Bill Thurs. Oct. 3: Update on our complaint re failed transfer

Bill had a pretty normal day. This post will deal with more administrative matters, but I know loyal readers were very (very) upset with a prior event, so here's an update.

More than two months have passed since the Great Failed Transfer to a "specialty hospital."

And it was about a month ago when we got a billing from said hospital for $250 co-pay on Bill's "care." Ayn asked me to write a letter, based on information in my complaint to the state regulators, and state that we didn't believe any billing was warranted.

Last week Ayn received a voice mail from "Claudia," who said she was new to the hospital as the Director of Compliance and Risk. We ignored it. She left another message this week, so I called her back today.  It was a very interesting conversation, and she took the time to make sure she understood all of our concerns and the background of Bill's situation. In my complaint, I emphasized the issues around medical care because the other issues (how we, the family, were treated) aren't really "billable" issues. But Claudia expressed her most vocal concern with Ayn being kicked out at 2:00 in the morning: "Well, that's just not right at all."

In the end, she asked me to express to Ayn her most sincere apologies, and to convey "My job is to fix this."  I restated that our goal is to keep other families from going through what we experienced. claudia said many changes had taken place since the end of July and early August, and she was part of that change.

Claudia said our request to waive the insurance copay would have to be addressed to the insurance company. I said I didn't understand her answer well enough to carry it back to Ayn, because the billing was from the specialty hospital. She checked on it, and called me back later, saying "I have asked the billing office to remove that charge, and I have cleared it with the fiscal office here. I don't know how long it will take to process, so you might see the computer generate another bill, but be assured you don't have to worry about it." I thanked her for her efforts.