ComplaintsforSpringCreek Fertility Dayton

• Initial Complaint

  07/17/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had an appointment for a medical procedure in November '23. They required I pay $497 in advance, even though the procedure was covered by my insurance, and my insurance did pay them. Last week (July '24), I discovered that I had a credit of $308.84 that had been sitting on my account since November due to the overpayment. Not once in the last 8 months had I been contacted about this balance, nor offered a refund. When I contacted them to request a refund, they informed me the only way to get a refund was to sign up with a third-party website as a vendor (which I am not!) and wait up to two and a half additional MONTHS to get paid. Something similar had also happened in 2022-- I overpaid up front and then had a balance sitting they never attempted to refund-- so clearly this isn't an isolated issue.

  Business response

  07/30/2024

  The patient is correct we do require payment up front for services. The claims must process through insurance prior to us understanding what is do. In the event that a patient has over paid, the money stays on the account as a credit. This credit can either be put towards future services or be refunded back to the patient. In this particular case the financial department was never notified that the patient was not moving on with services and wanted a refund. We do offer a patient portal where patients can see their credits on the accounts, making it easier for them to aware if they are owed back money. Records show patient reached out 7/4/24 and requested the credit that she could see on her account. Her refund was initiated and she was told 30-45 days to process.

• Initial Complaint

  05/16/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On March 14, 2024 I was scheduled to do a semen analysis. I went in and did it and got a phone call three days later they lost by specimen so I rescheduled to go back in On March 28 to give another specimen to get sent off to the labs. I asked the lady at the desk do I need to pay for the lab and she said no they will send me a bill. On May 14, I get the bill from the Lab corporation for double the cost I was quoted. I called Spring Creek and explain to them that I had a bill that was doubled up what I was quoted. Was she said call the lab and talk with them so I did and they said that they do a 10 day early pay which I was unaware of which would’ve been the price they quoted me. I called Spring back and they basically said that I’m responsible and they’re not responsible for this extra cost. This is not a good way to do business at all and was terrible communication throughout if I would’ve known about the pay, I would’ve did it within 10 days , customer service to help me out with this bill that end up costing me double the charge their associates did not make me aware of the pay. It’s truly sad that this is a health field and was treated like this. Basically I was trusting now to give my specimen off and trusting them with the cost because insurance does not pay for male fertility , and they basically said that your responsible for even though it was their fault of noncommunication

  Business response

  06/06/2024

  As far as the patient complaint, we are not the company billing him.  SpringCreek Fertility cannot perform the testing this patient needed so his sample was sent to a third party company called 

  Reprosource.  We simply ordered the test, collected the specimen, and shipped it to them.  Reprosource is then responsible for working with the patient in regards to their billing/collections process.  It is my understanding that Reprosource calls and emails self-pay patients and explains that they will get a deeper discount if their payment is made within 10 days.  This patient did not reply to those messages so Reprosource sent him a bill without their advanced pay discount.  The patient called SpringCreek requesting the discount be given, however he was told he needed to speak with Reprosource as we aren't charging him and can't change a bill being sent by another company.  I called Reprosource today and they did confirm that the patient called them and  was ultimately offered the discount he was asking for even though he didn't pay them within their 10 day window.  I totally understand the patient's frustration, however I believe his complaint should be with Reprosource and if the resolution he was looking for was a billing adjustment, it was provided to him via Reprosource.

• Initial Complaint

  01/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  This was IVF treatment using donor eggs. We paid $19,750, for the treatment. I did all the testing and I was told that everything was good, ready for the transfer. My husband also did the ordered tests and he was told that everything looked good. The clinic reported that they fertilized about 6 eggs with my husband's sperm. 3 out of 6 survived rather developed to blastoplast. On day 5, 1 embryo was transferred for implantation, the other 2 were still in observation in the lab. A day after the transfer, I was called by a nurse who told me the other 2 blastocysts did not continue to grow and therefore I would not have any embryos available for freezing for future IVF cycles if needed. After 10 days I returned to the clinic for lab work (pregnancy check), results showed that I was pregnant. Later that evening, a nurse called me, requesting that I return to the clinic the following day for lab work because the doctor was concerned that my HcG was low. With a repeat of labs on 12/27/2022 , I was told that I was not pregnant. During a follow appointment with the fertility doctor on 01/09/23, she told me that she did not know what went wrong, because my uterus lining was thick enough for implantation, my husband's sperms were healthy and other lab results were normal. Based on the clinic's website, it says that it offers a refund program on IVF for self pay patients. I called the clinic and spoke with the finance dept and they could not solve my problem or come to a settlement, and she annoyingly told me if I was ready for another cycle I need to pay again and when I enquired what guarantee will they give with the next treatment she told me in their business there are no guarantees, like other big clinics that refund if no success on IVF. I was misled by this clinic's refund program promise, and i feel given that I used donor eggs someone would have been compassionate with us to take that into consideration and since it seems that the problem was on the donor eggs as the doctor stated that if we were to repeat the IVF cycle we should use different donor eggs. I understand there are costs which cannot not be refunded but i was wishing that the clinic would be considerate of our case and offer some restitution.

  Business response

  02/08/2023

  First let me say that I am very sorry that these clients did not have the outcome they so desperately wished for - a live birth. I want to share that these patients are not SpringCreek patients. They are under the care of Dr. *****, the ****** ********* *** ***** **** doctor. We work with the base as a community service and do not charge the base patients for many of the services that they receive because we appreciate either their or their partner's service to our country. This being said, we cannot speak to their interactions with their physician as she is not a SpringCreek employee and simply works with us through an Affiliation Agreement so that base patients can receive fertility treatments at substantially discounted prices. 

