Earlier this summer, my husband had a dermatology procedure done in a local office. We had picked that office because they offered the best price – we knew nothing about them beforehand.
Over the last few months, we’ve gone back and forth with them about the bill. Basically, they quoted about $300 plus pathology over the phone when my husband explained what he needed. We’ve long since paid the pathology bill ($85), but the bill for the whole procedure is still unresolved. The billing person that we worked with was great – but she’s in a different office and is just contracted for the billing. Her hands were pretty much tied, although she did manage to wrangle a small discount for us. When we actually talked with the office manager of the dermatology practice, I was horrified by the fact that anyone like this can get a job that involves dealing with the public. She was rude and condescending, and the idea of apologizing never even occured to her. Both my husband and I talked with her, and were equally shocked by her behavior. She actually hung up on my husband when he was trying to explain our position – I was in the room listening, and heard him talking in a calm voice and being continually cut off by her interrupting him.
Both my husband and I are pretty easy-going people. We are not quick to anger, we don’t send restaurant meals back if they’re not exactly what we ordered, we don’t get angry with airline ticket agents if our flight is cancelled or delayed. We’ve both been in jobs that require a high level of customer service skills for almost 10 years; we’re very careful to treat others the way we would like to be treated, and tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. But this woman was horrid.
We basically came to the conclusion that the person who quoted $300 over the phone was pulling the number out of the air. There is no way in the world she was basing her estimate on any of the actual billing codes that the doctor uses. And yet before we had the procedure done, the only way we could get prices was to call around and trust the office staff to give us numbers that were at least loosely based on real billing codes. We feel cheated with this whole thing. We would never have had the procedure done if we had gotten an estimate even close to what they charged us, and yet after it’s done, we’re stuck with the bill, like it or not.
We filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau a couple weeks ago, and the BBB has told us that they’ve forwarded the complaint on to the doctor’s office. Our insurance agency is a member of the BBB (and we’ve never had a complaint in 5 years of business), so we’re familiar with the procedure. If the doctor’s office does not respond to the notice from the BBB, they end up with an “unresolved complaint” notation on their file. So far they have not responded, and I’m not really surprised. Throughout this entire mess, they’ve made it clear that their only priority is making money – once that’s done, they have no need for basic civility, ethical business practices, or customer service. The sad part is that since they’re on the network for several big insurance companies, they know that they will still get business from people who just find them on a provider directory.
I talked with the billing lady about installment payments, and she said that it would be fine to make payments – she even told me that a lot of people only pay $50/month. There is no interest charged on outstanding bills as long as a payment is made each month. We’ve paid $200 so far, and I intend to pay $100/month until it’s paid off. There is no way that I’m cleaning out our HSA right now to pay these aholes.
The funny thing is that we have the money in the HSA to pay the whole bill. Even after all this time and as badly as they’ve behaved for the last 2 months, if they were to call us today and apologize for their ridiculous quoting method (ie, pulling numbers out of the air) and the way that they’ve treated our very ligitimate concerns, we would pay the whole bill tomorrow. When we submitted our complaint with the BBB, we decided that if they made any effort at all to compromise with us and offer a genuine apology, we would pay the bill in full. But since they have ignored us and ignored the BBB, they will be floating a 0% loan to us for over a year. They earned their own bad karma.
Krystal says
Argg, that must be so frustrating to deal with. I can’t believe the difference between the quote and the actual cost ended up being so different! It seems ridiculous, and I’d be hopping mad if that happened to me!
Good for you for taking your sweet time paying that interest free loan. What jerks.
boomie says
Hi Frugal Babe. You don’t report a doctor to the BBB. The doctor, obviously has a license in your state. You look up and find the Department Of Professional Licensing in your state, give them a call, get the name and address of the person in charge of dermatology or whatever, and file a formal complaint with the Department that gave this doctor his license. Once the doc’s license is in jeopardy, I can assure you, he will NOT ignore it. He needs his license to earn a living. You have it on tape that the quote was $300. That’s all you are paying. Obviously, the doctor and his hired office did a ‘Bait & Switch’ on you. File a complaint with Consumer Affairs also. The BBB is a joke! The doctor most assuredly knows what his staff says to prospects.
Is your husband alright? Any bad medical care can be a cause for malpractice.
I understand that you are an ‘easy going couple’ but you can not sit idle like this and have someone take advantage of you. Think of the other people that this same doc is taking advantage of? It is your duty and responsibility to correct your problem and file the proper complaints. This is the medical profession.
Next time, you must get a quote in writing either by fax, email or you drive to their office and pick it up. Didn’t you discuss the price further at the consultation? Didn’t the doc take a preliminary look? or did you just go in and get it done?
Medical treatments are not like getting a haircut, whereby you can over a phone and get a quote. You def have a case and you should not just idly pay. You have to think of the next person this doc continues to rip off.
