ComplaintsforSt. Luke's Regional Medical Center

• Initial Complaint

  07/07/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I went to the ** due to extreme back pain. Gave me a CT scan and found 1 fracture in my spine. I had an MRI the next week. At 11:00PM the radiologist calls me very worried saying they found another 8 compression fractures in the same area as the first that was not found in the original scan. She told me to go back in to get fitted with a sturdy back brace and had to call them to make sure they would treat my pain, as they did nothing for me the first time. I am prescribed methadone for past addiction 4 years ago, and luckily I am because it helps my pain during the day but wears off at night. Keep in mind methadone is 564 times as potent as Morphine. When I went in they prescribed me Morphine 7.5mg, which did absolutly nothing as I would have needed 500 times the dose to have pain relief. Next month I was assaulted by a man who punched my back in the spot where my fractures are and I'm now having the worst pain I've experienced in my life. I took an ambulance to the **, crying the whole time, shaking, and even fainting a couple times from the pain. I saw **********************. My ********************* were extremely high due to pain. I could barley even move and was at a 9/10 @ times. They gave me another CT scan and allegedly found nothing wrong, except some bruising of my broken vertebrae. My chart was wrong, it said I was prescribed wrong dosed script, that I had Schizophrenia that was never diagnosed. Even though I showed 2 different nurses and the doctor an empty bottle showing my methadone prescription of 120mg, they would not update it. They gave me 10mg of Oxycodone. Yet, like the morphine my dose that I'm tolerent too is equivalent to 375mg of Oxycodone, so zero relief. They refused to dispense a med that would match my tolerence I could take at night. Waiting for a ride home, security came up and harassed me & caused pain. This is torture by definition & a break of the hypocritic oath. Nights are total suffering till daylight, with no quality of life. I can't even shower.

  Business response

  07/08/2024

  Thank you for sharing your feedback regarding St. ****'s. We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss your feedback and respond. You may contact us for follow up at ************************* or by calling ************.
  

  Best Regards,
  St.****'s Patient and Family Relations

• Initial Complaint

  03/20/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 3-3-24 I took my husband, ************************************* to the ** at St Lukes Meridian. He had been in a wrestling tournament, & was slammed hard to the ground. After this, he had pain to his lower right rib cage. We instantly thought it was fractured/ broken. He got sick 10 minutes after the match from the pain. He coughed up enough blood we deemed the ** necessary! We don't go to the hospital for anything. We can't afford insurance. When we got to the ** we let them know we don't have insurance & asked for a Chest xray. I literally argued with doctor ****** for at least ********************************************** Scan first. Well they did & also administered an IV to do the contrast. They then did 5 blood tests, also unnecessary, including blood typing! They could've just asked us as we know his blood type. We sat there for over 4 hours! The doctor came in & told my husband that everything is fine, they don't know why he coughed up blood & that they were discharging him. WE GOT NO ANSW**S! They then gave him a prescription for ******. An anti-nausea medication that we didn't fill! He was nauseated from the pain before we got there. They ran our bill sky high! When we asked them not to! We left & I called our PCP the next day (***************************** in ******, ********** stated they should've done a Chest xray & that she could order one, but that if it was fractured it would be a waste of even more money. She asked us to watch him & if not getting better to come down to see her. I filed a complaint with St. ****'s to have them review his ************ came back basically with a nicely written s**** you letter. His vitals are wrong on the discharge paperwork, the charting is wrong as to what we said, down to they have it charted as "recently quitting smoking". He doesn't smoke. I have exhausted all avenues with St Lukes. I drained our bank account to pay the radiologist ************* charges today & found out after $420 today, we will still owe $6126.58! For zero answers!

  Business response

  03/21/2024

  Thank you for sharing your feedback regarding St. ****'s. We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss your feedback and respond. You may contact us for follow up at ************************* or by calling ************.
  Best Regards,
  SLHS Patient and Family Relations

  Customer response

  03/21/2024

   
  Complaint: 21460669
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I called St Lukes Parient Relations on 3-21-24 at 4:20pm. They stated unless I had any new information that wasn't already given to them on 3-4-24 in my initial complaint, that they would not reopen or review the issue again. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  04/03/2024

  Thank you for sharing your feedback regarding St. ****'s. We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss your feedback and respond. You may contact us for follow up at ************************* or by calling ************.
  Best Regards,
  SLHS Patient and Family Relations

  Customer response

  04/03/2024

  I had reached out to St Lukes after their first response of wanting an opportunity to make things right. They stated they would NOT evaluate our experience again unless there were new findings. I responded to the BBB message that I was dissatisfied with their response as they are not even remotely interested in doing anything. I will call AGAIN tomorrow since they sent the same message again, and then update here. 

