I want to share my personal medical experiences with people so that you know not to make the same mistakes and know what the medical fields/practices are like here in Colorado and beyond. Below is my family's run in with a private practice doing corrupt business practices and I do not want you to be hurt by them as well. After Dr. Jackie McCollum retired this year all of her patients were forced to find new doctors and after having her for over 20 years it was a personal loss to my family. Then we found this mess so that you can avoid this practice.
Patients First Medical
2121 S. Blackhawk St.
Aurora, CO 80014
Dr. Alfred Nash
When we first went to them we verified with them that they took our insurance. They did not say that past the primary care visit that they charge for what they call 'chronic care' which most physicians just include in primary care since that is what most people go to them for besides colds/flu.
We go twice to the practice. 1 time to meet with the doctor to get first base visit in and get med refills scheduled/set up with pharmacies. Second was a follow up primary visit, but it should have counted just as a primary nurse visit since we met with his nurse to go over blood results and do additional blood work that he had forgot to request in the first meeting.
The later we get hit with a huge bill saying that how they coded for 'chronic conditions' is not covered based on their contract with the insurance company. We called the insurance company and verified with them that they had used a 'bad code' and that they would need to use a different code and have the bill reassessed for correctness.
Well the doctor's office refused to do this saying that their codes are correct. I even spoke to the doctor's wife who helps with the 'business' and she said that they bill like that on all of their patients. She was so proud of the fact that they rip people off and have been getting away with it because most of their patients don't know how insurance works. My mother worked in the insurance industry for years including at Anthem. So she knows that when doctors do stuff like this it is actually them abusing/breaking their contract with the insurance companies.
There are ways to report your doctor if they do this and the insurance company can cancel the contracts with doctors that pull these tricks. The problem is that most people don't know that the doctors are breaking the contracts or how to report them. So this is now on our plate where we are having to work with the insurance company on a corrupt doctor. The good news is that the insurance company has the proof they need based on both the billing history, our experience, and other reviews on line from people who have had their own experiences with this doctor doing the same to them. The oldest I found was from 5 years ago so this 'business' has been hurting people for awhile.
I should have read the Google reviews before we went, but we so needed someone open on the weekends due to our schedules. Don't trust 5 star reviews or people that give out all to mostly 5 star reviews. Most of the time those reviews are either bought, pushed for, or done by family or friends of the business. Look for people with lots of reviews, diverse scores, and that don't have short meaningless reviews.
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| Another person with the exact same problem. They continue to do this to hurt people and with this long of a history they know exactly what they are doing. |
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| Proof that they have been pulling these types of tricks for years. |
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| They do a lot of shady things. |
Below is the complaint I have left on Google Maps since they give you limited space:
The moto on their business card is a lie and they only care about lining their wallets with your money and not the patients. We caught them over billing/coding on my mother's primary care visit. We verified with the insurance company, Anthem that they were using a code that they are not contracted to use. As a primary care doctor on a specific contract with an insurance company they are required to bill with specific codes and they refuse to use the codes that they are approved to do so for the insurance plans that they have contracted to be a part of as a primary care provider. We verified with the insurance company that all they had to do was use a different code to get the bill covered, but they refused saying that the codes that they and their third party are using is correct which the insurance company says they are wrong. This actively hurts patients and sticks patients with bills they should not have. We are working with Anthem on a formal complaint and Anthem has to cut contracts with providers that do this underhanded type of billing and breaking of their contract with the insurance company. If you have ever been charged by this doctor anything past your copay on a copay only primary plan make a formal complaint to your insurance company. It is the only way to fight corruption of this kind. We were not told of the additional charges past a primary care visit when we set up going to this doctor and the office staff even verified that on my mothers plan that we had a $40 copay. That is all they are supposed to be able to charge the patient based on their contract with Anthem. Do not use this doctors services and if you have been a patient with them make the complaint to your insurance company about their billing. Once again we have verified with Anthem that what they did was wrong and we are working with Anthem to be witnesses about contract violations.
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