$100 for each 5-7 minute cursory visit with hospital quack

Oh, I am steamed about this. A year later, I got a bill from the flunky who was the in-hospital psychiatrist at the partial hospital program. He was a worthless idiot then, going through the motions, uncooperative, slow to do anything. Several days when he should have been there, he was AWOL and program staff couldn't even get a response from him when they tried to contact him. I knew the 2nd time I saw him it was a joke on me.

So, I get an Explanation of benefits statement a few weeks back from my insurance. It was billed as 30 minute counseling sessions. A typical visit was probably 5-7 minutes, the longest on the first day was 10. These visits were during a 50 minute period in the morning set aside for that, and each day he would see at least 3 people, often 4, sometimes 5, with about 5 minutes between each one. IF the dude did what he claimed, it would take 35 minutes per patient, so he must have awesome powers over space and time to fit that all in to 50 minutes a day.

Perhaps he is supernatural like Dr. Bombay of Bewitched fame.

Perhaps he is in to billing fraud.

Which of those scenarios is more likely.

I have my complete file, the sheets he filled out had convenient check boxes for length of visit, 10, 30, or 50 minutes. He never checked any of the boxes.

I am writing his office demanding an adjustment, including photocopies of his report, giving them a deadline, and telling them if they refuse, to either sue me in small claims or turn it over to a collections agency. I will then dispute the debt with all three credit bureaus. I'm going to include a copy of the Fair Debt Collection Practices law with my correspondence with relevant parts highlighted.

And, threaten to report it to the fraud department of my insurance company.

Way to go keeping his reports and standing up for yourself! Hopefully they'll remove that useless consultant/doctor out of that system.

MTJ-

Good for you! I have already called my ins co, when I had medical ins, to report things. For me, prior to this psychotic breakdown...I weighed 83 lbs...I was a bag of bones, reported this and gp never addressed it.

Please let us know what they say.

The hospitals I know of have to bill the patient within a certain time limit or forego collecting... I know they tried that with my mom over my dad, and they had mailed the bill to her a week late so she didn't have to pay.

I was in the hospital for 3 days w severe pneumonia. I just received a bill for my $450.00 co-pay along w the total bill. It was $26,823.70. I think its insane. The worse part of my hospital stay was the amounts of antibiotics and steroids I was given those three days.

Two days after release I had a psychotic breakdown that put in the mental hospital for three weeks. I can't imagine how much that bill was. First thing they did was stop the steroids and antibiotics along w my prozac.

My guess is billing fraud. Most doctors are morons any way. Book smart, but total morons. Except when it comes to billing insurance companies lol.

((((Johnny)))) Prior to meeting my current doctor, I had the most trying, ridiculous time with a couple of quacks. I do believe one in partucular was / is committing insurance fraud (IOP program).

I am waiting for them to get back to me regarding my final bill. Unfortunately, insurance paid out already and he made his dough. Now it is just a matter of reconciling my co-pays, which some were billed and I never was even in the office!

I really admire you for standing up! I hope I have the same courage if the time comes.

Please keep us posted!

Hi. Sorry you're having to go through this.

First, let me say, I loved Dr. Bombay.

There are a couple of things I would suggest:

Write a letter to your state board of medicine, making sure to mention that the staff also had issues with him.

If the doctor is under contract with the hospital, you should also make a complaint to the hospital president, board of directors, whatever. Same thing if he's in a group practice.

Of course, it's possible he's got an overzealous and/or incompetent billing person and didn't know it, but I think that falls into Dr. Bombay territory.

Good luck!

That's ridiculous - I'm so glad I'm in Canada and don't have to deal with any of that. My IOP shrink was a total jerk too. The only thing she cared about was that I didn't see her on the same day in the morning as I saw my regular pdoc in the afternoon, since she couldn't bill OHIP for the same services as my regular pdoc on the same day. She made sure to clarify that with me on the first appointment.

Good luck in fighting it.

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