  Customer response

  04/03/2024

   
  Complaint: 21460669
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I called St Lukes after they responded with the same message on March 21st 2024. 

  When I spoke to them they had stated they would not review my husband's visit again (the board) unless I had new findings or a new complaint that I hadn't already expressed! I will call them again tomorrow and see what they have to say now...but it seems like a game of the run around when they message the same response to have the opportunity to make things right, but then tell me on the phone there's nothing they can do. 

  Sent the BBB a message and I will call the number provided after I speak with patient relations again tomorrow. 

  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  04/11/2024

  Thank you for sharing the feedback regarding St. ****'s. We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss the feedback and respond. The person filing this complaint may contact us for follow up at ************************* or by calling ************.
  Best Regards,
  SLHS Patient and Family Relations

  Customer response

  04/12/2024

   
  Complaint: 21460669
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Once again, I have been given the same response from St. ****'s through this complaint. They have yet to review my husband's ER visit. I did however get a bill since submitting this, and we have also been charged for IV saline (and an extra hour of it apparently) when my husband did NOT have IV fluids! I even have photos of him throughout the hours of sitting there waiting for the doctor where he was NOT hooked up to a drip line. (Updating family and friends on ********** Will be calling to see what they have to say about that first thing tomorrow! 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  05/06/2024

  Please share the following with the person submitting this complaint: 

   

  Thank you for sharing your feedback regarding St. ****'s. We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss your feedback and respond. You may contact us for follow up at ************************* or by calling ************.
  Best Regards,
  SLHS Patient and Family Relations

• Initial Complaint

  02/16/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I went to St Lukes urgent care where I was treated and cleared, although they did want to perform follow up lab work but because it was a Sunday, the urgent care lab was closed. So, urgent care requested I drive myself to the St Lukes emergency room only to get the lab work done. After lab work was confirmed normal, I left the *** They did some additional tests beyond lab work, but I did not sign nor verbally agree to anything beyond the lab work. Even though I only presented to ** for lab work, St Lukes incorrectly coded the visit as high severity and charged an exorbitant $1504.00 just for walking in to get blood drawn, not including the charges for other unnecessary tests. After insurance paid, and urgent care was paid in full, Im still left with a bill for over $350 just for ** billing. I have tried many times to appeal how it was incorrectly billed, but it is denied every time and I am not given the contact information of the associated governing bodies/persons making these decisions. St. Lukes offers no reasonable explanation or transparency. In an attempt to be done dealing with it, I offered $200 as a settlement on January 5th, and supervisor ********************* told me it would be unusual for St. Lukes to not accept it. On February 8th, I received a letter from ***********************, saying St. Lukes is not willing to accept any amount less than the $350-400 amount. I responded immediately to ****** via email on February 8th once again disputing her claims and still have not received a response as of February 15th. I do not owe St. Lukes anymore than my coinsurance portion of the cost of the lab work as I did NOT agree to any charges beyond the urgent care visit (paid in full) and the lab work which I presented to the ** for. St. Lukes coding error has resulted in incorrect over billing. I am willing to settle this dispute for the lab work coinsurance expense anytime but would request St. Lukes to consider it as payment in full and consider the matter closed.

