Remote INR taking over Coaguchek

[slipkid]

So I finally heard back from Remote INR. They raised the price from 250 every 4 tests to 880 every 4 tests (before insurance discount). I will still pay $101 every 4 tests after the insurance discount (I pay this $101 out of pocket due to my high deductible) but that’s crazy.

Man that is crazy. I don't think I've received a bill (or an insurance EOB) after the transition and now am getting worried. Guess I have to call them and find out what is going on.

 

[sangfroid]

I am curious if others have experienced issues with the new owner of coaguchek. First, they suspended my account because I forget to test three times (not consecutive). Now, instead of being charged 250 per month, of which I pay 101 per month after insurance discount, it increased to 880 per month. I cannot even get a phone number for their billing dept. the rep with whom I spoke was very nice, but even she did not have a number. I’m still paying the insured rate of 101 a month, but want to address the pre-discounted rate. It’s ridiculous that increased almost four times the amount!

You are correct about the huge price increase. I'm on Medicare so the payment is 120 something

I am curious if others have experienced issues with the new owner of coaguchek. First, they suspended my account because I forget to test three times (not consecutive). Now, instead of being charged 250 per month, of which I pay 101 per month after insurance discount, it increased to 880 per month. I cannot even get a phone number for their billing dept. the rep with whom I spoke was very nice, but even she did not have a number. I’m still paying the insured rate of 101 a month, but want to address the pre-discounted rate. It’s ridiculous that increased almost four times the amount!

 

[Sheenas7]

You are correct about the huge price increase. I'm on Medicare so the payment is 120 something

I did notice the huge increase but so far my insurance has covered it.

 

[Mister_James]

Negotiated Cost: 117
Insurance $105
Out of pocket: $12.

I have Alere and I know they change names every year or so but thats what they bill. Of course the doctor has a charge to review too

 

[slipkid]

I still have not even gotten a bill from them yet. I think their new name is "Biotell Heart" btw.

Different question - can anyone call Biotell Heart and report their results today? Because I cannot. I did a test then tried to call it in. Their voice message system has changed and they even had an announcement that they had gone through some kind of reporting system change this weekend during which time they were unable to take any test results.

However me trying to use it now does not even work. It supposedly retrieves who I am based on my phone # (like the old system) but then completely fails to validate who I am when I enter my birthdate. The old system had you simply speak it, but this new ones requires you to ENTER it with the keypad. I would have thought that would be an improvement actually, but it doesn't work!!!! After multiple failures it transferred me to some unknown extension for customer service, but since it is after hours that simply dumped me into a voicemail (that did not even mention they were out of the office or anything).

Not good. Especially in light of a major price increase that you all are talking about aboveand what appears to be billing problems on their end (since I have not even received a bill from them for months).

 

[slipkid]

Negotiated Cost: 117
Insurance $105
Out of pocket: $12.

I have Alere and I know they change names every year or so but thats what they bill. Of course the doctor has a charge to review too

I thought that Alere had gotten out of the INR biz. I know their INR device was discontinued a few years ago. What device are you using now? And what is their remote service called/how does a possible new customer reach them to enroll? I may have to leave this new company taking over for Coaguchek/Roche (see above).

 

[Sheenas7]

I just tried to report my test to the new company Bio tel. I couldn’t do it like before because it would not accept my birthday. So I did speak with a representative who entered my information and told me today that they changed the platform and were experiencing a glitch with the birthdays. He said he expected it to be fixed soon. Let’s hope so.

 

[RAS]

I've never tried the call in reporting, but as of 11/22 the web page reporting works as before. No surprise that they had a problem with a new IVR system. I worked for a telecom company implementing hosted IVRs and Contact Centers for health care clients. It's a complicated process.

As far as billing, I have not yet been billed by BioTel, but I see the insurance claim is approved. They billed $880, but my insured cost is $113. The $880 is the "Charge Master" cost AKA list price. You can ignore that. The contract price they have with insurance companies is what's relevant.

 

[pellicle]

You can ignore that. The contract price they have with insurance companies is what's relevant.

indeed there is so much behind the scenes wrangling that the "consumer" has no idea what stuff costs anyway in order to make an informed decision of "is buying this cash less expensive than my copay"

 

[Mister_James]

Alere is now Acelis Health

 

[DachsieMom]

Same here. Wouldn’t accept my birthday. Then I called from my cell instead of home phone and they accepeted my birthday (my cell is the number they have on record, used to have both on file but they must have lost my home number in the transfer). Before using my cell, I waited on hold forever and gave up.
The 101 per month I pay (out of the 880) is out of pocket due to a high deductible. I pay the entire amount of the insurance discounted rate. However, I haven’t seen a bill since March, which means my next bill will be huge. I have called many times.
So far not impressed!

 

[slipkid]

I just tried to report my test to the new company Bio tel. I couldn’t do it like before because it would not accept my birthday. So I did speak with a representative who entered my information and told me today that they changed the platform and were experiencing a glitch with the birthdays. He said he expected it to be fixed soon. Let’s hope so.

Thanks! So not just me then. I will try calling them again tomorrow since I am off then. Hope they are open. My next scheduled dayoff is not until more than a week away. I may have to find a way to sneak a call to them at work. Sigh....

