Apria Healthcare

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.
My apologies.  I do not check email very often and have noticed the reply is closed. But if it is not to late I would like to reply. When I called Apria, all I heard from them, was I authorized auto-bill, which I did not, From there the representative kept repeating how much I owe them.  I asked for a statement and received a copy of accounts receivable. It looked like an internal document, not a statement. There wasn't much of an explanation there. It didn't match what they charged my card it didn't explain anything except what was shipped and the costs.  All that was shipped was refused by me as per Apria's instructions.  To this day I have not received a statement of account from Apria.  I never received anything in writing explaining what the charges were for, what I was credited for, what was paid or anticipated to be paid by the medical insurance.  I have received a credit on my credit card because I disputed the charges with the bank, not because Apria refunded the charge.  The communication from Apria and how they bill, needs a lot of work.
Regards,
[redacted]

We have reviewed the patients account and confirmed that upon receiving the wound care pump and supplies September 01, 2016 she was contacted regarding payment for deductible. The patient had no checks or credit cards available due to being discharged from the facility. The market vice president was contacted regarding the pump being a free trial and was not aware of it being so. The patient is responsible for balances and need to contact the medical center if she was told it was a free trial as Apria Healthcare was not apprised of that arrangement and billed for services provided base on her insurance. 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 that he received the durable medical equipment on April 25, 2016, and at the time of initial setup, he provided his credit card information. The credit card was placed on file but was not attached to automatically bill as recurring for services...

not covered by the insurance. Therefore, due to non-payment the invoices automatically rolled to collections after being outstanding for nine months. The invoices are now placed with State Collections amount $288.82 and they can be reached at 1.866.372.7141 for payment options. Once payment is made, they can provide the patient with a letter as confirmation that the information has been removed from his credit report is applicable. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.     Sincerely,  Apria Healthcare, LLC

Apria strives to provide the highest level of service to our patients. During our review of your account, we have determined the $33.73 payment for the patient’s copay did not post in Apria’s system to remove the balance until 2/18/2016 which was two days after the normal statement date. This caused...

the patient to receive a statement two days prior to payment posting, the patient has no balance due at this time.
In addition, we apologize for the misinformation provided about the warranty of your respiratory equipment. Equipment warranty information is based on the manufacturer warranty. We continue to educate our customer service staff to provide complete and accurate information regarding the products and services we provide.
Thank you for taking the time to bring your concerns to our attention. We welcome all patient feedback as this provides us with a valuable insight into our services from the patient’s perspective which allows us to make service improvements, as it has done in this case.
Sincerely,
Apria Healthcare LLC

We have reviewed the patients account and confirmed that all payments received by him have been applied to his account. The last payment that reflects being applied to his account was November 30, 2017, therefore may not reflect payments that were recently made. We reached out to the patient’s...

spouse and provided a direct contact to assist with reviewing payments made and to assist with other issues that may require assistance. We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.   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.
APRIA has not responded to my complaint regarding the 5/19/2015 statement indicating for the first time that payments from 5/10/204 through 9/04/2014 (OVER A YEAR AGO) in the amount of $128.93 were due IMMEDIATELY. I contacted APRIA to dispute the charges and to get an explanation as to why year old charges suddenly appeared on the 5/19/2015 statement for the FIRST time as past due. An explanation was never given and my account was sent to a collection agency. As a consumer I was forced to pay APRIA and received assurances from them the collection agency would not report this incident to the credit agencies. APRIA was to send me a letter documenting this which to date I have not received. APRIA would only adjust my account with full payment of the statement balance, without explanation of the year old charges, which I provided. APRIA's business practices have to be in violation of consumer protection laws when they can arbitrarily bill customers from dates as far back as years without any prior notice and deem them past due, sending them to collection agencies ruining peoples excellent credit. APRIA takes no accountability for its ABYSSAL, FRAUDULENT,  BILLING PRACTICES. This is a company that should be on every states Attorney Generals radar and investigated by the FCC.I AM REQUESTING THAT APRIA SEND ME THE RETRACTION LETTER SENT TO THE COLLECTION AGENCY THAT I WAS PROMISED AND TO REFUND ME THE MONEY THAT WAS PAID FOR 2014 CHARGES USED AS A TACTIC TO DISPARAGE MY CREDIT RATING.
Regards,
[redacted]

We would like to apologize for the level of customer service you recently experienced regarding your respiratory equipment. After a review of your records, we confirmed that we no longer carry parts from the manufacturer for this respiratory device. According to the insurance provider’s guidelines...

monitoring the client usage of the equipment is typically for the first 90 days. In addition, a new modem was shipped via [redacted] to the address on record. Also, we confirmed that your respiratory equipment was in working order, the problem was with the external modem only.   Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and/or challenges this issue has caused. We greatly appreciate you for taking the time to bring your concerns to our attention. We welcome all patient feedback as this provides us with a valuable insight into our services from the patient’s perspective which allows us to make service improvements, as it has done in this case.   Sincerely,   Apria Healthcare, LLC.

