I received this email from Anne. She’s very upset that LabCorp is billing her for tests that she declined when she was at the LabCorp center in Texas. In addition, the test that she specifically approved because it was to be paid for by Medicare was not performed. It’s not clear if the techs at the center made the mistake or if it was the laboratory. Whoever may have made the errors, it was not Anne and she is not required to pay. Instead of resolving the problem promptly, LabCorp continues their collection process. A suggestion to LabCorp, it’s never too late to fix a mistake. Based on the amount of complaints on this blog, I recommend the big eraser. It’s available by the case.

Since Anne is a Medicare recipient, she will be taking this matter directly to the government. I’m confident that this matter will be resolved and she will not have to pay. Even though Anne gave us authority to print her personal information, her letter was redacted for privacy purposes.

May 11, 2010

ATTN: PATIENT SERVICES

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings
PO Box 2240
Burlington NC 27216-2240

Ref: Invoice 115XXXXX

Amount: $296.00

I attended your facility on March 29, 2010 with a request for services from my doctor’s office.

At your facility, a lady processed my paper-work. She took copies of:

1. My Medicare card
2. My insurance identification card
3. My Mutual of Omaha pink physician sticker
4. My TX driver’s license

She then informed me that two of the blood tests requested by my doctor:

1. 80061 – LIPID PANEL
2. 84443 –TSH

…would not be covered by Medicare. She printed out your Form CMS-R-131, listing those two tests and instructed me to choose and check an option, then sign and date the form.

I checked Option 3. “I don’t want the laboratory test(s) listed above. I understand with this choice I am not responsible for payment and I cannot appeal to see if Medicare would pay.”

I then signed and dated the form and the lady provided me with a copy. A copy of this form is included with this letter.

Your representative assured me that the remaining test requested by my doctor was a procedure covered by Medicare. Had she informed me otherwise, I would have most certainly declined that test as well.

Subsequently I was contacted by my doctor’s office to discuss the results of the blood test and they provided me with a copy of these results.

Patient Service Center Request LCM Req #: 50057XXXXXX (Copy enclosed).

The two test results were for the two procedures I had declined:

1.  80061 – LIPID PANEL
2. 84443 –TSH
3.  

NO OTHER TESTS HAD BEEN CARRIED OUT.

 I then received your Invoice # 115XXXXX billing me for the two procedures I had specifically declined, PLUS procedures you had not even carried out.

Why am I being billed? As a result of my complaint, all I have received so far from your Patient Customer Service is a completely pointless form letter, clearly assuming I’m not particularly bright and explaining that the bill I am questioning is for clinical laboratory services performed at the request of my physician.

I have been checking up on your company online and I wasn’t surprised to find pages of complaints against you on every consumer protection website going. People have even gone so far as to dedicate websites to exposing Lab Corp.

I ask that you resolve this issue immediately otherwise I shall send copies of everything to the Texas Attorney General’s Office in Austin, Texas. In view of all the government litigation against you that I’ve been reading about, I’m sure they will be more than happy to help me.

Sincerely

Anne XXXXXXX

Attachments: 

1. Copy of front and back of my Mutual of Omaha Insurance Identification Card.
2. Pink Mutual of Omaha Physician Sticker
3. Copy of your FORM CMS-R-131 clearing indication the declined procedures
4. Copy of LabCorp Patient Service Center Request LCM Req # 50057XXXXXX listing the 2 test results submitted to my doctor.

I recently received an email from Jasmine, a patient who is unhappy with both LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics. I found her complaints interesting so here’s the content and my reply:

Aside from Quest Diagnostics, do you know of any national labs that I can use instead of lab corp? They’re horrible.
Thanks. Jasmine

There are many regional labs but after extensive research I discovered that due to the regulations imposed on labs under the CLIA federal law, and the proliferation of managed care, there are very few labs that can be considered “national” labs. The consolidation of the industry has lead to even more business for these two lab giants. Not surprisingly, when local laboratories expand past the regional phase, either LabCorp or Quest Diagnostics buys them.

 Depending on where you live, there are local and regional labs that offer great services and are likely to be accepted by your insurance. They usually do not have as many service centers as the two large ones and are more likely to work directly with your doctor’s office. An example is Bio-Reference Labs in New Jersey and New York, Florida Reference Labs in South Florida and other such smaller lab companies. There are also others where you can mail in your specimen and have direct access to results. One of the leaders is Direct Laboratory Services (DirectLabs). The problem with them is that while you are dealing with DirectLabs through the web but you are also dealing with LabCorp, as they will send you to LabCorp to give blood for the test. This is basically a wholesaler that has LabCorp doing all the work for them and they provide the results for you. They only accept credit card payments and do not accept insurance. While their prices are lower than going directly through LabCorp, you will experience all the frustrations of dealing with Laboratory Corporation of America locations.

