come and move her to the room. when the male nurse got off his shift he told my wife she had to wait and get her pain medication that was do until she got up to her room which I was told by the nurses on the 5th floor that that was a lie. my called and requested pain medication after that and the new nurse told her she would see what she could do. I finally got back to the emergency room and her nurse was standing around doing nothing . I requested to see the head nurse and reported that my wife hadn't got her pain medication and she made excuse after excuse so finally my wifes nurse came into the room all mad throwing things around and gave her pain medication. once my wife was transported to her room I requested to speak to the head of the emergency room and the head nurse which I was given excuse after excuse not once in our conversation did they say iam sorry for your experience they just made excuses. once we got up to the 5th floor the nurses were great. I would never recommend
that anybody go to your emergency room the process of care is way below any standards that I have ever seen. the nurses and doctors spent more time talking about sports and vacations and horsing around then care for there patients. 985-516-1005

I have watched the "patient service" go down over the last few years. I have been a patient with Ochsner for 40+ years. Do not even try to us "My Ochsner" because the doctors don't look at emails and neither does the staff. If you are old and don't have anyone to advocate for you, then you need to find someone who will or go to another doctor/medical facility that has "great" patient service. Prescriptions are called in wrong, even after specifically emailing through "My Ochsner" or calling. Also, trying to make an appointment is almost impossible. Sometimes it takes 4 - 5 months to get in with a doctor, even though you are in pain...so what is basically how I was told. It is very disappointing to see Ochsner is more business oriented then patient oriented. The doctors are overloaded, so good luck with getting an appointment. If you like going to Wal-Mart for shopping, then Ochsner is great for you, as it is the Wal-Mart of medicine. Not only my family, but quite a few other families have the same view as I do and I've even overheard doctor's giving bad raves about Ochsner. From an extremely disappointed patient.

Wondering if Ochsner has a plan that helps pay my copays. They did last month but they stopped on 5/27. I am on fixed income and the copays are really starting to hurt. I have to go to oncologist every week.

Thank you for contacting our Patient Accounts
Customer Service Department. We are dedicated to providing the best customer
service possible to our patients and their families. We appreciate your
patience while we researched your recent billing inquiry.
 Please accept our apologies as this is not a billing issue. Please be advised, all test results should be available on your My Ochsner to view and print. If these results are not available, please contact your physician’s office directly. If your physician is not supplying you with the requested results, please contact the Patient Relations Department at ###-###-####. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. 
If you have any other questions or need additional
assistance, please feel free to contact the Patient Accounts Customer Service
Department at ###-###-#### or toll free at ###-###-####. You may also
contact us via email at [email protected].
 
Thank you for choosing Ochsner Medical Center for
your healthcare needs.
 
Sincerely,
Patient Accounts Customer Service

Revdex.com:At this time, I have not been contacted by Ochsner Clinic regarding complaint ID 10996734.Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 12334345, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
 I have not been provided with test results yet; so the claim that it was done "timely" is false.  I am still waiting to be contacted about this issue but have been ignored.  I paid $154 for tests that I am still waiting for results on.   Perhaps someone can contact me about this instead of saying they did?  
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
At this time, I have not been contacted by Ochsner Clinic regarding complaint ID 10200089.
Regards,
[redacted]

I only deal with Ochsner because they bought out all the other medical facilities in my location. They often bill me thousands of dollars for services without informing me that I have a balance due until receiving notices from collection agencies in the mail. When I talk to Ochsner they always say they can't pull a bill from collections. I spoke to an attorney. The attorney said that isn't true. Ochsner has been one of the worst experiences of my life. They always mess up my blood results. Please bring good medical facilities.

Review: I went to Ochsner in January 2014 for a routine appointment to get blood work and a Physical for my CDL licenses. To my surprise I get up getting a blood test for somebody that has triglyceride problems. In May 2011 I had a routine physical and had blood work done in the pm hours at that time. To whom ever fault is was I had not fasted for my blood test and my Triglycerides were abnormal but overall my total cholesterol was normal along with my Comprehensive Metabloic Panel. After doing some communication with Ochsner the error was found and I received NO follow up for therapy regime. I was given a clean bill of health and told to return as needed. I did go to Ochsner in the summer of 2012 to obtain a physical for Boy Scouts of America where NO blood work was done and I received a clean bill of health.I have tried to get this resolved with Ochsner but an repeatedly told that in May 2014 I completed blood work for someone with Triglyceride problems. My major concerns comes in due to the fact if that was truly believed by Ochsner staff I have received no treatment or follow up since 2011. I understand mistakes or made. However I should not be responsible for paying for Ochsners mistake. Not to mention the time I have personally spent on this for inferior health care I have received.Desired Settlement: Ochsner to accept responsiblity of them running incorrect blood work and to take care of $42.25 bill sent to me.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have not been contacted by Ochsner Clinic regarding complaint ID [redacted].

