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Business Profile

Dermatologist

Dermatology Associates of SW Washington LLC

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

Find BBB Accredited Businesses in Dermatologist.

Complaints

Customer Complaints Summary

  • 2 total complaints in the last 3 years.
  • 0 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

If you've experienced an issue

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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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Complaint status

Complaint type

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:05/31/2023

    Type:Product 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 was seen on April 7, 2023 at 7:30 AM. I was charged a deposit of $150.00 "in-case" my insurance did not cover anything that occurred during my appointment. My copay for this appointment was $25 (confirmed through my insurance). I was told I would get refunded my deposit minus the copay ($150-$25=$125 refund). I have confirmed with my insurance that my appointment was paid in full. I contacted the business on May 2, 2023 (after contacting my insurance company), and May 19, 2023, both at which point I was told I just have to wait for insurance to pay. It is now May 30, 2023 and I have yet to receive my refund.

    Business Response

    Date: 06/09/2023

    Hello, 

    We do collect a deposit of $150 on all new patients if a patient has a remaining deductible, which they are informed of prior to scheduling an appointment. If any procedures are done at the time of service, the service will be applied to their deductible, so we collect a portion up-front. They are informed if they don't owe that full deposit amount, we will refund them any difference after we have received and processed any payment from their insurance company. 

    The patient called our office on 5/2/23 (see attachments) and spoke with one of our schedulers, *******, and was informed that the claim hasn't been processed yet. She declined being transferred to the billing department. "****************************;| Task Note05/02/2023 3:50 pm
    PT called inquiring about $150 dep. Asked when she would get her deposit refunded. Advised the visit claim has not been processed yet. Offered to send a task to billing, PT said she will call next week for an update." 

    Aetna sent the payment thru EFT (electronic funds transfer) on 5/3/23

    It was posted in our EMR on 5/19/23

    An email was sent to the billing coordinator to refund the patient $125 on 5/23/23

    The patient was refunded $125 on 6/1/23 back to the credit card she paid with. 

    I asked our IT department to find any call records from the patient and they were only able to find the one from 5/2/23 there was not a call to our office on 5/19/23. I've attached that as well. 

    If she would've called back and spoke to the correct department, we could've advised her of the status and issued a refund. 

    Thank you

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

    Patient Account Supervisor

    ************ ex 140

    Customer Answer

    Date: 06/14/2023

     
    Better Business Bureau:

    I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. They stated I only called once but one interaction was in person, in the office. 

    It was only when a complaint was made, that I received my refund. 

    Sincerely,

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

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:12/01/2022

    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 was required to pay $326.93 prior to seeing the Doctor on 10/25/2022. My insurance paid the full amount due on 11/14/2022. I contacted ********* in the billing department and she refused to issue a refund. I am owed $326.93.

    Business Response

    Date: 01/04/2023

    He is stating we refused to issue him a refund. Here are my notes regarding this visit for 10/25/22. 

    His *** did pay on 11/14, it was posted into *** on 11/21 and I refunded the patient that day, as I told him I would. 
    I have to wait for GK to save the bank, I then have to go thru and post the EFTs. UHC EFTs I have to manually post, so it does take longer than just going thru an EFT deposit. 

    He called multiple times in one day (on multiple days) and didnt leave a message on any of those occasions, so I didnt know he was calling ( I do say be sure to leave me a message so I can return your call): 

    ********************************** 11/21/2022 Transaction 280bdb3b-f5b2-4fe8-a6e4-813027a28e1d
    RE DOS 10/25/22 refunding overpayment back to credit card on file. Pt *** paid in full ~ SW


    ********************************** 11/15/2022 General Called pt and l/m @ ******** saying my coworker told me you called her yesterday since I wasn't available. I do have other things I have to get done during the day, so it would be greatly appreciated if you only call once and leave a message so I know that you called and can call you back. As for you telling her your ins paid on 11/2, they did not, they processed the claim on 11/4 but it was applied to your deduct. Your *** has not paid on it yet, we have not rec'd anything from them. Once I get it I will refund you if needed. We did discuss this previously so I'm not sure why you are calling again regarding it. As for you having to call to get the deposit back, that is because office policy is not to refund any patients who have outstanding balances. But I did it anyways to be nice. Once we get the *** payment I will refund you whatever is due to you

    **************************** 11/14/2022 General Patient called to speak with SW- he was unable to reach her so he pressed my ext. He was following up on his deposit paid, since he is showing the claim processed on 11/02. I advised we have not received info from UHC yet, it can take a while to get payment from them since they bundled the **** with several patients/DOS. He said he understands and will try back on Friday.

    ********************************** 11/03/2022 General Pt called to say he paid the deposit but it looks like his insurance paid. I said yes they applied to your deductible but then your *** paid. I will go ahead and refund that right now. I do have to wait for the excision one to be processed before I refund that, he said he got a notice it was also paid in full. I said since you do have an *** that pays us automatically I can go ahead and put an alert that you don't need to pre-pay for procedures/appts. He said he tried to explain it to the front desk but nothing happened. I said there's only a few ***'s that we actually get straight from the insurance *** most are cc's they give the pt to call and pay, so when we get it from the ins we can make exceptions for those pts to not pre-pay but we don't know how much is in your acct at the time, so we have to wait and see how it's processed. Refunded $150, he knows has to wait for the procedure.
    ********************************** 11/03/2022 General Pt *** pays - so don't have pre-pay any procedures ~ SW

    ********************************** 11/03/2022 Transaction 70c5158f-7d9e-4e38-be09-d1300509a577
    RE DOS 10/10/22 refunding overpayment back to credit card on file. *** paid ~ SW

    ********************************** 10/13/2022 General CYST EXCISION ESTIMATE : 10/25/22 ; left elbow; Size 1.8 ; UHC ; Deduct $2200 - $1518.54 remaining; Coins 15%; OOP $6500 - $5818.54 remaining; Used codes ***** allowed $314.73; 88304.26 allowed $12.20 . Pt owes $326.93 . Emailed estimate

    Let me know if you have any questions. 

    Thanks

    Customer Answer

    Date: 01/05/2023

     
    Better Business Bureau:

    I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

    Sincerely,

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

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