Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital — Local services in Royal Oak

If I had to briefly summarize this ER, it is a massive HIPAA violation and a confusing/ disrespectful place for patients to experience “care”. I saw a patient crying on my way out because of the (lack of) clinical care received in our almost 7 hours there.

My timeline: 9PM- I checked in for diarrhea/vomiting 9:10PM- A tech took my vitals publicly 9:56PM- A lab tech collected my samples 10PM-12AM- I was in the waiting room 12:15AM- I was taken to an ED room 12:30AM- I was seen by an ED Admin 1AM- I was seen by a resident physician 2AM- I was seen by the head of ED 2:30AM- I was put on an IV 3:30AM- I was discharged

9PM - During checkin, they did not ask for any form of ID or insurance. The tech did my vitals in the waiting area, with my chart facing the patients in the room. At one point, when my dad asked them how long until I’d be seen, they pulled up their patient list and showed my name next to all other patient names…TALK ABOUT HIPAA VIOLATION!

9:56PM - After checkin, a lab tech placed an IV catheter, drew my blood and asked for a urine sample. He seemed extremely tired, struggled to catch my vein and even dropped the syringe he was going to use to draw my blood. He also didn’t label my samples with my name, MRN, or any PHI.

10PM-12AM - I waited to be seen by a doctor, still not knowing the justification of why there was a catheter in my arm. Each time I asked how much longer, I got the same answer “the room’s almost ready”. It is important to note that when I checked in, there was only one other patient ahead of me.

12:15AM - I finally got taken to a room where I continued waiting. Then, an ED Admin walked in and started interrogating me about my profile details. I was already light headed as I’d been waiting to be seen with my medical condition. That’s when she asked me to sign a consent that she explained “warranted me being seen by nurses, residents, medical students, and whoever else the head doctor deems worthy since this is a learning hospital.” I had no idea what billing implications this had for my visit, but already had a catheter in my arm so I couldn’t even leave and had to agree.

1AM - A resident physician walked into my room. He didn’t go over my lab results with me. He just looked at me and said “your lips look dry, we should do an IV.” When I asked if he could go over my labs with me, he said he needed to look through my labs and left the room. 45 minutes passed by and we had no word. My dad and I finally stepped out of the room to talk to some of the nurses at the nearby pod to see if I’d be seen anytime soon and if not, I’d like to just go home. The nurse (a young petite blonde) treated my dad and I with the worst attitude and snapped at us with “well if you’d like to leave, just know that you’re legally leaving against doctor’s orders” and when I tried to reason with her that I’d like to have a word with the doctor since he barely saw me and disappeared, she rolled her eyes and kept talking over me telling me I was free to leave if I wanted to. I cried after this encounter. Someone please teach her bedside manners and just simple kindness to those who are in pain.

2AM - The head of ED came to see me because of how much my dad and I tried to clarify with the nurses on what was going on. How it went - The Head of ED: “I read your labs. You are dehydrated. And you’re 10 weeks?” Me (mortified): “10 weeks what?” Him: “Pregnant?” Me: “No…I’m here for upset stomach” Him (without apologizing for mixing me up with another patient): “well you’re dehydrated and I’d advise on getting the IV” After some attitude, he finally patiently sat and talked through my concerns about ED costs and tests that were necessary or not.

Overall, there were MANY contradictions in the advice from the care team: Ex1. ED Head & ED Resident gave opposite medication advice & diagnosis approach Ex2. AVS summary said “Avoid fruit juice and sugary foods”. I was given cranberry juice & graham crackers during discharge.

I dread the day I’ll get the bill for this careless nightmare. Do better Beaumont....

Our family is caring for an elderly father who has needed emergency services at what used to be Royal Oak Beaumont and is now transitioning to Corewell Health. I don't know if this transition led to our current situation or if it is just a coincidence.

I have to say we have tested them considerably by bringing our Dad into emergency at off-hours and even one Christmas Eve. We have sometimes had to wait a while before he can be treated, but the care he has received has been excellent, even remarkable. The concern now, possibly related to the switch to Corewell Health, is the billing.

You have to be very careful what they are prescribing and why, along with researching whether it is covered by your insurance. In our case, they probably misdiagnosed a bladder infection and prescribed an antibiotic that was ineffective and cost over $300, not covered by Medicare and later billed to us along with other supplies. (This is what the government means when they say they are cutting Medicare costs; they mean that the costs are being passed onto the patients.)

Corewell Health sent us a letter saying they were obligated to charge us for the amount and said it might be possible for us to receive reimbursement from our insurance, which they must know is not true. They can run up whatever costs they like - literally - and bill the patient if the amounts are not covered by the patient's insurance. The only limitation is how bad it makes them look: what they charge and what they prescribe has to be watched over by the patient or his caregivers, and this requirement comes at a time when you often have more serious concerns.

