Hospital sent me to collections!!!

[skhermsmeyer]

Hi all. Need some advice on how to handle this situation.

DD was 12 days old (in October) when we went to Children's Urgent care here in Atlanta. Her cord came off a little early and had some green pus coming out of it. The DR there treated it with silver nitrate and put a band-aid on it. Said nothing else should be coming out of it. I don't normally put a band-aid on, but I don't want to ruin her pj's. (I could care less about pj's and told Dr so) Wait 24 hrs before taking the band-aid off and it will be fine.

24 hours later, take the band-aid off. Now there is pus AND blood on it. Went back to Children's Urgent care because the on call nurse said we needed to take her asap. Different Dr, said not infected, but the other Dr. never should have put a band-aid on because silver nitrate needs to have air in order for it to seal the wound. She retreated it with silver nitrate and sent us on our way.

Get a bill for the first visit and it's $162. Pay it off.
Get a bill for the second visit and it's $305. Um, hello? Dr did the EXACT same thing, but didn't even use a band-aid. What's up with price difference?

Called the hospital billing people and they say they'll look into it. They decide to write it off because the first Dr. made and error in her treatment.

Get another bill in November for the same visit. Call back and they say they'll send a letter stating they took off the charges. Finally get a letter dated Dec. 9th saying the new balance is $0.

Fast forward to Dec. 22. Another letter on a Saturday from Children's saying they have send me to collections!! Call them ASAP Monday morning. Talk to a supervisor and she has me fax over the letter. Said she was writing off the balance "as we speak". I ask her to send me a letter saying balance is now zero. Today I get another letter.

"Because you have failed to pay the $305 visit from October 5th, you have now been sent to collections."

I have the letter THEY sent me dated December 9th, 2009 saying they have erased the balance and I now owe $0. I'm tired of dealing with this. I have NO PROBLEM paying my bills. DD has been to the ER twice now and admitted from December 24-27. I plan on paying this because she received great care during her hospital stay. However, I do have a problem paying for a second visit that shouldn't have been made because the Dr. treating her made it worse.

I have ALL of the original documents. Do I make a copy of them all and go to the hospital in person? I'm apparently not getting anywhere by talking to anyone on the phone. I don't have time to keep going in circles because my DD is 4 months old and I have a 2 year old DS. I've been on the phone with these people for at least 9 hours total since all of this occurred starting back in November. I'm just tired of this and want it to end.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Sarah

 

[wdwfan16]

If you did go to collections then you can submit the letter again and that should end it.

That really sucks.

 

[The Iron Giant]

I feel your pain.

I try to be very conscientious in my job and it really frustrates me when people don't put a lot of effort into their own jobs. Mistakes happen, but it really sounds like someone at that hospital is not doing their job.

 

[luvdzne]

I would send a copy of the letter to the hospital and when you get a call from the collection agency tell them you don't owe it and you have a letter stating so. Fax it too them and that should be the end of it.

 

[Alexander]

Collections usually state that unless you can prove you've paid the bill...So I would think you can send the zero balance letter to them and be done.

 

[minnie1928]

Personally, I'd go to the hospital and demand to speak to a person in charge of that department. Then I'd watch them fix it...not wait and have a letter sent, but actually watch it get fixed.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

I would fax the copy of the zero balance to the collections and go to the hospital billing department with the letter too.

If it's on your credit report you can dispute it with the zero balance letter.

 

[dogodisney]

DON"T Panic! We had a bill sent to collections from our DDs' dentist. Long story short the dentist office sent us a bill saying it was 90 days late (it was the ONLY bill we received). DH payed it 2 days later after receiving it. About 5 days later we get the bill from collections. DH sent proof to the collections that it was paid and we received a letter back that all was fine.

I am in the Atlanta area. May I ask what hospital you are referring to? If you don't want to say here you can PM me.

I hope your DD is doing well now.

 

[fkj2]

Whoa! The hospital admitted the first doctor "made an error in her treatment" and continues to bill you?

I'd point that out and mention that perhaps your attorney should speak with billing and clarify the situation.

