Preferred Homecare

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
While I appreciate the fact that the letter was finally sent, it did not meet the time frame promised by the billing manager and came  only after I followed up with another employee.  Very poor customer service attitude.
Regards,
[redacted]

Preferred Homecare (PHC) would like to provide a response to the Revdex.com (Revdex.com) complaint regarding Mr. [redacted]’s use of his oxygen (O2) equipment. PHC contacted Mr. [redacted] 05.30.2016, after receiving his concern from the Revdex.com 05.29.2016.
Mr. [redacted] advised a PHC Customer Service...

Technician (CST) had visited Mr. [redacted] 05.29.2016 to provide re-instruction on the use of his O2 equipment as Mr. [redacted] was unsure of the proper installation of his O2 regulator on new O2 tanks and how to properly adjust the O2 level of his concentrator.
Mr. [redacted] explained his equipment concerns were resolved, though advised an equipment use reference guide for patients would be beneficial and may alleviate the need for CST home visits for other patients.
PHC advised his concerns would be relayed to our Southern Arizona Area Operations Manager (SAZ AOM) for consideration. PHC’s SAZ AOM contacted Mr. [redacted] 05.31.2016 to discuss his suggestions and concerns.  Also, Mr. [redacted] was provided with management cell phone numbers to facilitate service moving forward.
Mr. [redacted] expressed satisfaction with this communication and states he is comfortable using his O2 equipment.

This will simply be a he said she said scenario. 
 
She had Medicare on the phone when she called and we informed her that Medicare would not pay and she was unhappy with our response.
 
 
We will be happy to take another set of batteries out to the patient.  She is using the batteries that she states are bad.
 
 
ATTEMPTED TO CONTACT PATIENT – NO ANSWER AND UNABLE TO LEAVE A MESSAGE
 
Monday at 2:01
 
ATTEMPTED TO CONTACT PATIENT – NO ANSWER AND UNABLE TO LEAVE A MESSAGE
 
Tuesday at 12:30 and 3:45 from a Preferred Homecare phone and a cell phone

In response to the complaint concerning Mr. [redacted]’s oxygen service received by Preferred Homecare (PHC) on 8/21/14, the PHC facility operations manager contacted Mr. [redacted] on 8/22/14 to discuss his issues. Mr. [redacted] explained that he had had equipment issues in the past but that this time PHC had...

provided him with a good reliable concentrator and that all he needed were some additional oxygen supplies and the exchange of two Homefill cylinders.
The items he requested were:
5 adult soft cannulas
3 sections of 21 foot O2 tubing
2 exchange Homefill cylinders
Mr. [redacted] was told that cylinders were not currently in stock but they would be delivered as soon as they arrived. He was also told that the other supplies would be delivered the next business day.
Mr. [redacted] seemed satisfied with the immediate telephone call to him and the attention to his needs.
 
Thank you for the opportunity to resolve Mr. [redacted]’s issues.

Preferred Homecare (PHC) would like to respond to this member’s Revdex.com (Revdex.com) concern regarding service of her ventilator machine. PHC’s Area Manager contacted the member upon receipt of her concern to discuss her frustrations with PHC’s service. The member’s ventilator was checked...

by PHC staff and found to be working properly.  PHC is in contact with the member and her sister, and each have been provided with direct manager phone numbers to alleviate any frustrations moving forward. The member has expressed satisfaction with the vent and management involvement with her account.

This PT was provided o2 equipment Per their Doctors request .  We only provide equipment through a formal physician order.  I have included a copy of the order showing that this is a valid order that was processed by Preferred Homecare through their treating physician at that time.When the...

