Patients Describe Billing Service Issues - Radiologists Vulcan Imaging Associates - video Dailymotion

mymedicalnightmare

In a scan of recent (June, 2025) reviews posted online by former patients / customer of negligent radiologists Vulcan Imaging Associates, accusations of harassment and unprofessionalism continue to be made against the company, which regularly boasts 40+ medical doctors on its roster.   UAB (University Of Alabama Birmingham) also continues to empower and give business to this outfit 6 months following closing its $450m+ USD business deal acquiring local area St. Vincent's hospitals from Ascension: a really bad sign for the future of healthcare in Alabama. This comes despite a growing public outcry regarding the bad business practices of this company & their MD's.    A comment on Yelp backed up my own experience, claiming they don't return phone calls. In my own nightmare experience with these "professionals" I concluded that once they had my money, they were not interested in devoting time to discuss my situation.   Recently Vulcan Imaging has began to sponsor events in the affluent areas / neighborhoods around Birmingham, AL. (including Greystone (280) & Mountain Brook). My conclusion is they are interested in servicing customers with good insurance and ignore patients with bad or no insurance. (I had no insurance when I was a patient of their doctors & was ignored & disrespected)     My own experience confirmed their status among the lawless and unregulated landscape of the medical services sector around Birmingham, Alabama. A situation which has gone unchecked and thrived for many years.   A review posted to Google at the end of 2024 relates Vulcan did an apparent "end run" and avoided contacting a patient's insurance, sending the bill directly to them. This may be a new tactic the outfit adopted after numerous settlements / judgements stemming from claims of insurance fraud. In another video I related a BBB (Better Business Bureau) account of a 100% disabled veteran who was hounded over a bill despite the fact he had 100% / full coverage due to his status.     I was a patient of Vulcan Imaging MD Michael Brant Ruff who missed 6 inches of infection in my head / neck and evidence of a broken skull injury I almost died from in 2019. I include my April, 2022 call with Vulcan's Kim Mooney. She presides over 37 radiologists doctors in their group. I was told by Mooney that they "100% Stand By" a report of their radiologist who missed serious injuries in the MRI. She did not elaborate on who "they" were however. Mooney does not possess a medical license. I was also told they do not consult with patients and there was nothing their company could do in regards to my request to have a 2019 MRI scan reread, in which their doctor Michael Brant Ruff, stated I had no injuries and in which evidence of around 6 inches head trauma and infection can be observed.

Transcript

00:00All right, as always, you can go to YouTube channel My Medical Nightmare and see 40 plus

00:07hours video on everything that happened to me. All right, June 2025, and we got some new reviews

00:14out for negligent radiologists, Vulcan Imaging Associates. They are a Birmingham, Alabama-based

00:23association of radiological medical doctors. And I'll start with this one posted to yelp.com

00:33on August 7th, 2024. And it reads, they don't send paper bills out unless you request it.

00:41After the third party billing starts calling and texting you, then the harassment starts.

00:48They refuse to return calls or emails. Highly unprofessional people. Read Google and BBB.

00:56That's the Better Business Bureau. In this review, you'll see an accusation made of harassment.

01:03If you only had to deal with Vulcan Imaging Associates and had a billing matter, you might

01:10have made off pretty good as a customer and patient. Because what happened in my case is

01:15I was misdiagnosed and I almost died because other doctors told me that I had no injuries

01:23present despite the fact that I did. Another assertion of unprofessional business practices.

01:30Yeah, my experience dealing with Vulcan Imaging Associates and reading about others' experience

01:36is they will do and say anything to get your money. And once they got it, they will not speak to you.

01:44Their tactics involve targeting affluent communities, subdivisions, neighborhoods around Birmingham, Alabama.

01:53They'll go into an area such as Mountain Brook or around the vicinity of the Greystone neighborhood

02:02up on Highway 280. They'll sponsor events in these areas. They're interested in a clientele

02:10who have exemplary insurance like a lot of corrupt doctors. Once they find security in well-paid

02:20insurance, they'll leech on. Then there's a couple new ones up on Google itself. And I'll read this one

02:29posted seven months ago. So that's the end of 2024. This customer and patient writes,

02:36sent me a bill for service and never bothered to file with my insurance company. If you're aware of a lot of

02:44people's issues out there with these doctors and Vulcan Imaging Associates, you'll know that they've already

02:52run afoul and have legal and civil issues with insurance providers because of their shady dealings.

