I have Bipolar Disorder. I was trying to find a new psychiatrist since the one I had took a new position out of state. Since I live in a rural area in Walworth County Wisconsin there were no P-Doc's available in my area. Either they weren't accepting any new patients or they had moved to a different location which made it next to impossible to me to see them. I finally found Wisconsin Community Mental Health Counseling Centers, Inc. They had their main office in Mequon, Wisconsin but with branch offices in Whitewater, Wisconsin only about 15 minutes from where I live. OK! Great. I called and scheduled an appointment with a therapist. My goal was to be referred to one of their P-Doc's since my medications were running out and I needed new scripts written. That's when all the "fun" started.
I saw my therapist about two or three times an told him that I really needed to see a psychiatrist since my meds were running out and I needed to get them refilled. "Not a problem" he said, "we have psychiatrists you can see I will set it up for you." I thought that was great. A couple of days later I received a call from my therapist telling me it was all set; he gave me the time, date and location of where I was supposed to meet him which was in Hales Corners, Wisconsin. When I finally found the location it turned out to be a large office complex with many different offices. I finally found the office and was rather shocked when I discovered that the office was dark and locked. There were some chairs in the hallway and I sat down to wait. My appointment was for 1:00 P.M. I waited for almost and hour and no one appeared. I finally called my therapist and asked him what was going on. He replied: "Didn't you call him to set up an appointment?" I said: WHAT! You told me it was all arranged. Besides, I said, you never gave me a phone number or said that I had to call and make my own appointment. "Well, " he said, "he's not in on Thursdays." Wonderful, I thought, I left and went home.
The following week I received a call from my therapist that he was sorry he made a mistake and would I like to schedule another appointment? Alright. So, another appointment was set, same time, same location. The day before my scheduled appointment I called their Mequon office to verify my appointment. Some fellow answered the phone and said "yes, your appointment is arranged but don't forget to bring along your co-pay of $280.00. Again, WHAT??!! I said my co-pays were only $35.00. He said, "well, you haven't made any of your other co-pays, therefore you still owe us $280.00." Needless to say, I was shocked and angry. I had all the receipts from all of my co-pays plus I had all of the statements from my insurance which stated that I had indeed made them. Next, I got a form in the mail from them that they wanted me to sign stating that I would not double bill my insurance or medicare. I am retired. Another, WHAT!!?? Never have I ever received a document from any doctor's office stating that I needed to sign a form just to insure that I wouldn't double bill. Finally, I filled my wife in on what was going on and she immediately got on the phone and called their main office. The same guy answered the phone. My wife said "I would like to speak with the person in your billing department." "May I ask whose calling?" My wife said: "what difference does it make who is calling; just let me speak to your billing department." He replied: "I'm sorry, but unless you tell me who you are I cannot let you speak to anyone in our billing department." Next my wife said: "Who is your manager?" and he replied: "Umm, I don't know." My wife said: "you mean you work there and you don't know who your manager is?" "Ahh, no I don't."
Skip ahead two weeks. Yesterday I get a phone call from my "therapist" saying they had not received the form they sent out and would I sign it and send it back. I said to him: "what do you think I am stupid or something?" "Besides" I said, "after reviewing this document your organization was suppose to fill it out first which you never did and you expect me to sign a document and send it back?" Then I said: "Who needs to be on meds here you or me?" At that point he said: "well, I really haven't worked for them that long so I'm going to have to look into this, I will call you back tomorrow." I am writing this the day before he is suppose to call me back. Ah, hah, sure. End of story. I do not believe I have so say anything further.
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