Apria Healthcare

Revdex.comBaltimore, MDAttn: [redacted]Dispute Resolution & Trade Practices[redacted]Re: Apria Healthcare Inc: [redacted]Revdex.com Complaint ID#: [redacted]Dear Ms. [redacted]:This letter is in response to the complaint referenced above submitted by [redacted]to the...

Revdex.com. We apologize for any miscommunication on our part that mayhave resulted in this complaint. Below is a brief description of the complaint matter and ourresponse.Item# 1 -Mrs. [redacted] was told she needed a new sleep study to be compliant. During andafter the many calls to Apria trying to clear the billing issues with [redacted] Mrs. [redacted] hadspent several hours if not days to resolve these issues. She even contacted [redacted] directly for aresolution. A download was sent into Apria to process an order for PAP supplies and thesedocuments were to be sent into [redacted] and supplemental insurance. After this a decision was tobe made within 24-48 hours. Lack of coordination and ineptness is unconscionable.RESPONSE - Mrs. [redacted] has admitted she has been doing a lot of travel and not using theCP AP as directed therefore [redacted] would not continue to cover her for the CP AP supplies sheneeds. Mrs. [redacted] was informed a new sleep study will be required and sufficient use of herCP AP going forward to continue for [redacted] to pay for her supplies. Apria did ship her PAPsupplies as of03/3l/2015 as a courtesy. Once Mrs. [redacted] completes a new sleep study andcontinues use of her CPAP [redacted] will continue to pay.Sincerely,[redacted]Customer Service SupervisorApria Healthcare

We have reviewed the patients account determined that we will make one more attempt to obtain payment from his primary insurance of [redacted]. An order was placed with Apria for supplies related to patient owned equipment in August 2015 from [redacted], via an [redacted]. In this case the [redacted] received...

was dated after the patient’s insurance termination date with [redacted]. Because of this [redacted] denied claims Apria submitted. Because the patient states he placed his order with [redacted] prior to his coverage term date as a courtesy we have sent an appeal dated 12/22/15 to [redacted]. This means for the patient, the balances which were previously being billed have at this time been removed from his responsibility. Unfortunately, if [redacted] continues to deny the claims, ultimately the patient will be responsible to make payment to Apria Healthcare for the denied charges. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.

We have reviewed patient account and confirmed that patient returned her oxygen equipment on May 13th, 2016.  We submitted claims to UHC MEDICARE ADVTG PPO for dates of service October 30th, 2015-April 30th, 2016 for the monthly rental of her oxygen equipment before the equipment was returned....

The insurance has paid their portion of 80% on each invoice leaving patient responsible for a 20% copay and at this time patient account reflects an open balance of $296.28. Our management team is aware of the excessive hold times and are implementing changes to improve our phone service.
We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.
 
Sincerely,
 
Apria Healthcare LLC

Item # 1:Mr. [redacted] states that he received a printout of his account which was not clear to him what it meant pertaining to the previous invoices on his account. Mr. [redacted] also stated that he has received notices from our outsourced collection agency as well as statements from Apria Healthcare that reflect conflicting amounts.In regards to the insurance claims that were being reprocessed, Mr. [redacted] stated that the issue with[redacted] has been resolved. He was informed by his insurance company to allow 30 days for the claims from July 2014 through December 2014 to be processed and paid. RESPONSE:After reviewing Mr. [redacted]’s account, the printout that he received from Apria Healthcare was an itemized statement which details the billing on his account which is generated from our system. We have since received a payment from [redacted] on February 19, 2014 which was applied toward invoices for dates of service July 8, 2014 and August 8, 2014 that were pending in collections. Mr. [redacted]’s Apria Healthcare statement did generate on February 2, 2015 which reflected an open balance of $90.15 which was forwarded to our out-sourced collection agency State Collections on January25, 2014. In regards to the balance that is currently in collections, we have placed a 30 day hold on the account to allow time for Mr. [redacted]’s insurance company to reprocess the claims pending and submit payment for the remaining claims. We do apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing. Sincerely,[redacted]Patient Pay Management Center Team Lead

We have confirmed that the patient received cpap supplies for dates October 9, 2015 and October 12, 2015 in which the insurance applied their annual deductible and didn’t pay on the claims. The explanation of benefits reflected the patient owed $57.62 for October 12, 2015 and $122.00 for October...

