Wilkes-Barre General Hospital

I would just like to respond to Amy V. and Gary A. I work for an insurance company locally. I take calls every day from people who paid bills and still end up in collections. I make conference calls with the customer to the billing departments to try to correct it. I've been doing this for almost 5 years and have seen just about everything! Some have it corrected while we are on the call. Others are a complete nightmare. One woman was in collections because they were balance billing her the contractual write off! It took one call to tell them that was a violation of their contract and it was resolved. This woman was amazed at how simple it was. The reason I'm commenting is to make consumers more aware. The first thing to do is call your insurance company and have them make a call to billing. Billing should place your account on at least a 30 day hold (and that can be extended if not resolved). If you are sent to collections they should also be called to have the account put on hold. When the payment is finally located I always ask that the customer be removed from collections as this was a mistake in the billing department and the customer's credit should not be affected. The problem is 9 times out of 10 is that the payment wasn't posted correctly! Keep on them. The last thing I would like to add is to please don't let a billing issue sour your experience if you had good patient care. I realize that some people have a bad experience with both but most have nothing put praise for the staff, however their attitude for the facility changes negatively when they have a problem with the bill. They are 2 separate departments and unfortunately since billing is the last thing they deal with, that is usually what forms their opinion! Ultimately, the bottom line is how you or your loved one was cared for! I had a great experience with the care my dad received in ER which I will post next. And if you are ever billed more than your EOB says you owe, call your insurance company.

ER registration is a joke.We arrived on Sunday at 130 pm. Waited in line for 30 minutes before getting registered.There were 4 ppl inline ahead of us including a 3 yr old boy that was seen at urgent care and sent to ER because they thought it was his appendix.The woman in registrationJoanne Crosswas taking her dear time while complaining that her throat had a tickle and her back and shoulders were aching from sitting at the desk typing away.And not to mention she had 1.5 hours left to her shift. All the while the other 3 registration windows were closed even though there were 3 other employees chatting behind the window.I know this because I requested one of them to at least register the little boy because he was clearly lethargic and the mother was in a panick watching the snail working behind the window.There should be more than one person to be available to register the patients or at best someone that is competent enough to see the urgency in the department in which she works!

Blonde nurse Debbie on 4th floor needs attitude adjustment or she needs to retire! Very very poor caregiver

Heart Stress Test

Had winderful care from the department . Everyone was extremely nice

Cabrini Emplit

Similar case as Gary A. Had blood work done and had a small balance after insurance payment so I paid that in full as soon as I received the invoice from the hospital in the mail. Paid online with a credit card. Month later, I receive the same invoice. I called them saying that I already paid and that the payment is on my credit card statement. I was told that it might be taking time to reflect on the account. Month after that, guess what? Same invoice in the mail. I call again and they say they see the payment in another system but it is taking time to transfer to their main system. Month later I got a "final bill." Called them again and was assured that the account will be updated. Month later, I get a bill from the collection agency. They say that I have a balance which was transferred from another account. I asked them what other account and they can't even figure that out. Then they started bringing up some old invoice of my husband's which also was paid for in full right away. I am appalled at the incompetence.

My sister was discharged yesterday with infection. She waited two hours for light to be answered....her husband came from home to help her. IV ran out of fluid..bell ringing for over an hour. Nursing care is very poor.

Be carefull with this hospital. My wife had lab work done. Insurance submitted payment to this hospital. 4 months later we are still receiving bills for full amount of lab work. Insurance rep has called them to talk them through the process to process the payment. They say they are working on the issue, but I may receive another bill. This is now going on for 4 months. There is not a competent person in the bussiness office.

I went in with a serious infection, I was in a HUGE amount of pain to the point where I was going to call 911 to go to Geisinger. They finally made me comfortable after over 2 hours of suffering. This place is disgusting, I'm done with General I'm only going to deal with Geisinger.

My daughter had her baby on Sept.15 and today is Sept.19 and is now back at the emergency for swelling and pain in her feet and legs, I feel the care for the patients is very poor, and the place is very dirty for a HOSPITAL. I was at this place myself and so was my husband it wasn't to bad then but now it is bad. They would not even let me in to see my daughter, her husband was with her, but as her mother I feel they should have done more to make her feel more comfortable, They could have let me in to see her before they took her for whatever tests they were going to do. It is now 3 hours later and she still hasn't called me to tell me anything they found out. I think the General is the worst hospital in our area.