ComplaintsforHearing Health Associates, PC

• Initial Complaint

  05/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  I met resistance at the desk the first time I arrived but looked over it because Dr ******* was professional. I got pushback because the lady at the front desk wanted to make a copy of my military ID as I am an active duty Marine and my health benefits number is on our IDs but it is against the law to make a copy of a military ID. I finally got through to the woman at the desk that she cannot make a copy of my ID though she was very stubborn and rude. When I saw Dr. ******* all went smoothly. I then wait for a call back concerning hearing aids. No call back comes. I then call and call and call. Most of the time no one answers, when I do get ahold of the woman at the desk she presents like a guard dog that is rude and will not answer anything or let you talk to anyone. I have had to personally coordinate all aspects of this care by continuously calling my primary health care provider and hearing health associates, sometimes at the same time on two different phones. I finally got in to get my counseling about hearing aids and let my frustrations go. Afterward, the same thing happens. I have to push and pull every step of the process to get anything done while facing the rudest most unprofessional contacts in healthcare that I have ever met. As an active duty Marine, I have never had a problem with coverage for the last 20 years except for this place. I believe that hearing health associates just dont experience active duty service members nor know how to service them as they most likely only see reservists, retirees, and veterans whose coverage dont cover hearing aids as it does for active duty service members. My Hearing Aids are covered in full and currently authorized yet they still won't get them unless I pay out of pocket. I have never had to pay out of pocket for care for anything for the last 20 years. ******* has called as well but no one answers. If they keep dragging their feet I will be retired and then not be covered as I am now. This place is a trainwreck

  

  Business response

  05/23/2023

  Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this gentlemen’s complaint. As far as the unanswered calls and callbacks are concerned, we will use these comments in our staff meetings to make improvements to our patient communications and to provide more courteous interactions.As this service member presumed our office does not have experience with many active-duty service members. I’d like to note here that our office is an out-of-network provider for ****** Military insurance.The front desk protocol is to ask for a copy of all patients’ IDs. We thank this service member for educating our office that making a copy of a military ID is not allowed by law.To coordinate benefits, our office called ****** Military on this service member’s behalf. The office was told that his plan did provide coverage but that a request for such coverage would need to be initiated by his primary care provider. The service member was made aware of this and he followed-up with his primary MD.An authorization for services was eventually received. Our office placed a follow-up call to ****** Military to ensure all was in order. The representative cross-checked the ****** Military authorization # with the provider NPI and office NPI numbers. The representative informed us that, since we are an out-of-network provider, we could provide services but “the service member would need to pay out-of-pocket and then file a claim to be reimbursed”, adding “..and the authorization is not a guarantee of payment.”The service member was contacted and advised of the ****** Military representative’s statements.Whereas our office does not have experience seeing active-duty service members, this service member must not often experience providers that are out-of-network.

  Customer response

  05/26/2023

  I have reviewed the response and absence of any real offer or attempt at reconciliation made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. In response to the attempts at communication improvements through staff meetings. Please consider, the horrible communication practices are not only towards myself but also with my primary care provider and my health insurance all of which who cant seem to ever get ahold of anyone most of the time and when they do reveal that they are met with attitude and aggression.In response to my presumption of dealing with active-duty service members. This is a presumption but a presumption based on this very articulation of a deficit from Dr. *******. I didn't just imagine it. It was vocally told to me and though I can certainly understand this knowledge deficit when combining it with the articulation suggesting that this is an out-of-network provider for ****** Military Insurance; this is absurd as I have had to call this office on one phone while calling my primary care on another phone at the same time just to get anything done.I do not believe the following statements to be true:"To coordinate benefits, our office called ****** Military on this service member’s behalf. The office was told that his plan did provide coverage but that a request for such coverage would need to be initiated by his primary care provider. The service member was made aware of this and he followed-up with his primary MD."I did all coordination from every angle and at no time did I ever get ahold of anyone who knew anything about anything that was going on at Hearing Health Associates if they were willing to speak at all. I have called ****** and they have tried to call Hearing Health Associates with me on the line with them to confirm that I have no cap and that my hearing aids will be covered and each time I make these calls and work to coordinate, nobody ever seems to answer the phone when the ******* Representative calls or calls them back when I call back to see if there are any updates. The same thing is true with my Primary Care Provider who is absolutely frustrated with them as well. My primary care provider tried to get required information from hearing health associates for months.Further"An authorization for services was eventually received" This delay was because or Hearing Health Associates and no one else. "Our office placed a follow-up call to ****** Military to ensure all was in order." There is no record in my file with *******/****** of Hearing Health Associates ever contacting any representative on my behalf. What there is a record of is my Primary Care Provider contacting them, my approval with no restrictions as asserted, and my contact with them when my insurance and I try to contact them and they dont answer the phone for my insurance.The final assertion:"the service member would need to pay out-of-pocket and then file a claim to be reimbursed”, adding “..and the authorization is not a guarantee of payment.”This is not truthful. It is made up by Hearing Health Associates. This does not apply to active duty service members and if they would ever answer their phone are actually coordinate with the insurance company like they say they do they would know this.Finally:"this service member must not often experience providers that are out-of-network" Nice attempt at a dig. I have been doing this for 20 years all over the world in more than 25 countries and have plenty of experience with providers that are out-of-network. This is the only one that has ever been this rude, oblivious, negligence, deceitful, and downright dishonest.I do not accept whatever this response was suppose to be and I hope that since there appears to be no real attempt at reconciliation that BBB can make others aware of this places business practices in order to ensure that other service members dont have to deal with this non-sense. I would have had more respect if they would have just said something along the lines of we have been burned in the past by insurance companies and cant take risk than making up completely false stories. What they are doing is wrong and luckily I still have a little bit of time to try to get this figured out before I retire and am no longer eligible for full coverage like I am now. Others may not be so lucky.  Regards, **** *****

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