ComplaintsforSST Rehab

• Initial Complaint

  07/22/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have been going to SST for some time and the PT there, LJ, is excellent. I have had a couple of encounters with the owner, and he was always rude and unfriendly, but I did not have to see him much; so I got over it. However, recently, I met my deductible and no longer had a copay. I contacted the billing department and asked them to reimburse me once the claims had gone through and paid and they were able to cut checks, etc. I was told by the billing department that this would be done. Later I was told that this would not be done until I was discharged. The PT, LJ, then told me that they hold onto monies that are overpaid until discharge so that if a payment is not processed or something is owed later, they have a credit. I pointed out that this was unethical. I proceeded to ask to speak to a manager, and I was sent a long email from the owner. In this email he talked down to me, blamed me for communication with his PT through her FB page which she facilitated and gave me no other options for contacting her or care. He did agree to refund the funds which is great. However, he reacted in such a negative way, that I have to report his lack of professionalism and customer care. I have several emails from him which I will attach so that you do not have to take my word for it. Thank you.

  Business response

  09/06/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/08/07) */ This individual is familiar to our facility as we shared a landlord for several years as she had an office in the same building where our clinic is located, and she was a patient in 2019 prior to returning in January 2022. Her complaint starts by stating she had a couple of encounters with me and I have always been rude and unfriendly. The only face to face interaction I have had with this individual in 2022 was on 3/25/22 when she came in for a physical therapy (PT) session and I did her initial evaluation. Her husband also attended and observed this treatment. I know she has always preferred to be seen the other PT at our office, but this PT was out and I was covering her caseload. Other than this encounter, my interactions with this individual have been limited to the occasional HI' during a PT session. On 6/22/22 this individual contacted us through our general company email listed on our website that she believed she had reached her maximum out of pocket and no longer needed to pay her co-insurance. I forwarded this email to our billing department and later that day she was told via email that we were waiting on payment for her last 2 dates of service (DOS) and when this happened, we would issue a refund per our policy. As some insurances taking 30-60 days to pay a claim, there often is a considerable lag between when we file a claim with the insurance company and when we receive payment. As we are unable to influence how quickly claims are paid, our policy has always been to issue a refund after a patient has been discharged from PT and all their claims have been paid. This allows us to make sure they have a zero balance on their account prior to the refund being issued. As most of our clients are seen for between 3-8 weeks, 99% of the time we aren't even aware that a patient may have a credit until after they have been discharged from PT. This case falls in the other 1%. A copy of the emails that are discussed in the following paragraphs is attached (Mike's email) which has this individual's name and email redacted as requested. This document includes the email chain back to June 2022. In an email dated 7/10/22, this individual stated that "she expects to be refunded as soon as the claims are paid. If there is a problem with that, please let her know. Otherwise, she will need to dispute the charges with her credit card. Thank you!" After sending this email Sunday 7/10/22 AM, this individual additionally reached out to the PT that had been treating her via her personal social media account using FB messenger to state that her policy regarding refunds for her services is different than ours and that she felt our policy was unethical. If she did not get her refund until after she was discharged, she would like to be discharged so that she can get her refund and go to a company that deals with this process differently. The PT encouraged this individual to send an email and give SST a chance to respond. The PT then texted me to let me know about the conversation and to expect an email. 7/11/22 I sent the attached email and copied all involved so that everyone received the same information at the same time, and it would provide a paper trail in the event there was an issue in the future. I restated our policy and that what the physical therapist and the billing department had already told her was correct. I told her that we would provide a refund once the last 2 claims were paid. I told her that I understood that as a consumer she has the right to take her business elsewhere if she is not happy with how we conduct our business. I informed this individual, and reminded my staff that SST Rehab's Policy & Procedure manual discourages staff from having work related conversations via their personal social media platforms due to the nature and legal implications of the patient / clinician relationship. This helps create boundaries so that the lines between one's personal and professional roles don't become blurred. I am assuming this is the part of the complaint where she cites an email where I "talked down to her, blamed her for communication with his PT through her FB page which she facilitated and gave me no other options for contacting her or care." I read my email as stating our policy and nothing else. I don't see anywhere that blame is cast. It is direct, factual and taken directly from our policy and procedure manual. In