I had multiple issues - nothing is wrong with Dr. Kleinerman, more with her front office staff. When I called to schedule a new patient appointment the front office had to check with the physician's assistant to see if they were in network - nothing too bad, I can deal with that.
It came after the visit. On 8/18/2024, the office called me and said I needed to pay for the full visit since insurance never bothered to pay for it. This bothered me, so I paid it and then called Carefirst. To their credit, Carefirst looked deeply into it and every single person I spoke to on Carefirst's end agreed I never should have had to pay that much. According to Carefirst, a check was sent to Dr. Kleinerman's office but never cashed in within the 30-60 day timeframe, which incurred a $20 fee. When I called the Dr. Kleinerman's office, they claimed that there was no such a thing as a 30-60 day timeframe to cash in checks - it should be 90-120 days, and then hung up on me before I could ask for a reimbursement. According to them and the Carefirst representative they spoke to said that they have 90-120 days to cash in checks, not the usual 30-60 days.
I checked with my company's HR and Carefirst on a conference call, and everyone all agreed that the fee was incurred by Dr. Kleinerman's office because they didn't cash the check in time. When the Carefirst representative tried to speak to the front office to see if I could be reimbursed, they actually hung up on them before anything was said!
Carefirst said that they would reimburse me since I paid out of pocket for the visit but the $20 would have to come from Dr. Kleinerman's office which they unwillingly agreed to do.
While Dr. Kleinerman and her staff are competent, her front desk is very incompetent. It says a lot about front desk staff if insurance is easier to deal with. Front desk staff should be able to cash checks in within the usual deadline and know if the physician is in-network since they're the ones that usually deal with insurance. I would look for another physician if possible simply because of front desk staff. read more