 

[slipkid]

Ugh. They were closed today....will try to get them next week at some point...

 

[DDT77]

So I finally heard back from Remote INR. They raised the price from 250 every 4 tests to 880 every 4 tests (before insurance discount). I will still pay $101 every 4 tests after the insurance discount (I pay this $101 out of pocket due to my high deductible) but that’s crazy.

Sounds like Coag-Sense may have more customer interest in coming weeks and months. I had inquired with Aleris, and passed after the pre-increase pricing, which appeared as exploitation (of patient and insurance company). Apparently my cardiologist had approved a number of patients to use Aleris, but not one patient bought in, which confused the cardiologist. Pricing guidance was forwarded, and patients were when informed upfront on predatory pricing from Aleris, or what ever the hell they go by now...

 

[DachsieMom]

I’m getting nervous about not receiving a bill from Biotel. I googled them - looks like people have experienced billing issues. Great .

 

[dick0236]

Not sure what is going on. My Medicare insurer, Humana Advantage, is continuing to pay ROCHE HEALTH SYSTEMS......not Biotel, $43.98 per 4 tests but I haven't been billed for my share, $11, since June, 2020. I did notice that in June 2020 Roche was billing $250/4tests and the Roche billing went to $880 since July. That coincides with the Biotel takeover 6/23/2020. I am wondering if Roche leaving the INR monitoring market has anything to do with the patent holder of Coumadin quitting the market. I assume that the newer anticoagulants that do not require testing may be making the INR monitoring market less profitable since Warfarin is not the AC being used by many patients (afib, etc). I am considering quitting self-testing and going back to my docs lab for testing.....it won't be as convenient but I did lab testing for many years before self-testing.

 

[Mister_James]

Warfarin will be around for a while. What I don't understand is why testing supplies prices are still steep. Can you imagine glucose testing for diabetics at these prices?
There are few companies making these devices and all these niche medical supplies/testing support industries.

 

[Protimenow]

Comparing blood glucose monitoring costs to anticoagulant testing costs is an interesting idea - but it doesn't hold up to close scrutiny.

There's a much larger market of people testing blood glucose than there is for people testing INR. Plus, tests might be done as often as three or four times a day. The cost of the strips subsidize the cost of the meters -- plus, because so many blood glucose monitors have been made, there was a strong incentive to make them smaller and less expensive to manufacture.

INR testing won't have the advantages of scale that blood glucose monitoring does. (Even if people move to those monitoring things that you stick to your skin, I'm sure there will probably still be a market for the monitors and strips for many years).

 

[Sheenas7]

Not sure what is going on. My Medicare insurer, Humana Advantage, is continuing to pay ROCHE HEALTH SYSTEMS......not Biotel, $43.98 per 4 tests but I haven't been billed for my share, $11, since June, 2020. I did notice that in June 2020 Roche was billing $250/4tests and the Roche billing went to $880 since July. That coincides with the Biotel takeover 6/23/2020. I am wondering if Roche leaving the INR monitoring market has anything to do with the patent holder of Coumadin quitting the market. I assume that the newer anticoagulants that do not require testing may be making the INR monitoring market less profitable since Warfarin is not the AC being used by many patients (afib, etc). I am considering quitting self-testing and going back to my docs lab for testing.....it won't be as convenient but I did lab testing for many years before self-testing.

I noticed that my Medicare/Cigna is still paying Roche too. Don’t know why.

 

[slipkid]

I finally had a weekday off when they were open. Tested myself as well. First tried to see if I could call in my INR result (last Tuesday night that did not work because the system did not recognize my birthdate, and it was after hours so I could not speak to anyone there, but I did leave them a msg).

Of course today it did not work either. Am getting very bad vibes from this new company - #1 their system doesn't even work, #2 multiple people as reported here have the same problem and have told them as much, #3 I left a msg regarding that and they did nothing to fix it for my account, #4 I have yet to get a bill from them - last one I had was from Roche in June, & #5 as reported here their prices have gone way up something like 400% if I recall what some people have said in this thread earlier.

After my INR failed to take I got into their phone system for the option to speak to a patient care team member (or whatever bs they call themselves) and had to stay waiting on hold for almost 45 minutes before someone picked up (let's call that #6 - totally unacceptable to keep patients waiting any more than 5 minutes in my book, I don't care how many people are calling, they know things are effed up so they should have added more staff or fixed things in the first place, especially with the price increases).

Finally did get to speak to someone who said they would add me to the list of people who the system is not recognizing birthdates (which by the way they did have my correct birthdate on file). Also asked them about the bills, why I had not received anything yet and that I NEED to get billed in 2020 so that things go on my healthcare for this year against which I reached my deductible already like 5 months ago. They told me what sounded like utter b.s. that bills just were being sent out. I asked what my charges were and they could not even tell me, they had no idea!!! I did say that I heard from other patients that the charges have gone way up but all the rep would say is that yes it will be more expensive now.

None of this is sitting well with me. When I get time (yeah right, like I have time to spare) I need to start looking at the alternatives to using biotel heart. Sigh...