her response to my email (see attachment Response 7-11-22) this individual asks for me to communicate by calling her directly as this is the professional thing to do. She wanted to communicate verbally with her and states that she does communicate with her clients through texts and social media. She felt like this had nothing to do with this situation, but it is one of the key points in that we communicate differently. She states that she was communicating with the treating therapist as "friends" and yet the topic they discussed were all related to business and how to get a manager to help resolve the situation. The email then turns personal as she states that I have a problem connecting with patients, and that I need to work on my people skills. I am unprofessional and demeaning in how I handed the situation, and this is why she wants to be discharged. In the next 45 minutes she sent 2 more emals stating that she only expects to be reimbursed after we have been paid (which was not what she was originally stating) and that there was nobody to talk to about billing, she was never told she could reach out to staff using our main contact # which is a phone/fax/text, and she is "beyond offended" by my error and wants me to apologize. Now she states she is leaving because of how I talked about her using social media and will express concerns (i.e. speak negatively) about SST to anyone seeking our services. I did reach out to her by phone on 7/12/22 during my lunch break but to this date we have never spoken directly. My call went to voicemail and I left a message. She emailed asking to talk the next day, and then cancelled 15 min prior to our call. She left a voicemail 7/14/22 while I was treating patients and said she "appreciated the follow up" and acknowledged that we communicate differently and that our policy is different than hers. She stated she felt like she should have been made aware of our policy but understands that we want to get paid before issuing a refund. She asked come back as a patient and resume care as she was still in pain. I have the voicemail and can provide this for you if needed. I responded that the treating therapist was on vacation until 7/19/22 and that I would review everything over the weekend, talk to the therapist, and make a decision as to how I would proceed. In the end I decided that due to everything that happened to this point that it would be best to not have this individual return as a patient. I called her during my lunch break on 7/19/22 and left a 2-minute message to communicate this with her. I said that her willingness to provide negative reviews and report us for what she feels is unethical business practices created a negative dynamic that would be present in the clinic if she returned. I told her we would email her a copy of her therapy script to another facility, and wished her the best with her recovery. 7/20/22 after getting the script responded that she was "not sure what direction we are going and that we were waiting for the treating therapist to get back." I replied and apologized if she didn't get my voicemail, and re-stated the details of the voicemail I left regarding the decision to not have her return to our clinic as a patient. (see attached Email 7-21-22). True to her word she subsequently left us a 1-star google review about her experience with SST, and later that day I received notification from the BBB about her complaint. When responded to her Google review I also noted that 4 of the 12 other reviews she has provided have also been 1-star reviews and all deal with situations where she was not happy with the manager or owner of that particular business. In her last email this individual asked me "Why would someone report you to the BBB?" In turn I would ask: "If our company's practices are such that you would report them, why would you ask to return and support that business?" To me this individual was happy with things until; something occurred that didn't support her narrative. We appeared to have an understanding up until the point that I informed this individual that I would not allow her to return as a patient. It is obvious we see things differently. She feels strongly that how she does things is right, and I have to conclude that she also believes that because ours are different they are wrong. We have done what we said. Her last claim has been paid, a refund was issued and the check has been cashed and cleared our account Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/08/09) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) This information is all adequate to support what occurred. There are a few things that were left out, which I need to address. Number one: As I told the owner, my main concern with the way SST handled this situation was:The PT I saw encouraged discussion with her through social media. However, when I addressed concerns due to the unethical nature of a business practice, she told me to follow up with the billing department, which I had done several days prior. After this interaction, I received an email from the owner blaming me for the discussion and saying that she did not have to respond to me through social media. I had never heard anything about this before for all the months that we were talking through social media. His talking down to me was regarding this situation that upset me the most. I never had the PT email, and she communicated to me often through this means of social media. When I asked something that she did not know the answer to, she told the owner, and he then blamed me for the communication, telling me it was against company policy and not giving me an alternate means of communicating with her. I was able to find her email address because the billing department copied her on an email about a claim. I immediately took care of the situation myself,blocked her on all social media accounts, and started emailing her. She never took care of this situation nor did the owner. I did it directly. Perhaps this does not fit "my narrative" but as a consumer, I am not responsible for upholding the ethical communication practices that this company calls for. You can see in the very first email from the owner, this narrative in which he blames me, tells me she does not have to respond to me through social media and does not give me an alternative. 