Review of St. Peter's Health Partners

3 years ago

Preying on Seniors?

Preying on Seniors?
The Seton Health services group continues to be a maze of inefficiency and chaos. On one hand, when I called to complain about double billing from them and from St Peters Health Partners, they said they weren t the same entity. But when I google Seton, I see St Peters at the bottom of the page. In any case, I continue to have problems with both. I receive a bill from Seton saying I owe money. That same day, within hours of receiving that first bill, I make payment electronically. They wait 3 full months and then send a threatening Final Notice bill for the same amount. I can t help but wonder if these constant mistakes are an attempt to get elderly folks to forget they already paid. Since I am especially organized, I am now able to find all the correspondence from the date of service - now 6 months ago - even though it takes a lot of time, and verify that I paid it. And then I need to spend a great deal more time making copies of payment verification. For one case, they repeatedly said that my faxed transmissions weren t clear enough, causing me to spend many hours re-scanning and re-sending perfectly clear copies. What will happen in a few years, when I m in my 70 s and 80 s? How often will I have to pay the same bills because I m unable to do this?
And the recent bill with the letterhead from St Peters Health Partners was another mistake. I receive a bill saying pay this amount as a copay when I know for a fact that the service is covered in full by my health coverage. I check with my insurance, who say they paid it in it entirety. I then call the billing number and they finally say - Oh, just disregard this. Great. For each of these steps I am placed on hold, listening to awful music and wasting tons of time.
I understand that mistakes can be made, but as a senior, about 90% of my contacts with any medical attention whatsoever cause me untold hours of phone time and are billed more than once. Is this the general average for people of all ages? If so, how do busy younger working parents deal with it? Or do they just keep paying the same bills over and over ..