We have reviewed patient account and confirmed that claims for dates of service April 28, 2016 through July 28, 2016 for the monthly rental of her oxygen concentrator have been submitted to her insurance and currently pending payment from them. Patient insurance plan Medica covers claims at 70%...

leaving patient responsible for a 30% copay and at this time patient account reflects an outstanding copay balance of $187.20($46.80 per month) for those dates of service.
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 confirmed that the contractual pricing was corrected. The patient received a 90 day supply order for his cpap machine. The patient was sent 2 cpap foams and seals November 5, 2015 and February 09, 2016, which didn’t complete a 90 day order. Due to not receiving a full 90 day order the...

patient is only eligible for 1 per 30 days and the insurance denied the second one. The patient was billed an additional $42.83 for each month for a total of $85.66. This amount has been adjusted from the patient’s balance. 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 confirmed that the patient has been billed for service dates August 28, 2015 and December 7, 2015 for cpap supplies. The patient’s insurance denied the claims due to authorization was not obtained.  Per directive it is our policy to bill the patient for this denial, however the contract...

with the insurance is in review and Apria Healthcare has requested a review of her account as well to see if an adjustment can be made. Upon review the patient will be notified by Apria Healthcare. The patient isn’t set for auto shipping of supplies, a form must be filled out in order to receive supplies automatically and she requested this form April 12, 2016 previous orders have been made by phone. The patient called January 11, 2016 to place an order for new style of mask and was informed that she was not eligible at that time. Unfortunately we can’t give the patient a direct number to a customer service representative due to being a call center and calls are answered in order received. We do apologize if this is an inconvenience.
 
Sincerely,
 
Apria Healthcare LLC

Item # 1:  Ms. [redacted] states that she began using the CPAP Unit in October 2013 and was initially told that a 3 month monitoring period was required & would be billed to the insurance during that timeframe. Ms. [redacted] was also informed that after the 3 month timeframe, she would have the...

option to purchase the CPAP Unit. Ms. [redacted] stated that the three month of compliance testing was completed & then she was informed that she would need an additional three months for compliance monitoring. During the additional three months, Ms. [redacted]’s insurance coverage changed as well. Ms. [redacted] states that she has requested an itemized statement of the account. Ms. [redacted] mentioned that she made an agreement over the telephone to pay $50.00 per month while waiting for the requested information.  RESPONSE: Ms. [redacted] received the CPAP Unit on November 11, 2013 while she was covered under [redacted] insurance which we billed through [redacted]. In regards to the compliance timeframe, as of February 27, 2014 we were notified that the authorization was extended for an additional three months of compliance and not purchase the equipment therefore we were not able to convert the equipment to sale at that time. Due to contractual agreements in regards to compliance monitoring, we must have purchase authorization from the insurance company to bill for the remaining purchase price. Per the account Ms. [redacted] contacted Apria on June 3, 2014 to inform Apria Healthcare of her new insurance coverage, [redacted] that became effective on March 1, 2014 which was verified and added to Ms. [redacted]’s account. Per the contract with [redacted] of Kansas, they only purchase the CPAP Unit’s and do not require rental period prior to purchase.  In regards to the amount of $656.57 that is currently in collections for the June 1, 2014 date of service for the purchase of the CPAP Unit under [redacted]. We submitted the claim to the insurance company on June 18, 2014 and received a response from [redacted] on July 23, 2014 stating that the amount of $565.26 was being applied to Ms. [redacted]’s annual deductible with [redacted]. The account in collections was placed on a 30 day hold as of March 11, 2015 pending further review of Ms. [redacted]’s account. Per our records an itemized statement was mailed out to Ms. [redacted] as well.  A payment of $141.31 was made by the patient for coinsurance for the purchase of the CPAP Unit & then an additional amount of $75.00 was paid on two separate occasions. Apria Healthcare did process a payment in the amount of $490.26 to Ms. [redacted]’s credit card which was later refunded to Ms. [redacted] being that the payment was not authorized by Ms. [redacted].  In addition to the refund that was sent to the Ms. [redacted], the credit card company recouped an additional amount of $316.31 on January 21, 2015, which actually only leaves an amount of $50.00 that was paid toward the purchase invoice from June 2014 for the purchase of the CPAP Unit.    We do apologize for the miscommunication as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.    Sincerely,   [redacted]Patient Pay Management Center Lead