2. I do billing myself in practice. If a company has been paid by the insurance company and the funds are in their account and that client has overpaid, they owe the client the funds overpaid. This is common sense in business practice. I was told through social media by the PT that all funds are held onto until discharge of the client. I told her and the owner that I signed no financial document agreeing to funds being held onto once they were paid and we are bound by our contracts with said insurance companies to reimburse clients when we have been reimbursed if they have overpaid in a timely manner and not (when we think it is appropriate) as SST says they will do it at discharge which could be at any time or even a year from now as my condition is taking some time to work through due to 11 procedures (surgeries) being done between both of my feet. 3. There have been several situations in which I have said hello to the owner (as he stated he saw me as I worked in the same facility in my business for some time). He would always look down at the floor and mumble. This is what I was referring to when I said he was rude on several occasions. The time that he was rude in which he treated me and the PT was out, he made a sexist comment in front of my husband. I did tell the PT about my concern when I saw her again. I am not going to throw anyone under the bus but his employees have agreed that this is an issue when I expressed concerns as I had a discussion about this incident with more than one PT. I want this resolved by the owner letting me know how they have resolved their communication issue through social media, as I was blamed for this and not given an alternative, and letting me know how they have changed their business policy to reflect either clients signing an agreement for them to hold onto funds, or that they are reimbursing clients in a timely manner after they have been paid and not whenever they decide it is convenient, especially if a client is asking for those funds. They have no right to hold onto them unless there was a prior agreement. I was refunded after I threatened to go the BBB and give them a bad review and was told before this, that I would not be refunded until discharge. Also, I did call this owner back after he called me a couple hours later. I was unable to call him at the exact time he was available later that day when he was available. This was because I had a patient emergency. He said he understood and patients come first. He says he called again, but I never received the other message. I believe he did call again. The call thing is not a big deal. We just were never able to talk on the phone because we are both busy business professionals. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2022/08/17) */ Several times throughout this process it has been stated that I "blamed" this individual discussing this situation through social media and that I "talked down" to her about this. In my original response, all I did was state our company policy regarding communicating with patients through social media. Nowhere in this dialogue did I blame this individual for her actions, nor did I say that this individual couldn't follow or forbid her to talk to the PT on social media. I informed her and re-iterated to our staff what the policy was and that it discourages but does not prohibit staff from doing this. If our staff choose to communicate through social media, which is what occurred in this case, my employee has to accept the responsibility of communicating this way and doing this. This individual states that I didn't provide her any alternative way to communicate. As she had previously communicated with our company through our company email, phone number and texting service, and this was the first time the topic of communicating through social media has come up I don't know what other types of communication should have been suggested or when this information was supposed to have been provided. In retrospect In my position I often have to use a direct method of communication so there what is said isn't open for interpretation. If someone perceives my directness as "talking down" or "being rude" to them, I can't control ones perception. Based on this individuals reaction to what was said, I can only conclude that this is what happened. I don't agree with the statements made by this individual where she says I was rude because of how I said Hi to her. Her comments regarding me looking down and mumbling are subjective statements that can't be proven or disproven. Using her specific example, she could say I was rude because I was looking down but conversely if I walked by and didn't say anything she could say I was rude because I ignored her. I can state that I project well and annunciate clearly when I speak but these to can't be proven or disproven. We know that we have different business practices that have resulted in different policies being established. Our refund policy has been discussed, and refunds are paid in a timely manner. This individual's refund was issued after her claims were paid, not because of her threat of a poor rating on social media of a complaint to the BBB. Per her request, and to try and help facilitate a resolution, I have added the following statement to the Financial Responsibility portion of our new patient paperwork: "In the event of overpayment, refunds will be paid once all claims