SPOKANE, Wash. — Three months after the Spokane Allergy and Asthma Clinic shut down unexpectedly, former patients voicing their frustrations with billing issue.
Vanessa Kaufman, who was a lifelong patient at the clinic, discovered she had paid $200 in medical bills after the closure that didn’t reduce her balance.
Kaufman’s auto-pay system continued charging her account after the clinic closed. Despite making several payments, her balance did not change.
“I look through all of my bills. I looked through to see what I had paid, and I found that I had spent $200 on medical bills that actually didn’t pay off anything,” Kaufman said.
She took to Facebook posting screenshots and warning others about her issue. Then, Kaufman contacted her bank to dispute the charges and received a $200 credit.
“If collections tries to come after me, I will prove that I was trying to pay this. But when my bill was not going down, I stopped paying because I’m not going to spend money on something that’s not actually affecting my bill,” Kaufman said.
Shortly after she had made the post, the clinic’s website was updated with a billing phone number that patients can use to contact if they have questions. Many have taken to Facebook and said that the billing number sends callers to voicemail. The website also includes links to where former patients can obtain medical records. At the top of their page, they address their closure as a “financial failure.”
Other former patients have posted on Facebook reporting similar problems with balances and charges that weren’t decreasing despite continued payments.
For patients still seeking allergy care, Advanced Allergy, Asthma and Immunology is accepting new patients. St. Joseph’s ENT in Post Falls, Idaho, is also accepting patients.
COPYRIGHT 2026 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
