Providence Health & Services

Sent via Mail May 15,*** *** Revdex.com Resolutions Consultant Revdex.com POBox DuPont, WA RE: *** *** ID#: *** Dear *** ***: Swedish Health Services ("Swedish") is in receipt of your letter dated May 8, concerning Mr*** *** complaint about a billing dispute pertaining to SwedishSwedish understands Mr*** complaint to be three-fold: (1) He requests that his three collections accounts be consolidated; (2) he requests that his three accounts be called back from collections; and (3) he has failed to receive a follcall from the Swedish billing department regarding his complaintMr*** had three separate accounts sent to a collection agency***in May 2014, and in August To the best of Swedish's knowledge, these accounts should already be consolidated by ***, but we encourage Mr*** to contact *** to confirm thisTypically, Swedish only exercises its discretion to recall an account from collections shortly after an account has been sent to collections, combined with a guarantee that the patient will pay the account balance shortly after the account is pulled backMr*** first contacted Swedish in February regarding his accounts, nine months after the first account was sent to collectionsThis is beyond the point in time where Swedish would consider pulling an account back from collectionsSwedish encourages Mr*** to work with *** to discuss his accounts in collections***'s customer service number is *** *** Lastly, Swedish apologizes for the oversight in customer serviceOn May 13, 2015, a Swedish representative called Mr. *** to discuss this matter. Swedish indicated that while the account cannot be pulled back from collections, Mr*** can make a payment to Swedish (by calling *** *** or to *** directlySwedish also apologized to Mr*** for the oversight in returning his callThank you for bringing Mr***'s concerns to Swedish's attentionPlease let me know if you need any further informationRespectfully, *** ** *** Staff Attorney Swedish Health Services

I am the Medical Director of the Emergency Department at Swedish-BallardI am unable to comment on any complaints related to care provided outside of my Emergency DepartmentAs this appears to be related to a visit at Swedish-Cherry Hill, I cannot provide any assistance.Thank you,*** *** ***

Dear Sirs,After we sent our response on 3/3/2017, we spoke to our patient's spouse. During the call, the cost of one of the services provided was still in question. Although our patient has paid in full for all services on the 11/17/2016 date of service, Providence has decided as a one time courtesy, to adjust off their account the service in question and to refund $414.00 back to our patient. They should see this refund on their credit card account in the next 5-7 days.  The 11/17/2016 date of service is at a $0.00 balance.We hope that this adjustment will resolve our patient concern. Sincerely, Joe D[redacted]Providence Health and Services

Dear Sirs,
I spoke with Ms [redacted] on January 18th, 2016 to let her know that we had received her concern and that a billing specialist was reviewing her account and would follow up with her.  On January 18th, our representative did call the phone number provided on the Revdex.com form and left a...

voicemail message with her name and direct phone number with a request for Ms [redacted] to call us. Unfortunately, we have not heard back from Ms [redacted].  Once we connect with Ms [redacted], we are happy to work with her to resolve her concern. We respectfully ask that she call the representative at the number provided in the voicemail message.
Sincerely,
Joe D[redacted]
Customer Support Manager
Providence Health and Services

Dear Sirs,
Thank you for your email. We have reviewed our patient's account and spoke with her by phone on Friday April 8, 2016. Our patient had two services performed on December 14, 2015. Our patient's service mentioned in her concern, was billed correctly and paid in full. The balance owing...

resulted from the 2nd service performed during that visit. We certainly understand the confusion, and we have adjusted her balance to $0 for the date of service in question. We have placed a statement in the mail reflecting a $0 patient balance for that date of service for her records.
Our patient is pleased with this resolution. We apologize for any inconvenience to her in resolving this concern.
Please let me know if there is anything else you need.
Sincerely,
Joe D[redacted]
Customer Support Manager
Providence Health and Services

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: I never received a phone call to my home number at this point because of miscommunication I prefer all communication from Providence be in writing only because I have never received a telehone call from Providence, please send communication to my home address, going forward, therefore the response will not be acceptable until I hear from providence I ve received no response from this company, I need some form of communication from this company, before response can be acceptableSincerely,[redacted]

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  I don't understand, however, their contention that my account was delinquent at one point because that is definitely NOT the case.  I had made all of the current budgeted payments through December, so I don't know how there could be the perception on their part that I was delinquent.  In any case, I received a phone call from the billing department informing me that they had withdrawn the referral to the collection agency and would continue with the previously arranged budgeted payments.  I was also assured that there would be no adverse impact on my credit rating. I very much appreciate the assistance of the Revdex.com in resolving this issue.Sincerely, [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
Swedish Medical is the ones that sent 2 security guards to escort me out of the hospital because I was loud.  I was at the door of the Executive Office and security would not let me in.  I've left multiple messages for Swedish that they have refused to call me back on. These are unprofessional refusals because they don't want to address their major misses: such as the fact that rather than let someone from the executive office speak with me, they let 2 untrained security guards set the tone and message for the hospital.  One of those security guards was obviously agitated that I would not just follow his every word and instructions. Neither person was trained at how to read body language, or what to do to calm someone down that might be excited or how to control their own emotions.  The one was letting his emotions get the better of him each step of the exchange and only until I told him and pointed out the body signs of his anger did he back completely away from me in an aggressive manner.  I was never moving aggressively, but he did numerous times that was also contributing to an already tense situation.  There is plenty for Swedish to address that they are absolutely responsible for.Sincerely,[redacted]

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely, [redacted]

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely, [redacted]

