We did not realize that Cook Children's was outsou...

We did not realize that Cook Children's was outsourcing its MRI radiology service to RANT. So when we received a separate bill from them, we were confused. It was not helped by the fact that RANT refused to speak to me about the bill, since the patient was 18. He had signed paperwork at Cook giving us parents the right to question and pay the bills, so if the contract we signed with Cook allowed RANT to bill us, why not tell us what the bill was for? Thus began an 18 month saga of billing incompetence, dishonesty, extortion, and finally only admitting wrongdoing after we involved the BBB. They incorrectly billed one of the MRI reports, so one was paid by BCBS and one wasn't. Rather than investigate, they just billed us the whole amount. I had to speak to BCBS then request that RANT resubmit. We continued to get a bill from them though, for a lesser amount but still more than our portion should have been. They could offer no reasonable explanation. Then they turned my son over to collections. We were forced to pay the bill in order to try to rescue his credit, but then involved the BBB. Only then would RANT investigate and admit that they had had a dispute with BCBS and were no longer in network. So they were billing us the out of network cost, even though the procedure had been done while in network (and the other report was covered at 80%). Their prolonged billing incompetence had dragged us into their BCBS dispute and they would not adjust our bill according to when the procedure was done. After BBB involvement they promised to refund our payment and recall from collections, however we have received no written confirmation of these things.

This is shoddy business practice. I do not think Cook Children's should use a service without fully disclosing to patients when procedures are scheduled that they will have to deal with outside billing and providers who are not Cook employees. They certainly should not use a service that treats patients and families in this manner. I hope everyone having a procedure at a major medical facility will ask in advance if any of the service will be contracted out, and to whom. Research that provider as well, with online reviews and the BBB. Radiology Associates of North Texas does not meet the standards of Cook Children's and should not be associated with them. We have no way of knowing if my son's MRIs were even read, or if they were done correctly. We can have no confidence in this organization, which reflects badly on Cook as well.