 

[Katnmouse]

In July my mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She moved into my home in hospice care in August. Since she was now under the hospice doctor, her general care doctor was no longer treating her. Here prior doc called one day to ask if it would be okay for him to come by and visit with her. Of course we said yes she would enjoy a visit. In December we received a bill for a medical "house call" from his office! We didn't call him to come see her. He was no longer treating her. He called us and then has the audacity to send us a bill for "visiting".

I wonder if I could start dropping by and visiting people then send them a bill for enjoying my company!

 

[Karlzmom]

In July my mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She moved into my home in hospice care in August. Since she was now under the hospice doctor, her general care doctor was no longer treating her. Here prior doc called one day to ask if it would be okay for him to come by and visit with her. Of course we said yes she would enjoy a visit. In December we received a bill for a medical "house call" from his office! We didn't call him to come see her. He was no longer treating her. He called us and then has the audacity to send us a bill for "visiting".

I wonder if I could start dropping by and visiting people then send them a bill for enjoying my company!

I unfortunately see this more than I care to mention in my professional capacity.....

 

[kathie859]

In July my mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She moved into my home in hospice care in August. Since she was now under the hospice doctor, her general care doctor was no longer treating her. Here prior doc called one day to ask if it would be okay for him to come by and visit with her. Of course we said yes she would enjoy a visit. In December we received a bill for a medical "house call" from his office! We didn't call him to come see her. He was no longer treating her. He called us and then has the audacity to send us a bill for "visiting".

I wonder if I could start dropping by and visiting people then send them a bill for enjoying my company!

WOW...just WOW! Can't imagine that this is ethical

 

[KandD]

In July my mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She moved into my home in hospice care in August. Since she was now under the hospice doctor, her general care doctor was no longer treating her. Here prior doc called one day to ask if it would be okay for him to come by and visit with her. Of course we said yes she would enjoy a visit. In December we received a bill for a medical "house call" from his office! We didn't call him to come see her. He was no longer treating her. He called us and then has the audacity to send us a bill for "visiting".

I wonder if I could start dropping by and visiting people then send them a bill for enjoying my company!

Oh my goodness, that is LOW! What the heck happened? Did you pay?

OP I agree with PPs, go to the hospital and ask someone to fix it in person.

 

[bumbershoot]

OP, make copies of everything, take the copies and originals (separate files) into the hospital. Perhaps have a friend watch the kidlets for a couple hours if possible?

Show them everything, give them the *copies*, have them call the collections office to "take it back", heck, call the collections people while you're standing there, have the office fax the collections people while you're standing there...just do everything to make sure both sides are talking to each other right there.

Good luck!


As naturopath who used to practice as a midwife said...the cord stump IS rotting. You can expect it to act like something that's going to rot. A bit of green, even some blood, isn't necessarily ER-worthy (of course...heat, redness, fever, those change the situation); if you have another baby and this happens, just call the ped or midwife.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Don't you just love ER charges!?! I herninated a disc 2 months ago, and before I was diagnosed with an MRI I ended up in the ER b/c I couldn't walk on my right leg and was in terrible pain. Before they gave me a shot of pain killers in my hip they wanted to be 100% sure I wasn't pregnant.

They charged my insurance $120 for a pregnancy test. If I had known I would have stopped at Dollar Tree on the way there, people on the budget boards say their pregnancy tests are extremely reliable!

 

[skhermsmeyer]

DON"T Panic! We had a bill sent to collections from our DDs' dentist. Long story short the dentist office sent us a bill saying it was 90 days late (it was the ONLY bill we received). DH payed it 2 days later after receiving it. About 5 days later we get the bill from collections. DH sent proof to the collections that it was paid and we received a letter back that all was fine.

I am in the Atlanta area. May I ask what hospital you are referring to? If you don't want to say here you can PM me.

I hope your DD is doing well now.

We went to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, but the Alpharetta office. She was at Scottish Rite for her two other ER visits and when she was admitted. I've paid off every other bill that we've been sent, including her 4 day hospital stay (which wasn't cheap). I feel like they're becoming a leech.

