ASCENSION
COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
AUGUST 4, 2017
SEE THIS BUSINESS AND ADDRESS:
ASCENSION HEALTH MINISTRY
4040 VINCENNES HEALTH CENTER
INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46268
317/334-VEND (8363)
THERE IS A FASCINATING SCAM, OR ANONYMOUS CHARITY, OR A STING GOING AROUND. I JUST GOT A SMALL, BUT NONETHELESS WELCOME, CHECK FOR $15.00 IN THE MAIL. AT THE TOP, IT DOES MENTION “ST. VINCENT’S AMBULATORY CARE, INC.” WHICH IS MY PRIMARY CARE DOCTOR’S SITE AND THEIR PHONE NUMBER, BUT WITH NO EXPLANATION WHATSOEVER. I DID CALL THE ST VINCENT’S PHONE NUMBER ON THE CHECK, AND IT’S CORRECT. I CAN’T VERIFY ANY OF THIS WITH THEM DIRECTLY, HOWEVER, BECAUSE THIS IS AFTER HOURS ON FRIDAY EVENING. SO. THAT’S A JOB FOR MONDAY. I WANT TO SPEAK TO A HUMAN BEING. THE MOST DISMAYING THING ABOUT DOING BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET IS THE FACELESS NATURE OF IT.
WHAT I MOST WANT TO KNOW IS HOW THEY GOT MY INFORMATION FROM THE DOC WHEN I AM PAID UP, I BELIEVE, AND IT’S BEEN TWO MONTHS OR SO SINCE I WAS THERE. WHY DID THEY CHOOSE ME FOR THIS PERSONAL ATTENTION? ALL I CAN ASSUME THIS MIGHT BE, IF IT’S LEGITIMATE, IS A REFUND AS ONE OF THE COMMENTERS BELOW SAID ABOUT HER CHECK.
OTHER THAN THAT POSSIBILITY, THOUGH, IT MAY WELL BE A CREATIVE SORT OF “PHISHING” ATTEMPT. PERHAPS THEY WANT MY CHECKING ACCOUNT INFORMATION? “YOU JUST WON ...” IS AN OLD “COME ON” LINE. SEND ME $500.00 AND I WILL SEND YOU YOUR $10,000.”
I WON’T CASH IT UNLESS AND UNTIL I CAN VERIFY THIS THROUGH THE ST. VINCENT’S SYSTEM AND, IF THAT DOESN’T WORK, THROUGH THE FBI. LOOK AT THE GREAT RUN OF PERSONAL COMMENTS/INFORMATION ON REDDIT ABOUT THESE ASCENSION PEOPLE, WHOEVER THEY ARE.
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/3x9ym3/mysterious_check_from_ascension_health_ministry/#bottom-comments
reddit personal finance
Other Mysterious Check from Ascension Health Ministry? (self.personalfinance)
submitted 1 year ago * by lothtekpa
Hello all.
Today I received a strange check in the mail from Ascension Health Ministry. According to their wikipedia page, they're a huge non-profit Catholic health ministry. They apparently give medical care to people in poverty and help with other community programs. Here is a webinar I found online which has some more information.
BUT... I'm not poor ($60k salary), and can't recall receiving Catholic health services. I also have Cigna insurance, so I'm really not sure what happened.
So what the hell is this? I can't seem to find any evidence that it is a scam online, and nothing results from any searches of "why did I get a check from ASC", despite being common enough to auto-fill the search.
The check is $132.98, which isn't a life-changing amount of money but is certainly nice. If it isn't a scam I would like this free money. But, I don't want to risk some kind of check fraud or something, where depositing the check provides account information to whomever sent this check.
So, does anyone in r/PF know about this?
EDIT: False alarm, folks. I called the number on the check, and apparently it's a refund for medical services rendered in early 2014. I had completely forgotten since it was so long ago. It was also strange because there are no Ascension Health facilities in my state, but this was an X-ray I had received while injured on a rugby trip.
