Walkabout Orthotics & Prosthetics, Inc.

I received your letter today dated 2/19/14 regarding a patient’s mother contacting your office. ID on the letter was [redacted]. I am going to...

clarify, or give you Walkabout’s side of this story.
 
The patient was seen in our office on 10/19/11 with her father for a Cam Walker boot. The patient nor her father had a prescription from their physician or any insurance information. Before we fit the cam walker on the patient the father was informed that if we do not receive a prescription or insurance information they would be responsible for the cost of the cam walker as we cannot bill insurance without a physician’s order. The father stated he understood.  I sent them a copy of the invoice on 10/20/11 and heard no response. The patient’s mother contact our office a couple weeks later and gave us her insurance information and that was charted in the patient’s file which we still have today. On 11/16/11 I sent another copy of the invoice with a note stating we have not received the prescription so I cannot bill insurance. Another invoice was mailed to them on 12/7/11 with a note stating no prescription was received. On January 9, 2012 our standardized letter “your account is seriously delinquent” along with a copy of the invoice. At no time did the patient’s mother or father contact me or send me the prescription.
 
The account was turned over to the collection agency on June 12, 2012. Even after the account was turned over to our collection agency I had not received a call or any contact from the patient’s parents. Approximately 2-3 weeks ago the patient’s mother contact me and stated she was cleaning out her desk at work and found a copy of our invoice. She was wondering if this was taken care of by her insurance. I responded no because we had never received a prescription. She stated she had the prescription with her attached to the invoice and if she mailed it to me could I go back and bill the insurance.  I explained that the insurance she has and had at the time has a timely filing limit. We have 180 days to file the claim. Since it is well over that time limit I cannot file the claim. She was not happy that I could not help her and hung up.
 
Thank you for allowing me to present Walkabout’s side.  If you need to contact me call [redacted].
 
Sincerely,
 
[redacted]
Office Administrator
Walkabout Orthotics and Prosthetics
[redacted]
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