Many of these things we feel we now understand, and the credibility issues have been coming down from one agency after another that show we were right and they have problems.
Documentation issues, stonewalling, blatant false statements contradicted by their own voices. This is their public record after we have filed complaints with the Attorney General, Minnesota Ombudsman for Mental Health, and Better Business Bureau.
These all could have been avoided if we saw any sign the people in charge cared. After a year we realized the dangers to our child were worse than we thought then. Doctors who don't find their own mistakes to be a concern-- are major concern to us.
Children's lives are on the line.
It is interesting to me that this all could have been wrapped up so easily had it not been for their bizarre response. All I had asked was they commit to review and care the concerns I laid out, and stick to their word on billing. A fairly paltry amount really. I said, if we can do this, barring anything unforeseen, I would consider us done. Barring anything unforeseen may have been problematic since we found so many unforeseen scary facts after we refused to back down to the bully. And that's just what we alone have found, with no attorney assistance. They were very naughty and we believe our child suffered for it, and it could have been worse if we hadn't pulled him early and found new care that dramatically changed things by getting our child off the dangerous interactions PrairieCare increased, with a doctor somewhere in their system saying it could be the very problem, but somehow that got lost in the paperwork I guess. Perhaps with all the other paperwork that is missing?
The following is a copy of our year in review after dealing with Prairiecare and their free assessment, day treatment program and pulling our child early after the many red flags. It was worse than we thought.
All the agencies we filed with have records of their findings and experience with this place.
By the way, if you do a search, we are not the only parents out there with similar stories, we are just the most in depth.
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Danger to your children is something every parent grapples with in making decisions. Our opinions of care and billing, and facts found by government are just one factor to consider. The following is an addition to the original post which shows up the most in people's searches. It will give you what we learned since the beginning :
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"several documentation concerns presented themselves. In particular, incomplete forms, conflicting information in single event charting, duplication of charting notes for different days, and documentation indicating (..redacted..) with no documentation available at all. "
Actual portion of letter sent to Prairie Care from MN Ombudsman for mental health.
Dropped a letter grade by Better Business Bureau after ignoring them.
-Attorney General's office has copies of their own voices which factually contradict some of their statements.
-They tell you on their website they have an "unbiased" advocate to help you. This man works for them, writes letters on their behalf, and does their dirty work. Honesty is important. Unbiased? That means not on a side. Dictionaries are available online to their writers.
-Check interactions with drugs! We don't trust them at all there and firmly believe they could have killed our son. Children's health is a serious issue. These things I believe must be reviewed and there should be reviews done by mental health doctors with parent knowledge to help the child.
We found Prairie Care to be not informative on interactions, and as a parent, I believe they were not on top of this issue.
They INCREASED dangerous pill interactions without warning us of the potential dangers, and they stood by it for at least one, but we didn't know about the other, on that was far worse.
We never knew until after we left about interactions and the horrible side effects. We never knew until pulling him from the program that those pills could be the problem, that the interactions had potentially dangerous effects. We didn't learn until almost a year later just how bad it was.
Are they watching the brand new doctors? They told us they were, but I don't believe them. That's my opinion, but I think I earned it.
Serotonin Syndrome has the potential to kill.
We believe over treatment can be as harmful as over-medicating. We are not doctors, but we say this as parents. Second opinions changed our lives.
When we pulled him out early, after several issues had arisen, after we informed staff of those issues, after having strong doubts about what was happening in the day program, and after getting a bill that was significantly larger than what we were told, we believe our choice was right and have been proved right everywhere we have gone.
Get in writing exactly what they charge and for what. Our request for itemization of what they did each day to warrant the charge has not been provided. Of course, now that I know how extensive their documentation problems were, that would probably be difficult.
We believe our child was at risk for their greed. That is our opinion. We believe it with all our heart.
We again believe a parent should be able to address their child's care with no fear of retribution.
Does the free assessment remind you of being sold a timeshare? Looking back, that's how I would describe it. At the time, I thought it was about health.
We were referred there for growing concerns about a child's mental health and we thought when we were referred there, they were committed to his care.
I no longer believe that in any way, shape, or form.
I believe they are terribly frightened of a lawsuit and that's why they lawyered up immediately in responding to us about care concerns that ranged from not checking backpacks, finding a long stick pin, but not the worst which I found about about almost a year later. I think that's why they wouldn't talk to the BBB and that's why they've tossed everything they can against a wall against me to see what sticks. I didn't even know how bad it really was until almost a year later when we found some new documentation. When I saw the records, we sat our son down and told him what was in them. He wants others to know. And that's why we blog. Our opinion is we can help the next child or next set of parents.
They once said I was all about money, even though that's not even close to where it started. We paid them off immediately. We believe it was still about twice as high as it should have been and they mislead us and told them so. But we paid it. And frankly, I doubt that little tiny bit of money they felt that adament about.
But if it was all about money--why wouldn't they have simply paid back less than a thousand dollars and avoid the endless agencies who have all bolstered us and brought out even more damning details? I ponder that business model. I always wondered why they came at us in a way I found so strangely aggressive and bizarre when we pointed out some issues. Since, we have found out it was even worse than we thought.
If it was all about money, why did they have a lawyer involved when I informed them of care issues (most of which I had informed them of while there) but was a year away yet from finding out just how bad it was. I didn't get why they had a lawyer included at the time, but I saw it as a hostile move. I didn't understand at all their odd response, a response that seemed more interested in destroying my credibility than caring for a child. I thought that was very weird at the time.
We weren't even near dealing with all the billing issues at that point. Again, they are required to produce an itemization and explanation of the charges and despite our requests have NOT.
