Stay away if you have Medicare. This location will tell you, after you have waited several hours to be seen by a video doctor that they don't accept Medicare. Since I had waited over 4 hours and since they were a PPO for my supplemental insurance, I went ahead. The doctor examines you remotely by computer screen (I assume that the doctor was actually in San Jose, since the bill came from a different doctor in SJ).
Within a month my supplemental insurance sent me an Explanation of Benefits EOB) indicating ZERO patient responsibility and asking Action Urgent Care for a Medicare Summary. Action Urgent Care told my supplemental insurance that they would send the Medicare summary; they never did. A few months later I got a demand from a debt collector to pay the bill in full. Instead of working with my supplemental insurance, Action Urgent Care had instead sent the bill to a collection agency. I contacted my supplemental insurance company (FEP - Blue Cross/Blue Shield), a customer service rep spring to action making several conference calls with me on the line; first she contacted Medicare and found that Action Urgent care had not opted out of Medicare (required to not accept Medicare payments) and had never submitted a claim for the visit in late 2017. Then she contacted the collection agency who acknowledged filing failure to pay notices with the various credit agencies (My FICO scores dropped over 100 points). The collection agency in Bakersfield did this despite the insurance EOB showing ZERO patient's responsibility for the bill. They said they would retract the negative credit report if FEP sent them the EOB by FAX. Next we talked to Action Urgent care and their billing staff in San Jose said that of course they accepted Medicare and they would submit a claim to Medicare, contact the collection agency and it should be resolved in two weeks. I was told to monitor Medicare claims and see if the claim was filed.
Three weeks later I contacted the FEP customer service rep, we determined that Action Urgent Care and the collection agency had done nothing. Action Urgent Care had been stringing FEP along for several months by now and had actually done nothing even when threatened with violation of their PPO contractual agreement with FEP Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Once again by conference call we contacted Action Urgent Care, their billing clerk on the phone, again couldn't explain the problem, until she noticed a footnote on the screen indication that the Action Urgent Care location was inside a Safeway store. She some only a few Safeway locations, up around Stockton, accept Medicare. Actually the Chula Vista location is in a Vons store, that years ago was a Safeway. IT seems they don't update their data base. Still they hadn't officially opted out of Medicare and again said they would submit a claim to Medicare. This time a claim was actually sent to Medicare who processed in 9 days later. The next day I sent the Medicare summary to FEP who paid the benefits to Action Urgent Care three days later. Action Urgent Care closed my billing account several months before when they sent it to the collection agency, so I have no final disposition from them showing the bill paid i full; just a new EOB from FEP with zero patient responsibility. I am now waiting to see if/when the negative credit reports are all retracted as promised.
Fortunately I am retired from the Federal Government; the negative credit reports filed by the collection agency would have been grounds for revocation of my security clearance and removal from my DOD job.
Since this visit last December, four new Urgent care facilities have opened, closer to my home, and they accept Medicare and are PPO facilities. There are much better alternatives to Action Urgent Care. read more