Make sure you question the services you are receiving and whether the services are covered by your insurance. There is no incentive for the doctors to contain their costs, and they behave accordingly.

The fundamental issue is simply this: Corewell Health charges for services it either knows - or should know - are not covered by Medicare and then without any upfront transparency passes the bill to the patient. And secondly, the medical profession as a whole, has no instrument of restraint if it can reap the benefits of participating in an insurance system as well as charge for amounts not reimbursed by the insurance or for those declined altogether.

My complaint to the Better Business Bureau resulted in a response from the hospital's customer satisfaction department. The person handling the case said the hospital is not responsible for knowing which services are covered by insurance, which is my point. You have to question every aspect of their service, including prescriptions. The response also included an explanation to the effect that the hospital does not have any incentive to order a specific medication. That is also my point, although the person handling the case does not seem to understand it. The hospital has no incentive to limit their costs whatsoever. What seems like a limit to Medicare is simply passed onto the patient.

I would also add that my complaint was pretty thoroughly examined and replied to. I received multiple e-mails or letters from the Corewell customer service staff and, eventually, the hospital's attorney general.

In summary, because I know this is a long rant:

1. The responsibility for reviewing whether the hospital's services are covered by the patient's insurance is solely the responsibility of the patient and his or her loved ones. The hospital admits no responsibility as to easing a patient's financial burden in regard to what might not be covered.
2. You need to be particularly careful with Medicare services, and especially careful with "self-administered" medicines, as current Medicare protocol is applying cost cutting measures to disallow these treatments.
3. Corewell Health has no real disincentive that keeps them from prescribing these treatments. Any cost not covered by a patient's insurance can just be billed to the patient.

As a sidenote, we did receive a $30 refund for an additional service that was added to our account, which was determined to...

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel"

Maya Angelou

Beaumont Hospital has managed to make me feel unimportant. You've managed to make me feel like an inconvenience. You've made me feel like a second class citizen who is too stupid to breathe.

I was just threatened by one of your doctors. I'm here because I had an edema blister that ruptured and wanted to get it treated to prevent infection. It was caused by inactivity due to suspected broken hardware from c3 c4 surgery 4 years ago. I can barely move at all as a result and I was limited to using my wheelchair which causes swelling in my residual leg (I'm an Amputee RBKA).

I have suspected for months that there was something wrong with my C3-C4 fusion from 2020. I was hearing noises from it and having pain issues. This is what put my back in the wheelchair. Neurosurgeon did X-rays and wanted to do an MRI of the neck to verify that the fusion was in tact. But lying on the table pressed on my sciatic nerve causing unbearable pain. My doctor recommended anesthesia but she doesn't do it. I decided to have it done here because you do.

Now all anyone here wants to talk about is that MRI. I'm still extremely swollen and you cannot wear rings in the machine. I accept that. Dr Holmes suggested cutting my ring off and I said no. He reiterated we can't do that MRI until the ring is gone. Today another MRI was scheduled without my knowledge as well as a CT scan, both of which require my laying on my sciatic nerve. I thought we had agreed yesterday to let the swelling go down and the ring will come off.

I'm being blamed for the swelling because I can't raise my arms above my heart and I can't get comfortable in the bed. Originally, I asked on Sunday when I got here if there was a diuretic the could use. The gave me lasix yesterday and it worked for an hour or two.

Today, Dr. Batoolcame in again to harass me about the ring. She said you need the beds and you couldn't have people just laying around refusing service and maybe I should go home until the selling goes down and THEN come back so they can do the MRI. Remember my reason for coming here was to take care of the swelling and the resulting blister. This was tantamount to a threat saying you won't treat my leg if I don't subit to your demands. I'm sick too death of being spoken to as if I were a child and Beaumont is the parent. I'm sick of having meals that I didn't order being sent to my room because it's mandatory that I order when you want even if I don't want food. I'm sick of being grilled as tho why I'm taking Truvada, as if no one knows what it is for and there's no HIV diagnosis in all the blood work you do. Then I'm told you have a duty to protect patients and yourselves. I was interrogated about my companion, who is 25 years old and white (I'm 62 and black). While he and I are only friends, I don't see where it's important for you to know how I know him or where we met. That's none of your business.

I feel discriminated against and disrespected as a Black man, an LGBTQIA man, a senior citizen and AS THE PATIENT! I'm not used to people half my age treating me like I'm half their age. I can't take a shower because the heparin can't be stopped for 15-20 minutes so I can do so. But we can listen to the pump beep when they bag runs out and of course for the MRI after you cut my ring off.

You are bullies! You don't give a damn about patient care. You couldn't care less about patient comfort or respect. You want control and to be right and there's hell to pay if anyone questions or challenges anything you say.

Please make it make sense. I'm having an incredibly difficult time having faith in or trusting you. I see on Google there are many others who've gone through similar situations. So I know I'm not the only one. I came to you for help and look what I got.

E. Darryl...