Swedish Medical Center Patient Accounts Customer Service Supervisor, Nancy E[redacted], responded to the Revdex.com via postal mail on 7/23/2015. A copy of that letter is attached here.
Date: July 21, 2015 Case #: [redacted] Dear Revdex.com: The following is in...

response to the above-referenced case related to services rendered by Swedish Edmonds Hospital to [redacted] on September 12, 2014. Her complaint concerns a suggested delay in the processing of a patient refund. I am providing a summary of the account history as related to the account payments and resulting refund: • 9/12/14 - [redacted] was added to the account upon registration • 9/18/14- [redacted] was billed • 10/13/14 -payment received from [redacted] • 10/14/14- the first statement was generated and mailed to the patient • 12/18/14- patient established a monthly payment plan • 5/18/15 -Swedish Edmonds Hospital received correspondence from [redacted] suggesting this was a work related injury and should be billed as such • 5/20/15- [redacted] was billed • 6/30/15 -Swedish Edmonds Hospital received payment from [redacted] • 7/13/15 -the refund was processed • 7/17/15- the refund was sent I have confirmed with the Supervisor of the Business Office and Insurance Follow Up that the refunds are approved each week by Tuesday and the checks are issued by the Finance Department each Friday. As you can see, this refund was processed within two weeks of receiving payment from [redacted] and the check was issued that Friday. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this dispute.

A consumer is encouraged to submit a complaint or appeal directly with us.  We see that we have recently received this from the member.  This is currently in review.  Please have the member contact us directly for follow up.

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely, [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]At this time, I am rejecting this response because I am still waiting for a confirmation letter from [redacted] stating that my account has $0 balance and my collection status will be removed as noted in the response from Swedish Case Manager.  I want to be assured that my account is in a good position.  Furthermore, I want Swedish, both hospital and medical parties, to confirm that these types of issues will never occur to me ever again.  Colleen, Billing Specialist at Swedish Medical Mill Creek, will need to be "reeducated" again that [redacted] is a separate entity from [redacted] and [redacted] does not include [redacted] in the benefit/coverage.  They are two separate entities.  She keeps insisting that [redacted] Healthcare covers [redacted] in the plan as well and refuses to accept that [redacted] is a secondary insurance, over and over again.  In addition, [redacted] must be entered if has not yet been done so or visible in Swedish system as a secondary insurance accordingly. Swedish must use both insurance plans to bill the services correctly.  Until that time, I will gladly accept the complaint being resolved.  Sincerely,[redacted]

Dear Sirs,
Thank you for allowing us to review and respond to our patient complaint. Upon review, Providence did send billing statements to our patient for the services they received in April, 2013.  The billing statements were mailed to an address on file that was located outside of the...

United States. Unfortunately, we would not know if our patient received the statements and we did not receive any return mail that would have alerted us to an issue.
As a resolution, we have canceled all collection activity, and as a courtesy have adjusted our patient's Providence Health and Services bill to $0.00. In addition, we have updated our patient's home address and placed in the mail, for our patient's records, statements that reflect a $0.00 balance for the date of service in question.
We apologize for any inconvenience and Providence hopes that these actions will resolve this complaint.
I have communicated this information via email to the complainant. They are welcome to contact me if they have additional questions.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Joe D[redacted]
Customer Support Manager
Providence Health and Services

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely, [redacted]

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely, [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:This seems to be a generic answer as none of this highlighted anything in my statement. Thank you for reviewing my case. I find the quality of care I received much lower then the next place I have received the correct treatment at for my knee. I'm sorry I have to point out that it was the quality of care and misinformed information that lead me to your ER instead of your primary care clinic that was told where to go over the phone.I find the facts that you have to point out your open 24 hrs 7 days a week a reasoning why your charges are higher then the rest of the hospitals? My explamples: [redacted], **, and [redacted] all have the same hours of operation as I compared your rates to them.. The level you rate and charged my injury at is completely incorrect as your staff agreed with me. I was rated as higher emergency (believe it was E3 or E2 was the term they used?) She stated for this type of injury it should have been a lower rate and she felt I was rated as a bigger emergency then it was. As a comparison for your emergency term you had me under, It was rated the same as someone coming in with a abnormal heart rate. I compared this to my wifes bill. How does a watery knee and a abnormal heart rate fall into the same category of emergency charge? , Most of this info was found out when I called asking why this matter is taking so long to resolve? (Issaquah Swedish)  It took 30 days to send such a generic response to this matter? I'm letting you know that I dont feel this matter was looked into of any kind as your email response seems generic and the only matter concerning my initial statement is the time you put I was in (31 minutes)Again all that was responded to was the time I was in, you're open 24 hours and be happy to set up a payment arrangement. (none of which were in my original complaint) Here is my response. I'm sharing this conversation with the media and attorney general tomorrow as this matter was not handled in any way near a timely manor or professionally. This generic response was about the same as the level of care and information given to me. It is extremely concerning given this is coming from a health field. Sincerely,[redacted]

Dear Sirs, Thank you for forwarding the concern of our patient. We have reviewed their account. Our patient had notified us of their care concern and a clinical review was performed of the services provided which found that care was appropriate. However, we do understand our patient's concern...

and have made an adjustment to his original date of service to bring that patient balance to $0.00 as requested.  We have sent an email to our patient via MyChart with this adjustment information.We hope this resolves their concern and we apologize for any inconvieience to our patient. Please let me know if you need anything else. Sincerely, Joe D[redacted]Providence Health and Services

I have forwarded this on to our RBO (regional billing office).  This is solely a billing issue.  This is not a customer care in the hospital issue.  Please follow up with our billing department.  There phone in Oregon is [redacted]The email is...

[redacted]@providence.org.Thank you,Pam M[redacted]