Birmingham Radiological Group Costs Provider Another Patient, Latest Balance Billing Fishing Attempt

I share analysis of a Birmingham Radiological Group patient / customer complaint posted to the Better Business Bureau dated 08/25/2026:

- They write: "I've never done business with these people directly. I assume that they processed something having to do with my immediate care provider (whom I will also be contacting with a complaint about this outfit)."

Yes, unfortunately as in my case, providers in the area continue to do business & partner with these bad MD's & will source them without seeking your consent first. These include big outfits with trusted reputations such as UAB / St. Vincent's & Ascension. They make quick & easy money & you get stuck with the hassles & mess that has landed them in the sights of federal regulators & lawsuit after lawsuit with patients who had enough of their antics. New risks are generated daily & everyone's credibility suffers as a result of poor decision making.

Continuing: "they sent me a bill for $52. I logged on to pay it and found a screen that said I owed nothing (see attached). Today, I've received a message that they sent my bill to a collection agency. This is outrageous. I tried to pay this!"

The BRG doctors don't run their billing portal correctly. They should forego trying to confuse their patients & drag out the process by simply explaining on the portal itself that the bill was delinquent & had been sent to collections. But this is too much work for them or too costly to pay IT guys to set it up, they cut A LOT of corners in their business practices.

Also BRG bucks industry conventions & norms, sending bills to collections too early. The medical industry standard is 90 to 180 days AFTER the initial patient statement is issued (in this case it was around 60 days). They have been caught sending bills to collections after only 30 days. This is because word is spreading about their service issues (SEE MY CASE). They want to get your money fast before you start questioning the work they may have done for you. In my case I had 3 of their MD's miss a million dollar several inch diameter head / neck injury I almost died from in 2019.

In their response to this patient, BRG gave many personal identifiers which qualify as PHI (personal health information). I consider these a possible violation of HIPAA privacy guidelines. They have done this in the past when answering BBB claims.

3 member doctors of BRG (Julian Patrick Druhan MD, Angus Baird MD and Donald Shane Kelly MD), radiologists, misdiagnosed medical image scans (X-Rays, CT Scans & MRI I had done between 2018-2019 at Saint Vincent's East Hospital (Ascension) & American Health Imaging). I went into the emergency room and to MDs believing I had broken my neck or skull. The doctors took these scans and typed up in official records I had no injury. I obtained the images and written records later and found in them I had broken the basilar area of my skull & several inches diameter of infection.