Hello! I was wondering if anybody is familiar with Dr. Eric Pinnar here in Jax, Fl? I have heard some wonderful things about him and his team in Virgina/D.C but I was wondering specifically for his team in Jax. I recently attended one of his seminars and was very impressed. I have not yet met his staff and am curious what the general opinion is! Thanks!

Mine is listed as Synchrony Health VA LLC making the claim.

Mine is listed as Synchrony Health VA LLC making the claim.

I've seen several come through: Advanced Weight Loss Solutions (AWLS) (which according to Pinnar's letter, has ceased to exist -- the reason why Merchia said that he didn't have to honor the aftercare agreements), Syncrony Health VA LLC, P Cohen, Dr, Barry Greene (who I've never seen in my life), and Afterband (which I saw a couple of times without knowing that Pinnar had sold), and then I saw a couple more times until Phil left.

What did the VADHP say in their reply?

I'm getting ready to talk to an attorney about this.

I've seen several come through: Advanced Weight Loss Solutions (AWLS) (which according to Pinnar's letter, has ceased to exist -- the reason why Merchia said that he didn't have to honor the aftercare agreements), Syncrony Health VA LLC, P Cohen, Dr, Barry Greene (who I've never seen in my life), and Afterband (which I saw a couple of times without knowing that Pinnar had sold), and then I saw a couple more times until Phil left.

What did the VADHP say in their reply?

I'm getting ready to talk to an attorney about this.

I've had the following on my EOB's:

Pinnar, Eric D.

Greene, Barry S. (before I saw him in April '12)

Synchrony Health LLC

Merchia, Pankaj

AWLS

If you all would like we can coordinate a meeting over the weekend to chat further? coffee in NoVA? I live in Arlington but could travel to the Fairfax/Reston areas later in the day on Saturday?

Please private message your email if you're interested and I will email from my gmail account.

Jennifer

I'd love to -- but I don't know how to "private message". Can you give me quick instructions on how to find it?

I've had Eric Pinnar FAS and AWLS billing as the companies listed filing claims.

They've filed claims through anthem and Aetna. I'm unsure where they got the info to bill Aetna.

I'd encourage anyone who's had these recent awls claims filed through Aetna, to submit it to Aetna's fraud dept for review.

I'd love to meet up and discuss further with anyone that would like. I'm in Reston. I'll have to figure out the PM'ing here too. Lol

A few of us are meeting on Saturday at the Starbucks in the plaza by the old office in Reston. If anyone wants to join let me know we're meeting at 2pm.

Just received a letter from VA Dept of Health Professions (in response to my complaint) stating they do not regulate practices, only the licensed practitioners, therefore they do not have jurisdiction in this matter.

They may not have jurisdiction, but the don't say who would either.

Well I did go to Dr. Merchia's Reston office back in November. I didn't see what choice I had so I took my records in for basic a meet and greet as I am already at goal and didn't need a fill or anything. Spent nearly two hours sitting in a sleep study room as they were so backed up. A lady entered my info in the computer and took my Pinnar records and I waited a while longer. I saw Dr. Merchia for a couple seconds, he ooo'd and ahhh'd my success and asked to introduce me to Dr Greenes staff, talked to them for a couple seconds and that was it. No medical exam, no weigh in, no fill and I spent most of the two hours sitting by myself in that room fuming.

Today I got an EOB that was sent to my previous insurance (my insurance changed in Jan). Billed by After Band LLC. There are two amounts for the same visit. One for $991.19 and the other for $954.18. The bill will now be resubmitted to my new insurance and I intend to contact the insurance company to find out if these charges are valid.

Is there some sort of insurance commission in your state you can complain to? It sounds like it could be fraud.

My friend and I were both self pay patients from 2007.. NEVER saw Dr.Merchia for one thing! Now I am getting pages and pages of EOBs from Pinnar (filed by Merchia) and Dr. Merchia. This is theft!! He has to be STOPPED!! I got my medical records when Pinnar left the practice but a partly Merchia made copies of all records before releasing them.. My friend had wait for her records because they were at his personal residence being scanned!! Merchia is frauduately collecting insurance money and ruining Pinnars name (not like that is hard)! I was self pay with fills for life.. Funny I haven't had my band checked on over a year now bc I will have to pay hundreds more dollars on top of the thousands I already put out! EVERYONE CALL AND COMPLAIN ABOUT DR MERCHIA.. This HAS TO STOP!!

Well, I called the insurance company and they do not seem interested in getting involved. They said he is billing for a consult and agree that almost $2,000.00 for dropping off records is high but basically said that it is between me and the doctor and I need to call him if I have any concerns about what is being billed. They also said that he submitted the claim to the wrong department and told me that I should call him and give him an 800 number so that he can get the correct address. Screw that! Let him figure it out for himself.

Well I did go to Dr. Merchia's Reston office back in November. I didn't see what choice I had so I took my records in for basic a meet and greet as I am already at goal and didn't need a fill or anything. Spent nearly two hours sitting in a sleep study room as they were so backed up. A lady entered my info in the computer and took my Pinnar records and I waited a while longer. I saw Dr. Merchia for a couple seconds, he ooo'd and ahhh'd my success and asked to introduce me to Dr Greenes staff, talked to them for a couple seconds and that was it. No medical exam, no weigh in, no fill and I spent most of the two hours sitting by myself in that room fuming.

Today I got an EOB that was sent to my previous insurance (my insurance changed in Jan). Billed by After Band LLC. There are two amounts for the same visit. One for $991.19 and the other for $954.18. The bill will now be resubmitted to my new insurance and I intend to contact the insurance company to find out if these charges are valid.

What may be interesting to note is that in the last 14 business days I have received 46 explanation of benefits from 3 insurance companies (1 of which has not been active since 2007 and I had surgery in 2010)....these EOB's state that Dr. Eric Pinnar is billing all my insurance companies for nearly 150k of treatments and procedures and when I looked up the procedure codes some of these procedures are for things I never had! I've got calls into the fraud departments at all insurance providers and a fellow Pinnar patient who has become a friend of mine also has had repeated claims filed for surgery and aftercare that we both paid 17' date='000 up front for. Fraud at its finest. The "billing department" that was given to my insurances listed a number that was tied to a Synchrony Health which was tied to Dr. Merchia's personal residence in Great Falls, VA where it lists him as selling it in summer of 2011. Shady.

Would be interested to hear what anyone else has to say?????[/quote']

I have had the same experience! Out of the blue I received EOBs for services supposedly performed in 2009. I still do not have my full medical records nor appropriate care. I, too, have a contract for "lifetime" aftercare and paid for the surgery out of pocket. Has anyone contacted a lawyer to discuss a class action suit?

Yes! Notify your insurance company !!!! This is fraud. Dr.Pinnar is not to blame. I heard it first hand today, Dr.Merchia goes under a ton of different medical company names. Phil is awesome and Dr. Pinnar actually recommends Dr.Greene in Rockville, MD

I had the LapBand surgery back in 2008. Unfortunately it didn't agree with my body and I had it removed in 2010. Dr. Pinnar and his staff at the time were amazing. To those who think he just picked up and left, that's not the case. I had to request my medical files and through some searching,I actually found out what happened.

He was forced out by the person who took over the practice. I won't say names, but if you were ever a patient at AWLS, you would have met this person.

It's sad what greed will do to some people. So please know it wasn't Dr.Pinnar, there's a very long story that goes behind it. The more people complain to VDHP and their insurance company, the better chance this will stop the fraud.