St Joseph's Medical Center

Please be assured that we have performed a review of your records and a thorough investigation into your concers. We do show that medical insurance was received for your account, however the timely filing to bill your medical insurance was already past due. For [redacted], the timely filing is...

120 days and for [redacted] the timely filing is 150 days. We did not receive your medical insurance until 8 months after the date of the service.

This is a 3rd complaint for the same issue. Refer to complaint #[redacted]. After spending close to 2 years trying to resolve a billing with this company, they finally agreed to close the account and reimburse the $150 we were forced to pay the collection agency to avoid a negative impact on our credit. Attached is a letter dated 10/14/15 from [redacted] stating that the $150 refund would be issued at the end of the month and if not received within 30 days of the letter to contact them. Well, no check as predicted. We called [redacted] on Monday, 11/16/2015 and had to leave a message. She never returned that call. We called again on 11/19/15 and had to leave another message. On 11/20, she called stating that the refund request was never placed on the "refund" log. She said that this would be handled haste and we should have the refund by Thanksgiving. Well, Thanksgiving as come and gone and still no check. Dignity Health/St. Joseph's Medical Center's level of service is horrendous. They have wasted hours of our time fighting with them over a billing error that was made on their part in the first place. And even after that, they continue to deceive and evade reimbursing us what is rightful oursStop cowering on your obligation and issue the darn refund check.

Consumer's wife states that the refund was received on December 2nd and considers the matter resolved.

Review: On Dec. 15, 2015, I went to St. Josephs ER because of a bladder infection. I was there for less than 2 hrs., I was triaged in the waiting room, I never saw or spoke with a doctor , never taken into a room and/or examined in any way. the nurse asked for a urine sample, she gave me the two pills I was to take, and she gave me the one injection of antibiotic. no room was necessary, a curtain partition was pulled over for privacy and nothing was touched in this room. When I received my statement of benefits from my insurance co. I was floored to see they had charged over 3,000 dollars for this!!!My insurance, having no idea, paid their portion, but this still left my responsibility $571.84 and $36.91 to a doctor that I never saw, but he charged 720.00 to my insurance. I immediately called to get an itemized statement to see what could warrant these figures, and was assured it would be sent asap. when it didn't arrive I e-mailed my request and was sent a confirmation . I requested it by phone and e-mail a total of 8-10 times, each time I was given assurances that it was on its way. it was mid march when I finally received what they considered an itemized statement. it contained no CPT codes to look up, no Drs notes, no lab results, all things I asked for. it did contain medication I wasn't given, a whole lot of tests I was completely unaware of being ordered and for the use of two rooms, which I never used. plus, when checking price comparisons for our area, the prices they charged were completely insane. I finally went to their records dept. and gathered all my requested documents, drove across town to their billing office to gather theirs, as well. The reports are mostly fabrication, especially the Drs, since he never saw or spoke to me, I was billed as a level 3 emergency , which means "severe" to charge more, the tests were ordered either after I was discharged, or not at all, just billed for. I faxed all of these grievances, and evidence to Billing, their response was to send me another form.Desired Settlement: I feel that , being they were overpaid to begin with, my portion should be marked "paid in full" as well as the doctors bill. these practices are blatantly ripping people off, and everyone just accepts it. I don't want to. Im tired of businesses getting away with it. If they don't want to agree with that, then I would expect them to recalculate the bill and refund my insurance co. so that my portion will be substantially smaller.

Review: my complaint is against St. Josephs medical center (dignity health). I applied for payment assistance program in October of last year, on account #[redacted] with a balance of $7170.50, I turned in all proper paperwork. I was then sent a letter a month later stating I didnt have all proper paper work. I then contacted dignity health and they indicated I needed a letter from my parents and last years tax return. I complied and dropped it off to there billing office in stockton, ca. They reviewed it and said that I had all needed paperwork and that they can now move forward with the claim. I then was contacted in January again with a letter stating I was missing paperwork so I called the stockton billing office and women indicated after reviewing my case that it was a mistake to just disregard the letter. Today I now received a letter of denial for financial assistance because "required documentation was not received." I work part time for the department of rehabilitation with a gross monthly income of $750 I was told I would qualify for this government program because of my low income. I was told on several occassions I have all documentation and I have copies of everything I turned in. I just want this nightmare to be over it has been an on going issue and it is now effecting my life with much unneeded stress. as of feb. 1, 2014 I was approved for medical because of my low income. I will provide once again all the copies I have I just would like this issue to be taken care of, I feel like im getting the run around, please helpDesired Settlement: I would like this balance to be settled in full since I was told I qualify for the government assistance program

Business

Response:

Thank you for expressing your concerns regarding the bill you received from St. Joseph's Medical Center. We take patient experience very seriously and appreciate your feedback.