09, 2015. The patient was refunded $52.69 for over payment on the account. The patient received a billing statement with a balance of $44.38 from October 9, 2016 date in which the insurance confirmed that amount was not included as part of the deductible. The balance of $44.38 has been placed back under insurance to be resubmitted and the patient has no balance due. The account has been corrected and the patient has been sent a letter of apology as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.   Sincerely, Apria Healthcare LLC

We have reviewed the patients account and confirmed that patient was never Medicare qualified. The patient was non-compliant therefore; the claims were not covered under Medicare due to not having qualifying documentation on file. This left the patient responsible for the charges for the equipment....

The invoices sent to collections were valid charges due to non-payment. The invoices in collections were paid by the patient’s daughter in the amount of $1815.93 and the collections agency was notified that the balances were paid in full to Apria. The daughter requested the initial pickup of the durable medical equipment on September 28, 2015, and therefore; an adjustment was entered for date of service October 10, 2015. She requested pickup and was informed we require a discontinuation from the doctor to pick up the equipment and the patient signed our Against Medical Advice form for the pickup to be processed. Our delivery driver attempted the pickup of the equipment several times but was unable to reach the patient. We tagged the patients door. The pickup was rescheduled and the process was completed on October 28, 2015. At this time the account reflects a zero balance. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.     Sincerely,  Apria Healthcare, LLC

December 3, 2014Revdex.comAttn: [redacted]Director of OperationsSt. Louis, MORe: Apria Healthcare Inc: [redacted]Revdex.com Complaint Case Number: [redacted]Apria Patient ID#: [redacted]Dear Ms. [redacted]:This letter is in response to the complaint referenced above submitted by [redacted]...

[redacted], to the Better BusinessBureau. We apologize for any miscommuaication on our part that inay have resulted in this complaint. Below is a briefdescription of the complaint matter and our response.Item#lMr. [redacted] states that he was required to provide his credit card when he received his equipment and Apria charged hiscredit card and sent him to collections without billing his insurance. He states that he could have purchased the samemachine online, for less than half the price and thinks that Apria should refund him part or all of his paymentRESPONSEWe have researched Mr. [redacted]'s account and found that he received a BIPAP unit and supplies on May 12,2014. Apria verified that Mr. [redacted] had 80/20 insurance coverage with [redacted], which Apriasubmitted claims to on Mr. [redacted]'s behalf [redacted]'s contract for a BIPAP unit states that it willrent for 3 months then convert to sell at the remaining purchase price on the 4th month. When Mr. [redacted]'s received the BIPAP unit and supplies on May 12,2014, he signed the Sales, Service andRental Agreement and provided his credit card for copay, deductible or out of pocket cost not covered by[redacted] Health.Apria sent Mr. [redacted]'s a statemetit on May 17th for the 20% copay for the BIPAP unit and supplies received onMay 12th in the amount of $124.70. Mr. [redacted] called and paid $91.64 by visa on June 12th. Mr. [redacted] calledon July 26th to dispute the open balance and the Apria representative explained the open balance and themonthly 20% copay for the BIPAP unit.Mr. [redacted] ordered supplies on August 20, 2014 and Apria quoted him the 20% copay amount and Mr. [redacted]updated his credit card on file. Mr. [redacted]'s credit card was Charged for the copay and deductible amountapplied by [redacted] Health. ·On October 20,2014, Apria converted the BIPAP to sale with a retro date of August 12, 2014 and charged Mr.[redacted]'s credit card on file the 20% copay amount of$263.55. [redacted] Health paid $827.77 for the BIPAPconvert to sale and $214.05 towards Mr. [redacted]'s yearly deductible and $275.92 towards his copay. Apriacharged the additional amount due of$226.42 on November 12, 2014.After the amount of$23.14 was unpaid for 180 days it was referred to collections. As of November 21,2014the amount of$23.14 was paid by Mr. [redacted].As of today Mr. [redacted] has a $0.00 balance with no pending invoices. We have mailed him a spreadsheet forhis records showing all of the charges and payments since May 12, 2014. Apria has found no over payment onMr. [redacted]'s account and the online prices are set at price that does not provide the needed customer servicefor the set up of the equipment or setting changes if needed, nor does the online price submit claims to thepatients insurance on their behalf.We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accuratebilling.Sincerely,[redacted]Billiling Center Quality Specialist

