Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/03/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On 9/2/24 I was involved in a bicycle accident which required surgery. I was transferred to ********************* for a direct admit to surgery 9/2/24 because they were a higher level of care than the hospital I was transported to after the accident. I had been medically stabilized at another facility and was scheduled for surgery at *********************. After about 2 hours in the waiting room, I was called back to the ** where I spent approximately 5 minutes. In the **, Dr. ******* ********** spent approximately 1 minute with me in a chair in the hall. No emergency treatments or evaluation occurred. He stated "I need to bless you for surgery". Minutes later, the surgery team came to the ** to take me to my scheduled surgery. As I was being taken back, I heard the surgeon in an angry voice say to Dr ********** "Why are you with this patient, he was only transferred here for surgery". Tahoe Emergency Physicians billed my insurance, United, $1487. The bill was for CPT code ***** (Emergency Evaluation and ******************** and 71045-26 and 71045-26-RT (x-ray exam chest 1 view and x-ray reading, shoulder, complete, Min 2 views). This bill was denied by ****** because Dr. ************ medical documentation did not support billing for these services. I never received a chest x-ray at ******. In addition, there was no reason for Dr. ********** to read my x-ray because it had already been read by a certified radiologist and another ** physician who saw me at another hospital and was a part of my emergency stabilization. In the one minute spent with Dr. *********** at no time was I emergently evaluated or managed. I believe these CPT codes are at best inaccurate, at worst fraudulent. After United denied the claim from Tahoe Emergency Physicians, the business sent me a surprise bill (also know as a balance bill). To my understanding, this is not legal. I am asking that Tahoe Emergency Physicians rescind the bill for $1413 which they have repeatedly sent me bills for in the mail.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/11/2025

  The situation of transferring to another hospital's emergency department **** is often fraught with problems inherent to the medical system.  When an individual is sent to another emergency department for any reason, they are the responsibility of the staff and ********* on duty in that ED.  Therefore, documentation and a charge is generated.   Occasionally, this charge from the ********* is dropped, depending on the situation.  As there is some medicolegal responsibility an ED ********* will review all information and imaging available, once in a while a pertinent piece of data is noticed, which care affect care.    After reviewing the chart this is one of those occasions where the charges could have been dropped.  I have already informed our billing company to zero the charges.  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/19/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I received a bill for emergency medical care received in Lake Tahoe, ** during a snowboarding injury in March 2024. When the eventual bill arrived, I began making payments with this company and authorized them over the phone to set up my billing account immediately with autopayment via my *** **** card for the same monthly amount of $125 until this bill was paid in full. Multiple times over the past several months, I would continue to receive statements in the mail that would clearly recognize these payments but also indicate "Turned To Collection" for the remaining balance. I called multiple times about this and was told previously by a male agent not to worry about this language and that this was a system limitation on their side and that they would continue to deduct the monthly payments automatically as per our agreement. Today, 18 December 2024, I called again about a final notice I received in the mail. I was told by the female agent that this account has already been turned over to a collection agency, which I indicated should never have happened with me given I am a patient who has indicated multiple times a willingness to honor a payment plan and to autocharge my HSA ****. It is abundantly clear that this company neglected to charge my card and therefore they are the party who did not honor our prior payment schedule. It is unacceptable to have my credit report impacted in this way. This is financial harrassment despite my full willingness and agreement to pay monthly. I would like to see the payment arrangement reinstated immediately via monthly billing, with no collection agency involvement.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/20/2025

  We have received the complaint letters, unfortunately they came right before, during and after the holidays which is typically our busiest time of year, both medically and from an administrative perspective.
  
  I have reviewed the account with our billing company and plan to speak with the individual filing the complaint, presently the account is on hold.
  
  We are a small independent group of physicians, thus I administer quite a bit of the business aspects and work as a full time emergency medicine doctor.
  
  Thank you,
  
  ****** ******, MD