PT was provided their o2 equipment they were required to sign for it as well.  On this agreement the PT states they would pay for whatever costs that their insurance would not cover according to their policy. They were notified up front that they would have a cost.  I have included the work-order which was signed by the PT stating that they understood this information at their set up. I do show the PT called in and on 5/18/2015 and requested a pick-up of the o2 equipment going against the original physician orders as we never received a discharge from the patients doctor.   We attempted several times to pick up the equipment but the official pick up was completed on 6/5/2015.  We stop billing as of the date the PT requests the pick-up which is 5/18/2015.  The PT would be responsible for all DOS prior to this request for PU.  The final DOS the Patient would owe for would be for the 5/14/2015 DOS.   I have included a print screen of the note from the date they made the initial request for pick-up. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I still have never receved an invoice or statement from Preferred Homecare. There is no mail delivery in Bisbee and all my mail must go to a post office box. It would seem that after 2 years of having mail returned and no payments received, Preferred Homecare might have called me (they have always had my phone number) instead of simply turning the whole matter over to a collections agency. And contrary to what they responded, in my conversation with the billing department of Preferred Homecare on March 29 I was specifically told that the $800+ I owed was for the wheelchair, oxygen, and bed. Now they seem to be maintaining that those charges are for the bed only. I still have never received any statement from Preferred Homecare and have no idea where they came up with that figure. The bed they brought me was used. The vinyl mattress cover was ripped. I could buy a brand new bed, in a later model but otherwise exactly like the one I am using for less than $800. Buying a new trapeze would add approximately $125.So how in the world can my 20% share of cost for a hospital bed and trapeze worth no more than $925 be $800? The best information I can find on the internet shows the Medicare rate of reimbursement for hospital beds is $115 per month for 13 months. That comes out to a total of $1,495. How in the world can I owe over $900 for my 20% when the total reimbursement from Medicare (which my Advantage insurance is based on) is less than $1,500?And as to the matter of a new wheelchair Preferred Homecare has very specifically told me they will not furnish a new chair until my bill is paid off. If that has changed, I have not been informed of the change.Thank you for your time. - S[redacted] H[redacted]s

After review of patient order there were delays in the final fitting for the manual wheelchair.  The wheelchair was received, however many items needed to be replaced by the vendor at no charge due to their errors.  The reason for the delay in completing this delivery upon receipt was the...

order had not been moved into the proper state for follow up. [redacted] the seating specialist in [redacted], immediately rectified the issue once it was brought to his attention.  The entire team has been instructed on proper follow through on receiving voicemails.   The Manager of the Rehab Department in Arizona personally spoke with mom and she was thankful for Ken’s attention to detail at the final fitting 9/3 and then again on 9/4 to make additional adjustments.

Preferred Homecare (PHC) has elevated this member's concern to Management for review.PHC has agreed to refund the member for the disputed amount and Patient Services did outreach to the member regarding his customer service concerns.At present, PHC believes this member's concerns have been resolved.

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
Nicole C[redacted]

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.Their total is based on only payment by the one insurance company when in the beginning two insurance companies where billed.  Also the rental portion is then refunded after three months and applied to the purchase of the machine by the insurance company's instruction.  So they have not considered the payment by the one company to be applied to the balance.  In other words, they have billed for two machines and not one; which I only have one machine.  So the coordination of benefits has not been applied correctly. Also there are charges on the itemized statement that I don't know what they are and there is no explanation.  I have only purchased the CPAP machine and one replacement mask piece and nothing else but there is a $135.40 that I am not sure where they got that number and I don't have an EOB showing any such charge.  The itemized statement I received from them is hard to follow with all kinds of adjustments which are confusing.  My family and myself see medical providers unfortunately quite regularly and I can follow their billing.  Preferred Homecare is the only provider in which I am unable to follow their billing.  I have accounts payable experience along with bookkeeping experience and I know that my account with Preferred Homecare is a mess and also inaccurate. Regards,[redacted]

Preferred Homecare (PHC) is following standard insurance billing procedure when it bills Mr. [redacted] at the beginning of his monthly service period rather than at the end. We have decided to combine his two bills into one billing per month so he no longer will receive two bills.  We hope this is...

satisfactory to Mr. [redacted].

From: [redacted] [mailto:[redacted]@preferredhomecare.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2014 12:58 PM
To: drteam
Cc: [redacted]
Subject: Revdex.com Complaint ID [redacted]
 
Now to Mr. [redacted]:
 
Mr. [redacted] has Medicare as his primary insurance and as such we need to have the...

appropriate medical documentation from the physician’s office in order to qualify him for the device. We had  turnover  in the Houston staff handling the order and as a result the order was delayed. After several contacts with the physician’s office we were able to get the appropriate documentation. Mr. [redacted] was provided his Cpap supplies on 1017/14. We apologize for the delay in processing the order.
 
