Forrest General Hospital

September 12, 2011

Concerning Forrest General Hospital

On 4/27/11 I had a biopsy done at FGH for which I paid 500.00 down payment via credit card. I had no insurance so would have to pay for this myself. I went into the hospital that morning, had the biopsy done and came home. I watched the mail religiously for the bill for the remainder of the bill for the biopsy. I received the bill from Hattiesburg Clinic for Dr. V's work and the exrays and such, but nothing from the hospital.

On Wednesday (6/24/11) I opened what I thought was a statement from my credit card processing company to find a hospital bill. It was addressed to me, with a return address of CSRECS05 PO Box 1022 Wixom, MI 48393-1022. No where on the outside of the envelope was there any indication that this correspondence was from FGH.

I call the number provided on the bill, told the woman I spoke with of what had happened, how I mistook the bill for something else and didn't open it right away. I assured her there would be a check in the mail for 50.00 that day toward the 3,300.80 that I owed them. I was informed that they could not accept less than 90.00 on a bill of that amount. I must apply for patient assistance. I was given the information to do this, and faxed the information to Cerena Johnson that day.

The following week, on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 I typed a letter stating the above, sent the letter plus a copy of the faxed information to all addresses provided on the bill. These address included the return address, along with an address to FGH in Jackson. I also looked online and found the address to the hospital in Hattiesburg and sent the same information to that address.

From this point on I watched every piece of mail that came in to be sure I had no further correspondence from FGH re: my application for patient assistance. I also received word that my application for Medicaid insurance had been approved. I never received one piece of mail from FGH until Saturday, August 20, 2011. That day I received a letter/bill demanding that I pay the balance of 1057.02 that I owed FGH. The letter stated, "this is a demand for immediate payment in full on or before 10 days from this date of notice. The letter also stated that the Customer Service Department of FGH had attempted to resolve this outstanding balance with me." They had not. They had sent no mail, they had made no phone calls.

On Monday, August 22, 2011 I called the number provided on the bill and spoke with a Ms. Burrow. I told her I had been approved for Medicaid, I gave her my number and she assured me she would apply it to my bill. I also complained about the tone of the bill/letter and the fact there was a return address that gave no indication it was from the hospital. I was told that the mail is sent with this address because if the person they are sending the bill to has moved and left no forwarding address, it won't clog up the hospital's mail system.

On Monday, September 12 I received a letter with the return address of FGH informing me I had indeed qualified for reduction of my hospital bill.

If this situation with FGH hadn't been so frustrating, it would be down right hilarious. I have been harassed and mistreated in this billing situation with FGH at a time in my life when added stress is detrimental to my health problems. I have worried that I would be turn over to a credit reporting agency for non-payment when in fact I have done all I could to pay this bill, once I realized the odd return address indicated it was a bill from the hospital. I sure am glad that I took care of this prior to awaiting this letter of approval re: my qualification for medical assistance.

It is my opinion that FGH needs to hire more competent people to do their billing and collection and come up with a means of using their own name in the return address so consumers will know when they look at the envelope they are dealing with their bill not some piece of junk mail or something of lesser importance than their hospital bill.

Klara Reid

--
Character is what we are, not what others think we are.