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Dear [redacted], Apria response is a standard blurb and unacceptable. I waited over 36 minutes for customer service and I've tried returning their phone calls on several occasions to no avail. During the complaint contact, when I finally got someone, there was a two week waiting period for oxygen machine service. I've call them numerous times over the years. I have a life and cannot wait forever for them to answer their phones. Perhaps I should start responding to them via signature required certified mail to set an appointment? At least that way, I know that they got my message and I don't have to be late to appointments waiting for them to answer calls. 37 minutes! That's just one of the times I've phone them. How would they possibly know I have an emergency if they cannot answer the phone promptly? I waited almost 6 hours for the technician to come to my home. They need to hire more people to adequately service customers who need to breathe and cannot change from Apria due to health insurance restrictions. The phone static is torturous not neutral. Their own employees admit it's terrible; call them and ask!  I invite you to phone them, wait for 36 minutes and listen for yourself and then ask the rep who answers about the static music. You can also go to Yelp and their [redacted] page to find other complaints by different people. Unless Apria removed the complaint I left on their page; I had a [redacted] conversation with another Apria customer about the poor service.  As far as I'm concerned Apria is a big company taking advantage of their customers and doing an excellent job of giving poor service. They don't and haven't done squat for me. I can't even scheduled my oxygen machine to be cleaned for dust and allergens for another 5 years. Really! I hope Apria's CEO, who is a fine example of greed and poor leadership, needs to breathe air from his own tubes and also has to wait for his own short staffed customer service representatives to answer his call like the rest of us poor saps do. He deserves to know just how poorly his leadership is. Stockholders don't have enough money so they cut back on staff, or don't hire sufficient staff,  making it difficult for their customers who need to breathe! You have got to be kidding me! Even their own tech told me everyone he saw, the day he came to my home, complained about the service. I hope you can reopen this case because as far as I'm concerned they continue to provide subpar service and this is not resolved.Resolution for me would be Apria hiring more staff to adequately provide excellent service to people who need to breathe. This means hiring not only in the customer service area but also in the technical area which services concentrators in customer homes. A two week wait for concentrator maintenance is ridiculous and a 6 hour window to wait for their arrival even more so. I've had my concentrator for probably close to a decade and cannot remember the last time Apria cleaned it for dust and allergens. They tell me I have to wait for 5 more years! Are you kidding me! This should be done annually. A satisfactory resolution would be do give customers, who cannot move to Apria's competitors due to insurance restrictions, prompt and excellent care and that means hiring more staff and fixing their horrible and abusive music as well. It may be neutral as they stated in their letter but it's full of static. It's a misery to listen to for half an hour. Apria is a huge company; they can afford it. They need to stop abusing customers held hostage because they can't switch to Apria's competitors due to their insurance coverage restrictions.
Regards,
[redacted]

ITEM # 1:  Mrs. [redacted] is requesting that Apria correct the billing system and hire more staff to handle the phone and email inquiries. 
  
RESPONSE: We spoke with Ms. [redacted] regarding Mr. [redacted]’s account on November 20, 2014. We went over the delay in the payments...

posting causing the next statement to show previous balance due. We discussed moving the statement date to the 16th of each month to allow the payment made on the first of each month more time to post to assist in resolving the issue.
We discussed our hold times and Apria’s plan to make improvements on these issues. Ms. [redacted] has a direct Apria representative’s phone number if she has any issues with Mr. [redacted]’s account. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Billing Center Quality Specialist

We have reviewed the account and confirmed that the patient is billed $21.32 per month. The patient had auto pay set to run each month for $21.32, however November 25, 2017 payment didn’t post until January 31, 2018. When the statement generated on January 15, 2018 it reflected a balance of $42.64...

for both November and December 2017 service dates. The payment of $42.64 made applied $21.32 to December 25, 2017 and January 25, 2018 as the new date had generated. The patient will not receive a statement for February 15, 2018 because January 25, 2018 date has been paid. There is no refund due at this time, all payments have applied to open service dates. We believe all appropriate steps have been taken to resolve this matter.   Sincerely,  Apria Healthcare, LLC

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for taking the time to convey your concerns to us and to apologize for any miscommunication on our part that may have resulted in your concern.   After another review of the patient’s records, we confirmed our distribution center did not have a specific part of the [redacted] medical equipment in stock. An order was then placed with the manufacturer for the specific part that was requested by the prescribing physician. The hospital representative was contacted to confirm the [redacted] medical equipment was still needed. The hospital representative informed the Apria representative the DME equipment was no longer needed as another provider was found. In addition, we confirmed the Apria representative attempted to contact you to discuss the circumstances of the order, a voice message was left requesting a return call.   Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or challenges this issued has caused. WE greatly appreciate you for taking the time to bring your concerns to our attention.   Sincerely, Apria Healthcare LLC

