Who Shot My Stork...I totally feel your pain!

I was blog hopping and found Who Shot My Stork talking about the nightmare she's had dealing with the billing department after her surgery. I can relate totally. We had two AI's last fall and weren't able to clear up the billing mess until this February. This is a long story, so either settle in with your coffee or scan to the bottom.....

Let me start by saying my HMO doesn't cover anything for infertility (this is another whole long story so let's not get into that one...)...so we knew we would have to pay everything for this out of pocket and we were fine with that. We had met with the doctor (who, by the way...I never saw again...the nurses did all the treatments and drew all the blood....again another long story...)....and he told us the different procedures I would have to have done and gave us the basic prices and we moved ahead.

So when I went in for my AI's I was told it would be $100.00 at the time of service and they would bill us for the rest. I was smart (this time) and started a folder for all the receipts and a spread sheet to keep track of all the money going out. Each time I went into the office I gave them more money...usually between $100 and $300 depending on what was being done that day.

Then about half way through the first cycle of procedures the bills started rolling in...

1. The first thing I noticed was that the prices we were given for procedures were not accurate.

2. Some bills showed we'd only paid one amount and we'd actually paid much more, some were missing entire days of procedures and others were missing money we had given them altogether. Thank God I saved my credit card slips.

3. Every time my husband or I went in for a procedure (blood test, ultrasound, sperm wash, AI etc.) they gave us a NEW account number.

4. We went to a clinic connected to a teaching hospital, so each procedure or test had to rechecked by other doctors and so we were getting another bill from their office for reading over our results.

5. Another crazy thing they did, was to mail a bill and if they didn't get payment in a certain length of time, they mailed another bill, but it looked totally different from the first, so I thought I was getting billed for something else.

6. They moved money I had overpaid them to the other doctors office who were rechecking the tests without my consent.

As I got more and more confused, I called their billing department...now I have moved on to the second cycle of procedures...

1. The person in customer service, answering billing questions, didn't understand the medicial terms that were on the bill, so she couldn't even tell me what I was being charged for and she didn't know why I was getting two different bills.

2. She actually argued with me about the accuracy of the dates of when I had gone in and what I had had done.

3. Then she threatened me...saying that if I didn't pay the bills in a certain length of time they would go to collections. I told her I wasn't paying anything I didn't understand and she said it would be better if I paid it now and cleared up the "issues" later.

4. At this point I asked to speak to a manager. I was sent to voice mail...AAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!....so I left a message!

By this time I had called numerous time, and sent four letters explaining my problems and trying to get things resolved. Finally, I got a patient advocate to help me.

1st phone call with Raul (about an hour)...explained the situation and all of my issues (see above). He pulled up my information on the computer, but he didn't understand what he was seeing. He asked me to fax him copies of all my receipts and my spread sheet.


2nd phone call with Raul (about 4 days later...another hour)...He asked a lot of probing questions, agreed it was crazy that we got a new account number every time we had another procedure done, was still looking into a few of the receipts that the billling department couldn't even find, apologized for the threats about the bills being sent to collections and said no such thing would happen, but could I please give him a few more day.


3rd phone call with Raul (about 3 days later....45 minutes)...cleared up the confusion with the two bills I was getting so that I was able to match up credit card slips with bills, clarified the costs of the procedures, explained what the medical terms meant (which he had to ask a nurse to explain) and got the billing department to admit they had credited me with paying one amount when in reality I had paid much more, but still asked for a few more days to finish figuring it all out.



4th phone call with Raul (about 4 days later...about an hour)...explained that he used my spread sheet to explain to the billing department what they should have done, got the money they transferred, without my consent, transferred back, went through each item with me until I understood and we were on the same page and said he would reissue a bill, itemizing what I had paid and for what and that I should get that in a few days.


At this point...Raul... is my hero...but the second cycle has been a failure too and my husband and I have decided we are done....moving on...(see information on deciding to adopt)...but the bills are still rolling in....and not the ones Raul said I would be getting....

5th phone call with Raul...(about 7 days later...another 30 minutes)...I told him about the new bill I got...he was shocked...and asked for time againg to check into it.




6th phone call with Raul...(about 2 days later...another 45 minutes)...I finally got his itemized bill in the mail and we went over that together...and he then realized that I didn't owe them anything...that in fact they owed us around $300. He would check into it.



7th phone call with Raul...(about 2 days later...about 30 minutes)...I had got another bill in the mail and he told me not to pay it, but to fax him a copy. He said he was "discussing" things with the billing department trying to get my money reimbursed to me, but that they had asked if they could just keep it and apply it to our next procedure. I said are they out of their minds very calmly, I'm not having any more procedures and I would like my money back.


About 5 days later I got the refund check in the mail. I made one final, quick call to Raul to thank him for all his help and Raul and I ended our relationship.

OH...MY...GOD....!!! WHAT AN AMAZINGLY, CONFUSING MESS!!!

Anyway, that is all behind us now and we are (not) patiently waiting for our adoption to move along. I can totally understand where Who Shot My Stork is coming from.