TL;DR: Ascension Health Ministry checks seem legit. Good to know.
all 4 comments
sorted by: best (suggested)
[–]ryeshoes 2 points 1 year ago
I'd contact them. Even though they are legit, the check might not be.
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[–]autumndark 2 points 1 year ago
Haha, they are a real company; my fiance works for Ascension Health. You probably aren't familiar with the name because Ascension owns 28 different health systems throughout the country. You'd be more familiar with the name of the local hospital or health system where you were treated.
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[–]elysiansaurus 1 point 1 year ago
Well you have two choices. Call them / contact them because the probably sent to the wrong person. Or deposit it and have them take it out later when they realize their mistake.
More from r/personalfinance
Mysterious Check from Ascension Health Ministry? by lothtekpa in personalfinance
[–]Swall41 1 point 1 year ago
I also just received a check from them. Strange thing is they had my new address and we just moved 2 weeks ago. Crazy. I haven't even changed my address with Secretary of State yet.
permalinkcontextfull comments (4)
MORE FROM THE NET ON THIS: THE FOLLOWING ARE OTHER MYSTERIOUS CHECK ENTRIES WITH A BUSINESS NAME, WHICH IS BIRDEYE. FOR “MYSTERIOUS” COMMENTARIES, THE MOTHER LODE IS DEFINITELY “BIRDEYE.” GO TO https://reviews.birdeye.com/ascension-health-ministry-service-center-817964608 FOR AT LEAST A DOZEN. CHECKING BIRDEYE I FOUND THAT TO BE THE NAME OF AN ONLINE SITE OFFERING AIDS TO BUSINESSES, AND AT THE BIRDEYE SITE, ANOTHER LINK TO ASCENSION. READING THE JOYOUS COMMENTS FROM CHECK RECIPIENTS ON BIRDEYE WILL EITHER BRING TEARS TO YOUR OWN EYES, OR MAKE YOU CERTAIN THAT THERE IS AN ELABORATE SCAM BEING RUN TO MANY PEOPLE ON THE NET. THEN I FOUND YET ANOTHER SITE CALLED “GLASSDOOR.COM.”
UNDER GLASSDOOR I FOUND A SITE CONSISTING OF APPARENT EMPLOYEE COMMENTS ABOUT WORKING FOR ASCENSION. ONE IS ABOUT ONLINE WORK, AND WHEN I CLICKED ON THAT I WAS POPPED INTO A SIGNUP SCREEN TO APPLY FOR ONLINE WORK! ONLINE “JOBS” ARE ADVERTISED ON ALL JOB SEARCH SITES. I HAVE SCANNED SEVERAL THROUGH THE YEARS, AND NONE SEEM LEGITIMATE, SO THIS MAY BE THE CENTER OF THE WHOLE “MINISTRIES” GROUP OF WEBSITES.
FINALLY, THE “INDYSTAR.COM” SITE IS THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR NEWS SITE. THEY RAN A STORY ON ASCENSION, IT WOULD APPEAR, BUT WHEN I TRIED TO SEARCH THE NAMED URL, I GOT THE OLD “THIS PAGE DOES NOT EXIST” 404 MESSAGE, SO I GOOGLED THE TOP DESCRIPTOR LINE INSTEAD AND GOT WHAT PURPORTS TO BE A GENUINE NEWS ARTICLE. IT DISGUSTS ME TO ADMIT THAT IN TRYING TO READ THE ARTICLE, I WAS BROUGHT UP SHORT BY A MANDATORY (VERY MANDATORY) SURVEY SITE OF RIDICULOUS QUESTIONS THAT ARE NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS. I DISTRUST THE SOURCE, SO I DIDN’T BITE ON THEIR QUESTIONNAIRE. I LEAVE IT TO YOU TO SEE IF YOU WANT TO GIVE INDYSTAR YOUR INTERNET LOCATION AND PERSONAL INFORMATION. I DON’T. [NOTE, ON THIS SURVEY I JUST PERSISTENTLY CLICKED OFF THE ANNOYING SURVEY PAGE AND ON AGAIN UNTIL AT THE NEXT TRY I GOT THE STORY. IT IS PRESENTED HERE.]
