ComplaintsforAdvanced Skin Institute, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  06/07/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My mother, **************, is 84 years old and was seeing ***************************** for treatment of dermatological issues. On her last scheduled appointment she went to the Dr's ****** and saw that it was closed and locked with a note that they had a family emergency. So she left without treatment and without ever hearing from them.My mother is very vigilant in paying her bills and keeping up with her accounts. Without receiving any prior bill for treatment, she suddenly received a notice of delinquency from ********************** ****** with late fees assessed. She immediately paid the portion they said she owed but did not pay the late fees because she had never previously received a bill. She tried calling the practice repeatedly to resolve any issue, but no one would answer the phone. Eventually, she drove to the ****** to speak with them about the assessed fees and, again, saw the same note on the door that they were closed due to a family emergency. This note had been posted for at least a month. My mother went to another suite in the building to see if anyone knew what was going on. An employee at an adjacent business said the ****** had the note up for months and had not communicated with any patients and people were coming by regularly trying to find out what was going on.My mother is concerned about the late fees going to collections. They indicate that she owed $57.05 for her treatment and they were charging her $154.49 in late fees although they never billed her. She paid the $57.05 but does not feel she should be charged the late fees for a bill they did not send. They will not answer phone calls or emails and the business is closed.

  Business response

  06/10/2024

  Patient was sent statements on numerous occasions (see proof). Moreover, patient was sent EOBs from her insurance companies, showing her patient portion. Patient portions, as financial policy of clinic that she signed states, are due at time of service not later. Also, any past due balances incur collection fees for collections processing and finance charges each month they are late. "Collections/Pre-Collections: All charges are due at the time of service. This includes but is not limited to all patient portions such as co-pays, coinsurance, deductible portions, and any cash pay services. Advanced Skin Institute will send you a statement after your insurer has been billed and your
  charges have been considered by your insurer. If no payment is received here after 30 days, your account will be charged a 30% collection processing
  fee and it will be turned over to a collection service." Patient emailed the clinic about this and all of this was explained in detail. Patient paid $57.05 which is an amount that does not correlate with her patient portion nor cover any particular date of service noted on the EOBs. She basically paid an amount she wanted but that was not the amount due for medical services according to her insurance companies who also mailed her the same EOBs the office received. She knew what she owed, she was sent statements, we explained this numerous times by email, and she did what she wanted. Patients are obligated to pay the balance due contractually with their insurance companies and must pay the amount due at time of service per financial policy that all patients sign. We are not a bank or credit card for the patient. We incur overhead and must cover our costs. The fact we had a provider emergency that was serious and led to our temporary closure has nothing to do with the billing of statements, receipt of EOBs from her carrier, email communications that took place, and notices that we furnished by email through our system to her preferred choice of email vs cell phone. The past due balance continues to incur late charges until it is paid in full. The current past due balance is shown on the statement and amounts to $159.49 and will not be adjusted as the patient has not paid her balance let alone her medical service patient portion per her insurances. Despite receiving the EOBs from the carriers and us, she still refuses to pay. This is unacceptable and an abuse of trust and a breach of her contract with her carrier as well as the financial policy signed with the clinic. No adjustment will be made, and the account will be handled by collection company if she does not pay the $159.49 immediately. 

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