ComplaintsforSterling Behavioral Health Services, Ltd

• Initial Complaint

  04/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This inquiry occurred through email to the organizations "Intake" office. Regarding Sterling Behavioral Health of Virginia, Ashburn VA I asked the provider if any of their physicians accept my insurance which is **** ***** / **** ******. For every other provider this is normally all the information I need to provide to find out if they have any physicians who can do this. However this provider also wants to see my drivers license and other personally identifiable information for this purpose, when they explicitly told me they only need to know who my insurance carrier is to see if any of their doctors accept it. I don’t understand what business practice requires personally identifiable information to merely inform me if they have physicians who accept my health insurance. This is unfair to me because I don’t feel that this is needed for such a simple inquiry and I have no assurance that my personally identifiable information won’t be used for nefarious purposes. Why would a random non-medical and non-psychologist decide that they need things like my drivers license number for determining if they have a physician who accepts it.    Asking for my personally identifiable information at this stage of just a simple inquiry is not an ethical business practice, and is suspect for someone using it for illegal or criminal purposes.

  Business response

  06/01/2023

  I am responding to ****************** complaint regarding our in-take procedures. Our procedure requires the patient to identify themselves so that we can ensure that they are who they say they are as well as we need to know the patient's date of birth. It provides protection for both the patient and the practice against insurance fraud and identity theft. It is a very common policy for medical practices. Verifying insurance is done through the insurance portal that requires the insurance member number and patient's date of birth. We are unable to tell ************** if we can accept his insurance or provide him with which providers accept his insurance without the aforementioned procedure. Simply stating that you have ********** **** ****** is not sufficient information as there are a multitude of ********** **** ****** insurances and we do not take all forms. Verification is necessary. Please refer to the communications between **************, our in-take coordinator and myself. We feel that we provided ************** with sufficient explanations for our policies and suggested that perhaps our practice is not a good fit for him if he is unhappy with our policies and procedures. Thank you.  

  Customer response

  06/11/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  

  ---------- Forwarded message ---------
  From: ********************* * <***********************>
  Date: Thu, Jun 8, 2023 at 5:38 PM
  Subject: Re: You have a new message from the BBB of Metro Washington DC & Eastern Pennsylvania in regards to your complaint #********.
  To: Better Business Bureau <[email protected]>
  

  
  

  Hello,

  
  

  I'm following up on this complaint.  I was referred by my social worker / therapist saying the had respected MDs at this location.  

  
  

  I've been treated unfairly and unprofessionally by the owners or office managers of this company.  I had merely asked if any doctors accepted my insurance and told them the insurance that I hold.   They insisted on me providing all my personal information ("intake form") for this purpose.  Because I didn't even know if they had a doctor who would accept my insurance (or work with my ability to pay their fee), asking for all this personal information is unfair.  

  
  

  My concerns about my personal information being used for identity theft or other criminal or fraudulent purposes is legitimate and needs to be respected. Furthermore I only asked if they had a doctor who I could afford (accepts my insurance).  They didn't even ask for the insurance plan information if they needed it.   Only that I provide all my personal information including things like ssn, home address, email, etc or they refused to help me.

  
  

  This is unfair.  I'm going to go the the state and federal agencies with my complaint.

  
  

  Thankyou.

  
  

  *********************

  ***********************

  
  Regards,
  
  *********************
  

*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. ↩