UCHealth Highlands Ranch Hospital — Local services in Four Corners States

I just can't give a good review. It's been such a nightmare and so much stress dealing with UC Health. It's gotten so bad that I'm having to ignore my health and scans and procedures that I need done because I'm so afraid to continue the nightmare billing. It started with my primary Dr. office. I have a primary and secondary insurance and have made it clear which is which. But my primary UC Health doctor office billed my secondary insurance for over half a year as primary. The secondary insurance paid and then realized the mistake and took the money back from UC Health and made them rebill everything to the primary insurance. So you'd think they would know which is primary and secondary after that. Nope ! I needed a brain scan and went to UC Health Highland Ranch. It requires a prior auth and I asked them when I went in if they had it and they said yes. I found out afterward that they got it from my secondary insurance. So my primary insurance refused the claim. I had to appeal and luckily they agreed to do a retroactive prior auth. Then.... the primary paid everything but $150 and then it went to secondary insurance and they paid the rest. So I owe nothing. But...it shows I owe $150 in the UC Health app so they are sending me threatening letters saying my payment is way late. This brain scan was on June 12th 2024. That's how long it's taken to try and fix this mess. Now I've been back and forth with billing and I've sent over the EOB, had insurance call them, and now they want me to mail them the EOB or drive it out to Aurora from Castle Rock and I have chronic pain. I have less than 60 days before they put this on my credit and they tell me it will take 30 days to update every time I think they will fix it. No matter how many times I talk to them, I can't get this resolved even though this last time, they even saw that this bill has been paid but they say they can't take it off my account without the physical EOB. I had the insurance send me the EOB but it's the exact thing I've sent to them repeatedly. In the mean time, in the last 6 months I've had 2 Colonoscopy's canceled last minute because of a prior auth mix up and a lost appointment... at UC Health Highland Ranch. Also, I injured my shoulder and needed an MRI so I could get injections before driving to Texas to see a sick family member and they screwed up my appointment twice at the last minute and I couldn't get my MRI or injections and I had to fly and have the extra expense of last minute airfare and car rental. I still haven't gotten a colonoscopy (I've had pre-cancerous polyps in the past) or my shoulder MRI because I honestly can't deal with them any longer. I have chronic pain and the stress has made it worse. I love my primary care doctor but I'm just going to have to leave UC Health all together. It's just not worth damaging my health over. UPDATE*UC Health responded to this review and gave me a "patient advocate" number to call. I called it. They told me they have nothing to do with billing. I called billing again to try and fix this mess. Now that I have sent in the EOB that they told me to, now they say it has to come from the insurance company. I had insurance call them.... again.... for the 4th time now. UC Health says they have the denied EOB from when they tried to bill this insurance as primary. Not the corrected EOB from when the insurance paid it as secondary. I don't know why when I have sent it to them repeatedly. They literally refused to take the correct one. I'm done. Do I just pay it to save my credit and hope they send it back to me when they discover they are $150 over at the end of the year ? I can't afford that and shouldn't have to do that. Ridiculous. Do...

