The CORE Institute

We have had nothing but issues with this business trying to schedule a surgery. When we left our appointment mid-August, we were told we would be contacted by their scheduling team to set up my husband's surgery. 2 weeks went by and we heard nothing from The Core Institute. So my husband called The Core Institute and got the run around - the main office doesn't schedule so he is transferred to the doctor's staff but when we talk to the doctor's staff, we are told they don't schedule, the main office does. This goes on for a week until finally we asked to speak with an office manager and have now been waiting for 3 weeks to schedule an appointment. Finally we got the appointment schedule for mid-September. ON THE DAY of the surgery, my husband gets a call from the office asking to change the time to earlier in the day to go to the hospital when my husband is at work. My husband said he could not change the time and needs to keep the original appointment time. The Core Institute employee tells my husband that he needs to change it and that the doctor will not be at the hospital at the original time. He already confirmed the information with the hospital earlier in the day and asked the employee why [redacted] confirmed the original time and now the employee wants to change it. The employee says she doesn't know and that my husband has to change his time or the doctor won't do the surgery. My husband then asks to speak to manager so then confirms what Banner originally confirmed which was the original surgery time. We will NEVER go back to The Core Institute nor will we refer people to them.

Core Institute and [redacted] abandoned me in the middle of treatment. Two days before my scheduled appointment with [redacted] (for which I had been waiting 2 months), I received a call that my appointment was cancelled because they don't like my insurance. This really left me in a bad way because the medication that [redacted] had previously prescribed gave me a severe hearing problem as a side effect. I stopped the medication, but the hearing problem persists. Then [redacted] and Core Institute literally dumped me 2 days before my next appointment. I can honestly say I'm worse off than the day I first walked into the office of [redacted]. Clearly they do not care about their patients. This is just disgusting.

I went to the Core Institute after breaking my elbow. The doctor I saw wanted to numb the area so she could manipulate my arm, I refused. She them immediately recommended surgery. The ER doctor told me it was a minor break so I told her I would like to get a second opinion, Which I would recommend everyone do. My second opinion said he would never perform surgery on such a minor break. I am great today, glad I didn't allow them to put pins and screws in my arm. But they submitted a bill to my insurance company that stated they performed the manipulation. I had the insurance investigate and sure enough no notes in the file that the services were ever delivered. It would have been the end if Core would have just credited my account, but they are harassing me to collect for services they did not deliver. I would like to know if there are other who have experienced being over or incorrectly charged for services.

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 called the alleged patient "advocate" and no one answered and I left a message and no one returned my call.  According to Medicare, The CORE Institute is guilty of "Medicare FRAUD" on this matter so they obviously do not abide by insurance or government regulations. They charged Medicare as well as myself for services never rendered to me. I have Medicare as my insurance at this time.Regards,[redacted]

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.The facility's response was just a form letter and did not resolve the issue of the co-payment. 

Regards,

I have been going to the Core Institute for many years. The past couple of years they have gone downhill. I went to a hip doctor, Dr. [redacted]. He had no clue what he was doing. I ordered his notes and nothing made sense. He even had the wrong hip diagnosed. I never went back to him and he is no longer there.

I also have an issue with severe neck pain. The pain goes up my neck into my head causing severe headaches. I've had x-rays and MRI's and all [redacted], P.A. would do is schedule different kinds of injections which didn't help. I had 5 injections from 1/2013 to 12/2013. I never see Dr. [redacted] who should really be making decisions on the injections. The only time I saw him was when he was administering the injections. There have been times I was in such severe pain and when I called, I was told I would have to make an appointment, the first being 2 weeks. When you call and need someone to call back, no one calls. I waited a whole week for a callback and then I got the excuse that she was on vacation, or they never got the call, etc. My last visit to [redacted] on 12/31 she told me I couldn't have surgery because I had too much arthritis. Shouldn't that be Dr. [redacted]'s or Dr. [redacted] (spine surgeon)call? She scheduled me for another shot for today. I cancelled it. I went to another orthopedic practice last week and was told I definitely had too many injections and I'll be going to physical therapy. I am so done with Core. They have no concern for their patients.

I was referred to the Core and had hopes of receiving excellent health care only to find myself going from moderate pain to extreme pain after injections performed by specialist and contradicting diagnosis from two Core doctors. They prescribed narcotic pain meds and then treated me like a druggy. They lack professionalism and lack quality healthcare associates.