Valley Pain and Wellness Center

Valley Pain and WellnessRe: [redacted] Revdex.com Complaint # [redacted] Mr [redacted] was seen for five visits over a five week periodMr [redacted] was seeking care for complaints which we treat in our office Our office will give a treatment recommendation based on the condition, duration of symptoms and patient presentation regardless of what the insurance will or will not cover Our job and responsibility is to make sure patients start feeling better as quickly as possible We can only do our best in giving a recommendation, whether the patient follows through with our recommendation is up to them We try to accommodate patients’ requests as best as we can, however our job is to provide them with services that would best facilitate their healing We did not prescribe unnecessary procedures based on Mr [redacted] conditionHis accusation of “upselling” services is completely unfounded, unwarranted and defamatory.On his second visit, 1/30/2015, we reviewed his insurance coverage based on a verification our staff performed on 1/30/at 9:AM with insurance reference # [redacted] Mr [redacted] was informed that the information that we receive from an insurance verification is not a guarantee of payment We also reviewed recommended treatments and services for his complaints All services that were performed were covered under his insurance plan of which we are a contractually bound providerHis statement that we performed services outside of his insurance coverage is again untrue.On his fifth and last visit dated 03/05/2015, some of his earlier claims were processed His insurance assigned him the responsibility of an additional $Our front office staff attempted to collect this payment along with his usual $copay and he refused to pay anything additional to his $He said that he would contact his insurance carrier and get this taken care of because he should not owe our office anything additional Following Mr [redacted] final visit, his insurance carrier processed all his dates of service and assigned him a total responsibility of $This amount is also reflected on the patient’s explanation of benefit that he receives from his insurance carrier following each date of service.He received his first billing statement from our office on 4/28/Mr [redacted] contacted our office and rudely, belligerently and aggressively yelled at our billing representativeHe claimed that he will not pay his bill and that if our office did not remove his balance, he would proceed into writing negative reviews on the internet Our staff tried to inform him that if he felt there was an error with the way his insurance processed his claims, to please contact his carrier and have them reprocess the claims However, Mr [redacted] would not take our office advice and never contacted his carrierOur office has even filed an appeal to his insurance carrier on his behalf which is going above and beyond our duties Mr [redacted] received another billing statement on 5/23/2015, 6/26/and a final statement with a courtesy letter attached to it on 7/24/His patient balance is a direct result of his inaction to contact his carrier and not a result of our office We agree that Mr [redacted] insurance carrier has improperly processed his claim for which we have tried to appeal and remedy on his behalfHowever, it is ultimately the responsibility of the insurance holder to handle these types of disputes with their insurance No payment has yet been made to our office by Mr [redacted] His balance is still outstanding and overdue In no way is his balance a result of our office “bullying”, “upselling,” or “billing uncovered treatments.” The comments and reviews made by Mr [redacted] are not only unacceptable but they are false It is our wish that Mr [redacted] pays his outstanding balance to our office and retracts all defamatory statements that have been posted on social media to avoid legal consequencesBelow you will find an excerpt of our initial paperwork that Mr [redacted] signed and dated on 1/28/2015.“Insurance Patients: I understand that my health insurance is a contract between the insurance carrier and myself I understand that I am ultimately responsible for any fees for services rendered that are not covered by my insurance company I agree to pay my portion of fees at the time that services are rendered I authorize my insurance benefits be paid directly to the physicianI also authorize this office or my insurance company to release any information required to process my claims I understand that this office accepts billing for individual or group policies, personal injury cases, authorized worker’s compensation and Medicare.”“Missed Appointments: In the event I am accepted for care in this office, I understand that it is vital to adhere to the recommended treatment plan As a courtesy to others and to improve your results, our office has the following missed appointment policy: $per occurrenceI understand that this policy is enforced at the office’s discretion “ (Our office has waived all missed appointment fees accrued by Mr [redacted] Those dates are as follows: 1/23, 2/2, 2/11, 3/and 3/13.)“Nonpayment: Please be aware if your account becomes delinquent we may refer you to a collection agency In this event, all collection agency fees and/or legal fees and any unpaid balance would be your responsibility.”“No Guarantee of Results: I recognize that this office cannot guarantee the results of my health and that it is based upon my cooperation and my body’s ability to recover.”

