If you use Omnicare, make sure to double check what they're doing to you or else you'll wind up paying for things you never asked for! When my insurance kicked in from my new job, I went to Omnicare to get the free annual exam and cleaning. But that's not what I got!
First, the dentist never even saw me at the first visit. No one came in to get my history or ask me if I'd been having any pain or who my previous dentist was so they could get a copy of my records or when the last time I'd been to the dentist was. Nothing like that. A woman comes in and immediately begins scraping my teeth.
Figuring this is my free cleaning and the dentist will be in later, I wait. After 45 minutes, she tells me that she'll have to finish another time and to schedule an appointment for the following week. When I ask if I'm going to see my dentist at all today, I am told that will happen next week.
When I show up the next time, the same thing happens. No dentist. This woman just comes and scrapes my teeth for a long time without telling me or asking me anything! (Also, she was not very gentle: I was bleeding pretty badly by the time she was finished on both occasions.) Another tech takes xrays at the end though. I am told to show up the next week to get the results.
The following week is the first time I meet my dentist, and Indian woman named Gupta if I remember correctly. I am told that the x-rays revealed I needed a root canal. I told her I was not surprised since my previous dentist had told me I had a cavity there, which I never bothered to get filled. She had no idea about this, as she had not seen my records yet, only the x-ray results from the previous week.
At this point I started asking about everything. Why hadn't she gotten my records yet; why hadn't I seen a dentist before now; why was that woman who did my cleaning so rough; et cetera? She had no idea. She just found out I was to be her patient that day. I went ahead and scheduled the root canal, and selected a crown material. This required three more visits to perform, rather than the usual two (one for surgery, one to replace the temp crown with a permanent crown).
I should take a second to say Dr. Gupta (if I have the name right) was very nice. No matter how bad or corrupt the organization around her, it should be pointed out that she was exceedingly professional and did excellent work putting in my crown.
When the bill came the next month, I was shocked to find that I had exceeded my deductible already! The entire thing was billed as me having seen a Dr. Fils-Ami. They reported his initial examination plus five other office visits, a cleaning, four scaling and debridement treatments (totaling over $800), and multiple surgeries (totaling over $2000). They even billed separtely for trhe x-rays. None of this was authorized!
The dates were all faked as well. Apparently they were deliberately performing services on multiple dates to collect extra office visit fees. Then, when possible they tried to bill the procedure as being on two separate dates well, so they could double charge for it.
I called the office to inform them of their mistake. They have clearly had this call before. The secretaries had a stock answer memorized. No one would let me talk to the elusive Dr. Fils-Ami. So I reported them to my insurance company. They had created fake documentation for everything, claiming I gave verbal authorization at the first appointment (when the exam and cleaning was supposed to have taken place) to do debridement at the second appointment. My insurance company said there was nothing they could do without documentation from my end.
I refused to pay, and reported Dr. Fils-Ami to the ADA. The matter was sent to collection, which interfered with a business loan I was applying for. I threatened to sue if the matter was not removed immediately from my credit report. Well that finally prompted a call from Dr. Fils-Ami.
His position? He'd drop the matter for $600. As my new small business needed the start-up capital, I paid up. I honestly felt dirty. Dr. Fils-Ami is a crook and an extortionist. His license should be pulled. The whole place is a scam. Avoid if for your own good.
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