SAN FRANCISCO TV station ABC Channel 7 KGO reported February 20th, 2025 that local residents have complained they're getting billed HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS $$$ from a Newark AFC Urgent Care (American Family Care) that administered free virus tests (one review on the BBB website mentions a $2700 USD bill). The company told the TV station they're billing patients because the insurance companies didn't fully reimburse the urgent care. Now, the Alameda County District Attorney's office has stepped in.
The owner of AFC Urgent Care in Newark says the company filed for bankruptcy after more than $30 million in unpaid claims were denied. More than four years after the virus tests were given, the company started billing patients and threatening to take them to small claims court if they didn't pay.
Patients / customers report: "We didn't see anyone who appeared to be a physician or ask us any questions about our health or symptoms," said Schiefer.
AFC Urgent Care's Better Business Bureau profile now reflects an F rating for the company, showing 50 new complaints lodged in just the last year.
I previously mentioned an Indeed review of AFC where an employee claimed of their clinic: "it’s not unheard of to see over 100 patients in a 12 hour shift"
I was a patient of AFC in 2019 and recently discovered a medical clinic office manager I had spoken with in May, 2022 at AFC (American Family Care) Urgent Care Cahaba Village (3000 Cahaba Village Pl STE 110, Birmingham, AL 35243), using the nickname "Sadler" is actually State Of Alabama licensed medical doctor, Christopher Blake Thomas MD. In my recorded calls in this video you will hear he refused to give me his first and last name when asked.
I cite a television interview (https://www.wvtm13.com/article/mountain-brook-doctor-sees-big-surge-in-covid-patients-at-clinic/37165650) with WVTM NBC 13 & play my telephone recordings back to back, the voices are identical.
I called this clinic trying to speak with Dr. Blake Thomas MD, whose name appears on medical records from a misdiagnosed X-Ray I had in 2019 but was only allowed to speak to this "office manager". I was told no injuries appeared there but almost died a few months later when 6 inches diameter of infection set into my jaw and head (visible in subsequent MRI). I obtained my records from this visit & a several inch diameter anomaly is visible in the same area where broken skull bone and infection appears in other images. AFC would not help me get this error corrected, I paid $175 for the visit.
I find these practices to be unprofessional in a business sense and medically unethical.
I found AFC American Family Care Urgent Care staff uses Pseudonyms / nicknames / single names in their clinics. "Sadler" / "Saddler" who claimed to be the office manager of Cahaba Village clinic refused to give me his first and last name (red flag / scam alert).
00:00To see everything that happened to me regarding my experience with this doctor and this medical practice,
00:07you can see my documentation at YouTube channel, My Medical Nightmare.
00:12Alright, San Francisco, California based ABC Channel 7 KGO TV has a piece on another outrageous scam
00:23that AFC Urgent Care American Family Care has been caught trying to pull off on patients and customers.
00:30This is dated February 20th, 2025.
00:34Bay Area Urgent Care patients billed up to $900 each after receiving free COVID tests.
00:42And just to interject, I looked up this location on the Better Business Bureau website,
00:49where AFC Urgent Care has an F rating, by the way.
00:52And I found one review here where they state they received a bill for $2,700 for the free COVID test.
01:02But continuing, according to KGO, Bay Area residents say they're getting billed hundreds of dollars
01:08from a Newark Urgent Care that was supposedly giving out free COVID tests during the height of the pandemic.
01:14The company says they're billing patients because the insurance companies didn't fully reimburse the urgent care.
01:20Now the Alameda County District Attorney's Office has stepped in.
01:25The owner of the AFC Urgent Care in Newark says the company filed for bank rubbed seat
01:30after more than $30 million U.S. dollars in unpaid claims were denied.
01:35More than four years after the COVID tests were given,
01:39the company started billing patients and threatening to take them to small claims court if they did not pay.
01:44They list some of the patient customer stories here.
01:48One man took his family to the location to be swabbed for a COVID test.
01:54He said the urgent care advertised is free.
01:57And four years later, he received a bill for this.
01:59Says this patient did not understand why he was also being charged for seeing a doctor.
02:04Quote, we didn't see anyone appear to be a physician or ask us any questions about our health or symptoms.
02:09Unquote.
02:11One guy here got a bill for $600.
02:14Another one for $900.
02:16According to the AFC Urgent Care of Newark attorney,
02:20he says the company tried to sue insurance companies for the lack of reimbursements
02:25but didn't have the legal standing to do so under the CARES Act.
02:29And this attorney says the company is out more than $30 million in unpaid claims.
02:33It says an Alameda County judge issued a temporary restraining order against this company and the doctor
02:39precluding them from attempting to collect money from patients for the advertised free COVID test
02:46until they can appear in court to make their case in March.
02:49Says Schreiber, who represents patient Kenneth Jew,
02:53says as a result of the Alameda County DA's office request for a temporary restraining order,
02:58they decided not to file a lawsuit.
03:00Since AFC Urgent Care of Newark filed for bankruptcy,
03:04he also said it was unlikely he would be able to obtain the refunds
03:08for those patients who already paid their collection notices.
