Thanks Portia. It's just so frustrating to have something that appears to be working go off the tracks because of bad behavior from the business side of the practice. I would think that with all the quackery and skepticism about VT someone who is "doing it right" would want to assure that their business practices are beyond reproach so as to not get lumped in with all the folks who give them a bad name.
To be clear insurance has covered everything so far - all evals and therapy appointments covered in full. All co-pays paid at the time of service. 30+ appointments with never a no-show or unpaid balance. Absolutely no reason to treat us this way. I would think if someone doesn't show for a regularly scheduled appointment you would call them - to make sure they are ok if nothing else - not ambush them weeks later and demand payment. If you are the one that handles insurance claims for a specific service and have reason to believe you may have difficulty getting coverage I would think you would share that in advance so your patient/client can work out insurance coverage or a payment plan *before* you provide the service, especially when you have a few weeks lead time to make the arrangements. If there is a problem with insurance you ask the insured to check with their provider. You work together to get it resolved, or better yet to avoid the problem before it happens. You don't demand an immediate $500 payment with no prior discussion. And you certainly don't fabricate stories about conversations or voicemails that never happened.
And yes, DO has a large staff who all seem quite young and inexperienced. The therapists and "coaches" are good with the kids it's just the business office staff that make me uneasy. I have not seen that mature, experienced office manager/ problem solver you tend to encounter in most well run medical offices. There is instead a sort of cavalier arrogance that I assume feeds on desperate parents clutching at anything that they think will "save" their child. I thinks that's probably where my unease comes from. It makes me wonder if I have just been gullible. I believe VT has been very helpful but this approach makes me second guess my experience.
Yuck...
