ComplaintsforErnst Radiology Clinic

• Initial Complaint

  05/01/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have been trying to contact ****** radiology. ***********, ******************. But to no avail.. *********** do not have a working telephone number.. The bill is in collection.. but there is no collector.

  Business response

  05/21/2024

  Please see attachment for complaint response.

  Business response

  05/22/2024

  I am responding on behalf of my client, The Ernst Radiology Clinic (************************ employer) regarding the above-referenced complaint.  Please be advised that Ernst Radiology's billing service, the above-referenced complaint.  Please be advised that Ernst Radiology's billing service, Optum Healthcare, suffered a cyber-attack on or about February 21, 2024.  Despite best efforts, they are still not up and fully operational and do not yet have full access to patient records from after that date.

  I regret the extreme frustration and annoyance this causes patients who cannot get their questions answered, but the fact is that Optum Healthcare has not been able to get into its system operationally since that time.  We keep hearing that it will be back up and running at any point now, but we have been as frustrated as the patients with the inability to provide information for patients of the Group.  At this point, we can only request further patience and hope that assurances from Optum Healthcare that they will be operational shortly do, in fact, prove to be true.

  This is not the first complaint we have received through the BBB.  When we become operational, we will attempt to notify you of that fact, on all the complaints.

• Initial Complaint

  04/26/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  This is regarding billing from a (supposed) health care billing service - not sure it's legit. I received a bill from Ernst in February, but the phone numbers are disconnected and the payment website is not working. The only option is to mail a check to a company that I am not sure ever provided a service to me, to a PO Box address that doesn't match the city of any of their clinics.I called the local office number, and there is a message about a cyber attack in February, and that they should be back up soon, but it's now the end of April. There is zero information on their website regarding any of this... you have to call a local number that's not on the bill to hear this explanation. I would like the business to be honest about what is going on, because they seem to have a history of sending things to collection very quickly.

  Business response

  05/21/2024

  Please see attachment for complaint response.

  Customer response

  05/21/2024

  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 as long as they follow through with notification and I am not held liable in the future for late fees. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** Row

  Business response

  05/22/2024

  I am responding on behalf of my client, The Ernst Radiology Clinic (************************ employer) regarding the above-referenced complaint.  Please be advised that Ernst Radiology's billing service, the above-referenced complaint.  Please be advised that Ernst Radiology's billing service, Optum Healthcare, suffered a cyber-attack on or about February 21, 2024.  Despite best efforts, they are still not up and fully operational and do not yet have full access to patient records from after that date.

  I regret the extreme frustration and annoyance this causes patients who cannot get their questions answered, but the fact is that Optum Healthcare has not been able to get into its system operationally since that time.  We keep hearing that it will be back up and running at any point now, but we have been as frustrated as the patients with the inability to provide information for patients of the Group.  At this point, we can only request further patience and hope that assurances from Optum Healthcare that they will be operational shortly do, in fact, prove to be true.

  This is not the first complaint we have received through the BBB.  When we become operational, we will attempt to notify you of that fact, on all the complaints.

• Initial Complaint

  04/07/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I'm not liable for this Debt with ERNST RADIOLOGY. I do not have a contract with ERNST RADIOLOGY. They did not provide me with the original contract as I requested.

  Business response

  04/26/2024

  Business called and requested complaint  be emailed to ********************

  Business response

  04/29/2024

  Dear Sir/Madam: ******* *******I am the attorney for The Ernst Radiology Clinic. I apologize for this late response to the above referenced complaint, as the complaint was addressed to the general address for ***************, and only today did anyone connected with Ernst Radiology learn about the complaint made by ****************. ******* *******As I understand gist of the complaint, the complaining party had no contract with Ernst Radiology. Ernst Radiology staffs the radiology department at ***************. When a patient submits himself or herself for treatment at the hospital, they automatically establish a contractual relationship with those who provide medical services to them at the facility. No one ever has a written contract with the hospital at which they appear for treatment. It is understood that they will be receiving treatment, and that they will be billed for that treatment. It is disingenuous on the part of the complaining party here to argue that she does not have an obligation to reimburse Ernst Radiology because a written contract does not exist. ******* *******Ernst Radiology frequently runs into this problem. Independent providers such as radiologists, pathologists and anesthesiologists at hospitals provide services. The hospital personnel registering *******patients, on intake, are supposed to be advising prospective patients that they can be receiving bills from these independent medical providers who are at the hospital but are not hospital employees; but very often this information is not well conveyed, or not fully understood by incoming patients. But again, there is an oral understanding with the patient that he or she will be responsible for the cost of medical care rendered at the hospital. The lack of a written contract in this case is a legal nullity.******* ******* ******* *******I would be happy to discuss this further with you, at your option. Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  03/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This business sent a **** bill to me for a service covered by insurance for a procedure at SSM Mercy. A simple remote read of an X-Ray ordred by my doctor. Regardless - This is business in not available by listed contacts on the statement (phone and Internet) for me to inquire or pay this bill. I have no way of paying this - despite the fact i certainly have the means to do so. After researching online - I did find a number via the BBB website. This number is answered by a recordred message stating they have had a cyber attack **************. I am greatly concerned that this busines has my Health Information, Finacial Information, and further that they will claim I paid late - when i have no way of paying them. I will NOT send them a check - as this has ZERO fraud protection.