03:12And it says here American Family Care, AFC Urgent Care, was founded in 1982.
03:18And as of 2025, they claim to have 400 walk-in clinics.
03:22They generate more than $1 billion in system-wide sales annually,
03:273,500 highly trained healthcare professionals training over 4 million patients each year.
03:33The truth is, American Family Care is a very troubled company.
03:38And there are many, many people in the Birmingham, Alabama area and beyond
03:43who have unresolved outstanding issues and complaints with AFC Urgent Care.
03:50There are apparently a lot of people looking at the corrupt business practices
03:54of American Family Care, AFC Urgent Care, and their partners across the United States.
04:01I'll go into my own details on what happened to me as a patient customer
04:06at an AFC near Birmingham, Alabama in 2019.
04:11I attempted to contact Randy Johansson regarding my own issues.
04:15My phone call was never returned.
04:17Yeah, if you look at my situation and what happened to me,
04:21what you'll see again and again is current medical providers
04:25and practitioners around Birmingham, Alabama,
04:29they choose quantity of patients and potential sources of money and income over quality.
04:40And by doing so, they overlook potentially life-threatening injuries, for example.
04:46They don't give the proper amount of attention to each individual customer and patient.
04:53And this is a big problem that needs to be reversed in the United States of America.
04:59We need further health care reform.
05:02And here's yet another example of the bad way in which AFC Urgent Care,
05:07American Family Care chooses to engage in their business.
05:11Back in May 2022, I tried to contact this doctor whose name appeared on the top of medical records
05:24that I requested from American Family Care.
05:29And this was in regards to a misdiagnosed x-ray of my skull that I had done in 2019.
05:42Blake Thomas, MD's name, appears here as supervising the nurse that facilitated the x-ray in the AFC clinic.
05:52This is Kimberly Kelly.
05:55And he should have also been checking over the work of radiologist Dr. Anna Maria Echnik, MDD-ABR,
06:06which the x-ray was outsourced to through Xperity.
06:11You call the phone number under this doctor's name on the radiologist report.
06:18It leads to Xperity.
06:20This doctor and subsequently the nurse told me I had no injuries appear in this x-ray.
06:29I'll put the actual images in this video so you can see the truth regarding this matter.
06:37I have around a 3-inch in diameter translucent oval here.
06:43This is visible in a standard x-ray.
06:46No contrast was used in this scan.
06:49Subsequently, I discovered in further MRI and CT that I had broken the underside of my skull.
06:58And the translucent oval that you can see in the AFC and Xperity x-ray, this shows up as infection surrounding the main wound.
07:09I tried to contact this doctor to get this x-ray scan looked at again because I paid $175 for this visit and I got a misdiagnosis here.
07:23This is not helpful if you're a medical patient seeking treatment with doctors and nurses, in this case licensed in the state of Alabama.
07:37I found that this doctor was located at the American Family Care Clinic in Cava Village off Highway 280 in Birmingham.
07:48I tried to call this doctor's office.
07:52It was then that I found out by talking to the receptionist.
07:58Every individual that worked in this location that I spoke with, they used a nickname, a false name, or a pseudonym.
08:10In trying to reach Dr. Blake Thomas, MD, I was put in touch with an individual who identified himself as the office manager of this clinic.
08:26And he went by the name Sadler, S-A-D-D-L-E-R.
08:30I later found out after my call with this office manager that I was in fact speaking with the state of Alabama licensed medical doctor, Christopher Blake Thomas, who I was trying to reach in the first place.
08:50So he gave a false name.
08:53And I found this out very simply.
08:55You can hear my recorded calls with this individual.
09:00And Dr. Blake Thomas gave a television interview with Birmingham, Alabama, TV station WVTM, channel 13.
09:10Listen to the two voices, and they are identical.
09:15I believe that a medical doctor identifying himself under a pseudonym is against the law in Alabama.
09:24And possibly other jurisdictions as well.
09:28This is a type of fraud.
09:31I'm not very happy about my experience dealing with this individual.
09:36Yeah, in trying to get that x-ray and the misdiagnosis looked at again, the office manager, again, a false identity that this doctor was using.
09:48And he told me that he could do nothing to help me fix this situation.
09:56No refund of my $175.
09:59He wouldn't go to the medical doctor or experity and have this situation looked at or reversed.
10:09He told me on the phone, you can hear this recorded, there's nothing he was going to be able to do to help me fix this situation.
10:16And this is real bad news because that injury that I had, I almost died for him in 2019.
10:22This is totally unacceptable as a medical patient.
10:25AFC as well, I contacted, they would not help me with this situation.
10:32I talked to experity, they would not help me fix this situation or correct this.
10:37And basically, I was ripped off as a customer and a medical patient.
10:41I went to the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners and filed complaints in this situation.
10:50They would do nothing to help me with their oversight.
10:54Totally useless.
10:55They're lazy.
10:57No doctor worth their salt should work for this place.
10:59No doctor worth their salt should work for this situation.
11:00No doctor worth their salt should work for this situation.
11:01No doctor worth their salt should work for this situation.
11:02No doctor worth their salt should work for this situation.
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