Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/04/2024

  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.

  Ruth refused to see my son for an office visit yesterday 12-3-2024. My son was going to pay his account balance but Ruth wanted him to pay for his brothers as well. I tried to explain to her that he was not responsible for his brothers account and would pay for his own. Ruth refused to let me son see the doctor. I ended up telling my son to leave. Ruth also without my permission charged my HSA card for over $400. I have had issue with Ruth going on 2 months... actually the whole office. They called me to tell me my insurance lapsed. Explained that it was impossible since i have worked for the same company for 28 years. I feel like its all about the money not the care for the patients its very dishearting.. especially because the doctor is awesome!!

  Business Response

  Date: 12/20/2024

  To Whom it may concern,
  
  Thank you for reaching out to South Summit Pediatrics in
  regard to case ID #********.  My name is
  Ruth S****** and I am the clinic administrator and I had most of the recent/direct
  interaction with Ms. ***** in regard to her compliant.   I apologize
  for the delay, but I was not in a position to respond to the request until just
  the last couple days.  Due to HIPPA, I
  will not be able to give out specific other than verbal encounters with Ms.
  ***** and general information for this case.  My only interaction with Ms. ***** started on November 7th, 2024.    Here is the history of the case:
  
  Ms. *****’s family has been a long time clients at the
  clinic starting in 2009.  Our provider
  cared for three of her children, now aged 23, 20 and 19.  The oldest child who is currently 23 is no
  longer active at the clinic however the 20 and 19 years old are still under the
  care of the provider.  The current
  conflict started on November 7th 2024.  Both children have the need to see our
  provider for medical care on a frequent basis due to the nature of their condition.
   The ***** family has had various insurance
  plans along the way ranging from government subsidized insurance plans to
  private insurance throughout the years we have interacted with Ms. *****’s
  family.  Currently she has a high deductible
  insurance plan for which she needs to fulfill her share of the deductible
  before the insurance company will start paying on behalf of the
  beneficiary. 
  
  Ms. ***** was behind on her bill with both of her children.  A delinquent text was sent to remind her of
  the balance on 09/20/2024 for a Date of Service 07/17/2024.  A statement for that particular balance was
  sent on 08/20/2024.  On the bill it indicated
  that it is due upon receiving the bill as the service had already been rendered.  She did pay that balance on the 20th of September because she needed to see the provider on that same day.    The next time we had an interaction with
  Ms. ***** was on 11/7/2024 when the balance of the September 20th’s balance
  was once again delinquent.  She called
  the clinic and verbally abused one of the billing staff members.  My employee at that time, asked me to return
  her call as she was not able to satisfy her demand.    Ms.
  ***** was disputing a charge on one of her children’s appointments claiming
  that we fabricated the charges.  I
  explained to her that is impossible to do as we use Electronic Health Record
  and there are paper trail to show a visit took place.  She claims her son didn’t see the provider for
  that DOS and continued to accuse me of lying and verbally abused me throughout
  our conversation.  I managed to get her to
  allow me to explain to her that it showed her son had a “telemed” appointment
  on the day that she claims her son didn’t have an appointment. A telemed
  appointment is when a video conference took place between the patient and the
  provider.   At the end of the conversation, she conceded she
  made a mistake and agreed to pay the bill on 11/7/2024.  I also Informed her that both of her children
  still had a couple of outstanding claims and she would be responsible to pay for
  the balance once she received the statement. 
  Statements were sent out to her on November 11, 2024 and November 21,
  2024. 
  
  On December 3rd, one of her children needed to be
  seen at the clinic.  We wanted to give
  her a chance to address the bill prior to her  children coming to the clinic.  We sent her a payment link to give her the
  opportunity to clear the bill prior to the appointment.  The link was ignored.  Because her children are over 18 years old, Ms.
  ***** chose not to accompany her son to the clinic but instructed her son not
  to pay the balance.  Once again, we had a
  very contentious  conversation on the
  phone.  I asked her if she received the statements
  for both children and she said yes but she would not pay the balance that day.  I explained it is clinic policy that once the
  statement has been received, we would need to collect the balance before rendering
  further services and these were dates of services from October.    Once again, she became verbally abusive on
  the phone, called us incompetent and accused us of only wanting to collect
  money rather than care for her children. 
   She asked to have our provider who
  had the long-term relationship with her to call her.    She
  instructed her son to walk out of the clinic on December 3rd  and informed us that she is terminating the
  relationship. 
  
  Our provider did give her a courtesy call back on November 7th and during that call she disclosed did she didn’t accuse the provider of fraudulently
  billing and wanted him to continue to see her two younger children.  On December 4th,  when our triage nurse try to reach Ms. ***** at her request,  Ms. ***** said, “ Don’t
  bother and I had already reported SSP to BBB”
  
  We often set up payment plans for families that need a little
  more time paying for their bill and not charge interest up to 3 months.  During our conversation on December 3rd,
   she did not disclose to me that she
  doesn’t have the money to take care of the bill. She only said she would not
  pay the balance with me and will  pay the
  following day. (December 4th). 
   
  
  As of now, her outstanding accounts for her children are
  $328.44 and $370.67 for a total of  $699.11.  No payment has been received.   Both accounts are in delinquent status as
  they are over 60 days old.  A Payment
  plan is possible, but she would need to call the clinic and set that up with me.   The
  term of the plan is usually interest free if she is able to pay it off in 3
  months however if she defaults on her payment, it would be sent to a collection
  agency.   
  
  Ms. ***** alleged that the clinic ran her HSA card for over
  $400.00  That is not true.     We do
  not keep any credit cards on file and we do not have an automatic system/procedure
  in place to run delinquent balances.   We always send a secure link for any account
  that is delinquent and give the parents the option to pay over the link or the parent would need to call us with a card.  Those are
  the only two options.
  
  We are more than happy to set up a payment plan and continue
  to see her children.  However we will not
  be writing off charges for services that has already been render. 
  
  If there is anything else you need from me, please feel free
  to reach out and I look forward to having this issue resolved in a timely
  manner. 
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/30/2024

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: 

  I am responding to the response from South summit pediatrics
  that I received from Ruth S******.
  This lady is a liar! I have had the same insurance for 25+
  years. Never have I ever had government assistance (Medicaid) for my children.
  I have worked for the government for 28 years and have always had PEHP.
  
  As for me verbally abusing her staff this is incorrect!
  Also, she lied to the provider Dr. L** stating I said he was filing false
  charges, Ruth also told Mr. L** that I no longer wanted him to see my children.
  Her words not mine. Both statements were from her mouth not mine.
  
  Ruth is in the wrong profession she only cares about money
  not the patients she is dishonest. I also would like to know why my bill has
  gone up for the last amounts. Now I owe almost $700?
  I also have proof of the charges the $420 payment that was
  charged to my HSA. The payment ended up not going through. Regardless it the
  charge made my account negative. I will be including the email that has these
  charges.
  
  The day my son was refused service he was going to pay his
  portion of the bill. He should not have to pay for his brothers portion as
  well. I guess it doesn’t matter at this point, I feel disgusted that I have
  spent so much of my money and time on provider who could careless!!!
  
  I did not have Dr. L** call me back because I felt like he
  did not see it as a priority he should have called me the same day it happened
  not a day later. I though he was a good person but if he surrounds himself with
  people like Ruth he must be just as awful as she is!

  Ruth has caused my so much anxiety and stress during a time
  when I should be enjoying my family. 

  I will agree to pay the original balace of $420. I have no idea why I owe almost $700. 

  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ******** ******