It took a lot of doing and even longer getting my files released from my old Dr. I finally got the appt. I told them everytime I talked to them what all I have, that it is a result of a MVA, etc. The lady told me that I need to call Central Billing and pre-register, etc. I told her that I already have a relationship with them as I have been working with them for the past year. She said ok. I asked what their office fees are, she said a regular visit is $50 and the inital consult is $100-200. Again, we discussed the Central Business Office.

So, I had my Dr appt Friday with the new Dr on Friday. OMG I was DANCING inside throughout the entire appointment. So happy. He has working knowledge of all my issues. His nurses husband has Fibro, etc. (When she told me I was like COOL! But then I said, uh, not that he has Fibro, cool that I finally found a clinic that has WORKING KNOWLEDGE of all this. She said she understood. I was glad.) So he put me on prednisone till I get into the Rhuemtologist. Oh and come to find out, the Rhuemy I am going to is his FAVORITE Rhuemy, the one he consults with on a regular basis!! He pulled some blood work they did on my in Springfield. The Pain Clinic was looking for Lupus and had me scared to death that I had Lupus, but he said it doesn't look like lupus to him. So he checked some other things and said he thinks it's just the starting of RA, but wants more tests. They exrayed my hands, hips and knees. My right knee has issues in it. The hands he said look ok as do the hips for the most part.

On the blood tests he is also checking for Lyme Disease since it also has similar syptoms, and this will rule it out.

The visit went from 10:30 until just past 1!! He did leave the room a couple times to finish up or take care of other patients, which I sure didn't mind. I was in heaven, and my husband was happy we were finding a good one.

Now comes the bad part. As you all know, this is such a long going thing trying to find answers, going from Dr to Dr to Dr. I have a "standing account" with the Main Business Office to which all the clinics and specialists are affiliated with. I owe almost $100,000 in bills. Our income is $6000 a year. (What a laugh huh?!?) Anyway.