ASCENSION IS THE PARENT COMPANY OF A NUMBER OF MEDICAL COMPANIES INCLUDING MY OWN, ST. VINCENT’S; SO, I WILL GO ON DOWN TO THE BANK AND CASH THE CHECK TOMORROW MORNING AFTER I VERIFY WITH ST VINCENT’S THAT MY CONCLUSION IS CORRECT. I DON’T TRUST IT UNTIL I CAN TALK TO A HUMAN FOR AN ANSWER. I DO WISH THAT EITHER ASCENSION OR ST. VINCENTS’ WOULD HAVE TOLD ME IN THE LETTER ITSELF THAT THEY ARE DIRECTLY LINKED, AND THAT MY LITTLE CHECK IS PROBABLY A REFUND. FINALLY UNDER ASCENSION I FOUND "INDYSTAR," WHICH TURNS OUT TO BE THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR, A BONE FIDE ORGANIZATION. THAT PUTS THE PUZZLE PIECES TOGETHER IN A CLEAR AND RELIABLE WAY, WHICH IS WHAT I MOST OFTEN CONSIDER TO BE BEST DESCRIBED AS "HONEST." OF COURSE, IF THE WORLD -- AND ESPECIALLY THE INTERNET -- WEREN'T SO FULL OF SCAMS AND DISINFORMATION I WOULDN'T HAVE PURSUED IT TO QUITE THIS POINT. THINGS LIKE THIS CAN BE NOT ONLY ANNOYING, BUT DANGEROUS.
SEARCH TERMS: Ascension's service center handles business side of health care
www.indystar.com/.../ascensions-service-center-handles-business-side-of-health-care/4...
Ascension’s service center handles business side of health care
By Michael Schroeder, Star correspondent Published 10:35 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2014 | Updated 10:40 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2014
“Every day around 1,300 calls ring into the Ascension Health Ministry Service Center on Indianapolis’ Northwestside, where about 530 employees answer questions on everything from product purchasing to employee benefits....
Answer a survey from a third party researcher to gain access to premium content. Surveys longer than 3 questions provide a survey-free experience for 7 days.”
Every day around 1,300 calls ring into the Ascension Health Ministry Service Center on Indianapolis’ Northwestside, where about 530 employees answer questions on everything from product purchasing to employee benefits.
The calls come from associates as far away as Texas — doctors to support staff to administrators who make up St. Louis-based Ascension Health, the nation’s largest nonprofit health system. It’s typically busiest between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., said contact center supervisor Andreea Polonic, but the phones ring from 7:30 a.m., when the Ministry Service Center opens, until it closes at 9 p.m.
And many more calls are expected.
That’s why Ascension Health recently laid plans to expand its service center and create up to 549 jobs by 2016 to serve all of its roughly 150,000 associates in its 26 health ministries, which are typically regionally connected health systems. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. recently offered the Ministry Service Center, a limited liability company, up to $4.8 million in conditional tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants based on the company’s job-creation plans.
Ascension subsidiary Indianapolis-based St. Vincent Health will go live with the service center in May. “The ministry service center is central to a systemwide transformation,” said Ministry Service Center CEO Lee Coulter, as it centralizes services once handled by individual hospitals or health systems, such as purchase orders and payroll.
With a total budget of $23 billion, Ascension Health has virtually unrivaled purchasing power.
“Health systems grow and they centralize and they gain these economies of scale,” said Mark Norrell, a lecturer in health-care administration for the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Bloomington. “That provides opportunities to reduce cost.”
For Ascension, Coulter said, “The benefits are measured in billions” — in projected dollars saved through the Ministry Service Center, owing mainly to enhanced purchasing power and to a lesser degree, he said, improved efficiency. “This is really intended to save significant dollars without impacting patient care,” he said.
