Home | Yearly News Archive | Advertisers | Blog | Contact Us |
|
Thursday, October 31, 2024 |
|
What is Up with Atrium and their Billing? |
Post Reply |
Author | |
wasteful
MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 27 2009 Status: Offline Points: 793 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Posted: Oct 13 2009 at 6:20pm |
What is up with Atrium medical center do they and McNeil not read the newspapers or watch the news and know that we are in a recession.
I have talked to al least 6 or 7 people this week all who have been turned over to collections because they fell behind with their medical bills to Atrium. I have never seen so many sent to collections by a hospital. Half the city must be in collections at this rate. What is up with them?
Most of the ones I talked to stated they have been trying to pay but Atriums terms are to harsh for the current economic times and they just can't do it. So they fall behind and get sent to collections which doesn't get them to pay any quicker just puts more stress and anguish on an already bad situation.
I would think that a Hospital would be more understanding and open to being a good community partner than what is currently happening at Atrium, considering these economic times.
Personally if this is the way Atrium is going to react to local citizens I would consider using another hospital for non emergency procedures or elective procedures.
|
|
Gary Barge
MUSA Immigrant Joined: Feb 06 2009 Status: Offline Points: 50 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Wasteful,
I liked to fill you in on a couple of things about Atrium Hospital billing dept. Their job is to collect any way shape or form or as rude as it may be to pay the hospital bill.
This is the Ohio state law. If you owe any kind of medical bill in the state of Ohio and you call that billing dept. and tell them all you can afford is to pay them $1 a month no matter how big the bill is and if they refuse to accept your payment by law it is considered paid in full. If they send it to a collection agency after you have offered any type of payment you should contact the Ohio Attorney General's Health and Human Service dept. for disciplinary procedures. And by the way when you contact any billing dept to make arrangements to pay on the bill have them give that to you in writing that they will not accept your payment offer and then you can use that in your local jurisdiction. this law was enacted in 1996. The refusal to take any kind of payment is against the law. Therefore it would be considered paid in full. Just thought you would like to know.
Gary Barge
|
|
Nelson R. Self
MUSA Citizen Joined: Oct 03 2009 Status: Offline Points: 279 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Best wishes to you and yours, Gary. Fight the good fight.
|
|
Bocephus
MUSA Citizen Joined: Jun 04 2009 Status: Offline Points: 838 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
You have to watch atrium and their billing system,its no longer done by employees of Atrium is it done by a medical billing service that handles all 3 hospitals in the medical group that atrium is part of (premeire maybe?) Even if you set up payments they keep sending you statements saying that you are late and now they want 2 payments.And its because their billing cycle is 28 days if you are paid on the same days of the month every month it really gets irritating and you have to call the idgits every month to fix it.
|
|
VietVet
MUSA Council Joined: May 15 2008 Status: Offline Points: 7008 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Perhaps the hospital as a whole, needs to start providing adequate service before they ask a person to open their wallet to pay for it. Was at Atrium's Emergency Room last night with the wife being admitted with a kidney issue. Once again, for the second time in the last few months, their emergency room was a joke as to service. The people manning the front desk of the emergency room had no URGENCY about anything. Either they are grossly understaffed or they need an attitude adjustment on the subject of URGENCY and "getting off their duff and doing something pertinent". I like it when they see you standing there staring at them and they ask "has someone helped you". Answer- "No, I don't need any help" "I'm just standing here because I'm a participant in a study to judge just how inept you people really are". It just never gets any better in that area of the hospital, even after filing a complaint the last time she was there with chest pains and having told them she had had two heart attacks. We walked out after sitting for 3 hours and the pain subsided. Thank you for allowing me to vent. It does get frustrating, especially the second time around.
|
|
wasteful
MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 27 2009 Status: Offline Points: 793 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Hope you wife is doing better Vet. Hope you didn't get Kojak as your Dr. at the ER. All the bedside manner of Jack the Ripper. I think if I got him again and I could be wheeled out of the ER and I would go to West Chester. |
|
retired co
MUSA Resident Joined: Feb 25 2009 Status: Offline Points: 53 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Atrium billing is something else I've recieved bills for procedures done as much as 4 month prior to billing. I pay them but they sure don't get in a hurry to send them to you before they are months old. I had several procedures done there and paid twice what they cost me at University of Cincinnati . I will continue to drive the distance if it saves my insurance and me substantial money rather than go to the Atruim. I might add I also seem to get people at UC that seem deeply concerned about the health issues and answer all your questions. The ER at Atrium is terrible so slow in getting a Dr to see patients . My Grandsom was having severe Chest pains and waited 3 hours when still not seen by a Dr My Daughter took him to Sycamore . He was immediatly examined and sent home in about a hour torn muscles in his chest.
|
|
HereIam
MUSA Resident Joined: Oct 29 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 108 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Just thoutht I'd add my 2 cents - I was taken by ambulance to Atrium for severe adominal pains last summer (2008). My service in the emergency room was ok, however, when the hospital started billing me they said that I owed almost $2,000 that my insurance wouldn't pay. We started paying them $50 a month as that was all we could afford. This was accepted by them for about 3 months, then all of a sudden we were sent to collections. We informed the collections agency that we are paying direct to the hospital and that we would not pay them. Funny, we got a letter from Atrium shortly after that conversation saying that we are being handled by them again and that they would accept the payments. I gues I wanted to share this so others would know how to handle the collections company if they are making their own payments to Atrium |
|
VietVet
MUSA Council Joined: May 15 2008 Status: Offline Points: 7008 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
HereIam- Did your EOB say you owed Atrium anything? With all of my wife's Medical problems over the years, we have found that the doctors, labs and hospitals love to try the old "you pay us first before we submit the charges to the insurance company" routine. IE- you have a procedure done at the hospital, a lab test done by a doctor referral or a doctor's office charge. You give each of them your insurance card and they make a copy for their records. They submit the charges to your insurance company and they collect. They then send you a bill for the same service and ask for payment. You contact them and ask them- "did you submit your charges to the insurance company first, before I pay you anything?" Most will say, "no we didn't submit yet". We then suggest that they do as the insurance is to pay first, then the patient is responsible for the remainder if any exists. Sometimes, the doctor, the labs and the hospitals overcharge for a procedure violating the contract they signed with the insurance company. The EOB will tell you that the overcharge is not the patient's responsibility and will say "0" as to your responsibility. That tells you they are trying to overcharge you and you can tell them to go pound salt.
|
|
wasteful
MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 27 2009 Status: Offline Points: 793 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Talked to Atrium this morning about my Hospital bills evidently they have now turned their Billing over to a company called CSI......Oh Joy.
|
|
Post Reply | |
Tweet
|
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |
This page was generated in 0.102 seconds.
Copyright ©2024 MiddletownUSA.com | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | Site by Xponex Media | Advertising Information |