ComplaintsforVirant Diagnostics

• Initial Complaint

  02/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I received a bill from Virant Diagnostics dated 12/31/22 for a Covid test performed on 12/25/21 for my son. The covid test was performed at a pediatric urgent care. The bill said you owe $150, amount due, in large letters more than once and provided an envelope to send money, a phone number to pay, or a way to pay online. In small letters it said you may not be responsible please call us to verify your insurance coverage. I called and they asked for my sons insurance number on the day of service- well, its 2023 now and weve had two new insurance cards so I tell her I dont know. She said I was responsible for keeping my insurance up to date. I told her Ive never even heard of Virant Diagnostics so how was I supposed to do that. I give her my current insurance card number and told her she can try to submit it, but they wont pay since its been over a year. So, I go online to the billing portal out of curiosity- and after putting in a very long code found on my statement-it says I owe $0!I know I can safely ignore further bills from Virant Diagnostics, but I believe they are engaging in deceptive billing practices. They likely know insurance wont pay for stale claims, and they should know that the consumers wont be responsible either. So, they are just sending something out to see who will pay- and I feel bad for those who do pay and I would like them to cut it out. Not to mention the *** is before 1/1/22 and it is not subject to the No Surprises Billing Act.

  Business response

  02/19/2023

  Dear Customer **, 
  

  Thank you for bringing this billing matter to our attention. We understand how this issue might  be perceived by you as confusing, but please rest assured that the events in your case followed  standard billing protocol as depicted chronologically in response to your complaint. Our clinical  laboratory values our customers and we always operate responsibly by providing the highest  quality customer service. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. I am hopeful  that you and the BBB will understand our perspective in your case as follows. 

  Virant Diagnostics is a specialized reference clinical laboratory that is CLIA-certified, Maryland licensed, and accredited by the Commission Of Laboratory Accreditation. Our clinical laboratory  is contracted by ** ********** urgent care facilities in the greater Washington DC area to perform  COVID-19 RT-PCR laboratory testing for their patients. For billing, we use an external billing  vendor, Doctor’s Choice, to process patients’ insurance information, in this case, to process  insurance claims for the COVID-19 tests charged for an expedited delivery fee of $150 (same-day  test processing and result report), as posted on our website: ***************************************************************************************  
  

  The testing service in question was rendered on 12/25/2021, accession number **********,  patient ID 119415, and the SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test final result was reported on 12/25/2021. Unfortunately, our billing company was not able to process the claim out to insurance due to  inadequate/invalid insurance information provided to us by the urgent care facility on the day of  the testing. Over the subsequent months, we contacted and worked with the urgent care facility  to obtain valid health insurance information. After exhausting all possible resources to identify  the insurance carrier, the claim was switched from the insurance’s responsibility to the patient’s  responsibility and it was decided in the Fall of 2022 to generate a statement to the patient. The  justification to pursue payment is stated in the ** ********** test requisition and consent which is available to be read by the patient/guardian and/or described by the healthcare provider. The  test requisition form was signed by you (as the Guardian of the patient) and completed prior to  our laboratory services. This form should also contain the patient demographic, physician and  insurance information.  
  

  Two “Statement” letters were mailed to the patient on 11/30/2022 and 12/31/2022, by Doctor’s  Choice on our lab’s behalf, in addition to the listed balance of $150 for the diagnostic test, the  following statement message was also present in the letter: 
  

  “We need to verify if you had active insurance coverage at the time of your Covid19  testing. Please call ************ x *** to verify your information with one of our  representatives so we can submit your claim to your insurance for processing if necessary.  Thank you in advance for your assistance getting this resolved! 
  

  YOU MAY NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BALANCE OWED ON THIS STATEMENT. Please  call ************ x *** to discuss any questions regarding this statement.” 
  

  You responded by calling the telephone number on the statement on 1/06/2023 and kindly  provided the missing insurance information. Once the insurance information was received, the  responsible balance was then switched back to the insurance company. Doctor’s Choice  submitted a claim to ***** ******* Healthcare ***** for the COVID-19 testing service, however,  the claim was denied due to past timely filing (“The time limit for filing has expired”, see EOB  dated 01/09/2023).  
  

  After receiving the denial by the patient’s insurance provider, the claim was classified by Virant  Diagnostics as uncollectable, written off as a loss, and the balance was closed out. Once the open  balance was switched over to bill the provided *** ***** insurance, the responsible party was  no longer the patient and the patient’s billing link from us would therefore have a zero balance (processed on or soon after 01/09/2023). Virant Diagnostics will never ask patients to provide additional payment or pursue “balance billing” after properly applying insurance billing, and we  have since designated this case as closed. If you would have contacted us after 01/09/2023, we  would have informed you that the case was closed and that you and your insurance provider  would not be issued further statements, as per our standard practice. 

  We hope that you understand the circumstances of our billing practice in your case and that we  followed standard protocol. At no time did Virant Diagnostics or its billing company attempt to  collect any fees directly from the patient for the single $150 charge. We also hope that the  current resolution meets your expectations and satisfaction. If you have any further questions or  concerns, please feel free to contact us. 
  

  Sincerely, 
  ** ***** *** MD, PhD 
  President, CEO 
  Virant Diagnostics, Inc.

  Customer response

  02/19/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************************
  

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