So I'd forgotten about this place but just got a letter from BCBS saying they'd finished their review of the fraud report I'd made to them and found the parent company of Camelbak (the name that shows up for the NPI Camelbak bills through) was practicing in a way that was "not in accordance" with their contract lol. BCBS didn't give me any details about the consequences they'd face because I didn't use my insurance to see them so there weren't any details about my own personal claims/bills/money to share (my mom gave me a Groupon, it was weird). But they did say the group was no longer going to be a Tier 1 preferred provider lol. The report I'd made was that they told me they wouldn't charge me for any missed appointments because they would "just bill [my] insurance" and were going to require me to pay up front for an absurd number of visits per week for the rest of the year that I told them I realistically wasn't going to do. They said there was no other option (don't think that was actually the case, even for their bizarre business practices). They told me they had already decided what claims they were going to file with my insurance before performing the services or having any way of knowing what I'd need over the course of three months (they both said they couldn't predict what I'd need done AND showed me a list of what specifically they were going to bill my insurance for--to justify what they were charging me--in the same conversation). This was their "billing specialist" telling me this...I had to explain my very standard insurance policy to him--because he asked me a question--and he disgustedly said "I don't know what an EOB is so it must not be relevant." (EOB...estimation of benefits...the determination sent by every insurance company in response to every claim.) Told BCBS all that and the woman over the phone was incredibly concerned and had a moment of crossing a professional boundary by saying "good" when I said "no" when she asked me if I planned to continue seeing that provider. She said they'd review the situation. When she asked if I wanted an update on the outcome, I said yes. Had forgotten about that. Not thrilled to remember that experience but glad that they "found evidence substantiating" all of my reports lol. Hope they're fining the shit out of the parent company and that it scares them into changing. Idk if they will change, though, the for-profit model they use is kind of dependent on over-billing, over-scheduling, and recommending unneeded treatment. Went to a PCP after that visit and they were like you just pulled this muscle, ice it and your pain will go away...and it did 100%...in like three days after three months of hurting. Didn't need an $1800 (or something like that) nutritional analysis, or whatever bullshit they said, to see what was causing my supposed EXTREME INFLAMMATION AND DISEASE OF MY SPINE that they insisted was there....even though I'm pretty sure they made those terms up to make up for a lack of diagnosis lol...and multiple actual doctors with years of intense residencies for their specialties said that was crackpot bullshit, more or less, when I shared the story in passing. I was already getting a lot of imaging and blood work done at that point to identify as many things to address as possible during an upcoming abdominal surgery (pelvic congestion, endo, cysts, adhesions). We would have known if there was something like that. Also seeing a lot of those CT, ultrasound, and x-ray imaging results myself (they showed me because I asked, not because the MDs were using a scare tactic or trying to enforce some sort of power dynamic that they knew how to read it and I didn't, unlike Camelbak) really demonstrated how unbelievably shitty Camelbak's x-rays are. Grainy, blurry, unfocused, poor contrast between the black and white parts. Oh, and they didn't offer a protective sheet for the parts of my body they weren't x-raying...now that's a great way to cause the inflammation they're so concerned about lol...and cancer and fertility issues. Which is maybe something a different former patient might want to seek damages for...super easy malpractice suit if they were an actual medical provider, not sure if non-medical-professionals have ethical or safety standards they're required to uphold. Anyway, the point is, check whether the chiropractic clinic you're going to has non-profit status before making an appointment. Every accredited hospital does (whether they deserve that status is another conversation, but the point is that the bar for proving you're not a for-profit enterprise is VERY low and these guys can't even meet it). If you're looking for health care, you will not find it here. read more
