Glitch in the system

Recent patients of Lakeshore General Hospital should not be alarmed if they receive an unspecified bill from the local health institution as a recent change in the hospital's bill administration fees may have caused some undue interference with the notification process, according to spokesperson Louis-Pascal Cyr.

"We encountered difficulties as far as billing is going," Cyr said.

He said hospitals are known to use collection agency services to pick up overdue bills. However, patients are supposed to generally receive a notification from the hospital through their mail before a bill by the collection agency arrives.

However, that was not the case with Baie d'Urfé resident Andy Czisztu. "I got this letter from ARO, it's some kind of collection agency," Czisztu told <@Ri>The Chronicle<@$P>, explaining it was a bill reminding him he owed a certain amount of money to Lakeshore.

Czisztu, who had not been to the hospital over a year, could not remember why he would owe money. "I called the agency," he said. Told they could not tell him exactly why he owed money, Czisztu then had to contact the hospital to get a clarification.

These kinds of situations should be normally avoidable since patients always get a more detailed note from the hospital itself before ARO's bill comes through, Cyr explained. "Of course, we apologize for the inconvenience," he added.

Though he could not specify how many patients are on ARO's list, Cyr said not all of them would be burdened with a bill without getting an explanation first. "It's not everyone (on this list) that's in this situation," he stated.

Cyr said Czisztu was now aware of why he owed the hospital money and that problem had been cleared up.

ARO did not return phone calls for comment to The Chronicle as of press time.