ComplaintsforCincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

• Initial Complaint

  01/14/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My four year old son who has special needs is usually taken care of by Cincinnati Children’s but my visit yesterday was sickening and sad. We started the day off at 7am at the walk in dental clinic downtown. After an hour they decided to tell us that there was no walk in dentists available and that we had to leave. Due to the state of my son’s teeth, his dentist had advised me prior to take him to the ER if they could not help me so I did. Once getting to the ER, they got us back immediately and told me unfortunately there was nothing they could do as they got their dentists from their walk in clinic as well and advised us to go back upstairs and try again since a district manager was contacted and we were told they could squeeze us in. Once again we waited another 2hrs upstairs at the walk in clinic. The receptionist was extremely rude and not compassionate to not only our family but many others as well. When I asked if my son was going to be seen that day, she scoffed at me and explained “this is a walk in clinic and there’s not walk in dentists so I have no idea how your child is going to be seen.” This angered me and she laughed, “we were going to give you an appointment this morning but you left.” No Ma’am, you told me my family was out of luck and we had to leave. I only went to the walk in clinic because Children’s has had my son on their waitlist for dental surgery since AUGUST OF 2022! 3 referrals- 2 of which were EMERGENCY! YET HE HAS STILL BEEN TURNED AWAY TIME AND TIME AGAIN! My son is a septic risk and even the emergency room doctor said “it’s sad that we can not help you”- yes, yes it is!! Now I’m forced to have my son wait additional weeks, putting his health and life at risk, not to mention a $4K bill, to see who else can take him via private practice since I can no longer trust a CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL with my child’s health!!

  Business response

  01/20/2023

  I am sorry the family has had this experience.  We have made contact with mom to work through this issue and find an appointment that works.  I worked with the clinical team to ensure they understand the experience and could address the issues mentioned not only with the team but with mom.  

  Customer response

  01/20/2023

  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. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* ******
  

• Initial Complaint

  04/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My son who was 13 was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. He went thru chemo and took the ABVD protocol and it was administered to him as outpatient in the hospital. Since he had a picc line, and because of covid and reducing exposure, they scheduled him for home care. The nurse came and changed the dressing weekly. Home care is covered by our blue cross blue shield insurance. They required a preauthorization. The preauthorozations that were filed were filed for the picc line maintenance AND for three meds TOGETHER. So 2 preauthorizations in 1. The codes for those meds are J9039, J3490 and J799 they are for a med called Blincyto which is an immunotherapy that **** my son never recieved. When they rejected the pre authorization for the meds, automatically, all other attached preauthorizations were canceled or rejected because they were deemed unncessary. The hospital failed to contact insurance and check to see whats wrong. They failed to inform us as well. So, now, we owe them, because of their negligence and incompetence, 3000$ The lack of care, and negligence of whoever does the billing at the hospital is costly to us. So much time was spent stuck on the phone trying to get to the bottom of this. Child Cancer is enough to deal with on its own nonetheless issues of that sort. Finally in early February they filed an appeal, because it was too late to fix the mistake they made. Nothing was done, and I haven't heard anything until I got a bill right now for $3,048 due 4/21. You can check our insurance and see our coverage. We are 100% covered for hone care. I attached the new bill and charges.

  Business response

  04/19/2022

  While I’m not able to provide details due to HIPPA, I did research the family’s  concerns and contacted the family to resolve this matter with them. The family was happy with the resolution, and we were able to close the loop for them. The family has my contact information for any future issues with this matter. 
  

  Rebecca M

• Initial Complaint

  01/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I have been trying for the last month to pay my bill via the phone number ###-###-#### listed on the bill and no one answers the phone. The bill also states that I can use "suburandocs.com" to pay the bill however it doesn't work either. The first problem is that the billing statements keep coming in the mail which (as of this complaint) state that I am 60-90 days past due on my payment. If these knuckleheads would simply accept payment this situation would be resolved, since they have not and I've wasted countless hours trying to reach them I'm asking for a refund of the amount owed as they clearly do not know how to conduct business. I'll also reach out to my local news media outlet to shame them as well.

  Business response

  01/20/2022

  CCHMC addressed this concern with the family and have let him know that his credit has not been effected due to the bill not being paid as CCHMC or *** report to the credit bureau. We apologized that no one returned his call in a timely manner, and that due to staffing shortages there was limited resources, while that is not an excuse we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Due to the inconvenience we adjusted the balance for the family. 

  thank you

  Jodianne 

  Customer response

  01/20/2022

  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. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** ******
  

• Initial Complaint

  12/30/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Daughter has been seen for 2 years due to kidney stones, so i knew walking in this Ambetter insurance did not cover Childrens Hospital. in September we got Ambetter insurance from the exchange. When we went to the hospital I explained that I need to be charged as if I'm still self pay because your hospital is not in my network and I am truly self pay as the expense is 100% out of pocket and what makes it worse no money paid will even get counted against our deductible. There was no reason to bill Ambetter, I cant afford to pay this with out the typical self pay discount as I pleaded at admission only wanted to see card as a formality, not to bill as I know Childrens has no contract with ambetter.

  Business response

  02/17/2022

  Thank you for bringing this to our attention.  We have reviewed the concerns, and we are calling the family back to address.  Due to HIPPA, I cannot provide details, but we appreciate being alerted to the father's concerns, and we will also address why this wasn't brought to our attention with the person her spoke to in December.

  Customer response

  02/25/2022

  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. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** ********
  

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