FrugalBabe says
Boomie – the first thing we tried was the state licensing board for medical professionals. We got their complaint form and noticed that it clearly states that they will not address billing/money issues. We were bummed about that, because we knew that putting a black mark on the doc’s license would be the fastest way to get a response. But unfortunately, they wouldn’t even consider our complaint.
boomie says
Frugal,
It’s not a billing/money issue. You were duped, misled, ‘bait and switch’. Suppose the doc charged you ten thousand dollars? twenty thousand? The board wouldn’t take the complaint?
I filed a complaint on a dentist because he was charging me high interest on a bill. File the complaint anyway stating the doctor was unethical, misled you, didn’t you say you weren’t treated with respect, not given the proper instruction, unproper follow up care, yada, yada, yada?????
File a complaint with the Attorney Generals office in your state. The Consumer Affairs office also.
Excuse me, but did you think you have been treated competently? Stop making excuses and do something or just pay the bill and shut up.
spencer says
Frugal,
You’re right, the licensing board won’t even listen to your complaint because it’s a billing issue. The billing issue is on the business (not licensing) side of this problem. Anytime you have a business ethics issue with a business, the BBB is the best place to start.
After reading boomie’s blog, she would have no experience with billing issues such as yours. She has an HMO with a $20 copay. It’s people like her with plans like hers that are the reason our system is so f’d up in the first place. They go to the doctor whenever they want, they don’t need to worry about how much is charged because they just pay their copay. They see the doctor and the doctor bills their insurance.
If all the people with gold plated HMO plans would switch to HSA type plans where nothing is covered until you pay $5,000 – the medical marketplace would transform almost overnight. Within a couple of months, there would be no such thing as a primary care physician (PCP) who did not post prices – at least for routine procedures. PCPs would offer telephone and email consultations. They would keep patient records electronically (just like lawyers and accountants). Overall, there would develop a teeming, bustling, entrepreneurial marketplace for primary care, diagnostic tests and most prescription drugs.
Specialty markets would develop for the chronically ill, as doctors competed for their business instead of trying to avoid them. Patient education would become an emerging field, with providers offering to teach diabetics, asthmatics, etc. how to manage their own care. Internet drug sales would double, triple and quadruple, as brand drugs faced increasing competition from generic, therapeutic and over-the-counter substitutes. At the same time, overall health care spending would plummet.
Now, I’m sure your doctor did a competent job. That’s not the issue. My roofer may have done a competent job, but if he charges me 5x the quoted price, that’s a BBB issue not a licensing issue.
If everybody else went about healthcare like you do, we would have a true “free market healthcare system” and we wouldn’t have the overuse problem with healthcare like we do now because of gold plated HMO insurance with $20 copays.
FrugalBabe says
Boomie, if we had been charged ten or twenty thousand that might be an issue for small claims court. I have spoken with the state licensing board and they told me in no uncertain terms that they would not consider our case if we were to submit it. In a recent post on your blog, you mentioned that NY has great consumer protection laws, but it might not be that way in every state.
Spencer, as a health insurance agent, I agree completely with your comment. Until we move away from “everything’s covered” type policies (or pretty darn close to everything), health care will remain outside of the basic laws of economics. Transparancy in healthcare will not exist until consumers start to demand it.
Dani says
I would definitely try the AG/Consumer protection office if you haven’t already. It can’t hurt, and they have bigger teeth than the BBB.
Spencer – i agree with you about the doctor’s prices thing, but it’s waay too difficult I just had to choose between paying for a PPO plan or enrolling in an HSA plan for free from my employer.
I had no way of comparing the two plans, other than to email the insurance salesman a list of my prescriptions (!) and physician usage (!) – both of which made me leery. So I stuck with the PPO plan.
If they made comparing HSAs and other plans easier, I think many people would flock to them in droves.
boomie says
Oh yes, my HMO is a luxury. I’ve paid over $16,200 for my ‘luxury’ coverage for my ‘luxury’ $20 co-pay. I can only go to a doctor in my county. I have to see the PCP for everything and then he decides. Every time he gets me to see him instead of a specialist, PCP gets a bonus from my HMO. I can only have 1 full medical physical every 3 years. Oh! I’m just lapping up the medical lap of luxury here.
My daughter’s orthodontist, who is NOT covered by insurance was triple charging me on interest payments over a disputed bill, I filed a complaint with the Dept. Of Professional licensing still AFTER they told me they couldn’t help with fee issues anyway! It worked like a charm and straightened out the mess. But you guys know better. I know from experience. I was just trying to help. But you’d rather complain and do nothing. I DID something about this dentist constantly overcharging his clients. It’s so much fun to be living in NY, the 2nd highest tax state in America! Lucky me.
Enjoy paying your bills.
B says
I just LOVE rude people. I called my Doctor’s office to get my son’s records and find out if they has samples waiting for me. I got 2 rude people. I asked for the office manager. When she came on the phone. I asked her if everyone was having a bad day since I managed to get more than one rude person. I don’t take easily to rude people.