We have reviewed patient account and confirmed that she received the noninvasive ventilator machine (BIPAP) on August 30th, 2016. Our BIPAP department spoke with patient’s daughter on September 1st, 2016
and stated patient was unable to use the unit because her sats kept dropping too low and...

requested a new machine and our customer service team requested that patient be contacted by our respiratory therapist. Patient was approved for a 100% waiver from August 30, 2016 through February 30, 2016 pending the return of signed financial assistance form which was due back by September 13th, 2016.  We received the
signed financial assistance form information on August 31st, 2016, however, the file was damaged and could not be opened to be reviewed therefore, we mailed another form to patient on September 23, 2016 in order for the financial assistance approval process to be completed. The patient's equipment was picked up on September 27, 2016. At this time, the patient's account reflects an open balance of $211.05 for date of service August 30th, 2016 for the rental of the noninvasive ventilator machine (BIPAP).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 patient account and confirmed that patient was billed in error for the charge of $53.12; therefore our billing team has entered an adjustment for the outstanding balance and patient is no longer responsible for the charge. At this time patient account reflects a zero balance as the...

account is paid in full. 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 confirmed that a credit card is required when there is a cost of goods associated with Apria’s rental equipment and must secure assets. Apria Healthcare require verbal or written consent in order to charge credit cards. If a patient does not have a credit card we do make allowances in which a friend or family member may put their card on file and can choose not to have the card billed for reoccurring fees. We realize this may be an inconvenience for some, however that is our policy at this time.
Sincerely,
Apria Healthcare LLC

The patient received a cpap machine and supplies February 9, 2016. He initially paid $603.27 for the set up as it was verified, his deductible wasn’t met. The incorrect payor was billed causing the claims to be paid in error by the insurance and patient. The payments were reversed to bill the...

insurance correctly causing the patient to receive a bill, in which the patient’s payments were reapplied and insurance refunded after the claims were resubmitted and processed towards the patient’s deductible. The monthly cost was $77.65 with the patient billed $14.88 as copayment and the remaining amount as deductible. His machine billed for ten months, with November 9, 2016 being the last time the equipment billed, however he still have a balance of $182.23 due to his payments being reversed for credit card dispute he filed and one final claim is still pending insurance from June 9, 2016 for $62.12. Apria Healthcare will work with the patient on balances incurred as we have several payment options. The patient may notify the billing department in regards to these options and settling the account. We do apologize for any inconvenience as our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction as well as accurate billing.   Sincerely,  Apria Healthcare, LLC.

After a review of the payment information provided, we were able to track down the payments that did not automatically post to the patient’s account. The payments have been applied to the account.  A billing specialist contacted the patients spouse and assisted them with their account.  Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or challenges this issue may have caused. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to bring you concerns to our attention. Coaching and reeducation has been provided to the staff to ensure payments are posted accurately and timely.    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.
Refund has not been received.
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. Thank you very much for your help!
[redacted]

Desired Settlement: To never hear back from their company again. The calls must stop!    RESPONSE: Mr. [redacted] has been removed from any further automated calls or contact from Apria Healthcare per the request. Any system that would prompt these automated calls have...

been disabled on his account.  Sincerely,[redacted]Customer Service SupervisorApria Healthcare

ITEM # 1:  Customer service issues regarding contacting the local branch.  RESPONSE Apria’s Desired Settlement:Contacted customer and reviewed – Apria’s Customer Call Center on 12/8/14Unable to contact branch directly – Apria has centralized customer service.  Branches no longer staff...

for customer service issues – Apria’s Centralized Customer Call Center phone number is ###-###-####Customer had issues ordering new pap supplies for her machine – Apria has a dedicated department for ordering pap supplies  - Direct Phone line ###-###-#### Track and schedule needs of customer’s resupply orders – Patient was enrolled in Apria’s Automated Resupply Service on 10/17/2014 Policy in terms of making sure to check in with customer’s health insurance coverage – Patient’s employer changed health care carrier in July 2014 – Apria was not notified of change till 10/2014 – Apria received a denial from previous insurance carrier and notified customer to obtain new insurance information. Apria has submitted the claims to the correct insurance carrier on 11/19/2014.  Customer wants an update of charges submitted to her insurance carrier.  Apria’s Patient Pay Management Center will be sending customer an itemized statement of charges. [redacted] Area Customer Service Manager