 

[Tweevil]

This is easily rectifiable. You have your statement, receipts, and other information. Just give them a call on Monday. Keep in mind that systems are automated, autogenerated, and auto everything. Sometimes a quirk happens that makes things go not in the right order....

I know it stinks but as a person who deals with an automated system and information transfer from vendor to vendor, trust me it happens. There isn't someone who is manually looking at your account who sent it purposely <insert evil laugh here>, it is done through automation and when it works great it is wonderful and when it doesn't we have to fix it.

I can understand your anger though, it should be simple enough to correct.

 

[skhermsmeyer]

OP, make copies of everything, take the copies and originals (separate files) into the hospital. Perhaps have a friend watch the kidlets for a couple hours if possible?

Show them everything, give them the *copies*, have them call the collections office to "take it back", heck, call the collections people while you're standing there, have the office fax the collections people while you're standing there...just do everything to make sure both sides are talking to each other right there.

Good luck!


As naturopath who used to practice as a midwife said...the cord stump IS rotting. You can expect it to act like something that's going to rot. A bit of green, even some blood, isn't necessarily ER-worthy (of course...heat, redness, fever, those change the situation); if you have another baby and this happens, just call the ped or midwife.

I have a 2 year old DS and his did the same thing, but nothing like DD. Her tummy was red and getting pretty warm. We called the Dr and they told us to take her in (she was 12 days old). DS "helped" it come off and it wasn't quite ready.

I think I'm going to go in on Monday with a copy of everything and NOT leave until this is settled. This is really making me stress out even though I know it's the hospitals error.

 

[MaumeeMom]

PARTIAL

Do I make a copy of them all and go to the hospital in person? ...

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Sarah

I'm sorry you have a scare with your little one and now have to go through this.

I would NOT go to the hospital about the bill. A lot of hospitals have outsourced their billing and they may not be able to help you since it has already been sent to collections.

I would write a letter to both the hospital's billing company and the collections company and send them registered mail with the proof of write off. With the registered mail receipt you have proof that they received the information. If you still have trouble tell them that this is harassment and and call your state AG's office and Better Business Bureau.

I have actually had to do this and it did finally work. When my DS#2 was a newborn, somehow we were billed for our visits as well as someone else's well baby visits. I even had a hotel receipt for one of the dates that they claimed we were there. It took three years to get it sorted out but eventually they did fix it once the AG and BBB got involved. I just wish that I had contacted those resources much earlier. BTW, I did change docs before the kiddo was a year old because of all these problems.

Good luck.

 

[~Kathie]

Make copies of everything. Document any phone calls.

Call the hospital and ask to speak to the Patient Advocate. Tell them the story and ask for an appointment to meet with them.

My mother (73 at the time) was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer and was invited into a research study for an experimental cancer chemo drug. We were told everything would be free, medication, tests, everything. For 14 months we never received a bill. At the 15th month mark we received a bill for well over $3K. What????

I called the billing department and they told me that the 14 monthly CT scans weren't covered. The hospital had 'made an error' by not charging her. I read over our paperwork (hindsight) and sure enough they weren't covered.

My mother is retired and on a fixed income. If we had received the bill monthly, she would have struggled but she would have paid it. But to pay $3K all at once. No way. I got nowhere with the billing department. As a matter of fact, they told me that if we didn't pay, she would be kicked out of the research group. We didn't want that to happen because the drug was working. I had no idea what to do.

While we were waiting for her appointment one day someone who worked in the Patient Advocate's office asked me how my experience in the hospital was and was there anything they could do to make the experience better. That poor gal got an earful. Here is my mother with cancer, lost most of one lung, lost her hair, throwing up and have to deal with this stress??? How can you help me??

She had the director call me and because it was the hospital's error, they reduced the fee by more than half and accepted a payment plan from my mother to pay the balance over 10 months while still paying her new monthly fee.

My point is....I think every hospital has someone as a Patient Advocate. They are hired by the hospital but they work for the patient.

Hope you are able to get it straightened out.