WATCH YOUR BILLING. BENJAMIN DOWNIE is running multiple fraudulent schemes to line his pockets. I…read moredon't see that he necessarily "cares" about his patients AT ALL.
How do I know?
Well, for starters...if you are a fertile or peri-menopausal woman with ANY type of anemia (even the kind that can't be corrected with IRON--as in LEUKEMIA), he will prescribe NON-INDICATED IRON INFUSIONS for which you PAY, OUT-OF-POCKET, for $630...because your insurance knows the treatment is NON-INDICATED.
He'll order a ton of blood tests at your initial appointment, and magically be "out-of-town" when your results arrive, showing that your anemia is NOT RELATED to LOW IRON. You'll ask a nurse if the iron infusions are still indicated...and, after you sit for five minutes on hold, she'll come back in to say..."Yes...we think they will HELP you." You'll be told that Dr. Downie will meet with you to review blood test results AFTER YOUR SECOND (CONTRA-INDICATED, NON-COVERED) poisonous FERAHEME infusion.
--BTW, a year ago I met--by sheer coincidence--a perimenopausal female phlebotomist who saw Downie for LOW PLATELETS. He talked down to her and her husband, and stared at her breasts just like he did with me. He recommended IRON INFUSIONS for her LOW PLATELET ISSUES. UMMM? NOT APPLICABLE at all?.... and she was SMART ENOUGH to POLITELY DECLINE.)
Back to the FERAMEME infusion. When I arrived--about a week-and-a-half after my first appt. with for darling Dr. DOWNIE--to receive the FIRST of TWO prescribed FERAHEME iron infusions at the Georgtown-situated Austin Cancer Center, I paid the $630. out-of-pocket. I was led to a chair in the INFUSION ROOM of the Georgetown AUSTIN CANCER CENTER, where I was asked to sign A WAIVER for INJURY from the FERAHEME INFUSION. I read that FERAHEME is ONLY indicated for IRON-DEFICIENCY ANEMIA--which I DON'T HAVE--in patients with CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE--which I also DON'T HAVE.
Well, since I used to see physicians as AUTHORITY FIGURES, I went ahead with the FERAHEME INFUSION, along with the sizable IVs of STERIODS and BENADRYL--employed to protect me from documented SUDDEN DEATH.
The day after the FIRST FERAHEME INFUSION, I was violently ill. I was crapping out stuff that smelled like LIVER. I realized that I was a potential victim of IRON OVERLOAD. My body couldn't handle the massive OVERLOAD of IRON I DIDN'T NEED. When I refused the SECOND INFUSION, Downie DROPPED ME AS A PATIENT. I never received communication about my initial test results, so I found them on the Patient Portal.
DOWNIE is about INSURANCE and MEDICATE FRAUD--he's prescribing NON-INDICATED, HARMFUL treatments TO MAKE A BUCK. ACC also DOUBLE-BILLED my insurance for TWO PROCEDURES, and sent THE SAME BLOOD SAMPLES to MULTIPLE LABS with OVER-INFLATED BILLS I received A YEAR-AND-A-HALF later.
TODAY (18 months LATER, on 12/4/19) I received YET ANOTHER BILL from ACC for the POISONOUS FERAHEME INFUSION for which I had paid $630, OUT-OF-POCKET, on 6/12/18. It turns out that--while my insurance STILL REFUSED TO COVER THE FERAHAME--they negotated MY out-of-pocket cost for FERAHEME at $130.89. Today's bill is for $130.89; a cost that's not only NOT DUE. I am actually owed a REFUND of around $499., because ACC knew about the negotiated rate but still ASKED FOR $630. up front.
Medical billing is confusing--especially when it's trickled out past 18 months, which is the cut-off rule for payment for late medical billing in Texas. Consider that Dr. DOWNIE usually deals with ELDERLY, Medicare patients (i.e., your potential loved ones; PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS ) who can't keep track of the crazy-confusing bills sent to Medicare, and you may very well smell a rat who's only looking out for himself. Let's see what the TEXAS MEDICAL BOARD thinks when I file a complaint. Something is clearly ROTTEN HERE, and DOWNIE must think WOMEN ARE JUST STUPID. THIS. IS. FRAUD.
