Newport Harbor Radiology Associates Medical Group

I also received texts (no bill, just text-​shady much?) regarding a so-​called bill for services covered and already paid for by insurance. No idea what the issue is but very upset that a company that contracts with Hoag is this disorganized and can’t even bill properly. I called my insurance and they’ve never received a bill from this place, and I can’t even find out what it’s for. I’ll happily discuss the ineptitude of whomever does the billing.

So I received a random automated voice message today saying that I owed a balance to Newport Harbor Radiology Associates, even though I have never visited this place or received a bill. I almost disregarded this message until I heard the part about being sent to collections, and legitimately thought this was a scam message as the VM mentioned their payment website is «ezmed​info​.com» (what kind of professional website name is that??) All of this sounded really shady, but I am SO glad I checked Unilocal and noticed that there are a ton of people who have been put in the same situation! I quickly put the scare to rest, and am hoping that this review can also serve as proof that I paid this bill, in the event I get a call from Collections stating otherwise. Based on everyone else’s reviews, I wouldn’t be surprised…
I realize this bill must have come from a visit I had to Hoag for a ultrasound in their Radiology department. Although I paid the Hoag bill as soon as I got it, apparently there are non-​disclaimed contracts their physicians must have with businesses such as this. Hoag is supposed to be one of the best hospitals in Orange County, so I am shocked that they would work with such a company as Newport Harbor who essentially makes near-​fraudulent charges to patients (or at the very least, threatens patients when they have not done due-​diligence to actually notify a patient of a bill in the first place!)
I am extremely livid right now about this situation, especially when I have a near-​perfect credit score and have never had to worry about being called by Collections to ruin everything. I’m writing this review to let other Unilocalers know that if you receive a mysterious voicemail from this company, pay whatever bill they think you should pay! The last thing anyone needs on top of medical issues is your credit score being ruined by a corrupt /​shady business.

Here is another nasty experience. They have very bad and not so courteous billing department! They send one statement and even though regular payments were made if only one bill is missed (which was lost in the mail and was never received) next thing you receive is an automated threatening nasty message informing you that your account will be sent to collection!!! Apparently Hoag Hospital uses them and I will definitely make a complaint to Hoag regarding them as well !
Dr.K

Wow, completely insane. I’m not one to write reviews, but I’ve never experienced anything like this, and would hope that others could do whatever they can to avoid this place.
In short, the stories here from others are what my wife and I also experienced: never received a bill from NHR and simply out of nowhere received a letter from collections. Having never heard of the place, we eventually discovered that it originated from a matter-​of-​fact 14-​week ultrasound we received at Hoag that was sent to NHR for review? I’m not sure about back billing or other nether practices of the billing department, but this is our first time being sent to collections and I can tell you, we’ve paid lots of bills for our medical expenses, including everything else from this pregnancy (and birth) along with our previous child. No one else had a hard time finding us.
Hillary, the customer service representative from the collections agency (who I will also be writing a review for) was curt and mechanical, totally unsympathetic to our scenario and completely unwilling to extend the due date for the payment to allow our own investigation with insurance. After talking with my wife for a few minutes and my wife passing the phone to me in totally bewilderment, she literally started by making me state my name and repeat the entire scenario – a mind-​blowing customer relations experience.
Newport Harbor Radiology doesn’t answer phone calls, only a message machine. Our insurance does answer phone calls, says that they should have been billed, and never received a bill from NHR. Clearly, as others have indicated, this all points to NHR’s incompetency and /​or malignant business practices, and likely an inability to correct due to the Dunning-​Kruger effect.
It’s hard to believe that, here in 2016 we have to deal with such business practices, yet here I am writing a review. Future generations will look back at us and wonder why we put up with such insanity in regard to our health care system and the reckless profiteering and extortion that it revolves around. Just pathetic.
If empowerment by information leads to action a in democratic sense, my only hope that these reviews dissuade others from attempting to give NHR their business. Regardless of their medical expertise, they simply don’t deserve it.

If I could give this place negative stars I would for their billing department. Frankly, they should fire their billing department particularly based off all these negative reviews — and our bill is paid.

If a business is ethical in their interactions with patients — that would include their billing practices. My mother has never received a bill from their office. However she has been sent to collection who is now harassing me with phone calls and letters. All of my calls to their billing department and collection has failed. They have admitted that the bill was sent to an address that is incorrect. However they will not send a bill to her current address and they will not provide any information. How can a person resolve a problem without correct information?
Patients: make sure you let whoever is taking your radiographs know that you are not consenting to have your X-​rays read or engage in any patient-​physician relationship with Newport Harbor Radiology Physicians.
Newport Harbor Radiology Physicians: you are informed that your offices and billing department is not handling your patients in a fair and ethical manner. If you plan to stay in business you need to correct this. Based on my experience and other reviews you are engaging in unfair and unethical business practices.