LabOne was considered a formidable contender but got acquired by Quest Diagnostics. Almost on a weekly basis, you will notice national labs acquiring smaller regional ones. Another option is using a hospital based lab. The problem with hospital based alternatives is that they may charge more for the services. If you’ve had enough with the big national laboratories, check with your insurance company to see the regional labs that are part of their approved networks.

It reminds me of the old AVIS rent a car ads whose slogan was “We try harder.”

Janice from Baltimore sent me an email about her experiences at LabCorp. No complaints, just sympathy for all who have had problems with other LabCorp locations.

Fortunately, I have not had your extreme problems with LabCorp in Baltimore. They are my health insurance carrier’s choice, over which I have no control. I’ve read your story, and it is pitiful that LabCorp gets away with that. I just wanted to point out that you are a “glutton” for punishment. Gluten is something Alton Brown talks about frequently on “Good Eats” with regard to baking. Sorry you’ve had such a miserable time with LabCorp, and glad your blood tests finally came back with good news. Carry on!

Mike sent me an email with his LabCorp complaint and even included pictures. He went to LabCorp for tests, and one of them required him to provide urine samples. He had the urine tests but as you’ll read below, it was somewhat disgusting. After a long wait his doctor finally received the results from LabCorp and gave him an appointment for tomorrow. Hope the results are favorable for him. Here’s his email

 I went to Labcorp for routine medical tests today at 1217 East Ave, Sarasota.   When I arrived there were several elderly patients arguing with confrontational Labcorp employees that they had provided urine samples while the staff insisted that they had not. One elderly man stated that he witnessed his sample being stolen. 

When my turn came, my blood was drawn and I was handed a cup and a plastic lid that looked like a paper coffee cup. It had my name written on it with pen, no number.  I was told to go into a bathroom. The bathroom was filthy and there were numerous puddles and spots of urine on the floor, the counters, the sinks.

There were also several rings of urine left by previous cups on the counter. It was apparent that the urine was from numerous persons.   I was not given an alcohol wipe or instructed to wipe my hands. The woman scolded me for handing her the cup and told me to leave it on the dirty counter. I told her the bathroom was filthy and she said someone cleans it later. 

The employees there were morbidly obese, confrontational, rude, and appeared to have a limited intellect.   I am 50 years old and have utilized the health system in several states, Mexico, Central America and South America. I have never witnessed such a bizarre situation and unsanitary conditions in a health care facility.  This facility is below third world standards and I do not feel comfortable with the integrity of any results.   Mike

There are many complaints about employees in LabCorp locations throughout the country mistreating patients. Deb sent me an email about her unfortunate encouter in LabCorp’s Arlington Virginia Location. What one would expect to be a 5 minute event turned into an hour ordeal. Why? Just because they can. Management in these LabCorp locations does not seem to care about patient satisfaction. After all, LabCorp is the low-price leader to HMOs and insurance companies. Who needs to treat people with the respect that they deserve when you get them through pricing practices. While I find Laboratory Corporation of America employees who treat patients this way revolting, it’s really managements fault. The supervisors do not seem to care and just push for production. Patients will complain as Deb did about the Arlington VA location, but management does nothing about it.

I went to LabCorp in Arlington VA last Saturday am in the middle of a snowstorm that was getting worse by the minute. All I had to do was drop off a specimen, and I informed them of that the minute I walked in. After two more interruptions by me asking why I couldn’t just drop it off, they finally took it from me – an hour after I walked in the door. So, I sat for an hour in a waiting room filled with sick people (and I am not sick), while 8 inches of snow was falling and the roads getting worse by the minute, and they couldn’t be bothered to take a plastic bag of test tubes from me. They weren’t even apologetic. I think I would have been there another hour if I hadn’t finally thrown a huge FIT at the desk.

I wrote an email complaining to them about this, but you know they won’t even respond to it. They are a terrible company.

Here’s a very common complaint. Patient walks into a LabCorp location, has blood drawn, LabCorp loses the blood samples and still bills for the test. This very illegal LabCorp billing practice will eventually backfire. How can LabCorp billing charge for an exam that they did not do? Worse yet, how could they lose the blood samples? Even worse, can it have been tested and another patient receive the results as if their own? It all reminds me of a Looney Toons cartoon I used to watch when I was a little kid. A long floppy eared dog goes running after another animal and stops in its track saying “which way did he go??? Which way did he go???”

Here’s an email that I recently received. It tells the complete story:

Couldn’t believe that there is a whole website devoted to Labcorp screw ups! On November 23rd, 2009, my husband and I both went to Labcorp with physicians work orders in hand. After waiting about an hour, we finally had our respective blood drawn. My husband’s was routine. I am a cancer patient and had two orders, one from my oncologist and the other from my primary care doctor. Even though the facility was very busy and it was a Monday (I should have known better), there was only one phlebotomist on hand. She stated that she was the only one drawing blood there for the past month.

