I had a $1500 miscarriage. This was my experience with this practice.
1. My number one problem with this practice was the way they did their billing. I went to them for a pregnancy in July and had a miscarriage three weeks later. It is November 26 and I just received my FOURTH bill from them and items date all the way back to July. Even though I've already paid for some items for the July visit. The billing department tried to tell me it has to do with the timing in which the claims are processed by my insurance company, but I'm old enough to have been paying insurance bills and watching claims for some time. I have NEVER come across a more asinine way of doing billing. Every single month since having my miscarriage I've received a new bill with new charges and the dates range from the first visit to the last. I have a difficult time cross checking all the different charges across all the paper invoices I have received. Difficult not to wonder if new charges are just going to magically appear in a few months for things they forgot to bill me for.
2. I was billed for items that I should NEVER have been given. For instance, a test for gonorrhea and chlamydia was done without my consent. I should be able to give consent to ANYTHING done and I was not given the option and had to pay $150 for tests I could have told the them the results for. Another was the gestational diabetes test. Because of my previous pregnancy, they wanted to give me my glucose test early (at my second appointment at 8 weeks). However, between my first and second appointment, the office had determined that there was a concern over my HCG numbers (hence eventually having a miscarriage). If there was ANY concern about the pregnancy not moving forward, why give me the glucose test that can be performed at ANY time in the first two trimesters? Why give it to me at the 8 week appointment? To get money from me and the insurance company. As I told the nurse once this was all over, if everything had turned out fine, they could have given me the glucose test later. These are just two examples of things done that did not have to be. I, as the paying customer, end up literally paying the price.
3. The communication between the reception staff and the medical staff is nonexistent. Twice the receptionist who welcomed me gave me incorrect information. The first instance she told me I'd have to take a urine test every time I had an appointment so I did. Once I was called back, the nurse rolled her eyes after I told her I'd already done one and said oh no not the first time. The first time you have to do a song and a dance to make sure it's 'clean'. For heaven's sake. Made me redo the urine test while I was there as if I have an endless supply on command. The second instance was about the aforementioned glucose test. Had the receptionist taken a glance at my chart and she would have seen there were concerns and shouldn't give me the glucose test. Or the nursing staff should have communicated that it should wait. But it's not their money, right?
4. It is nearly impossible to get a call back if you are waiting for test results. On my first visit, the nurse asked if I wanted to check my HCG levels "just for peace of mind." I agreed. I was told by her that I would get blood test results back the next day. I called and left messages and finally 5 days later (because I had taken the blood test on a Thursday and they aren't open on weekends), I finally heard that the results weren't good. FIVE. DAYS. The nurse giving me the information claimed the first nurse was wrong- the test results take longer to come back. So who was lying?
The ONLY reason I chose this practice is because I wanted a VBAC or gentle C-section and they were a practice that did both at the hospital I wanted. Lesson (expensively) learned. read more
