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Business Profile

Hospital

Mount Nittany Health

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

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Complaints

Customer Complaints Summary

  • 1 complaint in the last 3 years.
  • 1 complaint closed in the last 12 months.

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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.

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  • Initial Complaint

    Date:08/14/2024

    Type:Billing Issues
    Status:
    UnresolvedMore 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.
    This complaint is about so-called medical "facilities fees" -- extra charges hospitals add to bills for outpatient services. I was charged a total of $3,086 for a visit to an outpatient pain management clinic run by Mt. Nittany Health System in State College, PA. In addition to the normal and expected charges for the office visit, the doctor, and medication, the bill added two facilities fees, including $491 for the pain clinic visit, and $833 for the treatment room. These charges represented 43% of the total bill.

    When customer service representatives in Mt. Nittany Medical's billing department were asked what the "facilities fees" were for, they were unable to link the fees to any direct service that was provided to me, and that had not already been included in other charges. Instead, I learned the clinic is owned and managed by the Mt. Nittany Hospital, which simply adds exorbitant charges to patient bills for use of its facilities. Such fees are added even though bills already charge for the office visits, doctor, medication, and other goods and services.

    The practice of hospitals adding "facilities fees" to outpatient services is unethical and considered fraudulent in 15 U.S. states that have already passed legislation to restrict or prohibit such fees. The U.S. Congress is currently considering legislation that will eliminate the practice of adding facilities fees. Unfortunately, some health care providers like Mt. Nittany Health are still using the unethical practice to charge exorbitant fees to patients and their insurance companies for services that were not rendered, and which are redundant with other line items in patient bills.

    I am seeking a resolution where Mount Nittany Medical reverses the facilities fees that were charged to me and refunds those to myself and/or my insurance company. I am also asking Mount Nittany Medical to stop charging facilities fees for all patients going forward.

    Business Response

    Date: 08/21/2024

    Hello - My name is Jayne N*****, Director of Revenue Cycle for Mount Nittany Health.   I am responding on behalf of Kathleen R**** as this complaint was forwarded to me for review.   I have received and downloaded this information and will provide a full response upon completion of our internal review.    I wanted to acknowledge it was received and we are currently reviewing.   

    Thank you-  Jayne N*****

    Business Response

    Date: 08/30/2024

    Thank you for notifying us of the above referenced
    complaint and allowing us the opportunity to address it. We are familiar with
    this issue as this individual also filed a complaint with a State agency regarding the same matter. Essentially, he is complaining
    about a common billing practice that is legitimately used by healthcare
    organizations across the United States.

    Hospital-based department billing is presently an
    accepted and permitted hospital billing practice.  We fully realize that this allowable billing
    practice sometimes raises questions from patients but it is a practice that has
    existed for years and, until federal or state legislation or insurance payer
    rules change, it will continue to be a regular practice at hospitals across the
    country.

    We have addressed similar questions raised by patients
    in the past and in response we have had appropriate signage posted at our
    hospital-based clinics for years. While the signage itself has changed over the
    years, a copy of the current signage displayed at our office is attached as a .pdf file. This is the version of the sign that was displayed at this individual's appointment. It should also be noted that this individual has had subsequent visits to our office and
    we have no documentation re: any billing concerns during or about those
    appointments.

    Finally, not billing all allowable and applicable
    charges to a patient may actually create a compliance issue for a healthcare
    organization. We are expected, and often times required by payer contracts, to
    bill all applicable charges. If we write-off appropriate, allowable charges or provide
    inappropriate discounts, this can be seen as an inducement to patients to over
    utilize services, thus resulting in increased payments to the healthcare
    system.    

    We are disappointed when our patients are not
    satisfied with the services they receive from us and we use these situations to
    improve future care. However in this case, for the reasons outlined above, we
    cannot presently make changes to our billing practices. Consequently, we will
    not stop billing legitimate charges nor can we reverse the facility charges
    incurred by this individual. It would also be inappropriate to reimburse the insurance company for such charges that were reviewed and ultimately paid by
    them.

    Once again, thank you for allowing us to respond to this individual's complaint. Should there be any questions or a need for additional
    information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

    Sincerely,
    Michael *. H*******, MBS, MSHA, CPCO
    Corporate Compliance and Privacy Officer
    Mount Nittany Health
    *** **** ****** ******
    *********** ** *****
    ****** ***** ********
    *********************************

    Customer Answer

    Date: 09/03/2024

    Better Business Bureau:



    I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint for the following reasons:

    1) Mount Nittany Health System still has not resolved the key issue, which is the need to clearly explain what services each of the charges were for.  I was charged $251 for an 'office' visit. I was then charged an additional $491 for a 'Pain Clinic visit'. I was then charged an additional $833 for a 'treatment room'. To date, no one at Mt. Nittany has been able to exlain how these seemingly redundant charges differ from one another, or what unique good or service is represented by each. The Mount Nittany response to my BBB complaint continues to evade this key issue because, the reality is, they added duplicative charges to the patient bill and referred to them as 'facilities charges' without being able to explain them.

    2) Mount Nittany's response attempts to justify the expenses because they 'are legal'. Well ... there are lots of business practices that are legal but unethical (e.g., price gouging, setting up offshore accounts to avoid taxes). There are also plenty of business practices that were once legal but are not anymore (e.g., dumping oil into rivers). The simple fact that something has not yet been made illegal is not reasonable justification to continue doing it. The very point of my BBB complaint was to call on Mount Nittany Health system to do the ethical correct thing and stop charging patients and their insurance companies exhorbitant charges for services that were not rendered and cannot be defined. If Mount Nittany won't practice ethical billing practices, then the PA Attorney General should start an investgation and/or the PA legislature should take up consideration of new laws that ban these unethical biling practices (as other states have done).

    3) Mount Nittany's response also attempts to justify the expenses by saying they were disclosed in the fine print. This response is highly misleading since the disclosure neve indicated that an additional 75% of the cost would be tacked onto the patient bill. Imagine you purchased an airline ticket for $500. A week after flying, you received a bill from the airport you flew out of for $200. Shortly after, you received yet another bill for $175. These two supplemental bills from the airport were referred to as "facilities charges." When you called the airport billing service to protest, their customer service representative referred you to the fine print on a website where you purchased a ticket that read "additional charges may apply." Do you think it would be fair and reasonable to pay $375 extra to an airport for some vague use of their facilities, on top of the $500 ticket you already purchased from the airline? Probably not. But that's exactly what Mount Nittany is doing when it charges its patients for medical services and then refers to the fine print about the potential for additional fees. It's just a bogus distraction to try and alleviate them of resposibility.


    For these reasons, Mount Nittany Health System's response to my complaint is unsatisfactory.



    Regards,



    ******* *********

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