A friend of mine (over the age of 65) recently had a day long procedure done at Sanford. As a friend of his was picking him up, they told him he could pick up his needed medications on the way home from Lewis, but weren’t specific what it was (they assumed just a painkiller). Lewis prepared (two) meds for him, but only gave him one of the meds (a painkiller) he was also supposed to get a anti-spasm medication. Due to a mixup with the hospital and Lewis he didn’t get the anti-spasm drug and was unaware he was supposed to have it.
A couple of days later a spasm occurred and he was in so much pain from it he couldn’t barely move or drive himself to the hospital (about 2 miles away) he had to call an ambulance. Once there they figured out the issue (lack of spasm meds) and were able to stabalize him and send him on his way to get the meds. Ironically, Lewis still had the meds he was supposed to get in the first place.
While that is an issue all in itself, his experience with Paramedics Plus is another.
He called the ambulance in October and received a bill in December. What happened during that time frame was Paramedics Plus trying to get payment from his insurance OR Medicare. After a couple of months of wrangling with them, they determined he had to pay the entire bill, around $1,200 plus a $40 mileage fee.
The bill was dated December 15th, it wasn’t postmarked until the 17th (in Texas) He received the bill on December 21st and it said he must pay by December 23rd. He figured that was just protocal, so he thought to himself if I pay them a week later he would be fine. He received another letter on the 25th telling him if payment wasn’t made by the 29th, it would get turned over to collections.
So he called them. The first time he called he got a recording telling him about all the great things and expansion Paramedics Plus was up to and asked if he would like to be in a drawing for a FREE cruise. He hung up and called back right away and got an actual person. They told him that the 60 days Paramedics Plus was dealing with his insurance company and Medicare counted as time within his terms for payment, even though he had no control over those negotiations.
First off, he shouldn’t have had to call an ambulance to begin with if Sanford and Lewis would have done their jobs to begin with in subscribing the medication. But the bigger issue is forcing him to pay immediately and not starting that 60 days over when he received the bill. He paid the bill with a credit card over the phone while talking to the operator, but he still feels it wasn’t right.
There definitely needs to be some type of medical recipient bill or rights established in this country, which goes beyond the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act or Obamacare, to protect consumers in terms of notice and timing relative to the guaranteed bureaucratic nightmare which often ensues between the passing of the hot potato bills between the health industry providers (public and private) and the insurance industry.
But on a more positive note, I would like to make a shout out to Sanford Health. There new billing process is definitely far more informative and consumer friendly than its past software system,…Thanks Sanford! (Or is that actually ….Thanks Obama!?)
The real problem is the city selected the wrong paramedics provider. Rather, city officials got bribed by a service from Texas. There was a better cheaper service option with local impact and sound billing practices.
Go to the polls people. It’s time to replace most of the puppet council and (next year) the mayor. Meanwhile, call Uber instead of an ambulance. They’re paramedics laid off because the city decided to go the mafia method.