  Business response

  02/22/2024

  Thank you for sharing your feedback regarding St. ****'s. We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss your feedback and respond. You may contact us for follow up at ************************* or by calling ************.
  Best Regards,
  SLHS Patient and Family Relations

  Customer response

  02/28/2024

   
  Complaint: 21301679
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  I have called Patient Relations twice as well as emailed them and have gotten no resolution. The first time I called on 2/20 I was forwarded to escalated billing and left a voicemail. After receiving no response, I called a second time on 2/22, I told the patient relations representative I had not gotten a response from escalated billing and told them I didnt want to leave another voicemail, to which I was then again forwarded to the escalated ******** number, and got through after a very long hold. Escalated billing then again reiterated they arent able to do anything about the bill and I need to take the matter up with patient relations. The person from escalated billing recommended I email patient relations, so sent an email to patient relations but have not received a response.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  03/07/2024

  Thank you for sharing your feedback regarding St. ****'s. We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss your feedback and respond. You may contact us for follow up at ************************* or by calling ************.
  Best Regards,
  SLHS Patient and Family Relations

• Initial Complaint

  12/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This is an ongoing billing issue from St. Lukes. I have an old insurance policy which is inactive that St. Lukes continues to bill. They then send me online bills saying I owe money, without billing my current insurance. They have the current insurance information in their MyChart system. I have given them the current insurance card a number of times in person, on the phone and via electronic message. When I have called St Lukes, they blame it on my insurance company, but my insurance company says it is a St. Lukes issue.I have a letter from St Lukes dated November 28, 2023 stating they have verified the current insurance and billed them on November 14, 2023. However, they sent me a bill dated 12/1/23 for the same service date showing that they billed it to the old insurance. I have confirmed with my insurance that they have not received a claim for that date.

  Business response

  12/27/2023

  On behalf of *********, thank you for the concerns shared regarding a charges associated with medical care.  We would welcome the opportunity to review and respond to these concerns.  Please feel free to contact St. Luke's ******* &Family ******************** at ************ or by emailing ************************** You may also direct charge or billing concerns to ***************** Services: **************** at ************. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  St. Luke's ******* & Family Relations

• Initial Complaint

  06/25/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I went to a St. ****** lab on 8/29/22 to have a blood draw. I purposefully went before 9/1/22 because I knew my insurance coverage would be changing on 9/1/22. Prior to 9/1/22, I had met my out-of-pocket maximum with my insurance so the visit would have been covered 100% by insurance and my cost would have been $0. St. ****** made an error and my blood was placed in the wrong tube so it could not be processed. No one from St. ****** ever called me to tell me that I needed to return to the lab and have it redrawn. After several weeks of waiting and trying to track down my lab results, I discovered that St. ****** had processed it incorrectly and it had to be re-drawn. I returned to the lab in September, now with different insurance. Naturally, I had a new deductible to meet with my new insurance. As an additional hardship, the lab was a requirement from my school and since I was not notified that it was not processed, I did not have the lab results by the deadline and I was forced to take a leave of absence from school until I had the lab result. Later, I received a bill from St. ****** for $133.26. I notified St. ****** that I should not be billed for this and explained why. St. ****** made false claims stating that the processing center announced a recall on the lab tubes after my blood was drawn. This is not true. There was a change in which tube should be used to process this lab but St. ****** was notified by the processing center which tube this lab needed to be collected in, and sent the notification out to employees, prior to me getting my blood drawn. Furthermore, they made false claims that they notified me that I needed a redraw. St. ****** should cover the bill.

  Business response

  06/26/2023

  Thank you for sharing concerns associated with Complaint #********.

  St. ****** takes all concerns very seriously and responds directly to the person making the complaint.  We appreciate the opportunity to review and respond to concerns; however, privacy laws prevent us from sending the Better Business Bureau details of the correspondence.  

  We can confirm that the BBB complaint has been received and ******* Relations will respond to the complaint through the established process.  In the meantime, if the person making the BBB complaint would like to speak to someone about their concerns, they are welcome to call St. ****** ******* Relations at ************ or by email to:  *************************.  

  Sincerely, 

  St. ****** ******* & Family Relations.

  Customer response

  07/08/2023

   
  Complaint: 20235053
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  St. ****** just re-sent their original response making false claims that they notified me of the need for re-draw and they were not aware of the recall until after my blood had been drawn. If they can provide evidence that these are true I will happily pay the bill. However, they can't, because these are not true. If they did notify me, as they claim, on August 30th of the need for a re-draw, why would i wait 2 weeks to return for a redraw? I wouldn't. I would have returned the same day and this problem would have been avoided. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  Business response

  07/18/2023

  Thank you again for sharing the concerns with Complaint #********. 