Valley Pain and WellnessRe: [redacted] Revdex.com Complaint # [redacted] Mr. [redacted] was seen for five visits over a five week period. Mr. [redacted] was seeking care for complaints which we treat in our office.  Our office will give a treatment recommendation based on the...

condition, duration of symptoms and patient presentation regardless of what the insurance will or will not cover.  Our job and responsibility is to make sure patients start feeling better as quickly as possible.  We can only do our best in giving a recommendation, whether the patient follows through with our recommendation is up to them.  We try to accommodate patients’ requests as best as we can, however our job is to provide them with services that would best facilitate their healing.  We did not prescribe unnecessary procedures based on Mr. [redacted] condition. His accusation of “upselling” services is completely unfounded, unwarranted and defamatory.On his second visit, 1/30/2015, we reviewed his insurance coverage based on a verification our staff performed on 1/30/2015 at 9:03 AM with insurance reference # [redacted]. Mr. [redacted] was informed that the information that we receive from an insurance verification is not a guarantee of payment.  We also reviewed recommended treatments and services for his complaints.  All services that were performed were covered under his insurance plan of which we are a contractually bound provider. His statement that we performed services outside of his insurance coverage is again untrue.On his fifth and last visit dated 03/05/2015, some of his earlier claims were processed.  His insurance assigned him the responsibility of an additional $18.31. Our front office staff attempted to collect this payment along with his usual $40.00 copay and he refused to pay anything additional to his $40.00. He said that he would contact his insurance carrier and get this taken care of because he should not owe our office anything additional.  Following Mr. [redacted] final visit, his insurance carrier processed all his dates of service and assigned him a total responsibility of $123.31. This amount is also reflected on the patient’s explanation of benefit that he receives from his insurance carrier following each date of service.He received his first billing statement from our office on 4/28/2015. Mr. [redacted] contacted our office and rudely, belligerently and aggressively yelled at our billing representative. He claimed that he will not pay his bill and that if our office did not remove his balance, he would proceed into writing negative reviews on the internet.  Our staff tried to inform him that if he felt there was an error with the way his insurance processed his claims, to please contact his carrier and have them reprocess the claims.  However, Mr. [redacted] would not take our office advice and never contacted his carrier. Our office has even filed an appeal to his insurance carrier on his behalf which is going above and beyond our duties.  Mr. [redacted] received another billing statement on 5/23/2015, 6/26/2015 and a final statement with a courtesy letter attached to it on 7/24/2015. His patient balance is a direct result of his inaction to contact his carrier and not a result of our office.  We agree that Mr. [redacted] insurance carrier has improperly processed his claim for which we have tried to appeal and remedy on his behalf. However, it is ultimately the responsibility of the insurance holder to handle these types of disputes with their insurance.  No payment has yet been made to our office by Mr. [redacted].  His balance is still outstanding and overdue.  In no way is his balance a result of our office “bullying”, “upselling,” or “billing uncovered treatments.” The comments and reviews made by Mr. [redacted] are not only unacceptable but they are false.  It is our wish that Mr. [redacted] pays his outstanding balance to our office and retracts all defamatory statements that have been posted on social media to avoid legal consequences. Below you will find an excerpt of our initial paperwork that Mr. [redacted] signed and dated on 1/28/2015.“Insurance Patients:  I understand that my health insurance is a contract between the insurance carrier and myself.  I understand that I am ultimately responsible for any fees for services rendered that are not covered by my insurance company.  I agree to pay my portion of fees at the time that services are rendered.  I authorize my insurance benefits be paid directly to the physician. I also authorize this office or my insurance company to release any information required to process my claims.  I understand that this office accepts billing for individual or group policies, personal injury cases, authorized worker’s compensation and Medicare.”“Missed Appointments: In the event I am accepted for care in this office, I understand that it is vital to adhere to the recommended treatment plan.  As a courtesy to others and to improve your results, our office has the following missed appointment policy: $25 per occurrence. I understand that this policy is enforced at the office’s discretion.  “ (Our office has waived all missed appointment fees accrued by Mr. [redacted]. Those dates are as follows: 1/23, 2/2, 2/11, 3/6 and 3/13.)“Nonpayment:  Please be aware if your account becomes delinquent we may refer you to a collection agency.  In this event, all collection agency fees and/or legal fees and any unpaid balance would be your responsibility.”“No Guarantee of Results:  I recognize that this office cannot guarantee the results of my health and that it is based upon my cooperation and my body’s ability to recover.”