[redacted] •Credentialing Specialist
Preferred Homecare • LifeCare Solutions
[redacted] E Hilton Ave. • Phoenix, AZ 85034 • D ###-###-#### • F ###-###-####
[redacted]@preferredhomecare.com | www.preferredhomecare.com
 
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Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I am dissatisfied 100% with this response. Their response is nothing but a bunch of excuses. We dont live in the 1970's. Whoever signed for the deliveries can be verified by calling the carrier[redacted] or whoever) or going to their  website using the delivery tracking number- which I dont have(Have they called the delivery company??). These delivery companies record everything. Including the GPS/time of delivery/address/signature/Name of the person receiving/ etc.  Obviously this company has customer service, accounting, customer order entry,  training, and logistics problems.  I dont have time to argue over very clear cut issues like these. The fact of the matter is, I did not receive the items that I ordered. 
Regards,
[redacted]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
[redacted]

Preferred Homecare (PHC) would like to respond to Mr. [redacted]’s Revdex.com (Revdex.com) concern regarding delivery of his wheelchair. Mr. [redacted]’s concern has been elevated to our Area Operations Manager (AOM) for review to expedite his wheelchair order wherever possible. PHC’s AOM will...

contact Mr. [redacted] with order status updates and track his wheelchair order to resolution to ensure his order is completed as timely as possible.

The charge of $176.50 for the SVN and kit were applied to the patients deductible by [redacted] which is the insured’s  responsibility to pay. We were quoted benefits by [redacted] prior to the services being rendered of 80/20 which would equate to [redacted] paying 80% and the patient paying 20% of the charges after the annual deductible is satisfied. The deductible amount is determined by the insurance once the claim is submitted and processed. The deductible was not meet therefore the insurance did not pay the charges and applied the charges towards the patients deductible which is their responsibility to pay in accordance with the agreement they hold with their insurance. The patient would owe the entire charge of $176.50. [redacted] ·Area Reimbursement ManagerPreferred Homecare · LifeCare Solutions

Information from the Rehab Manager of Preferred Homecare:This order was delayed.  The parts we show were replaced correctly and the shop manager saw the chair when it left and stated it was in good condition.The parts were all in to repair the chair, a replacement cushion was still pending...

receiving, the repair was scheduled without seeing that the cushion had not been repaired. The member was offered a manual wheelchair loaner by our shop supervisor. I am currently working on the repairs of this chair to complete and re-repairs the patient requests and the patient has requested we take care of a new chair for him as well as he and his wife are unhappy with the other vendor and would like us to take care of the new chair. I am working with the member and his wife to resolve issues and get all equipment the member needs.

Preferred Homecare (PHC) would like to provide a follow-up response to the Revdex.com for our patient, S[redacted] E. H[redacted]. PHC advised Ms. H[redacted] that billing statements from 2013 were addressed to her physical address on file, and while PHC does not have any records of receiving ‘Return to Sender’ mail from 2013, her account was updated to the PO Box address in 2014, where statements are currently sent. PHC re-reviewed the past due amounts resulting in a collections balance with Ms. H[redacted].  PHC also mailed an itemized statement of those claims.  Because the collections agency is a separate entity from PHC, Ms. H[redacted] was advised to contact them directly to understand current balances due, including any late fees or interest the collections agency may have assigned to her account after the claims were originally submitted.  Ms. H[redacted] understands that those balance totals may deviate from the original claims amounts on file with PHC for that reason. PHC did contact the collections agency as a good faith effort to assist Ms. H[redacted] in understanding the current balance due.  PHC learned the collections agency actually has two accounts for Ms. H[redacted].  For this reason, when Ms. H[redacted] calls in, the balance she is given does not wholly reflect the true total balance due. Further, PHC explained to Ms. H[redacted] that PHC has no way of knowing what claims Ms. H[redacted] has resolved with the collections agency or for which specific rental items.  PHC can only view what was originally submitted for these items.  PHC explained to Ms. H[redacted] that she will need to contact the collections agency directly to understand her current balance due as the collections amount is not processed in any way by PHC, including application of payments to claims originally generated by specific rental items. PHC also reassured Ms. H[redacted] that the collections balance due does not affect her pending wheelchair order, which is currently in progress.

The insurance has already approved/authorized the repair work.If they hadn't, then why did Preferred HomeCare charge co-pay?I have also discussed issue with the insurance company.  If it wasn't authorized, then why is the insurance company also tracking actions instead of informing me that repair is not authorized/covered?Up to 6/18/2017,   I still haven't received any loaners or has the wheelchair been fixed (as previously agreed to do on original Revdex.comreport)