Have you heard of a paper bill or statement fee from a doctors office?

I believe there is a limit a doctor can charge based on Medicare laws. Google it. $15 sounds like too much.

Take your cancelled checks with you, or a link to them on your phone. As well as the EOBs from your insurance.

Does the doc's office say they use this payment portal? Or is it a scam?

Is it PatientPops? A quick look at the BBB website would seem to indicate that a lot of docs are unhappy with it.

I am going to the office this morning to try and clear it up. I received a collection call from the billing person yesterday. The portal is not their website. It is a link to patienttops.com and it just shows your name and asks for a credit card for payment. I have tried to explain I prefer to write checks for medical bills. I only use credit cards for emergencies. The office does not seem to understand that. I told them I need a bill for my files and they say it is $15. The bill is for $961 and that amount is not on my explaination of benefits. I already paid for the 2 at home tests at 255 apiece and 1054 for the in person study so I do not know what it is for which is why I want the bill. It is frustrating.

Some do charge for copies. Just tell them the statement is not available on their website and you need it posted so you can review it. When they hand it to you it should show past balances, adjustments, etc so you can keep up.

One of the many articles on data sharing and data silos is this:

Healthcare Data Silos: From Tragedy to Opportunity (intellimed.com)

"Business decision making: Data sharing can yield significant value when it comes to strategic business decision making. One example includes the ability to flag readmissions among data sets to work on strategies to reduce readmission rates, which hospitals are now penalized for by CMS."

There can be an upside to data gathering, but it depends also on the entity doing so, and whether or not the data is limited to medical facilities, and under what conditions.

There's another sneaky aspect about patient portals: they're data gatherers for the host, which may or likely is trying to market to sell medical equipment. I researched one and found out that one of their frustrations are "data silos", which apparently prevented them from more complete access to patient info.

Some years ago an ACO contacted my father post hospital discharge. I demanded more information from this outfit, including how it obtained my father's hospital records, whether it was nonprofit or a for profit company, what information was gathered and how it was used, and more.

The outfit was a for profit corporation, hired by the hospital to do "follow-up" work such as asking if Dad had taken his meds that day, how he was feeling, and more.

I told them we weren't interested, remove his name, DON'T SELL HIS INFORMATION, and don't pester him again.

I also began writing on medical history sheets which doctors use for new patients that I refused to provide information for its patient portal, and held them responsible for data breaches if they themselves added my personal information and released it to any company hosting a patient portal.

That didn't sit well with the doctor, with whom my sister. father and I had been treated well before the patient portal started data gathering. The doctor never mentioned my refusal to release data, but his attitude reflected that he obviously wasn't very interested in my current problem.

I went after another medical facility, with which I hadn't treated for at least 5 years. I received a letter from a patient portal with reminders on what vaccinations to get, and more general data that didn't apply to me. I traced the company, learned it was a patient portal "helping" the medical practice monitor and keep its patients up to date.

It clearly was a for profit corporation, and admitted it got the information to solicit me from the medical practice. And in fact, one of the doctors had signed the solicitation. So I called the practice and asked what authority they had to release information from someone who wasn't even a client any more.

Staff weren't aware of this, so I asked when the specific doctor would be in as I intended to make it clear he had no authority to release (or sell) my information. Then I gave him a few days to see if the call would be returned (it wasn't), and monitored my mail for any follow-ups; there were none. My complaints stopped the release of my data.

If you want further explore the issue of using personal medical information for profit by companies operating data silos, research "data silos", and limitations of constraints on data silos.

MILHell: One of my specialists had a link to a payment portal, which I overrode due to the fact that I will NEVER receive a bill as I have Medicare and also Medicare Supplemental. Do you have a PATIENT portal with your specialist? That should be a concise documentation of your account. That seems a bit rich that they are charging you $15.00 for a photocopy of a bill that shows a ZERO balance.

It is very odd. When the text came I was at work and the caller ID stated a Christian group, I thought it was election spam. When I was home I looked. There is no bill in the portal. I usually use portals and compare to my explaination of benefits from the insurance company. There was no similiar charge which is why I called the office and was told of the fee.

Those patient portals are a pain in the neck.

I'd tell the doctor's office that you charge a $25 fee per login to use portals, and only respond to mailed information.

I have billed doctors for wasting my time sitting in their waiting rooms past my appointment time, so feel free to turn the tables on them with this nonsense about charging for a bill. I guarantee you the doctor himself has no knowledge of this policy, and he has an overzealous office manager.

With all the scam artists out there, you are wise to be suspicious. Does the doctor have a website with a patient portal? All bills should be there for your review and a payment option.

Just sit back and see if they send another bill. Please send a copy of that text to your e-mail and then send a copy to your doctor to ask if it's a scam or real. Please change to paperless bills so that you would know, immediately, that the payment portal in the text was fake.

P.S. Don't click on links sent to you on your phone unless you can see your provider's name in the link.

If there is a fee to get the bill don’t pay it. It is the vendors burden to send a bill. You can always dispute and hidden charges you did not agree to.

All bills should be documented in paper, email or member portal APP, such as from Kaiser's MyDoctor Online secured receipts. Never click on a text link unless you are sure it was authorized by you. Many scammers can claim a bill is due, making you click on their link and take your money without an invoice for services.

Go to your insurance explanation of benefits (EOB) to see if there is a further co pay. Both should be in agreement. If something is amiss, call the insurance and notify them of the discrepancy. You can also send a copy of the EOB with your unpaid bill to the doctors billing. If insurance agrees with you, they will go after the doctors contract with insurance. This is sometimes how fraud is discovered.

Most info I can find is for Medical records which you can be charged for and I have been. This is what I found about statements:

"While federal regulations do not explicitly state that it is illegal to charge for paper statements, NCLC argues that “financial institutions should not, and legally cannot, charge a fee for providing something they are mandated by law to provide.”Jan 15, 2019"

Did you ask if your acct showed a balance? If it does and the portal is not working correctly, you should not be charged and I would argue that.

I would say your doctor has set up a portal for all his patients. Me, I rarely take advantage of these. I also think there are older patients, like my husband, who are computer illiterate. These people need a statement. Just like statements, once a month the system probably sends out these "virtual statements" When u opened up your portal there was no statement because you owed nothing. Your Health insurance should be sending you a summary of anything they have paid for unless its Medicaid.

Medicare sends a summary, they pay and send the balance onto the supplimental. The supplimental pays their share and sends you a summary showing the balance paid or what you owe the provider.

If a Medicare Advantage or regular insurance, you should get a summary. The summary is your proof you have paid. You can always call your insurance company and ask if they show any balances due to that provider. They can email ot text you a summary. If a balance is owed thats what you pay the provider. They have to except what the insurance pays and what the insurance says u owe, if they except that insurance.

Is this portal thing new? If so, call the office and tell them you do not want to go paperless. I don't think they can make you. It seems a default thing now that you need to call to say I want a paper statement. My bank did it the first of the year. To call the branch to revert me would be a pain. I get a reminder my statement is ready and I print it. But I use online banking for transfers to my nephews accts. You may want to see if you "STOP" the text does this mean then a statement will automatically be sent me? You should be given a way to stop receiving the text.

I would ask if it's only a 25.00 fee why did they take a larger payment?

There is a new law that requires full financial disclosure for all charges and fees or they don't get paid.

I think it's a scuzzy doctor.

Have you told them there is no bill that you can see in the portal?

I would ask for an email with the bill or a link to the bill.