  
  

  We have reached out to Ms. ***** and the voicemail on the phone number left was not set up. Because of the sensitive nature of our business, we do not leave messages on voicemail boxes that do not indicate the person's name. We explain this to clients in their IVF orientation. We would like to find out where the misunderstanding arose and to see what led them to believe we offered a "money back" guarantee. 

  
  

  At the same time, Ms. ***** did receive all of the services that they paid for -  and they received a positive pregnancy test, which means  the embryo did implant and there was a positive pregnancy - however it did not go on to a live birth which is so disappointing. I cannot imagine the loss that she is feeling or the depth of her grief. Infertility is one of the most devastating diagnosis and each treatment that does not eventually result in a live birth often leads people to experiencing more and more loss. That is why we work so hard to offer excellent outcomes and best opportunities for success. Unfortunately, Ms. ***** did not achieve a successful pregnancy despite everyone's best efforts. 

  
  

  We spend a lot of time counseling people about the fact that despite everyone's best efforts, the procedures may not result in a live birth. We do not offer any guarantee programs on our donor egg packages. AND we do not advertise that we offer a guarantee on them. If they believe they received an offer stating that we would offer a refund, I would genuinely like to see this documentation as we will need to review it to better determine where the misunderstanding arose. We do not offer a guarantee on donor eggs. We do this to keep the cost as low as possible for our patients. When patients ask if we offer a guarantee on donor eggs, we refer them to other donor egg banks. These other donor egg programs do offer some guarantees such as replacement eggs or partial refunds if a blastocyst is not created, however these programs are substantially more expensive. 

  
  

  At the same time even if the person had purchased one of these donor egg packages from another organization, the patient would not qualify for a refund  - from that organization - based on the information they supplied in their complaint. The person had a viable embryo for transfer and the transfer resulted in a biochemical positive pregnancy test. For the services rendered, this is considered a completed treatment - even though unfortunately it did not go on to a live birth. Even though it resulted in more disappointment for this person.

  
  

  Donor egg birth rates for our center and other reputable centers across the country are published through SART and are available to all patients nationwide. All fertility labs are required by the CDC to report the success rates of all of their cases to either SART or the CDC.

  I have included a link to our SART information. **************************************************************************** 

  This is a public record that demonstrated not all donor egg cases will result in a live pregnancy. 

  
  

  We spend a lot of time counseling patients about the risks and the opportunities for success. We offer individualized IVF orientations free of charge - and recommend that each person engaging in this process attend the orientation. This orientation reviews the risk and the chance of success or failure. We were one of the first centers in our area to hire financial counselors to help guide patients through the complex maze of covered and uncovered services and ensure transparency in costs. Our staff has undergone compassion training through Organic Conceptions, an organization that helps support people dealing with infertility. We work very hard to take down barrier and smooth the journey of infertility, but sometimes we do not have the answers people want to hear. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee a live birth, nor did we say we would.

  
  

  We would be more than happy to discuss this with Ms. *****. As a courtesy to patients, one of the option that we have is to offer discounts on the providers fees, however Ms. ***** is not paying any providers fees at this time.  If we see the documentation that she is referencing about us offering a guarantee and we verify it was from SpringCreek, we will consider the situation once we see the artifacts. 

  
  

  Thank you for reaching out to us to resolve this matter.

  Customer response

  02/24/2023

  ********,

  First I want to say that we appreciate the support that Spring Creek offers to military families. Going through the treatment under this circumstances/relationship has shined more light on how a patient can be caught in between. Dr ***** operates under Dr ***** who is Spring Creek doctor,  we paid Spring Creek for the donor eggs and coordination. I miss to understand how  Spring Creek would want to separate themselves from any part of that, furthermore the transfer was done by Dr.***** and all embryology lab work was at Spring Creek lab. I hate that the response from Spring Creek implies that it is favor that they are doing  to Wright Patterson patients. What I paid is considerable to what I would have paid in another clinic under shared-egg plans. This process is not to find who was at fault but I wish my experience was better and my hope is that future military families do not go through this turmoil. My suggestion is that all care be handled by the Wright Patterson doctor, I was called by several Spring Creek nurses about procedures and labs; and often not full explanations were offered. 

  
  

  This statement by the coordinator is incorrect and misleading, "they received a positive pregnancy test, which means  the embryo did implant and there was a positive pregnancy - however it did not go on to a live birth." 

  This pregnancy she is talking about was a false positive, given that I had injected  myself within Ovidrel 10 days prior to the lab draw on the day of transfer. Therefore, there was no confirmation that there was any implantation, and given that I was called on the 10th day after transfer (same day I did labs) with concerns that the lab result was worrisome and I needed a repeat lab draw to check HcG level on the 11th day, lead me to the conclusion that there was no implantation which is needed for an actual pregnancy.  We are not talking about a pregnancy confirmed 3 weeks or even a month after the transfer. If i had waited for I feel that we were not counseled appropriately and the clinic took advantage of our limited experience or knowledge on IVF treatment especially with donor eggs. I now know there is a gray area, that if there is blast development with purchased eggs,  it protects clinics and do not have to refund clients but no one looks at the quality of the eggs before fertilization or i was not given that report. the report i got was after fertilization "embryo development." 

  
  

  ******

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