I saw a sleep doctor 4 times. I paid the copay at each visit. I also paid the copays for sleep studies at the time of service. I am receiving texts that bills are due with a link to a payment portal. There is no bill there. I called the office and asked for a copy of the bill because I thought I had paid everything. The office said there is a $15 fee. Is this the new normal? I do not like paying for items when I do not know what it is for.
I would ask for an email with the bill or a link to the bill.
Just sit back and see if they send another bill. Please send a copy of that text to your e-mail and then send a copy to your doctor to ask if it's a scam or real. Please change to paperless bills so that you would know, immediately, that the payment portal in the text was fake.
P.S. Don't click on links sent to you on your phone unless you can see your provider's name in the link.
I'd tell the doctor's office that you charge a $25 fee per login to use portals, and only respond to mailed information.
I have billed doctors for wasting my time sitting in their waiting rooms past my appointment time, so feel free to turn the tables on them with this nonsense about charging for a bill. I guarantee you the doctor himself has no knowledge of this policy, and he has an overzealous office manager.
"While federal regulations do not explicitly state that it is illegal to charge for paper statements, NCLC argues that “financial institutions should not, and legally cannot, charge a fee for providing something they are mandated by law to provide.”Jan 15, 2019"
Did you ask if your acct showed a balance? If it does and the portal is not working correctly, you should not be charged and I would argue that.
I would say your doctor has set up a portal for all his patients. Me, I rarely take advantage of these. I also think there are older patients, like my husband, who are computer illiterate. These people need a statement. Just like statements, once a month the system probably sends out these "virtual statements" When u opened up your portal there was no statement because you owed nothing. Your Health insurance should be sending you a summary of anything they have paid for unless its Medicaid.
Medicare sends a summary, they pay and send the balance onto the supplimental. The supplimental pays their share and sends you a summary showing the balance paid or what you owe the provider.
If a Medicare Advantage or regular insurance, you should get a summary. The summary is your proof you have paid. You can always call your insurance company and ask if they show any balances due to that provider. They can email ot text you a summary. If a balance is owed thats what you pay the provider. They have to except what the insurance pays and what the insurance says u owe, if they except that insurance.
Is this portal thing new? If so, call the office and tell them you do not want to go paperless. I don't think they can make you. It seems a default thing now that you need to call to say I want a paper statement. My bank did it the first of the year. To call the branch to revert me would be a pain. I get a reminder my statement is ready and I print it. But I use online banking for transfers to my nephews accts. You may want to see if you "STOP" the text does this mean then a statement will automatically be sent me? You should be given a way to stop receiving the text.
You really did well by providing the direct language and by taking the time to research the issue. Very helpful for all who read this.
Thank you!
Some years ago an ACO contacted my father post hospital discharge. I demanded more information from this outfit, including how it obtained my father's hospital records, whether it was nonprofit or a for profit company, what information was gathered and how it was used, and more.
The outfit was a for profit corporation, hired by the hospital to do "follow-up" work such as asking if Dad had taken his meds that day, how he was feeling, and more.
I told them we weren't interested, remove his name, DON'T SELL HIS INFORMATION, and don't pester him again.
I also began writing on medical history sheets which doctors use for new patients that I refused to provide information for its patient portal, and held them responsible for data breaches if they themselves added my personal information and released it to any company hosting a patient portal.
That didn't sit well with the doctor, with whom my sister. father and I had been treated well before the patient portal started data gathering. The doctor never mentioned my refusal to release data, but his attitude reflected that he obviously wasn't very interested in my current problem.
I went after another medical facility, with which I hadn't treated for at least 5 years. I received a letter from a patient portal with reminders on what vaccinations to get, and more general data that didn't apply to me. I traced the company, learned it was a patient portal "helping" the medical practice monitor and keep its patients up to date.
It clearly was a for profit corporation, and admitted it got the information to solicit me from the medical practice. And in fact, one of the doctors had signed the solicitation. So I called the practice and asked what authority they had to release information from someone who wasn't even a client any more.
Staff weren't aware of this, so I asked when the specific doctor would be in as I intended to make it clear he had no authority to release (or sell) my information. Then I gave him a few days to see if the call would be returned (it wasn't), and monitored my mail for any follow-ups; there were none. My complaints stopped the release of my data.
If you want further explore the issue of using personal medical information for profit by companies operating data silos, research "data silos", and limitations of constraints on data silos.
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