03:02What this individual is basically stating, another tactic of this company, they'll simply avoid

03:09dealing with the insurance companies altogether to avoid liability. That's my analysis.

03:16Yeah, again, here at the bottom, Vulcan Imaging, they regularly reply to reviews and complaints.

03:24But the reality is, this is simply a token or a procedural issue. Whenever you call the number

03:32or attempt to communicate with Vulcan Imaging Associates, in the discussion, starts to lean

03:40toward culpability, liability, or responsibility on the part of Vulcan Imaging and their doctors.

03:48As you'll hear in my own recorded call at the end of this video, they'll start making up lame excuses

03:56and eventually hang up on you. All right, review number three posted three weeks ago. So this would

04:03be May 2025. And this customer and patient writes, funny, there seems to be a pattern here with this

04:10company and some misdirection when it comes to billing. For context, see my review on Russell Medical

04:17or don't waste your time. Avoid this business. When I called to inquire, they were just rude. My bill

04:25was only $126. I just wanted to understand as I was under the assumption I had already paid at the

04:33hospital. You may want to ask your doctor, hospital, clinic, radiologist, wherever you are who reads their

04:41scans if it's Vulcan Imaging. I bid you good luck. This review reiterates abysmal customer service

04:49practices, waning levels of professionalism. Here you'll read another assertion of the rudeness

04:58of the staff of Vulcan Imaging Associates. You can hear this in my call also. I don't put up with this

05:05stuff. I'll take these people to task in a discussion. If you deal with Vulcan Imaging's

05:11doctors like I did and I had no insurance, you basically get discarded, forgotten. All right,

05:18so takeaways. When you have x-rays, MRIs, and CTs taken around Birmingham, you want to find out who the

05:27doctors are that did the analysis with the scans, who those doctors work with in terms of radiological

05:36organizations and groups. If you had any kind of problems and you find out that a Vulcan Imaging

05:44Associates doctor was involved in your scan, you need to go on guard, use discretion in prosecuting

05:52your own resolution in the matter. If that involves seeking out an attorney, feel free to share my

06:00videos with them so they know who and what they're dealing with. You need to be on maximum alert when

06:06dealing with these predators. I was a patient customer of a Vulcan Imaging Associates doctor and

06:12I'll go into my own situation with what happened to me. I had an MRI of my head handled by Vulcan Imaging

06:20Associates and St. Vincent's in Trustville, now UAB, in 2019. In my own scan, I was told I had no

06:30injuries. I knew better because I was close to death, almost died from this. Went and got those

06:35pictures. I'll put the pictures up here in this video. As you can see in this MRI, I've got about

06:41six inches diameter infection inside my head. Vulcan Imaging Associates, Neuroradiological

06:49specialist doctor. Michael Brandt Ruff, MD, went to school for 10 years to do his job and he wrote

06:56in my records and report, which you can see in this video also, I scanned these in. He said I had

07:03no injury present and so this created a very uncomfortable situation that has yet to be resolved

07:11and is outstanding as of this recording April 4th, 2025. Took these issues to basically all concerned

07:22and they all refused to correct their error, admit their mistake, do a reread. Oh yeah,

07:29and they sent me a bill for this MRI and it was somewhere north of $600. Interestingly, Vulcan was

07:37working with St. Vincent's Ascension who did the scan for me. On November 1st, 2024, Ascension sold

07:47this location and five other hospitals to University of Alabama at Birmingham and this whole system has

07:54been rebranded UAB St. Vincent's. Why did Ascension sell and leave the area? My story is definitely

08:01something that the public needs to be aware of because the practices that were allowed to occur

08:07in the St. Vincent's hospitals and medical facilities were probably enough to shut this place down. Just

08:14a personal perspective, my injury and all the complications, my own issue is worth several

08:20million dollars. All right, so today we're trying to follow up on the Michael Brandt Ruff MRI that I had

08:27done in 2019. I was referred to this scan by Northside Medical Associates, a nurse, James

08:35Frankie Crum. This is now Complete Health, owned by Faro's Capital. This is located off of Happy

08:42Hall Road, Trustville, Alabama, headquarters in Pell City. Michael Brandt Ruff is a doctor who read

08:51the MRI for St. Vincent's Ambulatory Healthcare Network, LLC. That's Ascension. If you're following

09:03my documentation, you'll note here that in Birmingham, Alabama, we got a real big problem

09:09with responsibility, accountability, and radiology. And this week I talked to the two main radiology

09:20companies in Birmingham, Alabama. And I recently spoke with Doyle Stewart, CEO of Birmingham

09:29Radiological Group. According to their website, they have 38 radiologists who work with them.

