I took my daughter to this urgent care for culture of a ruptured abscess on her foot. I wanted to make sure that she did not have a staff infection since she was scheduled for back surgery in a month.\r
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Dr. Mel looked at the foot and since it had already ruptured and drained he took a culture. He took a long swab and took a culture of the area, ordered an x ray to make sure the infection hadn't spread to the bone, gave her a tetanus and antibiotic shot and prescribed oral antibiotics.\r
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When I received the bill from his office I was in shock. He billed my insurance company for incision and drainage of abscess of the foot, in other words he charged us for a surgery. I called his office and spoke with Dr. Mel who seemed forgetful. He asked ""are you sure I didn't cut open her foot?'. I told him no and that I was present as was my 26 year old daughter who was the patient. We should know if he cut her foot open! I told him that I would not pay for a surgery that wasn't performed. He told us that it didn't matter whether he charged us for a surgery or an office visit, that it was the same amount. I have Anthem Blue Cross as my insurance provider and if it was billed as an office visit my co payment should have been $45, which I paid at the time of the visit. I could see that I was getting no where with this so I filed a grievance with Anthem and they told me that while they were investigating I should disregard the bills.\r
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Today I received another bill. I called Southland Family Urgent care and asked to speak to someone in the billing department. I spoke with George and told him that I was told by my insurance company to disregard the bill as I had filed a grievance through my insurance company. He told me that my insurance company was wrong and to not bother him anymore with this ""crap"" and hung up on me.\r
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After calling my insurance company again, I was told that they had spoken to George who confirmed through my medical records that a surgery was performed and under California law they have to go by the medical records and were ruling in the favor of the urgent care center. I was told by my insurance company that I would need to file a complaint with the Attorney Generals Office.\r
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I called Southland Urgent care one more time to try and resolve this issue before I took this step. Dr. Mel got on the phone and told me that he would file a harassment complaint against me if I called his office again.\r
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You be the judge.......I would not allow this office to remove a splinter from my finger if I had the choice. Bad doctor and even worse office staff.\r
Shame on you Southland Family Urgent Care!!!!
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