i had my surgery Dec of 2005...i have been thrilled with my doctors and very happy with how i have done so far (although i can't seem to get under 200...i have stalled for some reason...i know it is coming soon : )

i was self pay, fought my insurance company and won. i had to work with my doctors office to get reimbursed for all my appt...the surgery,etc. i also had to work seperately with the hospital, the anestigiologist, (thier billing deptments were great..very professional, good to work with...helped me in any way they could...)

my surgeons billing office was another story. i called about a month back to see if they had submitted the final bill to the insurance company so that i could get paid. this insurance clerk went off on me. she said that she thought it was WRONG that i fought the insurance company...she said that i was making a lot more work for her office...and she did not appreciate it. when i tried to explain to her that this is a good thing...will probably bring in more business for her company (my insurance will now pay for federal employees to get lapband) ...she shut me down and said again that what i did was wrong and she did not appreciate it.

now i was miffed and thought about calling the sugeon, then decided that i should just leave it be....this woman must not like what she does and took it out on me.....

two days later my lawyers office (helped me win my appeal against insurance company) called me to say that she had just talked to the billing department about something else and the woman told HER that she thought what I was doing was wrong and they did not appreciate it. when the billing clerk went off on me, that is one thing..but when she starts talking about my insurance stuff with a third party...that to me is slander....

okay, now i am really mad...i wrote a letter to the surgeons office, they handed it off to the billing departement, and i got a letter from them with a very weak apology and saying that it really has been alot of work and they were frustrated...wait a minute...this is their JOB for goodness sake.

well, although i love my doc i have decided to leave the office because i really think the whole situation should have been handled more professionally......

am i over reacting (i do not think i am). thanks for your input

(sorry for the misspellings my checker is not working......)

You should inform your surgeon about the person in the billing department. Dr. Dimarco probably has no earthly idea about what she's been doing. Allow him the opportunity to fix what's wrong with the billing department for you and future patients.

I agree.....the surgeon (whom I assume owns the practice??) probably never saw the letter. He (or whomever owns the business) should have been addressed personally. The 'hired help' in the office are no doublt protecting one another.