Good doctors but terrible business practices and customer service. I had an issue with a bill needing to be recoded per my insurance before they would pay. I left numerous messages about this and followed up on whether it was done. I finally received a call back, which I thought was in response to my messages...no, it was a call about my bill being sent to collections. I went ahead and paid immediately despite the business office advising me not to pay my bill yet as they did finally refer it to be examined for recoding; however, I paid to protect my credit rating.
To this day, I have had to initiate nearly all communication with the business office, and here are some of the unbelievable comments I have have heard from the various staff I have contacted:
- Your calls to us and subsequent messages don't really count (aren't documented) unless you speak to a live person (despite the option to leave a message due to extended wait times).
- Since we are a doctor-owned facility, your doctor can't pay her staff unless you pay your bill.
- Since we are a doctor-owned facility, it is now in the hands of your doctor to determine your creditworthiness and whether she wants to keep you as a patient.
- We are severely understaffed in the billing office so it could be some time before we address your problem, and this is why we often don't return calls.
When I called to make an appt. due to a health concern , here's what I was told:
"You have a credit hold on your account and we are not able to see you for your health concern until it is cleared." (Please note that despite my account being paid in full, staff I spoke to are confused about how to remove the credit hold and what the "credit review" process entails--you just get passed around with a different answer each time.)
Despite paying thousands of dollars without incident to the Polyclinic and being a patient for 10 years, I have been reduced to nothing but a financial transaction.
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