NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — New troubles for the former fertility clinic that abruptly shut down earlier this year.
We have been closely following what's happened since the Center for Reproductive Health closed its doors in April.
And now we have learned that the former medical practice is the focus of an insurance investigation.
Former patients of the Center for Reproductive Health who are covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee have been receiving letters from the insurance company's Special Investigations Unit, revealing that Blue Cross Blue Shield is now reviewing bills submitted by the now closed fertility clinic to "verify the services" that patients received and from whom.
This comes after we discovered that clinic patients like Sarah Davis were treated exclusively at the Center by someone who employees referred to as "Dr. Dyer."
"What did they (clinic staff) tell you about Dr. Dyer?" we asked Davis during our initial investigation of the clinic back in April.
"Nothing but wonderful things," she told us then, adding, "They (clinic employees) said he was a fertility doctor."
The only problem?
Our investigation exposed how Farere Dyer was not a fertility doctor. In fact, we found, he has never held any sort of medical license in Tennessee.
"That (Dyer) is the only person that I ever saw," Davis shared.
And it appears that Blue Cross Blue Shield is now trying to determine whether the Center for Reproductive Health billed for services provided by the clinic's founder and medical director, Dr. Jaime Vasquez, when in reality, they were performed by Farere Dyer.
"How many IUIs did you have there?" we had asked Davis.
"Two."
"And who performed them?" we asked.
"Both of them were Dr. Dyer," Davis told us.
Davis said Dyer analyzed her ultrasounds and labwork and came up with her treatment plan, including she says the fertility drugs she would take. But she showed us her prescription bottles and Dyer's name was not on any of them.
"Everything says Dr. Vasquez, Jamie Vasquez MD," she showed us.
"And how many times did you see Dr. Vasquez?" we wondered.
"Never," Davis replied.
Blue Cross Blue Shield is now asking patients to tell them specifically what services they received from the fertility clinic and who provided them, Dr. Vasquez or Farere Dyer.
The insuror told NewsChannel 5 Investigates in a statement that "BlueCross began an investigation in May after the Center closed...to confirm that members received the care they needed...and to review that services billed aligned with the care provided," adding that they, "regularly conduct reviews like this to maintain high standards of care for members and...to ensure that providers are paid accurately to keep costs down."
"Dr. Vasquez never saw you, treated you?" we asked Sarah Davis.
"No, absolutely not. Absolutely not," she emphatically responded.
And while the state Medical Board has yet to take any sort of enforcement action in this case and the Davidson County District Attorney declined to press criminal charges, the Blue Cross Blue Shield investigation perhaps might finally shed some light on what exactly was going on in the now closed clinic.
We reached out to Dr. Vasquez through his attorney for comment but got no response.
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