Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/29/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore 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 from Dermatology by Design for $61.89 for services rendered on September 29, 2023, which was over eight months ago.In October 2023, my insurance provider requested a detailed list of the services or treatments I received on September 29, 2023. During my visit to Dermatology by Design on October 27, 2023, I personally requested the same information and was informed that I would receive it via email later that day.However, the email I received was as follows:DxD <************************************>Oct 27, 2023, 3:26PM to me Hi ****, It looks like at your last visit you paid your copay when it was not required as you just had a procedure and you owed nothing. Today, we have voided the $40 transaction that you just paid and have applied the copay amount from last visit for today. Please let us know if you have any questions. -Thank you,Administrative Staff Based on this communication from Dermatology by Design, it is clear that I owe nothing for the visit on 9/29/2023. According to the information they provided in writing, I do not owe $61.89, as there was an error on their part.I'd like to request that they cancel this bill for $61.89.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/08/2024

  While we appreciate the customers concern that a transaction was voided for his visit, he unfortunately may have not understood his insurance plan OR fully understood that he still had a balance of $61.89 for procedural services rendered. Due to HIPPA laws, I cannot expand on the details. He did, on review, unfortunately receive his bill later than usual,  potentially more than 30 days after his visit and as a result, I called the patient on Monday August 5th to explain the bill, which he understood. He did in fact, SEND IN payment just days before and my staff informed me of this as he had initially written a letter asking for the bill to be removed. I can only assume, he later looked at his EOP from his insurance to understand what he owed based on his insurance policy, and he did send a check. I told him on our call, that as owner, I would make an adjustment to his account as the email he received may have been confusing, and receiving the bill relatively late after service may have caused him concern based on his prior correspondences. The employee he communicated with no longer works for our clinic, though technically she did not write anything incorrect or erroneous, but she was not completely clear in that email that of course, certain types of procedural visits would incur a cost separate from a typical copay. These discussions are had in the clinic room by myself and medical assistants and reiterated at the front desk. I assure you, this is a conversation I have many times daily to always remain as transparent as possible with our patients and clients. Regardless of all this, I did tell the concerned party, I would remove his fee that he did in fact incur and owed, as a courtesy.  He is of course welcome to return at any time as any patient would be.  At the end of our conversation, I stated I would void his check which I did, and his balance is zero. Our clinic took the financial loss in this situation. The patient stated he was fine with this decision and the call ended amicably. 

  Thank you. Please let me know if the follow up email after our phone call is needed- to which he did not respond. 

  The email was copied, written as follows: 

   

  Hello ****, 
  
  
  Per our conversation earlier today, we have decided to apply an adjustment to your account for $61.89 in order to get your account to a $0 balance. The cost was for "destruction codes" applied to your account in the fall of 2023, for visits on 10/27 and 9/29 ,and yes indeed, no copay was due on those dates as they were waived by the provider, myself, in order to simply complete the procedural destruction.  The employee was correct that the $40 copay was not due, but the procedural cost was still outstanding after  it went through insurance, so to clarify again, that $61.89 was toward the procedures- or what was left after any prior visit costs ( for procedures)  including on those dates. 
  
  
  Due to the apparent delay in receiving the bill from our central ****** for months after the last visit which we did notice on review of your billing, I can understand that the bill would have caused some confusion and we apologize for this inconvenience. As a result, I am happy to make an adjustment on your account, and remove the $61.89. We did receive your check just in the past few days, but I will be happy to shred it and not deposit this money, as we discussed on the phone, due to the lack of an earlier response from our administrative staff.
  
  
   I will assure you that the employee who did not clarify the deductible costs/ remaining costs is no longer with the company, but would have otherwise been corrected. 
  
  
  Thank you for speaking today, and should you receive any further bills, please disregard these as your account should be at a zero balance after today's adjustment. To reiterate: we will essentially void any payments you have made for the $61.89 and your account will have no further balance. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Take care, 
  
  Dr. Qutub 
  
  Administrative Staff