IS AUREON CLOSED FOR GOOD?

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Anonymous said:
I heard from a reliable source that Aureon and its testing is gone,,, sad day for those who were tricked in to taking jobs there by lying recruiters and managers.
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Did Aureon really burn through $40 MILLION in investors' money?

Did this company really try to hire a sales team to sell a single flawed diagnostic?

Why didn't they partner with one of the labs in this space that already has a direct=to-urologist sales team?

Why did they build out the labs in Yonkers with expensive state-of-the-art equipment and furniture only to let it lie fallow, unused and aging?

Why did they price the test at about $3000 when they knew that Medicare would never pay that for a bunch of immunostains and image morpohmetry?

Why, why, why?

The company ultimately failed because of VERY BAD MANAGEMENT AND VERY BAD DECISIONS. The losers are the poor smuck unemployed employees.

The above is my opinion and my epitaph.

Aureon should be taken off the CafePharma site now that it is apparently gone. It is already a memory.

Is there any hope of salvaging anything from the corpse?
 




So sick of Sales people selling a bill of goods to Pathologists both MD and PhD, and claiming that some off the wall technology is the Better Mouse Trap. Just taking VC money and spending it like a Wallstreet Protester did on their Home Equity,

Then these companies go broke and everyone scratches their head over what went wrong..GOOD GRIEF!!!

Oh, I give it a month and the Lab will be a Meth Lab!! Have you seen Yonkers?
 




This is really a tragic story. Aureon's approach (multiplexed biomarkers, image analysis, multivariate algorithms) has much to offer in the diagnostic space and will be much of GEs thrust going forwards.

It is too bad - Aureon, with all of it's "experienced" leaders didn't realize the importance of clinical utility in order to get to (full) reimbursement.

The lesson of Aureon is cool technology is not enough to advance healthcare and thus, remain viable. There must be a clear clinical benefit.

The rest of the issues just made a bad situation worse.
 


Re: IS AUREON CLOSED FOR GOOD? Validity of testing?

I am a prostate cancer survivor whose cancerous tissue was tested by Aurion Labs in May 2011. Today (7/23/2012) I have learned that Aurion went out of business only months after testing my cancer tissue. Do any former employees know IF their tests were even valid?? I have my 1-year follow-up exam and PSA test in Houston one week from now, so will learn the status of my prostate cancer from the surgeon who used Arion Labs for pathology results. John
 


As a former employee, I'll tell you that the test results were valid, it's not as if the company was giving you a fake result or anything. The results and the probability you got were valid.

The company went out of business for a variety of reasons, largely business/management related ones. As with any product, there was room for improvement in their tests and projects had been underway to improve them, but you weren't given false results. The company didn't go out of business for scientific fraud or any reason like that.
 


My husband's tissue was sent there a year ago. We never received a bill. They fraudulently filed with UHC for almost $3000 for the test although they had signed a Multiplan agreement to accept a deeply discounted amount.

Last week we received a bill from Universal LP collection agency in Houston dunning us for the full $3000. It is impossible to get a live person on the phone there but was eventually told by the operator that the group handling Aureon had five calls in queue so I'm obviously not the only one with issues..

If you are a former employee can you tell me who they are collecting the money for, is it a bankruptcy and who to contract about this.
 


I just received a bill from Universal Fidelity, LP Collections on Friday, July 20th. They are billing me for $1626.00,in which I have an email from a now Former Employee, that they were going to appeal to our Blue Cross. The Dr. never told us he was using an out-of-state lab. Retired and on a fixed income - can't get anyone to answer a phone at Aureon or Universal Fidelity. My husband's test was done in March 2011. I would like to call the Drs. office and have them pay this amount (will never happen). Lesson learned - always ask what lab and where is being used for diagnostics.
 


Ask your office for a copy of the original Aureon billing policy. Aureons policy was to not balance bill patients or send them to collections. If you provide this to the collections agency they should back off. The person who bought Aureon has probably sold the claims to a collection agency and they are fraudulently biling for the claims that should have been sent to insurance or have already been settled with insurance companies and the original Aureon. You may want to contact a lawyer, rumors have it that the Aureon reps have been doing all they can to help offices even though they don't work for this company anymore and have been in contact with an attorney themselves.
 


Thanks for posting this information about contacting the office. I finally got in touch with the collection agency and they would not discuss with me - had to be the patient, my husband. Hung up on me. Now I recall that at time a year ago the office pretty much said don't worry about the billing..
 


So glad to find this blog. I too recieved a bill for $2,675.60 for services performed 2 years ago for Prostate Cancer lab work. My Aetna account shows that these lab test had been paid in full.
I have filed a complaint with the Attorney General's office of Texas and have engaged my attorney to follow up. I have also contacted Robert Arnold at KPRC/Houston in hopes that this is news worthy. I would suggest everyone do the same rarnold@click2houston.com
Hopefully someone will take on these predators for those who do not have the means themselves. My greatest concern is that my/our medical information is now in the hands of a group intent on illegally using it for profit.
 


I have contacted the very large urology practice that ordered the test for my husband and was told that they heard about this last Friday as we all did and have their attorneys and quality department working on it. I was told not do do anything and that I did not owe any money. The person I spoke with confirmed that as another poster here has said, Aureon had written agreements not to bill patients. So I think we take a deep breath and wait to see what develops.
 




I want to thank the user who posted the newscaster, R Arnold. I emailed him a .pdf of Aureon's billing practices. Hopefully, this will be news worthy as it seems to be affecting many individuals.
 


I am the administrator of a Urology practice who has been chasing this matter for the last week on behalf of our pts. I strongly recommend that if you received a notice from the collection agency, that you submit a written dispute within 30 days of receipt, via certified us mail, return receipt. This will protect you from being forced to accept the debt because of no response. Additionally, check with your physician's office to confirm that they actually received the test results. This may be another way to avoid wrongful action on the part of the. Collection agency.
 


You should be ashamed for sending your speicimens to a fly by night crappy operation like them. You probably did it to make more money for your practice rather than use reputable local laboratories. Have fun with this mess! Doubt you learned any lesson though.
 



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