Regards,

Review: This is a complaint about a convoluted billing system. After receiving an initial bill, I immediately began making partial payments. Subsequent bills continued to come with increased balances. No credit was given for payments made. When I called, I was told it was due to the way insurance company processes claims. When asked about payments made, I was told these payments went towards another outstanding bill. Then I began receiving notices from a collection agency. The most recent one is from Med-1 Solutions indicating that Ochsner authorized them to offer a 25% discount. Today, 5.12.14, I contacted Ochsner to confirm the legitimacy of company. I was told Ochsner does contract with company but if I accepted settlement offer, it will be at my own risk. The letter from Medi-1 Solutions indicates the Ochsner authorized settlement offer.Desired Settlement: 1) Ochsner honor 25% settlement offer 2) Ochsner change their convoluted, offensive d billing system especially for responsible paying customers

Review: October 2015 I made an appointment with Dr. Babycos' office to see what my options were for botox. I arrived at my appointment, checked in, then saw a nurse practitioner. We discussed my options and then told me a financial advisor would be in to talk to me. I spoke with the financial advisor and it was determined that I could not afford the services with Dr. Babycos' office. I was then told there was a $90.00 consultation fee.

I did not have the $90.00. So I was told Dr. Babycos' office would send a bill. I received a bill and $58.50 was deducted which left me owing $31.50.

I do not feel that I should have the $31.50 because I was NEVER told about the consultation fee. Not by the person that made the appointment nor the person at the front desk when I signed in.

Disclosure of this consultation should have been made when I called to make the appointment. Had I known there was a consultation fee I would not have made the appointment. This is a sneaky way for Dr. Babycos' office to make money.

It is my understanding that any and all businesses have a duty to the public to disclose all fees and/or possible fees regarding consultation fees and service call fees.Desired Settlement: Ochsner should not charge me $31.50 because they failed to disclose the consultation fee when I called to make the appointment. I want this balance cleared.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have not been contacted by Ochsner Clinic regarding complaint ID 10996734.Regards,

This business is completely unethical and has changed in the past few years. I would never recommend using their services. The scheduling manager Susan S. in Covington is horrible and rude. They denied medications to me and made multiple mistakes without trying to correct them. Worst service I have received my entire life.

Review: March 1-13, 2013, I attended BMEU outpatient services at the recommendation of the Psychiatrist for which I was a patient due to my physical and mental issues.I have disputed the way that the services were billed to my insurance company. I was told that I had preapproval for BMEU outpatient services.Several times I spoke to/emailed someone to review the coding for this program. I did NOT receive individual therapy and should not be paying a copay to each and every doctor that participated as an educator in this program.I fell greatly deceived with the admission into this outpatient program as I was told they had verified insurance coverage and had preapproval. I know that there where participates in this same program that went for 3 hours unlike me that went for 5 hours due to the fact that their insurance didn't cover the extra time. Had I been informed like some of the others, I would have opted for the 3 hours. (I am being charged for a $20 co-pay for each Psychiatrist seen in each group session for 10 days. Somebody is making lots of money on this "treatment plan". In addition to the hospital charges and educational charges of which the insurance tells me they don't cover.) What happened to my preapproval? I could have seen many mental health providers on individual appointments for the $20 copay and saved a lot of money as Ochsner has billed me for approx. $5000 (That would be 250 one on one personal visits with a Psychiatrist which would better serve most people.)One person I spoke to in the billing office, could not give me a firm price as to how much the program cost were. She said every persons bill is different. I have been working on this billing issues of over a year with no acceptable answers.I also asked for a detailed bill for these services and my request was not fulfilled. I have asked to dispute the billing of these services via email because I am frustrated with the run around. I received a response stating the coding is correct. I disagreeDesired Settlement: Proper billing of services, as this two week outpatient program was supposedly preapproved for treatment, Blue Cross insurance says it was not.I am requesting that the charges be formally reviewed and any charges NOT covered by the insurance to be written off by Ochsner.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have not been contacted by Ochsner Clinic regarding complaint ID 10200089.

Regards,

Review: Recently I had to have an MRI performed at the hospital and the hospital overbilled my Co-Pay by $107. Once my provider (Aetna) Processed their paperwork they validated the overcharge.

