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My Medical Supply Store Fight

By: De_Composed in 6TH POPE | Recommend this post (0)
Fri, 26 Apr 24 10:36 PM | 29 view(s)
Boardmark this board | 6th Edition Pope Board 		Msg. 52710 of 52936
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I've been fighting with my medical supply store for 27 months. Today they finally decided they'd had enough and terminated my account.

This store supplies me with the meter I use for home testing of my blood clotting rate, and sends me strips as needed for doing the tests. Testing is a lot like what diabetics have to do, except that my tests are less frequent and involve more blood.

The store wants me to stick my fingers every week and I have steadfastly refused. Testing isn't enjoyable. It can scar up my fingers. And there is NO MEDICAL NEED TO TEST THAT FREQUENTLY. My hospital's nursing clinic maintains my records and tells me when to test.

When I submit test results, I use an app from the medical supply store. The app gives the message, "Results Submitted. Reminder - it is important to test according to your physician's prescribed schedule."

But my physician's prescription doesn't actually say that I should test weekly. The store claimed otherwise, so I called my physician to find out. His prescription says that I am to test as directed by the hospital's prothrombin time (PT) test unit. In other words, by the people who understand my condition and monitor my numbers.

The store sends my test results to the aforementioned unit; the hospital nurses call me to verify the numbers, to ask about any changes to my situation, to tell me if I need to adjust my medication and to set a date for when I should test again. The nurses know what's going on with me. My store does not. Consequently, the nurses usually have me test every two weeks.

The store hates that. I can't say I blame them. For the difficult job of reporting my result to the hospital via a fax every two weeks, and sending me test strips about three times a year, they collect around $10,000 annually. They'd like that to be around $20,000 annually. Who wouldn't? I imagine customers like me would annoy ANY store that wants more money.

I've told them that I follow my doctor's orders.

I've asked them if they're giving me medical orders "because it sure sounds like it." They always insist that they are not. (Smart people. I could put them out of business if they ever said they were.)

They tried telling me that Medicare requires weekly testing. I told them I'm not on Medicare.

I've told them that their own app says I should test according to my doctor's prescribed schedule. They don't want to talk about that.

I've told them that what they are doing is medically unethical. See the google screenshot to the right.

I've told them I have a medical condition (it's called "pain," but I don't tell them that) that prevents me from testing more often than is medically necessary.

None of which matters to them. They want more money and they don't care how annoying they make things for me.

During the weeks when I don't test, the store calls me EVERY SINGLE DAY. It's usually automated harassment, but sometimes there's a person on the line. The automated harassment actually says, "Enter '1' to report your results; Enter '2' to repeat this message." LOL.

When there's a person, it's even better. They tell me who they are and would I please give them my date of birth. My stock answer: "I'm sorry. I don't give out PII (Personally Identifiable Information) to people who call me on the phone."

They tell me that I need to. That HIPPA requires me to give the information as a means of identifying who I am.

I tell them "No, it doesn't. I'm a Cyber security officer. What HIPPA requires is that organizations obtain identification information from parties they haven't already identified. If I go to a hospital, they have to get me to give my date of birth since they don't know who I am. But YOU called ME. You know who I am. You don't need my date of birth, and it would be irresponsible of me to provide it since I haven't verified who you are."

At this point they either tell me to call them to discuss things, or they ask me for my PIN, which I'm happy to provide. My PIN isn't PII. Some of the staff say that they won't accept a PIN - which is just them being asses. Most of the store's staff have been willing to use the PIN for identification. I've been giving it to them for two years.

This has been going on for a couple of years, ever since my insurance company ended its previous contract and signed a new one with this doofus company. Since the new company has now dropped me, supposedly for "non-compliance," I finally have grounds for asking my insurance company to do something about the problem. HOPEFULLY they will assign me to a new medical supply store. That hasn't worked in the past, though. It may not have a contract with any other store in my geographic region. Alternatively, it should consider dropping its contract with the current store. The store has been rude (hanging up on me, twice), harassing (daily phone calls), unethical (telling me to stab myself twice as often as I need to) . . . and, in my opinion, FRAUDULENT... billing insurance companies for services that are absolutely unnecessary. If I were a lawyer, I think I'd *LOVE* to go after them. After all, they're small potatoes, but they're a subdivision of Aetna. We've all heard of Aetna.

One last point: Part of the reason I've been so cavalier about their many threats to drop me is that I bought a meter of my own off of eBay about six months ago. It's identical to theirs and was only one hundred dollars. The store tells me that if I don't return their meter, they will charge me $1500.

I've also been gradually building up a stockpile of extra test strips. Like a year and a half's worth. Unless my hospital or insurance company complain about my bypassing the store (and both have told me that they won't), I'm good for at least that long. I'll just call my numbers in directly and save my insurance company a bundle of money.


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