WTF???
I got a bill from a random physician at this office, and then a robot call and voice mail. I called them back and was told that I owe them $. WTF? I never saw a physician in this group and never requested service from this group.
I called them back, and was on hold for a LONG time to speak to a representative. It took 15min just to figure out what the situation was. I had to then pull up my insurance account online and see that a check was issued but they never received it. So I told them to call the insurance company directly to request information on the payment. Guess what? I was told they can’t call out and can only receive calls? WHAT? They told me I have to call my insurance company and have my insurance company call them. Wow, that’s like all around the a$$ to get the hole.
I have never heard of something more idiotic.

Got an automated call from a collection agency today regarding a bill from this establishment that I never received for treatment that occurred 10 months ago. I’m baffled as to why I never received a bill or any notice prior to being sent to collections.

Why does this place make it so difficult to pay your bill? I had an X ray done two months ago. I can’t even get them to send me a bill for starters, and no one ever picks up the phone or calls me back when I leave a message. I ran into the same problem two years ago when I got an ultrasound.
From reading other reviews, it looks like everyone agrees that the billing department here is out of control.

The physicians billing department for this company is the worst and in fact borders on criminal. We have numerous statements where they have billed us the wrong amount due to not applying the secondary insurance payment. When I call them they tell me their computer shows the secondary insurance payment, but it was not applied to the outstanding balance and they will have to open an investigation. When asked why, if their computer shows a secondary insurance payment, they can’t credit our account, they advise they need to figure out where the money went.
After reading all the other reviews, this seems to be the standard operating procedure of the billing department for this company and I have to wonder if this is purposeful instead of accidental. What ever the case do not pay any bill from this company without comparing it to an insurance explanation of Benefits.

This review is only for the billing department:
I don’t normally write reviews but I definitely feel like I should say something about this company’s billing department. It’s awful. Everything that past reviewers mentioned about the billing process is absolutely true. They lost my insurance info and acted like they never had it on file and proceeded to send me to collections even though they never sent me a bill. There is also several discrepancies I’ve experienced from different billing representatives saying different things.
Looking back at past reviews, I really surprised that this whole billing incompetence hasn’t been resolved by now.
So NHRA… please get your billing system in order.

This is a complaint regarding their billing practices/​department, not the radiologists or the office. I have always had a pleasant experience with the office staff and radiologists.
I had an US done in 2014. They ran the bill through my primary insurance but failed to run it through the secondary insurance. I received a bill and assumed they were waiting for payment from the secondary insurance, as I knew that I was not to be billed for anything. Later, I received a bill from a collection agency stating that I owed them $ 121! I went onto their site and paid the $ 121 because I didn’t want it on my credit. At this point, I thought perhaps I did have to pay a portion of it and forgot about it. Fast forward, I had another US done and received another bill, this time for $ 125. Again, I was confused because I thought I wasn’t supposed to be billed so I called my insurance and was told that they are only billing the primary insurance and that they are supposed to be billing the secondary and that I am not responsible for paying the $ 125. I proceed to call NHRA and discuss this with them. They take all of my information, state that they will run it through the secondary insurance. I then bring up that I made a payment to them previously for an US and wanted to be reimbursed since they were supposed to run it through the secondary insurance. They tell me that they will reimburse me when they receive payment and that they will run it through the secondary insurance right away. At this point, I felt like stuff was going to get done and expected a reimbursement from them.
TWO months later, I have not received any reimbursement. I call the number on the bill and am told that they sent the bill to the secondary insurance but have not received anything yet. I then called the insurance and they stated they did get the bill and they paid it. I call NHRA billing back. That phone call was a total waste of my time… Here is a few things I figured out while on that call…
1. If you don’t call and stay on top of them they will do nothing because they already have your money and don’t care if insurance reimburses them.
2. They apparently have some «policy» that states if the primary insurance doesn’t pay it, they don’t run it through the secondary because «most» secondary insurances won’t pay if the primary insurance doesn’t pay. Well, it just so happens that mine does!
3. If you actually call and try to get the ball rolling to get reimbursed they will send some report to «investigations», which can take 2 – 3 weeks. You have to call customer service to get updates because they refuse to transfer you to the investigations department and there is no phone number for the investigations department… well…no phone number for the customer.
4. Once they do get reimbursed from insurance, it can take 2 – 3 weeks for them to reimburse you. Making this whole process about 6 months! This is all assuming that YOU keep on top of them and don’t let them drop the ball.
Had they just run it through the secondary insurance, this never would have happened. But, as I was reminded over and over again by the customer service agent…“that’s not policy.” It’s policy to only put it through the primary and then bill the customer… even though they have secondary insurance. Oh ya, he said it was a waste of paper to run it through the secondary! Huh… interesting.
All was not lost on my phone calls though… I ended up calling my insurance again and talked to a lovely person who proceeded to call NHRA and get my reimbursement processed. Thank goodness for her… she will be getting a compliment.
Get your billing practices in order, please!!!

