Healthy Outlets for Anger

I've made a commitment since about November 2009 to only take my anger out on Sanford Health collections people. Now, these poor people are only trying to do their jobs, but since the situation is so dang ridiculous and I could use a place to vent, I've chosen to vent on them!

It appears that the Sanford system doesn't like to follow directions from Medicaid. It would also appear that they aren't very organized. I had to take Cyrus to the E/R on a Sunday morning back in August because he had a high fever and was having trouble breathing. Since he was a year old and no urgent care available, I really thought the E/R trip was warranted! We get there and his oxygen levels are not where they were supposed to be. They gave him oxygen and a nebulizer treatment and a chest x-ray then sent us home with meds once his oxygen level was back to normal.

Am I totally off base for thinking that if a child has to be given oxygen on a weekend, the decision to go to the E/R was the correct one?

Well, Sanford keeps claiming they didn't get the referral from the pediatrician so they want me to pay the bill. I have a copy of the referral so I know the pediatrician did it. This last conversation with the collections people was ridiculous. Apparently, after I last went off one of their reps and paid a visit to the Vermillion billing office, a note went into their computer saying the bill was my responsibility, that I'm aware of that, and that the care was not emergent since my kid had been sick for three days. Um, WHAT??? He *may* have had a cold for a couple days, but nothing that made me think he needed a doctor. What part of "child had low oxygen level due to labored breathing" did they miss??

Anyways, poor Sanford Health is getting one final chance to get their act right. I'm faxing the referral I have up to Sioux Falls and requesting a full chart copy of Cyrus' medical records. If they screw it up or refuse to re-bill to Medicaid, I'm going to send the whole stack of stuff to Medicaid, and whoever the heck runs Sanford so I can get them audited and get some idiot fired. Oh, and I'm still not paying that bill.

Grrrrr!