Darryl (my husband) says since all I have left is the blood work and check out, he would wheel Nick (handicapped son who is wheelchair bound) to the car and get him loaded up. He'd see me in a couple minutes. I said ok. Bouncing and bubbly, ecstatic that we've found "THE" Doctor!! Blood draw goes good. I go to check out and the check out lady isn't there, shes at lunch. Ok, No problem...I think. (BAD THING!!!! NEVER THINK!!!!!) They send me OUT into the WAITING Room to check out with the RECEPTIONIST who doesn't know how to use the "new system". She tells me the bill is $704!!!! I'm like HUH!?!?! That's more than Nick's SS check for the month!! So I told her that I have a standing account with the Business Office and that ALL my bills go through there. She calls the Office Manager. The Office Manager comes out and tells me that "I" KNEW when I made my appt that I HAD to pay today. I told her I have an account with the Central business office, and that I owe almost $100,000 and they are working with me. So...she wants names. Hmmm...ask a Fibro person to remember something! LOL I did though and I told her the names of 2 of the NICE ladies I work with at the CBO. She goes back to her office and calls the CBO. She's in there like 30 minutes!! (I had time to sit down for while, go for a pee break, come back out and start reading a magazine!) Oh, and one thing I should point out, by this time, the office has about 6 or 8 people in the waiting room. Even the Schwans man is there hearing all this. The Office Manager comes out and you can see by her face she's pissed off about something. She comes out and says (and believe you me, she is NOT talking quietly....EVERYONE in the waiting room is party to this conversation and listening and staring at me like I'm some kind of low life!!) I called the CBO and they said that yes they have worked with you in the past. As a matter of fact, you have had a bill there closed out because you did a charity application. (I was told it was a grant to help with my bills....this lady is now getting to the BAD part!!) She crooks her head to the side and proceeds to almost scream to me "Do you have ANY (pause) IDEA (pause) WHERE this money comes from?!????? (I tried to say yes, but she wouldn't let me talk.) She goes on to say.... "When someones HUSBAND DIES (pause), WIFE DIES (pause), or someone else intheir family DIES (pause) {the capitol words she is flinging out with emphasis on them}, they DONATE (pause) money to people who NEED help, who can not AFFORD to pay their bills. How DARE you take peoples money like this. (I don't know this lady from Adam, and she doesn't know me. Yet she is judging the hell out of me and making me feel so incredibly SMALL!!) I cut in and said Yes, I do know this. Our yearly income is $6,000!! (By thhis point she's not listening to a word I am saying.) She proceeds to say "YOU have done NOTHING but LIED to us and DECEIVED US since you scheduled your appointment!! I asked if I could come back OUT of the waiting room and handle this at the check out desk, they said NO you are fine where you are! {Yeah, if a person doesn't mind public humitilation and demeaning!!} (Later I thought I should have said well, then you lied to me and decieved me, you told me you work with the Central business office, and that the Consult would only be around $100-$200 max!!!!) You were told if you don't have insurance you HAVE to pay your bill. (She turns to the receptionist and says) I KNOW you told her that right? (Of course the receptionist says yes, and doesn't offer anything else. Office Manager goes on to say) You KNEW you had to pay your bill. You HAVE to pay your bill today! We just can't work like this. I don't know if the Doctor would even want to see a person like you again. (I'm embarrassed, humiliated, hurt, my PTSD is starting to go wild on me, by bp is shooting, I'm on the verge of tears, everyone is STARING at me!!!!!) So.....I dump my purse out all over, trying to get this done before the tears start. I start tossing money on the counter, shaking my purse to get every coin out. They count it up. $47.65. Is this ALL you have???? By this point I'm also getting irritated and a bit pissed off. It was a damn good thing I took my Cymbalta that morning or I'd have gone crazy on her. So I said Well....I could go search my car if it would make you happy. No, that's not necessary. We WON'T schedule your Follow up appt next week with the Dr (that HE said I NEED because of the Prednisone!!!!) until you pay your bill in full and make payments toward your next visit. (Ok lady...monthly income....$600, you want $704....I don't see the possibility there.) When I got to the car, Darryl could see I was upset and flushed. He says Honey what's wrong, when I left you all you had was the blood draw and check out. Was the blood draw that bad? I said No, the blood draw was good, they have a really good person for that, don't even feel it. I said but when I got to the check out counter......and there it came. Flood gates opened, I started hyperventilating and having anxiety and panic attacks. I couldn't breath, nothing. (it's 1:45 at this point....45 minutes of that with those office ladies!!) I told Darryl a little of it, then told him I need air, please go ahead and start taking us home. So he did. By the time I'd told him everything, he was SOOO mad. It was all he could do to not go back there. So when we got home I called back up there and pleaded with them. The Dr said I MUST have a follow up next week because of the med he put me on. They again told me how I deceived and lied to them and they don't think the Dr even wants me as a patient. I said Please, Please give the Dr a note to call me.

A while later the phone rings. It's the "nice" (ha) lady again. She says she talked to the Dr and he says unless I can pay my bills I can't be a patient there. If I pay my bill and sign a legal binding document that I will from her on pay my bills as I come in, he will "CONSIDER" taking me back on as a client, but for now, I'm not his client!

OH MY FREAKING GAWD!!! My world is just.....gone. I went from the biggest high of my life (Dr who KNOWS these conditions/syndromes, etc. and is wanting to work with me! to being told I'm sleazy scum looking for a hand out!! To NO the Dr doesn't want to see you anymore!) So....I ask her again, please, will you have the Dr call me?? She says she will give him a note.

I cried and hyperventilated having anxiety attacks till after 7 pm that night until I exhausted myself. The Dr never called.

Darryl said that he doesn't think the lady talked to the Dr in the first place, or that she gave him the message. When we were in there with the Dr, we told him all about the accident, what we've gone through this past year, our income situation, etc. Darryl said the Dr seemed like taking me on as a patient with all these things wrong with me would be a challenge and something he WANTED to undertake. He told us he never had a patient with so many things wrong! (LOL)

I don't know what to do. I know the "Gate keepers" (office ladies) won't let me in without money to pay. I understand that they need money, but I am working ACTIVELY with the MAIN business office. They won't let me even TALK to the Dr. So there is NO way around them.