Norrell said there is a drawback to the trend: Along with the “growth mandate” that many large medical systems follow in buying up health-care organizations and centralizing shared services, there are often cuts to local administrative staff.
Coulter acknowledged some cuts have occurred at Ascension-owned health systems, but he didn’t elaborate.
“We really care for our associates, and have gone above and beyond to make sure there’s as little displacement as possible,” he said. That includes training employees for different jobs within their health organization and hiring temporary workers during transitions, he added.
The announcement in December of Ascension’s plans to expand comes as welcome relief following cuts at numerous health systems that feature prominently in the area.
St. Vincent announced last year that it would cut 5 percent of its work force statewide, or more than 800 employees. IU Health and Franciscan Alliance announced last year they’d each cut more than 900 positions. Experts say increased pressure from governmental and private insurers to hold the line on cost and lower patient volumes have forced many health systems to scale back.
At the Ministry Service Center, in addition to employees who handle calls on the front line, a wide range of specialists from pay and benefits to analytics services handle more involved queries. “Most associates are used to someone down the hall performing the task for them,” said Charlie Bell, a client relationship manager at the service center. “It’s a change for someone to pick up the phone and call Indianapolis.”
But the upshot, Bell said, is that employees have a team of professionals available to meet their needs. “There’s always someone there to take that question and get it resolved for them,” he said.
Still, known for his highly collaborative approach that blends efficiency with effectiveness — for instance, he favors three-, six- and nine-minute gatherings, instead of 30-, 60- and 90-minute meetings — Coulter leads a team that focuses on improving services for Ascension associates.
“Eighty percent of our calls are answered in 40 seconds or less,” said Brian Jones, a contact center manager at the service center. He reviews audits of call performance and checks metrics such as “handle time” — essentially how long it takes to handle concerns raised in a call (too fast or slow can be a red flag), and coaches center employees accordingly.
Jones sits in a modern, bright and open workspace — set apart from the drab, high-cubicle-walled confines one might normally equate with a call center — on the fifth floor of a building whose primary occupant is the Ministry Service Center. Employees take calls on several floors and will expand into adjacent space over the next few years.
Coulter said he personally reads written feedback. He heard “loud and clear” from employees who said they weren’t getting their problems handled on the first call. “So we implemented a new kind of call center,” Coulter said.
The proportion of calls where an issue gets resolved on the first call went from 35 percent to 61 percent, he said. He’s hoping to see it to exceed 70 percent, noting some calls will always need to be forwarded to specialists.
“It’s a process,” he said.
One call at a time.
Ascension Health Ministry Service Center
--What: Provides shared services in human resources, supply chain and finances for more than two dozen health ministries of Ascension Health, the largest nonprofit health system and largest Catholic health system in the U.S.
--Location: 4040 Vincennes Circle, Indianapolis
--CEO: Lee Coulter.
--Quote: “We’re growing because we’re passionately pursuing cost savings that doesn’t impact patient care.” — Lee Coutler
WHAT I FOUND WHEN I GOOGLED "ASCENSION" IS BELOW. ONE PROBLEM WITH TRYING TO TRACE A COMPANY ON THE INTERNET IS THAT THEY RARELY SPECIFY EXACTLY WHO THEIR BOARD MEMBERS ARE, ETC, AND WHAT THEIR CONNECTION BETWEEN OTHERS ON THE "UMBRELLA" NETWORK ARE. MY GUESS IS THAT THEY DON'T WANT PEOPLE LIKE ME TO KNOW WHO THEY ARE, WHAT THEY DO AND WHERE THEY DO BUSINESS, BECAUSE THEN I CAN MORE EASILY WRITE THEM ANGRY LETTERS ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP OF THE CORPORATION. IF DONALD TRUMP HAPPENED TO BE AT THE HEAD OF THE CORPORATION, I WOULD BE ABLE TO DISCERN IT WITHOUT FILING SUIT, WHICH OF COURSE HE DOESN'T WANT AT ALL.