have been processed." In her third point this individual introduces another element that hasn't previously been mentioned, and I take exception to her saying I made a sexist comment in front of her husband. This type of accusation is very serious and when it is made, it needs to be qualified. One can't just infer that something offensive was said and not provide a direct quote so it can be determined if what was said is in fact offensive. There has never been mention of anything sexist being said, so why is it suddenly being brought up? This individual is a health care provider. If an offensive statement was made, it should have been addressed by this individual or her husband at the time the alleged incident occurred. She says that she talked to the other PT about this and has also discussed this with more than one PT who all agree that this is an issue. She says she doesn't want to throw anyone under the bus, but you can't make this type of allegation without supporting it with specifics and witnesses. As I don't know the "other PTs" that she has spoken with, I asked the clinician that usually works with this individual if it was ever brought up to her by this individual that I made sexist comments to her and she said no. I also asked the other PT to look at any dialogue she had with this individual after I did the evaluation to see what was discussed. Excerpts of this dialogue are provided in the attached screen shots and I summarize some of the key points below: Screen shot 1 - this individual states our personalities don't go well, my style doesn't work for her and her husband thinks she is being too sensitive. There is no mention by this individual or her husband that a sexist comment was made or that this is why she wants to work with another clinician. Screen shot 2 - this individual states that I am obviously talented and she is concerned about hurting my feelings if she transfers care to another clinician. As the PT covering in the clinic I have to do the initial visit but I expected her to want to be seen by one of the other clinicians for her follow up visits. Screen shots 3 & 4 show continued dialogue full of heart emojis. This illustrates the style of interaction/communication that works for this individual, which is in contrast to my direct style which uses significantly less heart emojis. Again there is no mention of any sexist or offensive comment occurring. This individual obviously has access to the record of this conversation so she can provide any excerpts that show there was a discussion about my sexist comments and they were omitted from the information I was provided. To this point I have kept this conversation about facts that can be proven. If there is no evidence provided to substantiate the claim of an offensive statement being made, then this accusation needs to be withdrawn. I believe I have resolved this issue related to our refund policy, but regarding our social media policy, I'm not sure what this individual wants me to resolve. The policy was quoted it directly from our Policy & Procedure manual and it's not going to change. Reviewing the dialogue of our initial conversation, the key points are: Although this individual perceives otherwise, there was no blame assigned at any point during our discussion about the communication through social media policy. The policy discourages but doesn't prohibit communication through social media. If our staff choose to do this, we can't stop them from doing it. At no time did we say that this individual couldn't follow the other PT on social media, she unfollowed this individual on her own accord. It is obvious from this dialogue that our personalities don't mix. Knowing this my interactions with this individual are likely more formal than she is used to. Through this process I have avoided talking about this individual in any context outside of how it relates to this specific situation. On the other side I have been called rude, a poor communicator and have been subjected to unsubstantiated claims of making sexist comment(s). Initially I felt like we had an understanding about how the situation ended up where it was and we were going to amicably resolve it, until I denied her request to return as a patient, at which point the tone changed and evolved/devolved to where we are now. As a health care provider that specializes in counselling others when they have issues with communication, coping and conflict; this individual should have the optimal skill set to help facilitate a resolution. But, for a resolution to occur she also has to want this to happen. I think I have been very reasonable to this point and If this individual does not accept this as an adequate resolution to her complaint, I don't know what else I am expected to do. As I understand it, if there is no resolution the result is that this dialogue could be made public. It will then be up to the court of public opinion to ultimately determine the result of my actions. I have made every attempt to protect peoples' identities throughout this process, but if this information is made public, I do not feel that it should include anonymous, unsubstantiated accusations such as those made in point #3. Thank you for your time in facilitating this process and I hope we are now able to close this matter. Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2022/08/23) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Clearly the business is defensive and unable to make a simple statement of apology. I do not have time to deal with all this nonsense. I just want it documented that the customer service was horrible. You can see for yourself by reading all this hat this business struggles in communication. I do not have anything I have to prove. I am just a customer reporting a complaint,as I have that right. Thank you.

*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. ↩