  Business response

  04/16/2024

  Please see attachment for business response.

  Business response

  04/22/2024

  I am the attorney for The Ernst Radiology Clinic (which employs *******************************).  I am responding to the attached letter from the BBB to ******************** dated March 13, 2024.

  Ernst Radiology takes its customer relations very seriously.  The reason the complainant *************************** has not been able to pay his bill is that Ernst Radiology's third party billing agent, Optum Healthcare, has been completely frozen by a computer hack.  The hack occurred on or about February 21, 2024,  and the Optum Healthcare people have been unable to get into the computer system operationally since that time.  It is anticipated that things may go back online around April 22, but until then, there is frankly nothing anyone can do to get access to the system to accommodate ******************** attempts to make payment, or even to get information about the account from the billing people.  I can assure you and **************** that there will be no repercussions for nominally late payments, because Optum has been unable to process payments now for close to two months.

  I would request that **************** check back with the telephone numbers reflected on his bill ten days from now, and we hope as much as he does that things are back and operational with billing by that point. 

  Please give me a call if you would like any additional information on this issue. 

• Initial Complaint

  08/25/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I saw my credit report and I noticed that there are inaccurate and fraudulent accounts that I needed to report and correct by your company. Evaluate and investigate those account that is not 100% accurate. Here are the lists that indicates the company name, balance, and date last reported: Account Name ERNST RADIOLOGY Balance $374.00 Account number *******

  Business response

  09/07/2022

  I have been asked to respond to your enclosed letter, dated August 26, 2022, regarding a complaint filed by customer ******* ****** against my client.  The Ernst Radiology Clinic.  *** ****** indicates that an entry on his credit report is inaccurate and fraudulent, and I am responding to that charge.  I am enclosing printouts from Ernst Radiology's billing company reflecting that he was charged $374.00 for a CI of the abdomen and pelvis on May 22, 2021; and then was charged for a second CT of the abdomen and pelvis on June 1, 2021.

  It is difficult to know how to respond to the charge that these are fraudulent, when the enclosed accurately reflect the work that was done for *** ******.  The problem in these cases so often comes up that the patient is in the hospital and has some radiology work done.  The patient never sees the radiologist who reads the study and very often is not cognizant that an independent entity such as Ernst Radiology in this case, is the one providing the professional service for the radiological study.  The patient receives a bill from the hospital for the technical work on the study, in addition to the hospital bill for other services, and thinks that he or she has paid everything that is owed for the work that was done at the facility.  Hospitals are supposed to make the patients aware that they will potentially be receiving bills from independent physician groups operating at the hospital, such as the radiologists, the anesthesiologists or the pathologists, but clearly that information is not always received by the patient or the information does not sink in.

  This happens repeatedly but the radiologists, etc., have no control over the manner in which the hospitals convey that information to the patients.  If *** ****** was not made aware of this, that is unfortunate, but that does not alter the fact that he legitimately owed Ernst Radiology for the two procedures that were performed on those given dates.  There was nothing fraudulent or inaccurate about any bill he was sent.

  If *** ****** could be more specific about how he thinks the bills were fraudulent, perhaps I can provide an answer beyond the above.  If you were to send a release form, signed by *** ******, I could attempt to get the actual radiology reports dictated by the Ernst Radiology physician in question and send you a copy to reflect that the work in question was in fact performed.  Please get a release to me if *** ****** wants to see that.

  I will be happy to do anything else I can over and above this letter to clear up any confusion in the matter.  Please advise.  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. ↩