Advanced Berkshire Medical Imaging

I would have given no stars, but that's not an option. Advanced Berkshire Medical Imaging did some work for me while I was in the emergency room at Berkshire Medical Center, but I didn't know it. The bill amount appeared in the portal, so I tried to connect it with a claim to my insurance. I couldn't find any claim that matched the bill. I paid a bunch of other ones that showed up in the portal, but I waited for a paper bill for that one since I couldn't match it up. Then I got a letter from a collection agency. I don't recall a paper bill, but truly in the barrage of bills I could have miss-filed it because I couldn't get it to match up. When I got the collection notice, I called the collection agency. They couldn't give me any details so I could find the claims, they just demanded that I pay. So I called Imaging and asked them to send me a digital copy of the paper bill so I could figure this out. They said I would have to wait for them to make a request for a paper copy and I'd get it in a week or so. They said they sent me one paper copy, then called me three times. They called me? It must have sounded like a scam, because I don't remember any call. And don't they usually send another paper copy? So they finally gave me, verbally, the exact breakdown of the bill: dates and amounts. I called my insurance company for help, and they were able to find the claims by clicking on a physician's name (which I didn't have, they knew he was connected with Advanced Berkshire Imaging), then on the provider down in an explanation section, then by breaking down the amounts separately because they had been submitted in combined amounts in two claims. This company was used by BHS when I was being treated in the emergency room, so I didn't choose to use them, and I wouldn't be able to if I was again in a similar situation. Maybe this will help someone else who finds a bill they can't trace. Maybe BHS can work with them to improve their billing practices.
Feb 17th, 2022

Had an MRI, was billed by both the hospital and, unknown to me, Advanced Berkshire Medical imaging. The hospital sent a bill and called to inform me that I had an outstanding balance (insurance only partially paid the bill). I paid the hospital bill and thought it was done. 4 months later I get a letter from a collection agency saying that I had an outstanding account with this creditor. I had received nothing in the mail, no phone calls, nothing. The collection agency couldnt give me information on what the service was and referred me to the hospital, the hospital referred me to adv. berkshire med imagings billing dept. (a third party company) who referred me to the collection agency. Around and around and around and no one could tell me why I was being billed. Finally I got through to someone in the actual MRI dept at the hospital who explained that they bill separately and that they have had other patients calling about not knowing a bill existed until it was sent to collections. Absolutely ridiculous that they can claim you owe them money but have no system in place to explain the service provided, especially considering they never send a bill or contact you in anyway.
Dec 12th, 2021

Personally, I think Berkshire Health Systems needs an MRI Brain scan. I question their rationale and reasoning behind their patterns and practices. They make up rules as they go and claim it is "policy." Yet, Berkshire Health System's will never provide the written policy that their decisions are based on, to the patient or their representative, explaining the procedures and protocols in detail. If you receive any written material, it is completely irrelevant and does not even begin to explain. This is common practice, from my experience, to utilize, implement, and execute authoritarian style medical practices that allows their medical practitioners to use their position to retaliate and discriminate. Private independent dictators practicing medicine and supported by the organization. Thanks for allowing me to rate and review Berkshire Health Systems from my personal experience as a citizen first and second as a patient. Gary.
Oct 11th, 2018