Valley Pain and WellnessRe: [redacted] Revdex.com Complaint # [redacted] Mr. [redacted] was seen for five visits over a five week period. Mr. [redacted] was seeking care for complaints which we treat in our office.  Our office will give a treatment recommendation based on the condition, duration of...

symptoms and patient presentation regardless of what the insurance will or will not cover.  Our job and responsibility is to make sure patients start feeling better as quickly as possible.  We can only do our best in giving a recommendation, whether the patient follows through with our recommendation is up to them.  We try to accommodate patients’ requests as best as we can, however our job is to provide them with services that would best facilitate their healing.  We did not prescribe unnecessary procedures based on Mr. [redacted] condition. His accusation of “upselling” services is completely unfounded, unwarranted and defamatory.On his second visit, 1/30/2015, we reviewed his insurance coverage based on a verification our staff performed on 1/30/2015 at 9:03 AM with insurance reference # [redacted]. Mr. [redacted] was informed that the information that we receive from an insurance verification is not a guarantee of payment.  We also reviewed recommended treatments and services for his complaints.  All services that were performed were covered under his insurance plan of which we are a contractually bound provider. His statement that we performed services outside of his insurance coverage is again untrue.On his fifth and last visit dated 03/05/2015, some of his earlier claims were processed.  His insurance assigned him the responsibility of an additional $18.31. Our front office staff attempted to collect this payment along with his usual $40.00 copay and he refused to pay anything additional to his $40.00. He said that he would contact his insurance carrier and get this taken care of because he should not owe our office anything additional.  Following Mr. [redacted] final visit, his insurance carrier processed all his dates of service and assigned him a total responsibility of $123.31. This amount is also reflected on the patient’s explanation of benefit that he receives from his insurance carrier following each date of service.He received his first billing statement from our office on 4/28/2015. Mr. [redacted] contacted our office and rudely, belligerently and aggressively yelled at our billing representative. He claimed that he will not pay his bill and that if our office did not remove his balance, he would proceed into writing negative reviews on the internet.  Our staff tried to inform him that if he felt there was an error with the way his insurance processed his claims, to please contact his carrier and have them reprocess the claims.  However, Mr. [redacted] would not take our office advice and never contacted his carrier. Our office has even filed an appeal to his insurance carrier on his behalf which is going above and beyond our duties.  Mr. [redacted] received another billing statement on 5/23/2015, 6/26/2015 and a final statement with a courtesy letter attached to it on 7/24/2015. His patient balance is a direct result of his inaction to contact his carrier and not a result of our office.  We agree that Mr. [redacted] insurance carrier has improperly processed his claim for which we have tried to appeal and remedy on his behalf. However, it is ultimately the responsibility of the insurance holder to handle these types of disputes with their insurance.  No payment has yet been made to our office by Mr. [redacted].  His balance is still outstanding and overdue.  In no way is his balance a result of our office “bullying”, “upselling,” or “billing uncovered treatments.” The comments and reviews made by Mr. [redacted] are not only unacceptable but they are false.  It is our wish that Mr. [redacted] pays his outstanding balance to our office and retracts all defamatory statements that have been posted on social media to avoid legal consequences. Below you will find an excerpt of our initial paperwork that Mr. [redacted] signed and dated on 1/28/2015.“Insurance Patients:  I understand that my health insurance is a contract between the insurance carrier and myself.  I understand that I am ultimately responsible for any fees for services rendered that are not covered by my insurance company.  I agree to pay my portion of fees at the time that services are rendered.  I authorize my insurance benefits be paid directly to the physician. I also authorize this office or my insurance company to release any information required to process my claims.  I understand that this office accepts billing for individual or group policies, personal injury cases, authorized worker’s compensation and Medicare.”“Missed Appointments: In the event I am accepted for care in this office, I understand that it is vital to adhere to the recommended treatment plan.  As a courtesy to others and to improve your results, our office has the following missed appointment policy: $25 per occurrence. I understand that this policy is enforced at the office’s discretion.  “ (Our office has waived all missed appointment fees accrued by Mr. [redacted]. Those dates are as follows: 1/23, 2/2, 2/11, 3/6 and 3/13.)“Nonpayment:  Please be aware if your account becomes delinquent we may refer you to a collection agency.  In this event, all collection agency fees and/or legal fees and any unpaid balance would be your responsibility.”“No Guarantee of Results:  I recognize that this office cannot guarantee the results of my health and that it is based upon my cooperation and my body’s ability to recover.”

