IS AUREON CLOSED FOR GOOD?

Thanks-I got one of those. Did the BBB thing, etc. , have not yet received a direct correspondence from Fidelity stating that my account is closed, etc, although they did respond to Houston BBB stating that they are closing it. I also obtained the signature confirmation that my cease and desist letter was received. It was dated 08/22/12 so it has not been 30 days yet. Has anyone who sent one earlier received a direct communication in writing from them?

 

When I received my BBB communication, I questioned exactly what it meant. It stated that I would get NO further communication from Fidelity. My letter was received over 30 days ago, and there was no response.

 

What you need to do is go to the insurance commissioner of your state--file a complaint and make sure you copy the bozos trying to take advantage of you--trust me the calls and harrassment will stop immediately. Make sure you have all of your documentation--if you really want to scare the daylights out of the new bozos also copy your complaint to the attorney general of your state.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl24zK1RS8M

this is the snake spewing garbage after scamming cancer patients. he went to medical school but no residency experience in the US. did some research at mskcc. he has now scammed thousands of cancer patients and insurance companies out of money on a test that didn't do anything for anyone. snakeoil sales man. this is the supposed future of medicine and pathology. by the way, this guy is not a pathologist or a licensed doctor in US.

 

I am filing a complaint with the OAG in Maryland. The person who is on their hotline advised that they probably would be very interested in this case. Will advise any progress, if any. They advised not to pay anything to Fidelity Universal-(I wouldn't have considered it anyway).

 

Wow, when I called the OAG office in Maryland, they weren't interested. They must have passed me to the wrong division - consumer protection division? I also sent a letter to the president of the Urology group that I used, and each of the physicians that I saw, but no answer from any of them. I thought that their legal representation should assist, since this will impact their reputation if enough people complained about the "premier urology group in Maryland".

 

Well, I hope that the person at OAG that I spoke to knew what they were talking about. There are a lot of issues with this entire mess, but I think the main one is about Universal Fidelity. As others have pointed out here, there are HIPPA issues, disclosure issues, etc.
As far as doctors taking the word of Aureon that patients would not be billed for the testing that they ordered, I think it was naive, and they have put patients in an adversarial position by not communicating with them that this testing was being done. That said, although they are running a business, I do not think there was ever any question that they only wanted to provide the best care possible.
You have nothing to lose by downloading the complaint form by going to
http://www.oag.state.md.us/Consumer/complaint.htm, and by clicking on the quick link "file a complaint" on the right side of the home page, then clicking on the "health care complaint" form. It is time consuming, but this will also help you organize your records for future use.

 

The OIG really can not do anything here. THE LAB is Closed...who do they go after...who do they, SUE, Penalize and throw in Jail??

 

You misunderstood. The OAG can go after Universal Fidelity. That is in fact the crux of the problem: Their attempts to collect moneys. It is nearly overshadowed by the events leading up to that point.

 

In addition to the above, OAG can investigate "Aureon" that supposedly now exists re: their attempts to collect .

 

It has been well over 30 days since I sent my letter to Unverisal Fidelity requesting proof that I owe this money, and to supply such proof to me within 30 days. I have not received any response from Universal Fidelity, and I had my letter delivered certified mail and got the receipt indicating that they received it. Since I never received a reply within 30 days, does that mean they can not continue to attempt collection from me? I saw that they did a credit check on me two days prior to sending me the original notice, but I haven't checked my credit since.

 

I have a similar story, i.e. being pursued by Universal Fidelity for an Aureon Labs bill.
I contacted my insurance company (Aetna). They told me that they deinied the claim because the procedure had a code they did not recognize (88399) and that there had been no response to their request for a description. The Aetna rep did take UFLP's representative's phone number (Brittany Scott - 281 647 4155 ext 1346 if you need to contact her yourself regarding your claim) and attempt to resolve the matter. To be fair, Brittany said she was trying to close this out and agreed that Aureon Labs possibly/probably did not submit the claim properly. She actually seemed quite reasonable, whereas the original message left on my answering machine (not sure by who) was more aggressive.

Another wrinkle, though - Aetna showed the same procedure on the same date but for a different (higher) amount being billed by a Physician's practice in New Jersey. I live in California, so I was immediately suspicious. I called the physician in NJ and was told that there had been a clearing house error that caused claims to be submitted in error using theri tax ID, but it was all straightened out now.

So, bottom line, in my case the whole problem seems to have been caused by Aureon Labs sloppy billing and lack of response to the insurance companies requests for details/description/clarification. Insurance companies don't hand out money to just whoever decides to send them a claim without checking its validity, and neither do I for that matter.

 

Exactly. I contacted BCBS and was told that Aureon had submitted the claim under a code that did not give adequate information re: procedure done. In addition, since they never submitted requested sufficient substantiation within the industry's acceptable time-frame,which was beyond the patient's control, the patient would have a $0 liability since there would be insufficient information to process the claim. At least that is how I understand it.