ComplaintsforLaurelhurst Chiropractic

• Initial Complaint

  12/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Laurelhurst Chiropractic has just sent me an email telling me I owe them $129 for services rendered *****+ months ago and claim i received the bills but never paid them. I paid the copays and they are claiming that an internal audit revealed increased charges that I must pay or be sent to collections on. This was never relayed to me at the time of my treatment nor subsequent appointments or communications ( of which I have electronic proof of). I believe they are acting in bad faith. They are no threatening to send me to corrections since I refuse to pay this extra $129 they came up with on top of the $80 I paid them for four treatments between August 2021 and March 2022.

  

  Business response

  01/24/2024

  I have included the statement history list which shows the dates we sent the statements to the patient, which correlate with the dates he was seen. I am also including the documentation of the conversations between us an the patient as well as the appointment list and the ledger which shows the balance the patient owes. The statute of limitations in ****** for medical bills from Providers to patients is 7 years which we are in compliance of, though as you can see from our documentation, statements were sent out in an appropriate time frame from the time the patient was seen. There was a gap in the time between the most recent statement and the last one sent because we had  an issue with our billing company following up and have been catching up with patients regarding overdue balances that had never been responded to by the patient, which the patient was made aware of in multiple emails sent to all of our patients regarding this issue. We were well within our rights to have sent the account to collections quite a long time ago due to the non response from the statements that were sent out and to also have charged interest on the account but we did not follow through on any of those measures as we were trying to be considerate of the situation and the gap in between statements. The balance on this account was due to the patient's insurance not covering certain services until the patient had met the deductible. The patient was made aware of the services being provided during the visit. Before his visit the patient was made aware of his insurance coverage by an emailed insurance verification form. I am also attaching the ***** documents the patient signed before his visit which include a financial policy statement. The intake form also signed by the patient before the visits has an informed consent to treatment as well.

   

  Here is our Response to the complaint:

  In the interest of solving this issue as easily and quickly as possible we are willing to offer the patient a reduction to the amount of the bill he owes. We will reduce the bill by 50% making the total owed $64.71 (the original balance being $129.42). We will also ask that this bill be paid promptly and that the complaint filed with the BBB is removed.

  Customer response

  01/25/2024

  
  Complaint: 21026673
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  - the business has not provided adequate proof that they billed me in a timely manner; the screenshots do not provide adequate proof that they physically provided invoices promptly. They also did not explain why the bills were being sent out 2+ years after treatment and did not take any sort of accountability for their erroneous actions. They sent an undated letter in the December communication

   
  - the business also is using threatening and predatory tactics to try to recoup these charges such as threatening to send me to collections. They are stating that I received multiple emails when in fact the first and only email (and subsequent response thread) I received on this specific matter was in December 2023.

  This is corroborated by the lack of other email threads the business has produced. The business does have a habit of sending promotional emails on their care and services multiple times a week which i have received, and can provide evidence of should I need to. I received a vague email in September outlining that I "may" receive an invoice later down the road attempting to explain that they may charge me for more than just chiropractic and it is due to incompetence on their part to fairly and accurately bill in a timely manner.

  - I only went in for chiropractic but the bills they have sent show many more "charges" that I was not made aware of in my earlier visits, which is also false - e.g. manual therapies and manipulation 3-4 regions. These are vague and do not match up with the treatment I received.

  
  - the business is attempting to compromise by offering to halve the charges in exchange for removing the BBB complaint. If I truly owed the balance of what the business purportedly states I owe, they would not attempt to compromise in this fashion.

   

  I will only remove the BBB complaint if they waive 100% of said charges, otherwise they can take me to collections and I will leave the BBB complaint up.
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  

  Business response

  01/25/2024

  Since our offer was rejected by the patient and we believe the charges are accurate and correct, we will proceed by sending the account to a collection agency and letting the agency handle the account from there. 

  Customer response

  01/26/2024

  What remit do I have here if the business is going to go ahead and file an inaccurate claim with collections that I owe them money? What can I do here? I don't want to directly respond to the case, I want to be able to talk to someone from BBB first before taking my next action against this business.

  Customer response

  02/02/2024

   
  Complaint: 21026673
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The business did not accept they are at fault for sending a severely delayed and inaccurate bill. They also sent me to collections which is an escalation outside of the BBB remediation process, which I find to be irresponsible. I would like BBB to mediate.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Customer response

  02/05/2024

  I have spent today on the phone with both the collections agency and my insurance and the collections agency has started calling me about paying collections even while we are in this dispute. The total now is ~$151 as Laurelhurst has backdated the due date in order to collect excess interest. 
  
  Also in talking to the collections agency in telling them that I am in the middle of this BBB Dispute is that Laurelhurst Chiro incorrectly stated to the collections agency that I did not have insurance, where its very clear that I do in all the documentation and screenshots that both they and I have provided.

  Given that Laurelhurst is sending me to collections prematurely and is also providing incorrect information, I would ask that Laurelhurst Chiro work this out with my insurance provider themselves rather than sending me straight to collections. I am increasingly sure now that this is an insurance mixup that Laurelhurst is unfairly taking against me personally rather than them doing a little bit of work with my insurance at the time to properly codify these charges. 

  Customer response

  02/06/2024

  I have more information - In speaking with my insurance, it appears that the business is charging me for treatments i did not receive. I only went in for chiropractic treatment but the business is billing me for physical therapy treatments which I never received. These claims that the doctor is submitting physical therapy codes is false. Insurance says that the pure chiropractic codes that they billed me for is covered by my deductible. Therefore I do not owe anything above and beyond the $80 I paid for for 4 chiropractic visits as covered by my deductible. What are next steps?

  Customer response

  02/06/2024

  I have filed an appeal request with Anthem to investigate internally. They have uncovered that the chiropractor is only licensed to provide chiropractor services but still billed me for physical therapy service codes which is what they are requiring me to pay above and beyond. Additionally, at the time I was receiving phyiscal therapy from a licensed physical therapist in the same area, so it does not make sense why Laurelhurst Chiropractic would bill me for physical therapy. I can provide the details of the internal investigation and appeal to BBB should you wish to receive it. My previous insurance is also aware of the balance being sent to collections and is working to undo that.
  
  Given all this new information, I will absolutely not be removing this BBB complaint against the business as they are falsifying medical records and treatments and using bullying and intimidation tactics to recoup ungainfully billed funds which is a form of healthcare fraud. 

  Customer response

  02/20/2024

  Hello *****, 

  I am writing to say I do not accept the business' response and want to undergo mediation. I do not accept what Laurelhurst Chiropractic has stated as they have not given anything over to me in a timely fashion.

*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. ↩