Kathy Olmos

Review of Shands at UF

BUYER BEWARE when accessing medical care at Shands...

BUYER BEWARE when accessing medical care at Shands Orthopedic Institute. Although the individual employees exhibit proficiency and kindness, Shands billing and coding practices are disingenuous, at best, and downright deceitful at worst. Receiving the copay bills three months after completing surgery and physical therapy, was a shock.
Many of my copay bills were 3 times my usual insurance adjusted amounts due to Shands billing the "Institute" as a "hospital". Another set of copay bills included seeing several "specialists" within one doctor visit, without indication that being shuffled among individuals constituted separate billings, especially since it mostly regarded signing paperwork for future services.
Calling the billing department simply resulted in being told, (Shands providers) "have no responsibility to inform the patient about how services would be billed or coded. It is the responsibility of the patient to ask question before accepting services."
My recommendation is to take a billing and coding course prior to accessing care, so you can ask the "correct questions" before accepting their course of care. Or better yet, choose a more trustworthy care provider.