SPEAR Physical Thearapy

Dear [redacted],We admit an extreme billing mistake and we profusely apologize. Although it may be too little too late, on March [redacted] we credited the full amount of $1,620 back to your card.We have a host of behind-the-scenes reasons why this happened, and we will document them below...

in detail, in case it helps. But what matters most is that you helped us realize how critical a few of our billing flaws had become, and we have taken multiple specific actions to keep anyone else from experiencing the same issues.We have amazing internal systems that have helped us get to a great point of growth and customer satisfaction, yet the rare surprise billing mistake does occur. Thankfully, this one will not occur again!Here are the problems you helped us discover, along with the details of how we have recently fixed the problems:1. One of our billing associates entered your information incorrectly in the system. This was the biggest reason for the chain of events you experienced, and happens so rarely that it was previously a minor focus in our continual billing team training.• After your experience we have retrained the specific associate who made the error, and have also increased its priority in our training materials for current and future billing staff members.2. Like most healthcare companies, we do use a third-party service that (typically) helps improve the efficiency of the billing process for our healthcare patients. In this case, this outsourced customer service center did not immediately nor accurately communicate the issue to us. Therefore, not only were we unaware of the issue until March, but also once we became aware we did not realize how severe your situation had become!• We no longer retain the representative who was responsible for the response to your issue.• Now all customer inquiries will be address directly to us instead of through our intermediary at this outsourced company.3. Our billing system did not immediately notify us when a patient placed a customer service call:• We are improving our reporting so that we can immediately see when a customer service representative places notes from a customer service call on a patient’s account.4. Our management team did not have the chance to urgently or directly speak to you to resolve your issue.• We have updated our website with my direct contact information (email address and phone number). As the [redacted] at SPEAR, as soon as I know about a customer’s issue I will be able to resolve it properly and promptly.In summary, we now have: a new account manager under strict guidelines; a specific meeting and policy guideline in regards to refunds (and other related outstanding issues); and a newly-reviewed patient self-pay policy that has been fully-addressed with our staff and clinical directors.We put our patients first—above any of our multiple business priorities—and your billing experience hit our staff very hard. We were at least glad to know that the actual quality of your care was great.Now that we’ve improved our billing system, we welcome you back with open arms should you ever require any physical therapy in the future. We would look forward to proving our new-and-improved selves to you.Sincerely, [redacted], SPEAR Physical Therapy###-###-#### | [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 and the matter has been resolved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Review: I went for a series of eighteen (18) physical therapy appointments at SPEAR at their offices at [redacted] between 10/*/2014 and 12/**/2014. The quality of the service was excellent, but the billing was a disaster. I was told that I would have to pay for each appointment and submit for reimbursement from my carrier. I paid $90 for each appointment (see attached receipts for 10 of the 18 appointments). Before I submitted claims to my carrier, I started getting notices from my carrier that SPEAR had submitted, which showed payments going to SPEAR, instead of to me. I called the SPEAR billing hotline on several occasions: on 12/**/2014 I spoke to "[redacted]" who told me my account showed a "credit" and that I would be reimbursed once my last visit (on 12/**) was posted to my account. It did not happen. I called again on 2/**/2015 and spoke again to "[redacted]". She put me on hold and then came back on the line and told me that either her supervisor or someone from the SPEAR offices where I had my therapy would call me back that day. To date, no one has contacted me. I am out $90 x 18 appointments = $1,620. SPEAR not only billed me for each appointment, but also sought and received reimbursement from my carrier.Desired Settlement: I would like to reimbursed for the full amount that I paid to SPEAR, i.e., $1,620.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],We admit an extreme billing mistake and we profusely apologize. Although it may be too little too late, on March [redacted] we credited the full amount of $1,620 back to your card.We have a host of behind-the-scenes reasons why this happened, and we will document them below in detail, in case it helps. But what matters most is that you helped us realize how critical a few of our billing flaws had become, and we have taken multiple specific actions to keep anyone else from experiencing the same issues.We have amazing internal systems that have helped us get to a great point of growth and customer satisfaction, yet the rare surprise billing mistake does occur. Thankfully, this one will not occur again!Here are the problems you helped us discover, along with the details of how we have recently fixed the problems:1. One of our billing associates entered your information incorrectly in the system. This was the biggest reason for the chain of events you experienced, and happens so rarely that it was previously a minor focus in our continual billing team training.• After your experience we have retrained the specific associate who made the error, and have also increased its priority in our training materials for current and future billing staff members.2. Like most healthcare companies, we do use a third-party service that (typically) helps improve the efficiency of the billing process for our healthcare patients. In this case, this outsourced customer service center did not immediately nor accurately communicate the issue to us. Therefore, not only were we unaware of the issue until March, but also once we became aware we did not realize how severe your situation had become!• We no longer retain the representative who was responsible for the response to your issue.• Now all customer inquiries will be address directly to us instead of through our intermediary at this outsourced company.3. Our billing system did not immediately notify us when a patient placed a customer service call:• We are improving our reporting so that we can immediately see when a customer service representative places notes from a customer service call on a patient’s account.4. Our management team did not have the chance to urgently or directly speak to you to resolve your issue.• We have updated our website with my direct contact information (email address and phone number). As the [redacted] at SPEAR, as soon as I know about a customer’s issue I will be able to resolve it properly and promptly.In summary, we now have: a new account manager under strict guidelines; a specific meeting and policy guideline in regards to refunds (and other related outstanding issues); and a newly-reviewed patient self-pay policy that has been fully-addressed with our staff and clinical directors.We put our patients first—above any of our multiple business priorities—and your billing experience hit our staff very hard. We were at least glad to know that the actual quality of your care was great.Now that we’ve improved our billing system, we welcome you back with open arms should you ever require any physical therapy in the future. We would look forward to proving our new-and-improved selves to you.Sincerely, [redacted], SPEAR Physical Therapy###-###-#### | [redacted]