My balance owed to the hospital prior to this was $0. Upon my requesting to have the overpayment put back on my credit card they did not but now produced payments owed from 3 years ago. These claimed owed payments were not present on balances owed for years and I have the paperwork to support this. Plus it is the hospitals policy that you MUST pay the co-pays upfront or you cannot see the physician. Despite my discussing this with them they refused to pay me the balance owed. I further explained I now considered this to be a matter of FRAUD on their behalf and I hold strongly to that claim. To prove otherwise the hospital would be liable to produce records going back through 2013 itemizing all the billings and payments which they refuse.Desired Settlement: They remove the fraudulent co-pay amounts due from 2013, pay me the balance owed for the MRI Co-Pay and write a letter confirming their error as I suspect this will appear again sometime in the future.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have not been contacted by Ochsner Clinic regarding complaint ID 10992386.

Regards,

Robert Ryan

Review: We are an Active Duty w/ Tricare Prime - 0 copay/100% healthcare coverage). We use our PCM provider and are billed incorrectly. We have been in contact w/ the Dr's office and Tricare. Tricare states it's an action required by Billing/doc's office. When we speak to Ochsner they seem to understand the issue and "submit" the resolution ticket, but it is an Off-Site representative that can only submit ticket. There's only 1 central phone # to call and we have no control of who answers. No central office we can visit to try to resolve issue. Now they have sent to collections for a bill that we should not have and resolution needs to be done by Ochsner. We are being billed for office visits (sick child/Immunizations). We are told all Dr's are Tricare Providers and if our primary is not available, anyone at the office can see us. We are being billed as if we saw someone out of our network or as a deductible, which we should have none. Tricare confirms we can see anyone there but it needs to be billed correctly. We seem to get different reasons for billing issues.1) Tricare states the Doctors we see at the office were not listed as PCM Roll Y, they are listed as PCM Roll N. What needs to be done is for Ochsner personnel to call and state the doctor we saw needs to be changed to PCM Roll Y. The doctor in question is now Y, but after the date we saw them. It is just a matter of Ochsner personnel calling Tricare & stating that this doctor was suppose to be a Y at the time of visit.2) If we did not see our primary care manager, then a referral needs to be made to see other doctor, by our primary care manager's nurse/staff even if it is a doctor in that office. I made sure I stated this to the person making the appointment, the lady checking me in, and BOTH nurses - doctor I'm seeing and PCM's nurse. 3) As per Tricare, if doctor's office were to bill them w/Ochsner Pediatrics' tax ID and not individual doctor's ID, then there would be no problem w/PCM Roll or referrals.Desired Settlement: Deem our account at zero Balance and Ochsner remove collections immediately. We need someone in billing/doctor's office, responsible individual, to call Tricare and resolve these issues. Tricare says they will pay for it, if it is billed correctly. Most issues is because of wrong code, no referral, or doctor not designated correctly.Total amount disputed is cumulative from various office visits.

Review: My husband went to Ocshner ER on 4/26/2014 and Ocshner has not yet filed the claim with our insure provider. I have requested multiple times that the claim be filed and have been told that it would be filed. I called my insurance provider today to find out if they had a copy of the claim yet and they did not. My insurance company contacted Ocshner for me while I was sitting on hold and they were told that due to contract negotiations that the claim had not been filed and there was no estimated time frame for it to be filed. I have spoken to several different people and departments at my insurance provider and no one has any knowledge of contract negotiations with Ocshner.Desired Settlement: I want the claim filed with my insurance provider immediately. I believe over 90 days in more than sufficient time to have this resolved.

Review: The website for Ochsner's Laser Vision Center states that the consultation is free, see the link [redacted] After going to this consultation that I was told was free, not only by the website but confirmed by the worker at the registration desk, I was sent a bill in the mail. I would not have gone to the consultation had I known I would be charged for it since other eye laser centers offer consultations 100% free. After calling them to remind them what their website says, I was told this is a facility fee and that there was a sign on the wall in the office. If that is the case then the staff member who told me it was free when I asked her should have pointed this sign out to me. They should not be advertising free consultation if they are going to charge people for it. They should at least be required to put in writing on the website or tell me when I got there that this fee applies. $36 bill does not=free.Desired Settlement: I want the $36 charge removed from my account and I will never go to Ochsner for anything ever again. This is extortion.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, my complaint, ID [redacted] regarding [redacted] has been resolved.

(By clicking "OK", your complaint will be closed as Resolved.)

Sincerely,