Carolinas Coastel Health J Wellington Adams, Md Fraud...Ethics Leland, North Carolina

Sept. 29, 2011...Jan 28th 2011

To Whom It May Concern,

On July 26th 2011 my son and I had a doctor’s appointment, with a Doctor J. Wellington Adams in Leland, NC.  We were new patients because we relocated from PA to NC in June.  Preston was charged $26.00 for Behave Change Smoking 3-10 Min the code used is (99406) I was there when the nurse asked him did he smoke and he said yeah (1) cigarette a day because my mom doesn't like it.  The nurse said oh (1) that's not smoking and laugh.   Not once did she say there will be a charge for her or the Doctor asking him this question and handing him a pamphlet at the end of the Physical. Not once did she say there would be a charge.   If that was the case, I would have told her to keep her pamphlet, (materials)and we could look up our selves the dangers of smoking for free in the comfort of our home on the internet.  On August 19, 2011 we received a bill in his name in the amount of $26.00...I contacted Lynn I guess she’s the receptionist on Sept. 6, 2011 @ 4:25pm and advised her of the situation. She stated that there is nothing she could do, but have either the Doctor call or the nurse.  I told her he can call or her, but I am not paying this bill, this is fraud and a scam and this is not right and that I was filing a complaint with the insurance company, which is what I did. I spoke with a Customer Service Agent by the name of Dora. She took my complaint and advised me of the next steps. Which is to write this letter.  I also contacted the BBB, Consumer Action and the Attorney General and no one could help me…The date above is the first date of my complaint and still no resolution and we just received another bill on January 25th 2012 and this time it’s from a collection agency.

Second Letter...November 16th 2011

To Ms. Michaud,

The doctor is utterly wrong on a few of his statements. First of all the only bill we received was August 19th 2011. Second how dare he say that his nurse (Heather) would never say oh one cigarette is not smoking when he was not even present in the room. The nurse most definitely said that one cigarette was not smoking. We know what was said …Thirdly, I never said I called the office on the 26th of September I said the 6th of September and every time I called that office the receptions always said her name was Lynn…if that is not her name then she is a liar just like the Doctor.

I went into the room with my son and my 4 year old daughter and Dr. Wellington never made any inquiries to Preston regarding cigarettes’ while I was present. Even if he claim he did, he did not disclose at anytime there would be a charge for me asking your son questions regarding cigarettes. If that was the case, I most certainly would have said no. What sense does it make to make two $15.00 co pays for me and my son and then be billed for $26.00 dollars? It makes no sense at all. I left the room with my 4 year old daughter as soon as he proceeded to examine Preston, Preston informed me that he asked him the questions after I left the room.   I waited in my car and Preston came out with papers on cigarettes that was printed from the internet on smoking. The doctor is wrong never did any one call my home and if they did what is the point of his statement, the only call that was received was placed to my cell phone and that was on September 30th 2011 not our home number…How dare he say what me and someone else talked about…Erika never stated that the charge was correct in fact she said that this is not the first time that a patient has disputed charges, but that after 90 days it will go to collections… The dispute we have with this office is that at no point did the nurse or the doctor say if I ask you questions regarding cigarettes’ that there would be a $26.00 dollar charge. This is the essence of our dispute. I worked in a doctors office and a dentist’s office and I know about procedures and ethical disclosures.  We have just spent over $25.000.00 dollars to our basement to our second home in Dover, Pennsylvania so $26.00 dollars is not the issue, it is the principle.   I have been in customer service/Management for almost 25 years and this is not customer service…This is like going out to dinner and the cook says taste this steak and at the end of the dinner give you a bill for the price of the steak, and this would be considered fraud…going forward I have forwarded this compliant and the pervious one to the North Carolina Medical Board as well as Consumer Action and I also sent a report to channel 14 news..