Need to rant: Medical center owes refund for 7 months and still no sign of it.

[pops572]

So Sept. of 11 wife says you ready to add to the family? I'm pregnant. Great! Go to her Dr. Sure enough she is. Dr. Says you are responsible for $416 after your insurance due before delivery, common for her insurance and Dr. same thing with the first. Paid on next visit Oct. 11, Dr. Holds money so it doesn't go towards 11's deductible, cool, May 16,2012 new baby boy. Hospital says if you pay your part in full get a 20% discount before you checkout. $420, sounds good, paid day of checkout. In the meantime Dr reports the $416 from Oct 11, we meet deductible plus $416. TN Womens Center owes refund of $416. Great, worked out good,right? Well it has been over 7 months and still no refund. They have even gone so far as to say that the check is in the mail in August and when we check back in September, it must have gotten lost we will have to issue a stop payment and resend. I am so flipping pissed right now I could go Postal on the bleepity bleeps, problem is there is no one to go Postal on, every time we call someone new has to review the whole damn file and send up the message and someone will be in touch. I am to the point of saying screwbit, but I know that is what they are hoping for. It just is such bullshit, if we owed them that for even a month they would turn it over to collections. In the last month we have started asking for the administrator and keep getting voicemail and no one returns the calls. Really frustrated and no place to go for some relief. Just really ticked off that they can get away with this for as long as they have. Rant off.

[Krull]

My first was born last February 4th -- we went through the same thing basically as you described.  Well i get letter in the mail December 7th stating that we owed 450 dollars and we had been turned over to collections.  I called the hospital and they said yea it was supposed to be paid in feb.  I told we paid everything in Feb and she said we did not.  I called the collections agency and stated my dispute -- they said that was between us and the hospital and basically if i didnt pay that day they were popping my wifes credit with a collection.  So i paid it to avoid that nightmare because a hit on her credit like that would cost way more than 450 down the road.  In the meantime i took proof of payment back to the hspital....got a half assed apology and said my refend would be sent to the house.......not seen it yet.

[Hershmeister]

Go to the top: Joann Ettien, Administrator and COO of The Women’s Hospital at Centennial Medical Center. If this isn't your hospital, you get the idea

[pitt2magic]

I manage a medical practice and from time to time we owe a patient a refund.  The usual reason is inaccurate information from the insurance company that later gets resolved.  The way I understand the law and the way we treat refunds in our business is that after we are notified from our billing company that someone is owed a refund, we only have 7 days to issue that check and have it mailed to the patient.  I would start by threatening to call the BBB and file a complaint.  Next I would contact your insurance company, you pay them to work for you.  They suck to deal with but they may be able to put some pressure on the Dr.'s office to pay up.

[pops572]

We have tried going to the admin just get voicemail with no return call.

They have not disputed that they owed the refund, just giving us the runaround over actually issuing it.

Tried calling the insurance company and they basically said that was between us and the provider.

[RobertNashville]

Have you tried going to the admin's office in person?

If it were me I would have filed a small claims suite by now then add my lost wages, fees, etc to the amount they already owe. This sounds like major, grade "A" incompetence to me and it often takes punishment to resolve.

[pitt2magic]

I would start throwing out words like "insurance fraud"

[Hershmeister]

[quote name='pops572' timestamp='1357240392' post='875285']We have tried going to the admin just get voicemail with no return call. They have not disputed that they owed the refund, just giving us the runaround over actually issuing it. Tried calling the insurance company and they basically said that was between us and the provider.[/quote] Send a polite but firm letter (certified return receipt) to the head cheese and explaining the facts (be brief) and what outcome you would like to happen and by when. Let them know how this has dragged on for whatever period of time has and that that failure for them to resolve the issue in the time You set forth or to contact you to Discuss an amicable solution will result in you having to pursue legal remedies. Express how you hate to have this issue when you should be enjoying the thrill of your new child - and buying diapers!

[peejman]

Been there, done that.  My wife's doc told me they'd just open me an account so I could use the refund amount for "future expenses".  It was a massive PITA to deal with.  I finally got on the phone with one of the doctor's office fiance people.  Once she understood the situation, she was accommodating and I had my refund promptly.  I asked why it was so difficult up to that point and she didn't have an answer. 

[KahrMan]

Pops, I feel your pain.  I received a refund three days ago from St. Thomas that I have been working on for almost a year.  Although the check was half of what I should have gotten, at least I got part of it.  Hospitals and insurance companies can be infuriating to work with.  Everybody passes the buck, oh you need to talk to this person....blah blah blah.  I am getting a headache just thinking about dealing with these people.