My experience was nothing short of The Wizard of Oz meets One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.I thought I had dealt with the situation with a high level administrator that has since retired. However, the ridiculousness and the drama continue. Upon receiving an itemized copy of the bill, I noticed that there was a mistake. Now try calling any department and you will get a runaround. I spoke to billing; the pt dept: the main number; and many other departments. No one knows anything and can't and won't help, outside of a few individuals that were kind but didn't now anything. They refuse to admit that mistakes are made. I, and my ins co, were billed $600+ for pt. This was coded as evaluation and therapy. I was admitted due to complications in surgery on March 3, 2022. To be clear the orthopedic surgery went well, however I had issues breathing following the knee surgery. I had to beg and plead to the nurse, who made Nurse Ratched look like an angel, for crutches on the night of March 3. I was told that they don't have crutches on the floor that I was on. I informed her that I was not to be weight bearing due to the fact that I was to be seen at the Hemophilia and Thrombosis Clinic the following Monday, per the instruction of my drs there. Finally, late that evening Nurse Ratched brought in crutches that as it turns out were the wrong size and not even sterile or from their pt clinic. A pt finally came to see me 2 hours before my discharge on Saturday, March 5. This should have happened on Friday, March 4. She was there for 33 minutes according to the records. Most of this time was spent discussing how I ended up with crutches not from the hospital. I also had to sign a form stating that If my ins co didn't pay for the walker, which was deemed was better for me, I would have to pay $111. I was happy to sign the form. I immediately and repeatedly told the pt that I could not do anything on the leg or any therapy until I was seen at the pt dept at the HTC due to my bleeding disorder. She clearly stated that she understood. No pt occurred beyond my being given a walker and 5 minutes being shown how to use it. My records clearly show that I was evaluated at the Hemophilia and Thrombosis Clinic on Monday, March 7, 2022 in their pt dept. My medical records, however do not support in any way shape or form that pt of any kind was provided at Highlands Ranch Hospital. The records are glaringly lacking in supporting documentation. I and my insurance co, however, were billed $600+ for pt evaluation and therapy that never happened and they were told it couldn't happen. I have no problem paying for services rendered but no one should pay for services that weren't given nor documented appropriately. Calling the main number and asking for the "hospital manager" which it states clearly under their complaint department site, I was told they don't have one and I really didn't know what I was talking about. Laughter ensued about my call by the woman who answered the phone and those in the background. I certainly hope they tape the calls for training purposes. Lord knows, they need training. I've been in hospitals where potentially fatal mistakes were made. I was in a hospital for a pacemaker implant and the dr perforated my heart. I have seen crazy things occur. This is by far the worst hospital I have ever been admitted to in my entire adult life and dealing with any issues is impossible. (AND don't tell me to call the patient rep department, they are beyond incompetent. They told me hospital policies that...

Absolutely avoid the ER.

It should be a zero, but I gave it a star because i did have one mid tier ER experience a few years back, with the one exception that they forgot about me... Literally. A nurse came in and asked me what i was still doing there, and i mentioned we were waiting on the doctor for discharge. He informed me that doctors shift ended an hour before. He had just left me laying there.

However, i recently came in with extreme lower body and back pain. They ran a bunch of tests and continually kept asking if i had ever had a STD. I said no, i don't have an STD, yet they kept pressing. Eventually they got the labs back, and diagnosed epididymis. I received an anti-biotic and they said to take ibuprofen for the pain. That night, the pain got a lot worse. I couldn't sleep. So i went back in. They said come back if i get worse, but still charged me all over again. The doctor looked at all the same tests they ran that morning, and doubled down that the diagnosis was correct, and the pain was likely just a muscle pull. He sent me home with a low grade muscle relaxer.

I spent a week of absolute misery taking the antibiotic and muscle relaxer but the pain only got worse and worse. I wasnt going to go pay another $3K at the ER, so I tried massage, chiropractor, anything to get the pain to lessen so i can go to work or even sleep. I would spent nights wandering my house because it hurt to sit or lay down. Eventually i couldn't take it, and went to see my personal doctor. He is part of the UC Health network so had access to all the tests they ran in the ER. He immediately told me to stop taking the antibiotic, and ordered rushed tests. Turns out his prediction was correct, i had kidney stones. Because i had let it go for so long (thanks ER) i had multiple infections. I had to take 2 anti-biotics and he prescribed actual pain relievers. Thankfully my doctor is competent and very caring and even got me the meds that same night at a late night pharmacy. Wondering how i could have be so misled by not one, but two separate ER doctors, i went back and asked to speak to the head of the ER to take a third look at the data. She was very pleasant, and gladly took a look. However, i sense she knew they messed up but didn't want to fess up, so she confirmed their diagnosis. So that was now separate 3 doctors that "confirmed" a diagnosis for an infection i never had.

All in all, the hospital itself is not bad for lab work, tests, etc... The ER however leaves much to be desired. I even filed a formal complaint, asking for monetary relief from the multiple visits, especially considering the circumstances. I mean, if i go to a mechanic who tells me i need a battery, then it turns out i need a new carburetor, why should i have to pay for the first mistake? He's the mechanic, he should know. Where's the accountability? Turns out they took a long look at the whole situation (or so they said), then 2 weeks later sent me a letter shockingly stating their team did everything correctly and by the book. There would be no monetary relief. I considered (and still am) legal recourse, but haven't made up my decision. Just still very angry with the overall experience. Next...