I agree with so many of the comments… the physicians and staff are great, but dealing with their billing department and system is a nightmare! I have been going to Newport Imaging since 2003 after a cancer diagnosis. Because I trust the radiologists I keep returning there for all my follow up tests but every time I do I know there is going to be a potential billing problem. That’s the reason they are getting two stars. I hope the physicians read these reviews because something needs to be done!

If you want to receive countless billing errors and debt collections calls because they can’t get their billing correct, this is a great place to go! Also, if you like long waits and having them mix you up with other patients… once again, give them a try!
Otherwise, go to any of the tons of other places that can’t be as bad as this place.

I am not one to post negative reviews lightly as I know sometimes things can happen and faulting an entire business for a simple mistake isn’t productive so this negative review should be taken seriously.
I am compelled to post this when I read all the other similar reviews that show a lack of institutional control. There was a bill that I was never made aware of that was sent to collections. They had a wrong address and didn’t call or do any easy research first. Also what made this initially feel like a scam is I had never actually been to their location. But after some digging found out that they were contracted out to interrupt MRI results, hence the charge.
I have never been sent to collections before so this was disheartening. Luckily I handled it quickly but would also consider legal action with other parties as they have suggested. Some reviewers have said the doctors are good but the billing practices are what is at fault. However at the end of the day the doctors are the employers so the issues ultimately lie with them. My doctor was a doctor Chan who I never met with or heard from. There was no way for me to follow up. We never heard from the office at any point or were told that a bill would be coming from the office. Very disappointing and I would steer clear of this group at all costs. There are plenty of competent doctors and offices that won’t continually make mistakes and until they can verify that they have overhauled their systems (which would take about 5 seconds if they went with a call first!) no one should go there. If they can’t make this simple step how many wrong and inaccurate diagnosis have they also made? I think they should be held accountable with so many billing issues in a short time frame.

The radiologists are great, but the billing department not so great!
I received my bill and proceeded to pay it on-​line, only to discover the on-​line balance was a different dollar amount from the balance on my statement. I tried calling the 1 – 888 number on the statement. After sitting through a very, very lengthy recorded message, they disconnected my call! (I’m doing this from work.)
After a call to a local NHR office, I was given a local number to call with my billing questions (why isn’t this number on the statement?). I called and got a recorded message, where I left a message for a return call. We played telephone tag about 4 times. I gave up.

The billing practices are terrible and very damaging. My husband and I have been sent to collections many times by Newport Harbor even though they have records of our insurance. (They will not give you services without proof of insurance), they don’t bill you but send you to collections instead. I don’t know why they are doing that to people. Even my insurance company is aware of that and they talked to their collection agencies –CMRE– to no avail. They continue sending us to collections for bills they never tried to get paid by my insurance. They are affecting our credit rating a great deal. Their practices are irresponsible, unprofessional and extremely damaging. I don’t even want to have any work done by them at all any more.

From their website FAQs:
«My billing question was not resolved after I called your billing office [1−877−727−1071 but in my experience a complete waste of time], what should I do?
Please call the NHRA corporate office at 949−645−3534. Although we do not have access to the billing system, and cannot look up your account, we can take your information and have a billing manager contact you.»
This time my problem is minor, just an invoice showing charges I’ve already paid. Three years ago I had a bigger problem that included unallowed «balance billing» that took months of phone calls and letters, ultimately including one from my attorney, before they finally relented and corrected their statement.
Next time I’ll be more diligent working with my doc to find a radiologist not part of NHRA.

I’m writing this review to advise everybody to AVOID Newport Harbor Radiology. They engage in deceptive billing practices known as «back billing».
My wife had an ultrasound, and without our knowledge they sent our ultrasound to be read by Newport Harbor Radiology. They then billed us for $ 200+ even though it was covered under our insurance. I contacted my insurance company to try and work it out (took hours) and finally they got it paid at their contracted rate — I had to file a grievance to get that done.
Well, NHR wanted to get the full crazy-​town bend-​over and pay $ 1500/​hr for us to look at your scan because you had no idea it was going to cost that much and theres nothing you can do about it– so they billed us for the balance above my insurance company’s contracted rate.
Now I have to go fight with them to stop billing us. Our insurance plan doesn’t allow back-​billing and they should know it.

I open up my mail and see a ‘collections letter’ that I never paid a bill of about $ 300. The thing is, I never knew there was a bill! No one called me from NHR! I never received a letter, Nothing! Now I am dealing w a collection agency!!! TOTALLY going after Newport Radiology now, this is wrong and now my credit is affected. Stay away from this place, seems as if they just post a bill, then send it to collections.