Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare

Review: I visited the Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare Urgent Care facility on 05.08.2015 to be treated for an injury I sustained during a car accident. I fully disclosed that this was an injury due to a car accident and that I had recently switched jobs and was without insurance at the time. I was then issued 2 bills by Wheaton, which was explained to me beforehand and both bills were paid as soon as I received them. One bill was for a total of $242.00 with a self pay discount of $108.90. I called and asked what the discount was for and their customer service told me that this was because I was not insured. Both bills are paid in full at this point.

3 months passed, during this time I had further issues and sought physical therapy and a lawyer. After my lawyer asked for copies of my medical bills Wheaton Franciscan then issued me an additional bill in the amount of the 'self pay discount' they previously offered me. I called and asked why I am being issued a third bill now, 3 months later. They told me that they were essentially taking away my 'self pay discount' because there is now a liability. I told them that they provided me a service at which point and time there was no liability and I did not have insurance and also that I disclosed all of this to them and I have paid my bill with them even before I had sought legal advice. They told me after a week and a half of trying to get a resolution with the business that this is their policy to charge for the discount if a liability is part of the situation even if it is well after the bill has been paid.

In my mind our business and my transaction has been completed after I receive and pay the bill in full. I couldn't purchase anything with a 'coupon' or any sort of 'discount' and be charged an additional amount after the bill is paid in full, because of a businesses 'policy'. First of all my lawyer and thus me have already been charged a different amount for them to release copies of my bills and medical records to the lawyer for procuring a settlement. So this is essentially 2 different charges for having a lawyer involved in the equation. Second of all my business and transaction with Wheaton has been completed (especially because I do not have insurance) at the point that they receive my payment in full for their services. If I decided to get a lawyer, which I did. And that lawyer needed documents, which they did. They can charge them a fee for that at that time, which they did. They cannot go back and decide to charge me more now that there is a 'liability' in the equation, especially because they have already been paid in full and there will be no additional payment to them from the liability. This whole policy makes absolutely no sense, especially in my circumstance, other then for them to procure additional monies from unassuming clients.

Also I have asked to see copies of this policy and not only do their customer service agents not have copies of the policy at their disposal they say that they cannot share the policy with me. This is an extremely poor policy purely there to charge their clients for additional monies when they potentially will not have to pay the funds directly out of their pocket.

I work in the auto industry and if I were to charge someone a different price because they are paying with cash or financing or with a check versus a cashiers check I would be hauled off in handcuffs. To take it a step further if I tried to charge someone for a discount that they shouldn't have received at the time of the transaction I would have no legal leg to stand on and would and could never hold the customer legally accountable for this discount.

I qualified for their discount at the time the service was provided and at the time the bill was paid in full and I feel this is an extremely immoral and illegal policy in place by this business.Desired Settlement: At minimum I want the bill to be adjusted to a zero balance and me to have documentation that this is paid in full, there will be no further charges, and that they have not reported anything regarding this to any credit bureaus.

Ideally I would like to see their 'policy' regarding similar transactions to be amended so that future clients are not charged after their business has been completed with this company.

Business

Response:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this complaint.A Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare customer service supervisor spoke with the patient regarding our policy on uninsured patients.The acctount was reviewed and the patient was granted a uninsured discount, per the policy.But once the patient's attorney requested a copy of the billing records, the patient is no longer a "self pay" patient. Thus, the discount is not applicable.However, the customer service supervisor, as a courtesy, agreed to allow the discount for this patient. The balance is once again zero. Thank you.[redacted] Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare Customer Service Representative

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

Review: I have been sent to collections twice for "unpaid" balances. However, the amounts due have been paid. EACH MONTH when I received a statement with the balances still showing due, I returned a copy with a note of the date paid and check number. I have mailed copies of the claims paid by my Health Savings Account to both WFMG and the collection agency. I have faxed them twice to two different numbers as requested. I have emailed to them. I have called the pride line. I went to the cashier's office. The cashier's office acknowledged that two of the payments were credited to my husband's account. Still, I am getting calls from the collection agency. These claims were paid in July and October. I have had to deal with them EACH MONTH since to no avail.Desired Settlement: WFMG needs to put some money into their accounting office so payments can get credited ON TIME and to the CORRECT accounts. Customer complaints should be promptly and THOROUGHLY addressed.

Business

Response:

We appreciate the opportunity to respond to this complaint.

Upon further review, it has been determined that the patient did, indeed, pay her balances owed. And in a timely manner.

Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare made the error of posting the payments to the patient's spouse accts. When doing so, that make the patient's own accounts look to be unpaid.

A representative from our customer service was able to speak with the patient regarding the errors. And we have taken the following action to rectify the errors:

The accounts have been pulled from the collections agency and returned to Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare. The credit bureau has been contacted to delete the accounts. as this was listed in error by Wheaton Franciscan. At no time was it ever the fault of the patient that the accounts were sent to a collections agency. The error was entirely Wheaton Franciscan's.

The customer service representative has spoken with the patient and has been given instruction to move the payments that were posted incorrectly to the spouse accounts and have them applied to the patient's own accsounts, as originally intended by the payment. The transfers of the money has now been completed.

The patient understands that the spouse accounts will now need to be paid, since the payments have been moved.

Our customer service representative has extended her name, contact info to the patient and requested the patient call or email with any future questions or concerns.

We regret the multiple errors in posting the payments. We also regret that the matter was not resolved until now. We appreciate the opportuntiy to make the corrections and thank the patient for bringing the issue forward. Clearly, this is an opportunity for re-training with our staff.

Sincerely,

email: [redacted]

I owed $110.40 to Wheaton Franciscan. I received a bill in January 2014, and paid it through my bank. They received the check on January 29, and cashed it on January 31, 2014. In February I received another bill for the same amount. I called and was told by the representative, not to worry about it, it would post the next month. March, I received another bill for $100.40. Called again, told by representative that they were having issues with their billing system and again not to worry about it, the amount would be posted. April, same experience. May, I called again and stated to representative that I was getting nervous because the letters from WF were getting more aggressive and they were threatening to send me to collections. At this time, I was told they would research where the money went and someone would contact me if they needed by bank statements or any other information. June 11, 2014 received a collection notice from a third party! Called WF and FINALLY got someone who cared enough to ask questions and not blow me off. [redacted] did some research and finally found out that the amount was applied to another account I have at WF. She made notes in my account explaining that this was not my fault in hopes it would not affect my credit rating. I felt good about it and was ready to wash my hands of the situation, and then on June 12, 2014 I got a very RUDE call from the collection agency. One day after I received their written correspondence!
I have since made the decision that whenever I have the choice and insurance or doctors do not have a say, I will ALWAYS go somewhere other than WF. Congrats you got my $110.40, but you have lost me and my family as patients and plan on recounting this experience, every opportunity I can to other people!