09:36And here in this call, you'll hear me speaking with Kim Mooney. She is the administrative coordinator

09:44at Vulcan Imaging Associates. And she states that they have 37 radiologists who work with them.

09:53So if you've got radiology issues, you go in to a medical practice or hospital doctor, you have an

10:02x-ray, MRI, CT scan. These are the types of doctors, and these may be the actual doctors,

10:09who will be looking at your scan in the Birmingham area. And yeah, according to my findings here,

10:18not very reassuring. If your scan is misread, you discover this and you try to seek a redress

10:28diagnosis on these misdiagnosis issues. Not encouraging, my experience here.

10:36You have reached Vulcan Imaging. Vulcan Imaging, this is Kim.

10:41Yes, ma'am. I called last week. I was trying to get in touch with one of your radiologists, Dr.

10:46Michael Brantruff. I had an MRI scan that was looked at by this doctor in 2019. I got a report with his

10:57signature on it saying I don't have injuries. However, in the MRI images themselves, I have

11:05evidence of a very serious head trauma-based injury. And yeah, I was told last week that you guys were

11:12trying to have this doctor get in touch with me. So it's been about a week, and I just wanted to see

11:18what the status of that was. Okay, so I did look into this, and based on, I mean, there's not anything

11:28else we can do. So there's not anything that Dr. Ruff can do to assist you with that since the

11:34report's already been read. So there's not anything we can do. Well, I beg to differ. This was a $700 MRI scan.

11:42This doctor was paid to have this scan looked at, and he did not note the injuries. So he is at

11:48fault. And so is Vulcan Imaging. We stand by that report 100%. Okay, well, the report is an error 100%,

11:57ma'am. Can I speak to somebody in management? Yes, sir. I am the practice administrator. Okay,

12:06can I speak to the head of the company? Um, let's see. Who's above you? Um, the chairman of the board.

12:16Okay, well, I need to speak to somebody in authority because, uh, you're an error with your statement,

12:20ma'am. Not professional. I am so sorry you feel that way. Well, it's not how, it's not how I feel. It's the

12:29facts, ma'am. Well, now, what you, if that's, if you're, what you're stating, I would, I mean,

12:37we would respond, you know, maybe if you consulted an attorney to have... Well, I mean, if I can't,

12:42if I can't speak to somebody on the telephone about this, I'd be happy to come clear it up in person.

12:50You're more than welcome to come up here, um, and talk to whoever you need to talk to, um,

12:55uh, because this is a serious issue. I, I understand that from your perspective. Yeah,

13:04your, your excuses aren't going to cut it either, ma'am. It's not, it's not an excuse, sir. I, I really

13:10don't know how to help, um, what you should do is, okay, you're in business, all right? Well, you have

13:16doctors who went to school for 10 years. They're millionaires, okay? They're reading, uh, radiology

13:21reports for hospitals and other doctors, okay? What you need to do is, you need to have them do

13:27their job correctly, and if they miss major injuries in patients that they almost died from,

13:33such as myself, you need to simply, uh, make an attempt to correct this error. Now, I could get

13:38in touch with Dr. Michael Brant Ruff. I could supply my records. He could look at these images again,

13:44and we can clear this up in a few minutes. Could I please talk to him?

13:46No, sir, you're, you're, I can't reach out to Dr. Ruff. Um, we, we don't consult with patients.

13:54Um, that's a, that's a very sorry excuse, ma'am. I'm so sorry. That's our policy. Um, let's

14:01see, what can I do to help you? Let's see. Um, let's see. Uh, Eric Blackman is my CEO.

14:10Hello? Well, I mean, why, why are you mentioning his name? Why don't you just connect me to him?

14:16He's not in the office. Well, that's pretty convenient, huh?

14:22Well, it's the truth. Um. Well, I don't believe you.

14:26I'm so sorry about that. Um. Yeah, me too.

14:28Uh, let's see. What I can do is I can give you, let's see, his direct number is.

14:40How many radiologists work for your company, ma'am?

14:44Um, I have, uh, 37.

14:48So, you have 37. Um, why don't you take this scan, call somebody right now and have them

14:53look at this scan and correct this issue for me.

14:56But, that is not how radiology works. We can understand.

15:00Yeah, you're not professional. We've already established that.

Patients Describe Billing Service Issues - Radiologists Vulcan Imaging Associates

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