ComplaintsforSaint Francis Hospital South

• Initial Complaint

  04/12/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In late October, 2022 I visited the St. Francis South Emergency Room, going in during the afternoon. There was no sense of urgency in taking care of patients. Later that night when they started providing treatment they noted after difficulty taking my temperature from excessive sweating that I was sweating bullets from pain. Ask if I wanted anything to help with pain and I said OK, but never received anything. They started treatment and then left me unattended for well over an hour in an ER room unattended. When my daughter finally went to nurses station telling them she couldn't stand to watch this any more they finally came back and completed treatment on me. On checkout at about 2 am, they said oh yea, we were going to give you some pain medication and ask if I still wanted it and I told them I could manage now without it. Just one of many problems with treatment. In late November I was scheduled there for surgery and at pre-surgery visit they offered a discount for payment in advance which I did. It was stated that there were some charges such as Surgeon and Anesthesiologist that were not included which I paid when billed after my surgery November 28. I then received a $3,000+ bill for the surgery which I questioned. They had applied my prepayment for surgery to an unknown ER bill and billed me for surgery. I questioned this because unable tell what I had paid for and what were new charges and needed a detailed explanation. I received a detailed bill but still no way to identify what had been paid and what were new charges. On a call they picked a $17 & a $20 charge for things that looked like charges not covered by prepayment and ask if I would pay those. I told them send me a bill for those and I would pay that but they refused to send a bill for those charges. Their billing/business practices are at best intentionally misleading. Their service was unable to even call right person after surgery. This billing is outrageous and service is unacceptably poor!

  Business response

  04/25/2023

  The patient presented to the Emergency Department on October 24th.  It was noted that October 24th had the second highest patient census for the month of October.  As is the case in all emergency departments, patients are triaged based on their symptoms.  This patient experienced higher than normal wait times due to the census and the high acuity of patients being seen that day.  It was noted in his record that pain medication was ordered after imaging was completed and labs were collected; however, per his medical record, the patient refused the pain medication as his pain was significantly improved when a catheter was inserted.  A letter was sent to the patient addressing his concerns with his emergency department visit. 

  In terms of his billing concerns, there was an error made in that the pre-payment that he made for his surgical procedure was inadvertently applied to his emergency department visit.  The billing department has resolved this error and has been in contact with the patient with a resolution to his concerns.  

  Customer response

  04/26/2023

  The Saint Francis reply indicated the unsatisfactory service was not outside the norms of the service! Things like forgetting to provide the offered pain medication until hours after and at the time of check out and justifying that by stating I no longer needed it completely ignores that they forgot about getting the medication and it was many hours after they offered it that I replied I could do without when they finally remembered it at check out around 2 am. The fact that they lost track of and forgot about a patient in a room partially treated is surely outside the scope of expected service from an emergency room! Prescribing medication by stating to pick up a prescription at the 24 hour pharmacy with no notice of what the prescription is or instructions on use cannot possibly be an ordinary and acceptable practice! Just a few examples of the problems encountered being swept under the rug and now apparently the BBB is not working on behalf of the public registering a complaint which is extremely disappointing.

  Prior to your email with their response Saint Francis had already contacted me saying they rejected the complaint and other than the busy time there was nothing out of the ordinary in my treatment. They offered no reduction and demanded full payment for the unsatisfactory treatment in the emergency room.

  I sent a response to the BBB this morning and do not recognize any reason for the BBB to close this complaint! 

• Initial Complaint

  05/11/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I reached out to the business due to falling behind on a payment plan due to being impacted by covid was told that I need to reach out to the collection agency.i submitted a complaint against CAC financial, however I received an itemized statement in the mail from CAC from St Francis.st Francis has violated HIPPA law due to sharing my personal health information including test,test results, procedures other private health information/ concerns to a third party(collection agency) without my concent..this violates patient physician privilege.St francis should not have sent my health records for this or any acct to a 3rd party which is also NOT for health/treating reasons,if anything this confidential information should have been sent to me directly from St francis health care. This has violated the hippa law.this account should be removed from collections and the balance should be waived as well as it should be removed from my credit report immediately I have made payments on time since setting up the payment plan until I fell behind on this acct.i have attached each payment I have made as well.

  Business response

  07/11/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2022/05/27) */ Saint Francis follows and is in compliance with all regulations directing medical debt collection. We have reviewed the accounts in this complaint and are in communications directly with the patient.

*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. ↩