Mitchell Sheila MD PS

patients be ware. Sheila’s unprofessional-​ism regarding billing patients is astounding. i got billed 3 years after date of service then when I tried to remedy my bill it took 3 months to track someone down. then because I didn’t pay that moment on the phone she sent my bill to collections. read further for the full story, this is the complaint I filed with the attorney general. Again I did try to pay my bill for 3 months. In 2012 I received a letter from this office stating there will now be a membership fee of $ 180.00/person/year, to remain on Sheila Mitchell’s patient list. This was too much money for my family to pay as I have a family of 4 and 3 of us were patients at this clinic. At this time I called the office to let them know I could no longer be a patient there and do I have a balance on any of our accounts. I was told by whoever was on the phone that we had a $ 0 balance on all 3 accounts. Then on December 21^st, 2015, 3 years later, I receive a bill for $ 170.00 + 3 $ 15.00 late fees bringing the total bill up to $ 220.00. This bill was for a service rendered in 2012. The bill stated that if I didn’t pay the bill by December 28^th, 2015, I would be sent to collections. So I immediately called the clinic, which was a machine referring me to her biller Judy Wilcox. I then called Judy and left a message with my new phone number, my husbands phone number, my email address and my new physical address. I heard nothing, so the following month in January I received another bill and again called Judy, this time I called her multiple times over the next couple of weeks. Still heard nothing. Then in February I still hadn’t heard anything so I began calling Sheila Mitchell herself at her new clinic, 3 times in fact. I was able to speak with a receptionist all 3 time who said the would make sure she got the message. The third time I called I was understandably upset at this point and the receptionist assured me that she would get Sheila to call me. So about 30 minutes later I received a call back from Sheila who began explaining that she apologized for the bill coming so late but they are going through accounts because the office is closing and her biller was unable to get a hold of me because my number was disconnected. (side note, I know they had my number because the bill was sent using my current physical address which I only have lived at since July 2015. They could only have that address if they got my message containing my new contact information, as the number they had on file was disconnected in May 2015 when we left our old house. I didn’t receive the bill until December therefore I would not have given the old number as contact info.) She said she would remove the late fees bringing the bill back down to $ 170.00. Then she said I needed to pay her over the phone right then. I said I cannot do that, that is why I have been trying to contact Judy to get a payment plan set up. This is the point she began getting forceful and told me I had to pay over the phone right now, and if I didn’t have a debit card I could use I needed to use a credit card. I said I do not have a credit card to use. Sheila told me I was lying and just didn’t want to pay my bill. I again tried to explain I am and have been trying to pay my bill but no one will contact me back. She again told me I was a liar and just didn’t want to use a credit card. So I explained I have one credit card with a $ 70.00 balance so I cannot use this card. She then told me to go borrow money from my friends. I said I will not ask my friends to pay my medical bills. She is now beginning to raise her voice, as she told me «why you don’t have friends.» I continued to explain to her I am trying to remedy this bill and it is not my fault she waited 3 years to bill me and it is also not my fault that her biller will not call me back. She then insulted me a second time by telling me «you’re probably the type of person who walks out of the grocery store without paying.» I was pretty angry at this point and yes that comment did cause me to raise my voice to match hers and I said «no I“m the type of person who budgets in how much I can spend, and that’s the amount I spend.» She then began saying if I had been making payment over the last 3 years then this wouldn’t be a problem. She also said what would you have done if you received this bill 3 years ago. I replied with «i would have set up a plan and paid it like I did all my other bills with your clinic and every other clinic I have been to, but I can’t pay a bill I didn’t know I had.» She then insulted me a 3^rd time yelling «You are the type of person that takes their car to a mechanic and drive off and then swindle them out of their payment.» She was yelling so loud I was at my table and my brother about 18 – 20 feet away could hear her. By this point I was really heated I told her no I am the type of person that has drove my car for 2 years without proper heat because I can’t afford to have it fixed and my husband ha