BEWARE: if you get injured and while being treated receive or need a orthopedic sling or brace, best ask what exactly it will cost and from what durable medical equipment (DME) company will be billing it. Simplistic Medical LLC, a DME company that has a contract with Duke City Urgent Care LLC (DCUC) to provide orthopedic braces/slings to their patients, is engaging in price gouging.
On 9/3/20 I had an accident doing chores at home and fractured my left wrist. A friend in the neighborhood took me to DCUC "University Area Location" clinic on Constitution and Carlisle. They took x-rays and splinted my wrist until I could get into NM Orthopedics after the holiday weekend. I was offered an arm sling and was told I should expect a bill for the device.
Months later Simplistic Medical (no mention of them previously) subsequently sent me a bill. They'd charged $107.62 for this decent-quality-but-nothing-special arm sling, of which my ACA health insurance had already paid them the DME coverage percentage of $32.29, and Simplistic Medical was telling me to pay a balance of $75.33. I mailed them back a notice written on their bill, dated 12/29/20, that I would not be paying them anything for their highly inflated price, that the insurance company already had adequately compensated them for. I relayed to them I have a spreadsheet showing eight comparable arm slings with retail prices ranging between $6.43 to $25.99, with an average retail price of $16.42. Then I received in early May a 'final' and only such notice from Simplistic Medical dated 4/21/21 that if I don't pay their inflated balance due of $75.33 they will send it to collections.
I researched these two providers, Simplistic Medical LLC and Duke City Urgent Care LLC, and on 5/6/2021 spoke to Jeff Mills, the 'administrator' of Simplistic Medical, telling him to clear my account or I would be filing complaints on state and federal levels for their price gouging. Jeff Mills stated that Simplistic Medical has a contract with Duke City Urgent Care to supply DME to their patients. Jeff Mills stated Simplistic Medical does not set their own prices, that Medicare
does [!?!]. I stated I was not on Medicare then (Sept 2020), I stated that I had an ACA plan with New Mexico Health Connections then, who had already paid them $32.29, and Medicare has nothing to do with their price gouging. I also stated I would be reporting them to Medicare for this scamming.
Whether Duke City Urgent Care and Simplistic Medical are in cahoots to price gouge, and/or in conjunction with Medicare, this needs to be investigated, because Simplistic Medical is greatly inflating the cost/price of their devices, then threatening consumers who refuse to pay the balance due on DME. I have reported this DME company's scam to Medicare, speaking to consumer reps and their Fraud Hotline staff. They said that Medicare fee schedules are below local market prices, not inflated prices, and this has no bearing on my billing from Simplistic Medical LLC, because I was not covered by Medicare yet when this injury occurred.
Go look on the BBB site and you will find a more horrific rip-off they did to a mother whose son received a knee brace at Rush Hospital that apparently also partners with Simplistic Medical. Simplistic Medical charged them hundreds of dollars for a simple knee brace, then ending up taking what they wanted our of the woman's bank acct! Any healthcare provider or facility that does business with Simplistic Medical LLC is likely getting kick-backs on their inflated prices. Simplistic Medical LLC should not be allowed to do business in the state of NM. read more