I DO want very, very MUCH to continue to go to THIS Doc. I told him, he is the ONLY Doc I've had other than my Psychologist who knows anything about these conditions and wants to work with me. She (Psychologist) even gave me some paperwork to take to the Doc on some of the conditions and new studies on Fibro and Central Sensitivity Syndromes which Fibro falls in the category of. (See article online here: http://linzworld.wordpress.com/2008/01/21/central- sensitivity-syndromes/ )

Please, can ANYONE help me?? Can anyone tell me HOW to get past the Gate Keepers and talk to the Doc?? Do I need to call my Lawyer who is handling all this from the accident?? I don't know what to do.

All of this has my system in such an uproar I have had a fever of 101.8 since Friday afternoon, nausea, vomiting, anxiety attacks out the hiney, my blood pressure is ....HIGH, my pulse hasn't gotten below 125 since then. I feel so....lost, empty....deflated....helpless....shall I go on?

Crying here now again. I just don't know what to do. Or how to do it.

Post edited by: PamelaG, at: 03/31/2008 12:59

Pamela {please}

I wish tons of love and hugs!

Favorite sites besides MDJunction:
http://www.invisableillness.com
& the Fibro Store at:
http://www.cafepress.com/artisticability

and an embarressment to his practice. I am sure that the other patients were wondering if she did this too them when they were not there and are questioning the ethics of this office. If you can't get through to the doctor write him a letter and mark private on the envvelope. If you do not hear back from contact the main office of his clinic.

It is just aweful that you are left feeling the way you are.... I am so sorry. You could file a lawsuit worth more than the bill that you owe and it is obvious that it has left its mark on your mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Here is a link for reporting, but I would start with calling the office and asking to talk someone higher up that the "nice" lady. Also make notes of the time of the incident, who was involved, and any witnesses that you may know by name.

Hope this helps and here is that link: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/enforcement/downloads/ complaintinwriting.pdf

Post edited by: ladycrowe, at: 03/30/2008 16:52

They don't have voice mail in that office, you are dependant on the office staff to relay messages.

That is right, they DID violate my privacy!! I didn't even think of that, I was just to embarrassed and humiliated to think further. I KNOW the people in the waiting room were uncomfortable, especially when I had to stand there and dump my purse to give them all my money. (That was the money I was going to get groceries with when I picked up my prescription. I had $4 luckily in my car to pick that up!)

There isn't anyone higher at the office other than the Docs I guess. It was the receptionist and the Office Manager who did this to me. I'm almost embarrased at the thought of going back and just SEEING those 'ladies' in there! But the Doc and his Nurse, the Exray man, the Blood and testing people, they are just FANTASTIC!!

Thank you so much for your replies. This gives me something to think on. I've been working on a letter to the Doc, but wondering HOW to get it past the office ladies TO the Docs hands.....that's the problem.

Pamela {please}

I wish tons of love and hugs!

Favorite sites besides MDJunction:
http://www.invisableillness.com
& the Fibro Store at:
http://www.cafepress.com/artisticability

I looked for his home phone number, but it must be unlisted. I will write out my letter and let him know. Boy I'd like to copy this thread or give him a link to it so he could see it, and what others have to say, as well as what violations his office ladies crossed the line on.

I will also contact the main business office on Monday. Thank you. And let them know. I will also get in touch with my Attorney's Office. They have been SO Adament (sp) over me continuing to find the right Doctor, and KEEPING my treatment going because if I stop my treatment, or stop trying to get to the bottom of all this, it will leave me open to attack from the lady who hit us where they could claim they aren't liable for all the appts because I didn't continue 'regular' treatment.

Thank you all! Does anyone mind if I quote you when talking to my Attorney and the Business Office? (I won't give your name...course, I don't know your actual names...lol)

Pamela {please}

I wish tons of love and hugs!

Favorite sites besides MDJunction:
http://www.invisableillness.com
& the Fibro Store at:
http://www.cafepress.com/artisticability

Make sure when you call the main office and your lawyer you tell them you want to file a HIPAA violation complaint. If I were you, I would not back down on this! Hang in there lady!