We never heard from our doctor with the results, so on a visit this past weekend, we asked our doctor what the results were. She stated she never received them and proceeded to call Labcorp. She was told they had no record of us going into their facility in November. On a hunch, I called our provider, Humana, on Monday and was told Labcorp had billed them over $500 for my labwork on November 23rd and also had billed them for my husband’s. So, according to labcorp, we never went there on November 23rd, yet they billed Humana over $500!! Meanwhile, we had to have our blood re-drawn yesterday. This time we went to Quest Diagnostics. Maybe we’ll have better luck there. I have filed a complaint with Internal Affairs at Humana and hope to follow up with a letter to labcorp if I can find the proper person to send it to.

Carolyn

When you are not treated properly you usually have the ability to go to another service provider that will give you satisfactory service. That is the beauty of a democratic system that allows free enterprise to compete for your business. It allows you to vote with your dollar. The best service provider wins and those with inefficiencies and lack in service disappear. Well that’s how it is supposed to work, in theory. Here’s a letter I received from a patient in Virgina. Unfortunately, due to restrictive insurance rules and insurance company’s zeal to work with the lowest bidder, the free enterprise system does not exist when it comes to reference labs, such as LabCorp.

Here’s a letter I received from John that details his experience at LabCorp Virgina. He sent this letter to LabCorp managers:

The following is an email sent to LabCorp to complain about the services provided at one of their locations. To date I have not received a response from LabCorp nor do I expect one.

This morning 29 May 2009 I visited one of your facilities located at 805 BATTLEFIELD BLVD N, CHESAPEAKE, VA 23320, Phone: 757-547-4892. I arrived and signed in at 7:50 AM, at that time there were 8 patients, including myself in the waiting area. Of these 8 patients, 7 had not yet been processed by the technician at the desk. I waited in the waiting area for 40 minutes, during that time 2 more patients were processed at the desk and only one patient was called to the back for sampling/processing. At 8:25 the tech at the front desk left, stating she was supposed to gone by 8:00, and no one was there to replace her, if you recall there are still 5 patients waiting to be in processed. At this point I left the facility. I will try ANOTHER LABCORP facility later today. The only reason I would ever set foot in a LabCorp facility again, is that my insurance requires the use of LabCorp.

This is not the first occasion of slow or non existent service at this location during the morning hours. I visit this location in the morning on my way to work and I have NEVER been met with prompt service. If this office is aware that they are busy in the early morning, would it not make sense to staff for this, or maybe they just don’t care. From the attitudes of the front desk clerks I believe the latter is the case.

I worked in health care for 20 years as a hospital corpsman in the US NAVY. I have spent many years in a clinical setting both in a lab environment and a pharmacy environment. I can tell you, if we provided the level of service provided by this particular LabCorp facility, changes in management and staffing would have been forthcoming immediately. This facility provides terrible customer service and is a disgrace to your company.

I am available for further discussion at XXX-XXX-XXXX. I would greatly appreciate a response to this communication, either written or verbal

Thank You in Advance
John XXXXXXX

I received this email from a Texas Labcorp patient. Ironically, this is how my problems with LabCorp started. In her case, the LabCorp employee actually waited for her. In my case they threw me out 15 minutes before closing time. Just like her, the supervisors failed to return the calls. In my case when I finally spoke to them they stuck up for the employees and called me a liar.  It looks as though the employee attitude, lack of response by manager and finally the insults are a chapter in the LabCorp training manual.

Oh, my, gosh!  Where do I even start??!!  My experience took place on January 13, 2009 in Dallas, Texas on Garland Road.

I asked my doctor to call the Lab Corp (in network with United Healthcare) that was just around the corner from the hospital at 4:45 to make sure that someone would be there when I got there before 5:00.  I could tell that my doctor was having a problem with the person on the other end of the line when my doctor kept insisting that I would be there momentarily and kept saying that she would greatly appreciate it.

When I got to Lab Corp, it was 4:55 and the woman was waiting outside the door for me; please keep in mind that the business does not close until 5:00.  When we walked in the door, she screamed at me, “Is this an emergency?”  Like it was any of her business!!!   When I sat down to have my blood drawn, she kept venting that she couldn’t believe this was happening to her and that she should already be on her way home.  I asked what time they close (different locations close at different times) and she said 5:00.  I tried to explain to her that it was just now 5:00 and I got there before they closed.  She insisted that was not correct according to her time. 

I have NEVER been treated the way this lady treated me!!!  She was extremely rude!!!  I was beside myself.   I was in my car, on the phone with my doctor’s office, complaining about the experience at 5:02.  Had the woman just done her job and stopped complaining that she had to stay until 5:00, she might have actually been able to lock up at the correct closing time of 5:00.

The very next day, January 14, 2009 @ 10:35 a.m., I called Lab Corp to speak to her superior.  I left a message for her to please return my call.

After waiting two weeks, I again called Lap Corp on January 27, 2009 @ 9:55 a.m., to speak to her superior (the superior of the superior).  This time I got names.  The first lady I left a message with was Kay Hipshman.  This time I left a message with Mike Alvarez to please return my call.

It is now three weeks later, February 18, 2009, and I still have not heard from anyone.

Signed ~

A very disgruntled patient