Entities with terrible accounting processes

[Ted Murphy]

Last Year:

I paid their bill. Check cleared, they said it did not. I fought like heck with their bookkeepers to prove that the check cleared.

This year:

I paid their bill (once) They swear I paid them twice. They fought like heck to prove I paid twice, even though I can account for all four our checks. They are stubborn and sending me a refund anyway.

Three months from now they will get their head out of their rear and I will get dunned by them demanding the payment back.

They did not appreciate my suggestions on how to improve their general ledger.

Ted

[Miranda]

good hate.

your assesment is what I expect will happen.

And, that still leaves a lot of questions hanging

well maybe next year they will go for the change up and say you paid half...

miranda

[Ted Murphy]

Oops. Turns out I misunderstood what they were saying this time and they were right.

I don't feel bad, they were real jerks last year when they lost my check so I feel the aggravation I caused balanced the karma there.

[Round_Gun_Shooter]

What I hate is dealing with accounting at a local hospital. They aggressively bill customers/patients and once paid when they get reimbursed by insurance, they run a credit balance for you until you insist they refund. I try to drive an extra 50 miles if I need a hospital to avoid them

[Nik Habicht]

What I hate is dealing with accounting at a local hospital. They aggressively bill customers/patients and once paid when they get reimbursed by insurance, they run a credit balance for you until you insist they refund. I try to drive an extra 50 miles if I need a hospital to avoid them

I would not pay a hospital bill until after the insurance company has paid. Copays at the doc's office are one thing; hospital bills -- uh, uh! Not happening -- I know my insurance provider will negotiate that initial bill down. If there's a delay in payment from the insurance company, set up a "small" payment plan to protect your credit, and to avoid having the account sent to collection....

[Round_Gun_Shooter]

What I hate is dealing with accounting at a local hospital. They aggressively bill customers/patients and once paid when they get reimbursed by insurance, they run a credit balance for you until you insist they refund. I try to drive an extra 50 miles if I need a hospital to avoid them

I would not pay a hospital bill until after the insurance company has paid. Copays at the doc's office are one thing; hospital bills -- uh, uh! Not happening -- I know my insurance provider will negotiate that initial bill down. If there's a delay in payment from the insurance company, set up a "small" payment plan to protect your credit, and to avoid having the account sent to collection....

Great in theory but this particular hosp is feuding with BC/BS and refuses to bill them. I had to. The communication is sub par and they make it very difficult to solve problems. They bill threaten collections very quickly. Solved the problem with a rather nasty letter and threat to file a consumer protection complaint but still hate the accounting practices of the group.

I pay $1500 a month for insurance and still get raked over the coals when I try use it. The only groups that win in health care these days is the insurance companies.

[stonedudley]

Same!

[Paul B]

Hospitals truly are the worst in terms of billing/accounting practices. The hospital we have to deal with does give good care and has talented staff, but then the ball gets totally dropped in billing. We have received bills for service 11 months after the service was performed - then immediately rejected by the insurance company because they were so late. This resulted in a complaint to the state attorney general which eventually sorted out the problem. Like Nik I simply will not pay till I know the insurance company has paid.

Another time they billed the insurance company over $7,000 for a stress test for my wife. I was shocked by this because the insurance company paid their discounted amount around $2,000 but the hospital then wanted me to pay the full deductible on my crappy health plan (no I do not want a crappy health plan but when you get to a certain age the choice becomes limited). This went to the attorney general also, but the hospital snowed them with a long letter and lots of billing jargon which the attorney general's office was actually afraid to dispute. I guess that is what HSA's are for.