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Hi,In reference to claim [redacted], no refund has been processed. I did agree to accept the resolution, but this was on the basis that I would receive a refund.Many thanks,[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.Is it rental equipment?  I was told that this machine was paid for and that I was being billed a quarterly maintenance fee when I was on my last insurance.  I had a customer service representative at apria tell me that the insurance required that I pay this maintenance fee.  ($24 per quarter, approx.)  but that the machine was paid in full.  I then changed insurance this year and suddenly I'm being charged full payments for the same machine again?  It's so hard to tell because your billing system gives no detail at all.  This machine has been paid for 3 times over.  Reps have told me it was a purchase, not a rental.  I can't get a consistent response from Apria customer service.  Your outfit is shady, at best.  What am I paying for, and at what frequency, for this machine?  Please tell me in no uncertain terms, so I know what to expect, and what exactly I am paying for.
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Regards,
[redacted]
No one has came to my house to check my equipment...there is none to be picked up, so they must be responding to a different person......yes, someone is to come tomorrow to check my oxygen concentrater......'they are totally confused...no one returned my calls about missed appointments or no voice mails left for me....we will see if they show up tomorrow on Aug 18th.Thanks for your help, [redacted]

We have confirmed that the patient received a cpap machine July 11, 2017. Apria Healthcare billed United Healthcare July 11, 2017 and August 11, 2017 for supplies and rental of the cpap in which a nine-month rental was required before purchase under his insurance. We were informed September 11,...

2017 by United Healthcare that the patient’s policy termed on August 31, 2017. The account was billed under a self-pay purchase September 21, 2017 due to not having any insurance information to bill. He called September 25, 2017 in regards to the charge made on his account and updated his insurance at that time. The patient signed a sales agreement with his credit/debit card information agreeing to automatic billing. The cpap has been converted to ownership and we would not be able to bill his insurance; however, we have mailed an itemized invoice so he can submit it for possible reimbursement from his insurance or he may return the machine to receive a refund. We do apologize for the inconvenience as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.     Sincerely,  Apria Healthcare, LLC

We have confirmed that the patient received cpap supplies on April 17, 2015. These supplies included cpap mask, headgear, reusable filter, disposable filter, humidifier chamber, tubing, and mask cushion with clip. The total cost for supplies were $214.80, patient's  copay was $21.48. The...

insurance processed the claim and sent back $193.32 as patient’s deductible. The patient’s credit card was on file and charged this amount May 02, 2015. The charge of $193.32 was disputed with his credit card company and reversed, causing the billing statement to show misapplied payment. The payment was charged again July 25, 2015 and reversed again September 8, 2015. The statements received is for services provided and reflect the payment reversals done. The patient is responsible for the balance of $193.32. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.

Apria strives to meet all customer needs and requirements, in most cases we are able to provide a timely resolution which is agreeable by both Apria Healthcare and the customer.  Due to the strict guidelines we are required to adhere to in order to meet insurance qualification standards and...

regulations your order did require follow up time to obtain the necessary documentation and approvals.  Apria was able to obtain the necessary documentation and approvals required by the insurance on behalf of the customer, however, due to outstanding unpaid balances on the customer’s existing account we were unable to proceed with the additional service request until the account was resolved.  The customer declined the options provided in order to resolve their outstanding financial responsibility.  Unfortunately, due to the unresolved outstanding balance on the customer’s account we have been unable come to a mutual agreement which would allow us to move forward with providing further services. Please call 888 492-7742 if you would like to proceed with the order. We do apologize for this inconvenience.

We have reviewed patient account and confirmed that all the equipment has been returned; therefore we have adjusted the open balance and patient is no longer responsible for the charges. Patient will no longer be billed for services and account now reflects a zero balance. We do apologize for the...

miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.

We have again reviewed the patients account and confirmed that the Billing Department has received approval from management to return the durable medical equipment for a full refund. Patient has also been provided this information. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.     Sincerely, Apria Healthcare, LLC

We have reviewed the patients account and confirmed he had BCBS as his insurance plan and under the plan agreement with the insurance his CPAP unit was to rent for 10 months and continue to bill until length of need and not convert to a purchase. The insurance BCBS termed on December 31, 2016 and...

because while under the plan the insurance did not purchase the equipment and it continued to bill as a monthly rental.  The account has been placed to bill under self-pay as we have not received the patients updated insurance information to bill for services. If the patient provides his updated insurance information we can bill them for the monthly rental and bill according to their payor agreement. At this time, your account reflects an open balance of $535.00 for the monthly rental of his CPAP unit for dates of services May 9, 2017 through September 9, 2017 and a collection balance of $85.96 for the CPAP unit. The patient can contact our billing department at 1.866.505.6365 for payment options for the open account balance and State Collections Services 1.866.372.7141 regarding the outstanding collection balance. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.   Sincerely,Apria Healthcare, LLC