If it's all about money, why not? Could it be all the documentation problems found? Could it be they are unable to produce it because they can't back it up? Could that be why they stonewalled the Better Business Bureau who tried to contact them several times in several ways?
If it was all about money, why were they pressing for my son's medical recordsafter he left? Why? I have not found any official or doctor who can explain to me why they would press so hard for his records of care AFTER we left with a new doctor.
If it was all about money, why would they let themselves be damaged by the BBB, by letting information go public when mom refused to meet with them and their lawyer and cooperate with getting records they had no medical interest in?
If it was all about money, why would they, as a for profit business, think such a paltry amount of money was more important than the public finding out? That's strange business. Why would a for profit business let so much bad press get out to the public over chump change. Why would this website exist if it was all about money?
Why?
My opinion is they are scared to death that we will sue over how they cared for our child, win, and it will cost them so much more. Just an opinion. My other guess is they have really incompetent people working for them on the administrative side. I don't know what else to think..
My opinion is it is about money--but not ours, it's about theirs.
The Ombudsman called them out on some major documentation problems. We have proof of interaction issues from their own records. We have their own voices left on our voicemail contradicting them.
So if you are a quality place, committed to patients, children and families, why would you act so strangely and stonewall?
We believe all the facts about his care are on our side — and even though it took us almost a year before we learned it was worse than we thought..we know now. But we still haven't retained an attorney. We have just filed and done very well with public complaints to various agencies. We've put a lot of time into informing the public. More than a few dollars can cover. It's never been about the money for us. It's been about honesty and safety. It's been about refusing to be bullied down. It's been about not letting another family experience what we did.
We are pleased to have kept voice mails which were able to refute baseless accusations now on record with the AG. I kept every single voice mail. Apparently they were not aware of that when they sent a letter to the AG. That sucks for them. Health care, mental health care for children is a very serious issue. And so is integrity. I need to trust a doctor, especially when my child is on the line. I believe they are so untrustworthy the public should know.
(btw, I spent over a decade as a reporter..not sure if they knew that since I got the feeling they thought I was just a dumb mommy who would be scared of their bluster and go along with them without question, just an opinion....because of my background, I have a thing with "right to know," and am certainly not clueless on working with agencies, research, information laws, and dealing with slimeballs who hide under rocks.)
They have documentation (mn ombudsman) and stonewalling (BBB) issues on record.
I believe that means Prairie Care in Edina and Maple Grove sucks and bought the domain name because it is highly recommended that any business or public official buys such names because they are likely to come up. Just do a search on obamasucks.com or bushsucks.com. You'll see how it works. PR people should know that.
Consultants, I've always thought, were a waste of money. That's free advice.
My opinion is based on their behavior with us, and findings at the BBB, Attorney General, and Minnesota Ombudsman for Mental health, as well as documentation they wrote.
Please know, they never told me about pill interactions. In fact, they stood by not telling me. I disagree that parents don't need to know.
But at the time, I wasn't aware of just how bad the interaction dangers were. I have more now that as a parent was a blow to the gut. I believe parents have a RIGHT TO BE INFORMED.
They never told me how badly they screwed up documents. Never. I found out nearly a year later what the Ombudsman had found.
Again:
"several documentation concerns presented themselves. In particular, incomplete forms, conflicting information in single event charting, duplication of charting notes for different days, and documentation indicating (..redacted..) with no documentation available at all. "
Actual portion of letter sent to Prairie Care from MN Ombudsman for mental health in our case. That letter, we were told by the Ombudsman has now been sent to the Attorney General to make clear what they told Prairie Care vs what Prairie Care claimed.
By the way, it should be noted Prairie Care apologized to our child's new doctors because it took way too long to get his records. Past anything reasonable.
Why did they drag their feet so much??
Thanks to our ever increasing readers. This blog would have never been, if we hadn't felt bullied, or if we felt that Prairie Care actually did care about children.
We are passionate our child deserved better. Our child is a great kid, we firmly believe they took advantage of us, by using him, and put him in peril. That's our opinion, but we believe it 100%.
We want children to be safe. That's it.
We are not a settle out and quietly go away type, and we don't care to pad lawyer pockets. We want children to be safe. We were not left with an impression that they cared, but we do. We think screwing up charts, pill interaction increases and safety checks are VERY SERIOUS ISSUES. If Oberstarr, a DOCTOR, had shown us any sign he took those issues seriously, we wouldn't be here today. That's it. We wanted to know they understood some things were problems and committed to fix them.
One commentary came to this website about their care and claimed to be a patient and everything was roses. A quick google search on the name showed it was from a health care consultant.
We have still been waiting for her follow up since her "outing." Wow.
That's one reason why I have little regard for PR consultants. I've worked with them before. I am waiting for one that has opinions worth anything to cross my path.
I always thought "consultant" was just a fancy way of saying..let's pay someone to agree with everything we want them to say. Opinion. Governments use them all the time. I think they are a waste of money.
Prairie Care committed to take care of my son. And believe me when I say, when a mom finds out all I know today...thinking you're sexist is the nicest thing I have to say about Todd. His letter writer who claims to be a patient advocate, and Oberstarr rank even lower in our view than the administrator.
Oberstarr is a Doctor. He took an oath.
He took an oath.
We do not endorse Prairie Care's mental health programs, or business in Edina and Maple Grove.
A second opinion is, in our opinion, an eye opener. We endorse second opinions by qualified professionals unrelated to that place. That's our opinion. I wish someone would have warned us, but we were referred and thought they would help. Hindsight is 20/20.
