Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Really? A Hysteroscopy...

...so Friday evening I had to work so I didn't get home until about 9:30pm. I pick up the mail, thumbing through it and see a bill from the doctor's office. I open it up and see that I owe $215 for a $1,900 surgery!?! First off, the date listed, I was out of town. Second, it was for the doctor in the office that I've never even seen. Third, it was for a hysteroscopy and I&D absess subcut. I had to google the first one and I don't even want to know what the second one is all about but I'm pretty sure I would remember if I had these things done.

Let's rewind a couple of weeks...I had some blood work done at the doctor's office on a Monday. I called Thursday because it had been past 24-48 hours and hadn't heard anything. They respond, "Let me see if I have the right patient...is your birthday X-X-XX?" Um...no, that's my sister-in-law. Friday AM the nurse calls me to tell me that one thing is a little high but the doctor will call me in 1-2 days (keep in mind this is the Friday before my birthday). Sweet! Something's wrong with me but you're not going to tell me and its Friday so 1-2 days really means next Wednesday. Thanks-happy birthday to me! After googling myself crazy and self-diagnosing, I call the office back to give them some information they'd been waiting on. I get transferred to the nurse I spoke to earlier who YELLS at me like I'm a small child. Cue tears for the next hour of my life...

Monday, I come home from work and the test results are in the mail but guess what? No phone call!!! So I call back and I'm just like, "Look, I know you're sick of me but I got these test results so before I start googling again and think I'm dying can I talk to someone, anyone and have them explain this to me? Well, anyone except Nurse I Yell Rudely At People Like They Are Young Children?" The doctor calls me back within an hour, explains the test results then I explain my issues with her staff. 1. Giving out birthdays where all I had to do was say yes and get all the info I wanted and 2. Your rude nurse!

So back to Monday, I call and get transferred to the billing office. This lady was really nice, because of course she hadn't had to deal with me yet. Then she sees, oh I see the note here, this is supposed to be billed to XXXX XXXX...really? Isn't that ANOTHER violation of doctor-patient confidentiality? So anyways, I was right, I did not have a hysteroscopy or that other scary word done but now starts the battle of dealing with my insurance company and explaining it all to them...

7 comments :

Slamdunk said...

What a mess. I am sure you need one more thing to handle in your free time. I am not a big fan of going to the doctor, and with posts like these, it sounds like I am not missing anything.

Stephany said...

Wow, that's just a crazy story! I'd want to switch doctors because of all of that. I mean, now you have to worry whether YOUR information is getting told to other patients? They need a wake-up call!

And making you worry about your tests? Just awful. Nothing's worse than thinking something's wrong with your body. (And self-diagnosing is the WORST! Once, I had a bee sting and looked on WebMD to why it looked so bad. And figured I was either dying or would have a heart defect. It's so bad!)

Amanda @ It's Blogworthy said...

I work in a hospital and that's a big time violation of HIPPA. Like she could get into huge trouble for that. They are not supposed to give out any identifying information about a patient to anyone.

Sounds like they need to get their act straight!

Amanda @ It's Blogworthy said...

And I'll also google till I think I'm dying. WebMD is the worst thing ever invented.

Krystie said...

I would of been off the phone and in their office with my biggest bitch face on. :)

Adie said...

I am seriously so sick of "customer service" people! Get it together people - I AM THE CUSTOMER. I PAY YOU!!! Do you want me to call? ;) Apparently they will talk to anyone!

Cecilia said...

Ummm, that's a little crazy that they are just so free to hand out confidential information like that. What the h are they thinking????