  St. ****** takes all concerns very seriously and responds directly to the person making the complaint.  All previously reported concerns, correspondence, reviews conducted, and outstanding issues have been escalated to appropriate leaders throughout our organization.  We understand this person disagrees with our review findings and past responses, and we sincerely regret our attempts to address their concerns have not met their expectations.  St. ****** has provided them with additional resources due to the ongoing dissatisfaction with our response. Once again, we apologize for the frustration and that this has created doubt regarding the level of care or service we provide. 

  Thank you for the opportunity to respond. 

  Sincerely,

  St. ****** ******* and Family Relations

  ************ 

  *************************

   

  Customer response

  07/27/2023

   
  Complaint: 20235053
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  The issue is not resolved. You need to write off the bill.

  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  Business response

  08/15/2023

  Thank you for sharing this dispute of the Better Business Bureau complaint. 

  St. ****** will continue to respond directly to the person who has filed this complaint.  This protects patient privacy and personal health or financial information. 

  Sincerely,

  St. ****** ******* and Family Relations

   

  Customer response

  08/15/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

• Initial Complaint

  01/02/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My son was born at St. Lukes in November 2022. In the middle of a divorce, but according to Idaho law my name was required to include on the birth certificate paperwork the hospital submitted to the Idaho ****** of ***** Records. The hospital openly acknowledged me as the father multiple times, but the nurse wouldnt let me see the birth certificate paperwork when I asked. The same nurse also came and intervened when I asked someone else for details about the birth certificate information. I was told by the same nurse that my name would be on the birth certificate paperwork, but wasnt permitted to see any of it. Subsequently the Idaho ****** of ***** Records has informed me that my name was not included on the birth certificate, and I am now looking at additional thousands of dollars of legal fees to resolve the fraudulent record that was filed with the state through court.

  Business response

  01/03/2023

  On behalf of St.Luke's, thank you for the concerns shared regarding this experience.  We would welcome the opportunity to review and respond to these concerns.  Please feel free to contact St. Luke's ******* & Family ******************** at ************ or by emailing **************************
  
  Sincerely,
  
  St. Luke's ******* & Family Relations

• Initial Complaint

  06/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On April ************************************************************************************************************************************** the hospital the police officers told the doctor that I was manic and needed to be put on a commitment when I talked to the doctor I told him I was just fine and then it was my sons birthday and that I had not committed a crime or done anything wrong according to no police I was Acting crazy when I was justI Upset about this situation I have been dealing with issues like this with the state of Idaho and various hospitals for approximately *********************************************************************************************************** with medication I did not agree to this I told him I just needed some food and to go home or to get some rest they proceeded to inject me with seven different medications over the course of **************************************** On April 14 I dont have any recollection of this due to being drugged unconscious I woke ** in the jail they had informed me I had been charge with battery on a hospital worker approximately a week later I bonded out and was returned to the same room in the emergency room at St. Lukes on Midland Road in ***** Idaho they kept me in that room for approximately three days they transferred me to St. Lukes in ********* for approximately three days none of the local hospitals hate me considering I had just been released from the hospital and they would did not think obviously that I had a mental illness I need to be hospitalized theres proceeded to have me transferred to the St. Lukes mental health facility in ********** then I was given to positive DE opinion Charged with disorderly conduct in a mental hospital and sent to Orofino until I got out in July after review of the medical records the doctor had informed someone or it was all my medical records that I had multiple suicide attempts Which is not true I have never not even once attemped suicide

  Business response

  06/13/2022

  On behalf of St.Luke's, thank you for the concerns shared regarding this care experience.  We would welcome the opportunity to review and respond to these concerns.  Please feel free to contact St. Luke's ******* & Family ******************** at ************ or by emailing **************************
  
  Sincerely,
  
  St. Luke's ******* & Family Relations

  Customer response

  06/17/2022

   
  Complaint: 17418098
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The patient relations department does not do anything to resolve this matter Ive been requesting records and requested them when I left the hospital in 2021 April they have not
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Geirrod *****

  Business response

  07/13/2022

  On behalf of St. ****** Health System, thank you for sharing the consumer's ongoing dispute.  We would welcome the opportunity to address his dissatisfaction with communications from St. ****** in May and June 2022.  Please be advised he may contact ******* Relations at ************ or by emailing *************************.

   

  Thank you,

  St. ****** ******* and Family Relations

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