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.Just yesterday, Monday 8/10, I received a call from Valley Pain and Wellness Center.  During that conversation they agreed that I should not have to pay anything over the $40 deductible.  They asked me, as a favor, to contact the insurance company one more time and that regardless of the outcome they will send me a statement showing a zero balance.  They asked if they do that if I will remove all my online reviews and close this case, to which I agree. Now I am receiving this response contradicting everything they told me during our conversation.  This is another proof of their deceptive practices, and that they cannot be trusted. On a previous occasion, upon their request, I contacted my insurance company who confirmed the obvious, that this office had gone outside what was covered for the visits, hence they were charging me an additional amount over the $40 deductible per visit that I paid every time.  Going against what was agreed during my first visit. They are, again, trying to be deceptive when they say that I was seen “five visits over a five week period”, trying to imply once per week.  The truth is that I had to go twice each of the first two weeks, although they were insisting that I had to go 3 to 4 times per week – which other chiropractors have confirmed is excessive and unnecessary. I have gone to more than one chiropractor and I have never been offered the amount of additional “services” and “accessories” that they were offering.  The current chiropractor I am seeing has confirmed that all those services and accessories were completely unnecessary.  They even tried to sell me a belt with a deductible of $500, after I told them no somehow they were able to get it for “free” after making me sign a large number of insurance paperwork (claims?).  The also provided me with another “accessory” that was “free” as long as I signed another separate set of insurance paperwork. Based on the online reviews for this provider, I am not the only one who has been a victim of the fraudulent practices of this provider.  On Yelp they have an average of 1 star (including my review).[redacted]://[redacted].[redacted].[redacted]The other reviewer had a very similar experience where they made her buy “their very expensive drops” for allergies.  After a period of no results she ended up going to an actual allergist who confirmed that it was not true that she needed those very expensive drops they were selling her.  She goes on to say that she was also misled by them. Threatening with legal consequences is bullying.  Writing truthful online reviews about my experiences with them is not only completely legal and acceptable, but also a good practice to let other potential patients know what to expect from this office.  It is strange that they will suggest legal consequences when they are the ones clearly doing deceptive practices. I was very clear on my request, to which we all agreed.  They should only perform what is covered and approved by my insurance carrier, with my only payment being the $40 deductible I was informed I had to pay during my first visit.Regards,[redacted]

Valley Pain and WellnessRe: [redacted] Revdex.com Complaint # [redacted] Mr. [redacted] was seen for five visits over a five week period. Mr. [redacted] was seeking care for complaints which we treat in our office.  Our office will give a treatment recommendation based on the...

