Provena Extra charges not mentioned at payment, no notices sent before collections got involved Lake in the Hills, Illinois

On 09/02/011, I went in to get a rash on my leg looked at. I waited maybe 20 minutes to see a doctor Shah. He looked at my rash and prescribed me BENADRYLL, CALADRYL lotion, and some kind of oral steroids to help with the rash. Before leaving, I stopped to pay with a credit card because I did not have health insurance. I paid $150 exactly and got a receipt. End of story.

Or so I thought.

On November 21,2011, I got a collections letter stating that I owed $320 to this hospital. This is the first contact that I've gotten from these people. I have checked my phone log once, twice, thrice and do not see a single phone call from them or from any unknown number.

Want to know what the $320 bill was for?

The "doctor's fee". Really? Dr. Shah, do you think your time is that valuable? Especially since all you did was basically "prescribe" me medicine I do not need prescriptions for? You didn't even HELP with the rash. A few days after my visit to Provena, I went to a better doctor in Elgin at Signature Medical Center. He actually TALKED TO ME about what could have caused the rash and narrowed it down to fabric softener. I stopped using fabric softener and the rash went away.

I was NOT told by the girl at the desk that I would be billed separately for the doctor. What in the world was the $150 for? Do I really have to pay this quack $320 for prescribing me benadryll? You know what? I wouldn't have cared if someone had billed me for this all at once or had notified me that I had to pay once more. I am angry because I was in the dark about it until Provena handed me over to collections.

Nowhere on the receipt and at no time during my visit to Provena was I told that I would be billed twice. I am in utter disbelief at this place. I am waiting to be contacted by the billing department at Provena but in the meantime I will do everything I can to alert the public about this horrible place.

I have never had a bad experience at a doctor's office until Provena. You all seem incompetent and dishonest and I wish you had been more informative. Now I have to go through the headache of repairing this damage done to my credit during Thanksgiving week. Be sure that I will not let this go for a long time.