I also have a billing nightmare with Quest.

I have used them in the past for labs with no problems. I received a statement for $261.45 for routine tests ordered by my doctor and performed on May 18 of this year. Typically my insurance covers 100% of these tests.

My insurance company provide me with an Explanation of Benefits that showed the 3 tests (and billing codes) and the amounts they paid; no out of pocket due according to them. When I sent this to Quest, they said the billing codes don’t match. After months of back and forth, promises to investigate and get back to me (which only resulted in repeated additional statements being mailed to me), and repeated requests for the same information I already provided (yes, every email exchange was a different representative that seemed to be starting at square one each time), I finally contacted the insurance company who said that Quest must have submitted the wrong billing codes (which, again had been paid) and that they should revise them and resubmit them.

I informed Quest about this but they kept insisting I have the insurance company contact them. I passed this on to the insurance company but as far as they were concerned the claim had been filed and paid. I also doubt this will work as contacting either part (to initiate a three-way call) takes up to and sometime over an hour to get out of the queue.

Whenever I asked Quest to explain where the funds that the insurance company HAD paid them went (and why not credited to my account) they could not explain other than to say the codes don’t match (the codes THEY filed with the insurance company) and I still owed the amount.

This has been a never ending horror cycle with no end in sight. I plan on switching insurance companies next year due to costs, and I’m sure once that happens a whole new complexity will be introduced.

I considered contacting a lawyer but I assume they will charge more than the $261.45 that Quest is trying to get from me.

I am just continuing to push back and insist they contact the insurance company, reverse the old codes (and I guess send that money back) and then resubmit with the codes they claim are correct; or credit me with the funds they already received (where did those funds go?) and quit harassing me.

I will never use Quest again and have informed my doctor about this. They have an in-house Quest presence and those reps are great. Their billing and customer service are the worst.