If you recall, I spoke with you on February 26, 2014 regarding your concerns. At that time, you stated that you provided all the documentation necessary to process your payment assistance application.

Please be reassured that we have performed a review of your records and a thorough investigation into your concerns. Upon careful review of your Financial Assistance Application we have approved the request to provide financial assistance to cover your hospital stay in we will be adjusting $ $7,170.50.

Thank you again for sharing your experience with St. Joseph's Medical Center. If there are any further needs or concerns you might have, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Review: On 8/27/2013, I was taken to St. Josephs emergency room after a minor motor vehicle accident. While waiting in the corridor of the emergency room, I was asked for insurance information and I personally handed the insurance cards to her. She recorded the information and handed them back. When I received the first bill, my wife completed the back of the form with the insurance information and provided copies of both cards again. Several months went by and we started receiving Balance Due Notices. We called Dignity Health advising of both coverages. On our 1/27/15 call, we was informed that they normally do not bill medical insurance if its an auto accident. We explained that in this situation there is no third party liability or med pay available and that it needed to be submitted to the medical plans. We were advised that Dignity would do this. It was not. When we received the Debt Collection notice, we called Dignity again. This time we were advised that the claim was denied by [redacted] because it was an auto accident. That following Monday we called [redacted]. Per [redacted], [redacted] was never billed by St. Joseph, so that information was incorrect. And now, because of timely filing, we are told that St. Joseph will not bill [redacted]. We were advised that St. Joseph received medical insurance information back in April 2014 but for some unknown reason they did not bill either payer. Now, the burden has been placed on us to file grievances with all parties to get this claim paid. Between both medical plans, this bill should be paid in full and not the members responsibility. We have had to pay $150 to the collection agency to date to avoid any negative credit reporting. We now have a copy of the ER records and it clearly shows Dignity Health had the primary insurance information the entire time.Desired Settlement: We would like Dignity Health to either work with the medical insurances to waive the timely filing and reimburse the bill. Or Dignity Health needs to write off the balance due to their own failure and reimburse us back our $150. Between both medical insurances this bill would have been paid in full.

Business

Response:

Please be assured that we have performed a review of your records and a thorough investigation into your concers. We do show that medical insurance was received for your account, however the timely filing to bill your medical insurance was already past due. For [redacted], the timely filing is 120 days and for [redacted] the timely filing is 150 days. We did not receive your medical insurance until 8 months after the date of the service.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because: obviously St. Joseph did not read my second letter in which I informed them that they had the wrong timely filing period for [redacted] (not [redacted]). The timely filing period for [redacted] is one year from the date of service. In addition, I send them a copy of the emergency room records which clearly showed the medical insurance information listed. They had the information at the time of service. A copy of all documentation was submitted to Revdex.com with my initial complaint.

Consumer

Response:

This is a 3rd complaint for the same issue. Refer to complaint #[redacted]. After spending close to 2 years trying to resolve a billing with this company, they finally agreed to close the account and reimburse the $150 we were forced to pay the collection agency to avoid a negative impact on our credit. Attached is a letter dated 10/14/15 from [redacted] stating that the $150 refund would be issued at the end of the month and if not received within 30 days of the letter to contact them. Well, no check as predicted. We called [redacted] on Monday, 11/16/2015 and had to leave a message. She never returned that call. We called again on 11/19/15 and had to leave another message. On 11/20, she called stating that the refund request was never placed on the "refund" log. She said that this would be handled haste and we should have the refund by Thanksgiving. Well, Thanksgiving as come and gone and still no check. Dignity Health/St. Joseph's Medical Center's level of service is horrendous. They have wasted hours of our time fighting with them over a billing error that was made on their part in the first place. And even after that, they continue to deceive and evade reimbursing us what is rightful oursStop cowering on your obligation and issue the darn refund check.

Consumer

Response:

Consumer's wife states that the refund was received on December 2nd and considers the matter resolved.