THEN WHEN I LOOKED AT THESE SITES, THERE WERE COMMENTS FROM OTHERS ABOUT A "MYSTERIOUS" CHECK FROM AN UNKNOWN SOURCE RECEIVED IN THE MAIL, WITHOUT EVEN THE SIMPLE EXPLANATION THAT IT IS A REFUND. IN MY CASE, IF THEY HAD MENTIONED THAT THEY ARE ALSO KNOWN AS ST. VINCENT'S IT WOULD HAVE BEEN CLEAR. AS IT IS, IT LOOKS LIKE SOME UNKNOWN CHARITY HAS STEPPED IN BETWEEN ST. VINCENTS AND ME. I GET LITTLE DUMMY CHECKS ALL THE TIME, THAT SAY IN THE LETTER WITH THEM THAT IF I JUST BUY YADA YADA YADA I CAN CASH THE CHECK IN THE PROCESS.
THE LETTER SHOULD HAVE COME FROM ST. VINCENT'S ITSELF RATHER THAN UNDER THE UNEXPLAINED HEADING "ASCENSION." THEY COULD HAVE ADDED THE TERMS "HEALTHCARE SERVICES CENTER." AFTER ALL, THAT IS WHO SENT THE LETTER. BUSINESSES SEEM TO BE GOING OUT OF THEIR WAY TO AVOID SAYING SPECIFICALLY WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY DO. TOO MANY OF THEM USE AN ACRONYM WHICH SPELLS NOTHING, HAS NO ENGLISH COGNATES, AND IS MORE LIKE A CODE THAN A NAME. MY, TIMES HAVE CHANGED. USED TO BE THEY WOULD SAY "FURNITURE," NOT "MANUFACTURING," AND IN THIS CASE THEY WOULD HAVE PUT A SIMPLE EXPLANATORY LINE. WHY CAN'T WE KEEP DOING THINGS THAT WAY? IS IT JUST TOO HARD TO MANAGE?
IN THE FOLLOWING SITE DESCRIPTIONS SEE, ESPECIALLY, REDDIT, GLASSDOOR, AND BIRDEYE. INDYSTAR IS THE KEY GIVING A RELIABLE LOCAL NEWS SOURCE.
Ministry Service Center Careers | Ascension
https://ascension.org/.../ascension-ministry-service-center/ministry-service-center-care...
Career opportunities at the Ministry Service Center.
Mysterious Check from Ascension Health Ministry? : personalfinance
https://www.reddit.com/r/.../mysterious_check_from_ascension_health_ministry/
Dec 17, 2015 - 5 posts - 4 authors
... I received a strange check in the mail from Ascension Health Ministry. ... ($60k salary), and can't recall receiving Catholic health services.
You visited this page on 8/4/17.
Ascension Health Ministry Service Center - BirdEye
https://reviews.birdeye.com/ascension-health-ministry-service-center-817964608
Rating: 4.6 - 34 reviews
34 reviews of Ascension Health Ministry Service Center from Indianapolis, INI received an unknown check from ... 4040 Vincennes Cir, Indianapolis, IN 46268 ...
Ascension Ministry Service Center Reviews | Glassdoor
https://www.glassdoor.com/.../Ascension-Ministry-Service-Center-Reviews-E539732....
Rating: 2.2 - 92 reviews
Jun 7, 2017 - Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Indianapolis, IN ... I have been working at Ascension Ministry Service Center full-time (More than a year) ..... brought me here, have worked at one of the Health Ministries also.
Ascension's service center handles business side of health care
www.indystar.com/story/money/.../ascensions-service-center...of-health.../4925135/
Jan 26, 2014 - Every day around 1300 calls ring into the Ascension Health Ministry Service Center on Indianapolis' Northwestside, w...
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