condition, duration of symptoms and patient presentation regardless of what the insurance will or will not cover.  Our job and responsibility is to make sure patients start feeling better as quickly as possible.  We can only do our best in giving a recommendation, whether the patient follows through with our recommendation is up to them.  We try to accommodate patients’ requests as best as we can, however our job is to provide them with services that would best facilitate their healing.  We did not prescribe unnecessary procedures based on Mr. [redacted] condition. His accusation of “upselling” services is completely unfounded, unwarranted and defamatory.On his second visit, 1/30/2015, we reviewed his insurance coverage based on a verification our staff performed on 1/30/2015 at 9:03 AM with insurance reference # [redacted]. Mr. [redacted] was informed that the information that we receive from an insurance verification is not a guarantee of payment.  We also reviewed recommended treatments and services for his complaints.  All services that were performed were covered under his insurance plan of which we are a contractually bound provider. His statement that we performed services outside of his insurance coverage is again untrue.On his fifth and last visit dated 03/05/2015, some of his earlier claims were processed.  His insurance assigned him the responsibility of an additional $18.31. Our front office staff attempted to collect this payment along with his usual $40.00 copay and he refused to pay anything additional to his $40.00. He said that he would contact his insurance carrier and get this taken care of because he should not owe our office anything additional.  Following Mr. [redacted] final visit, his insurance carrier processed all his dates of service and assigned him a total responsibility of $123.31. This amount is also reflected on the patient’s explanation of benefit that he receives from his insurance carrier following each date of service.He received his first billing statement from our office on 4/28/2015. Mr. [redacted] contacted our office and rudely, belligerently and aggressively yelled at our billing representative. He claimed that he will not pay his bill and that if our office did not remove his balance, he would proceed into writing negative reviews on the internet.  Our staff tried to inform him that if he felt there was an error with the way his insurance processed his claims, to please contact his carrier and have them reprocess the claims.  However, Mr. [redacted] would not take our office advice and never contacted his carrier. Our office has even filed an appeal to his insurance carrier on his behalf which is going above and beyond our duties.  Mr. [redacted] received another billing statement on 5/23/2015, 6/26/2015 and a final statement with a courtesy letter attached to it on 7/24/2015. His patient balance is a direct result of his inaction to contact his carrier and not a result of our office.  We agree that Mr. [redacted] insurance carrier has improperly processed his claim for which we have tried to appeal and remedy on his behalf. However, it is ultimately the responsibility of the insurance holder to handle these types of disputes with their insurance.  No payment has yet been made to our office by Mr. [redacted].  His balance is still outstanding and overdue.  In no way is his balance a result of our office “bullying”, “upselling,” or “billing uncovered treatments.” The comments and reviews made by Mr. [redacted] are not only unacceptable but they are false.  It is our wish that Mr. [redacted] pays his outstanding balance to our office and retracts all defamatory statements that have been posted on social media to avoid legal consequences. Below you will find an excerpt of our initial paperwork that Mr. [redacted] signed and dated on 1/28/2015.“Insurance Patients:  I understand that my health insurance is a contract between the insurance carrier and myself.  I understand that I am ultimately responsible for any fees for services rendered that are not covered by my insurance company.  I agree to pay my portion of fees at the time that services are rendered.  I authorize my insurance benefits be paid directly to the physician. I also authorize this office or my insurance company to release any information required to process my claims.  I understand that this office accepts billing for individual or group policies, personal injury cases, authorized worker’s compensation and Medicare.”“Missed Appointments: In the event I am accepted for care in this office, I understand that it is vital to adhere to the recommended treatment plan.  As a courtesy to others and to improve your results, our office has the following missed appointment policy: $25 per occurrence. I understand that this policy is enforced at the office’s discretion.  “ (Our office has waived all missed appointment fees accrued by Mr. [redacted]. Those dates are as follows: 1/23, 2/2, 2/11, 3/6 and 3/13.)“Nonpayment:  Please be aware if your account becomes delinquent we may refer you to a collection agency.  In this event, all collection agency fees and/or legal fees and any unpaid balance would be your responsibility.”“No Guarantee of Results:  I recognize that this office cannot guarantee the results of my health and that it is based upon my cooperation and my body’s ability to recover.”

Upon phone discussions with this patient, this matter has been resolved and we have come to an agreeable resolution with this patient.