Horrible staff, absolutely inhumane!!…read more
My mother is a patient of Dr. Robert Barnes, and had a glaucoma surgery scheduled with him on 02/16/2022.
My mother has Medicare (covers 80%) and Medicaid (covers 20%).
Unfortunately, Dr. Barnes office does not take Medicaid; therefore, we will have to pay 20%, which I agreed paying. However, Dr. Barnes office has a policy requiring to pay 20% before the surgery. I cannot afford paying the entire cost in full, therefore I requested a payment plan.
On Monday, 02/14/2022, 2 days prior to the surgery, I got a call from Caryn asking me to pay $100 today. I said that I can only pay $75 now and I will make another payment in a week, during the surgery follow up visit. She got Sonia, an office manager, on the phone that informed me again about their office policy requiring patients to pay everything before surgery and they already doing me a favor by agreeing to a payment plan.
Also, I had some questions related to 'before surgery' instructions and asked Caryn to send a message to one of the techs to answer my questions, but nobody called me back because I have not made a payment yet. Caryn promised to call me back later, but I never heard back from her. I guess that $25 made a huge difference in the patient's care.
On 02/15/2022, I got a reminder call from Hinsdale Surgical Center and I informed them about the situation with the payment and raised a concern to the Hinsdale Surgical Center representative about upcoming surgery due to a payment disagreement.
Well, only after getting a surgical center involved, I finally heard back from Caryn, but still no call from the tech to clarify the 'before surgery' instructions.
When I called back to the office, I had a chance to talk to Sonia, the office manager. I discussed my concerns with her, but all she told me is how busy they are, and the 'before surgery' instructions are very clear and understandable. I am sure, they are clear to her, but everybody is different and some people still need to get a clarification. The office is very busy and does not have time to call me back and answer my questions regarding the instructions, but they find time to call me for a payment.
Also, Sonia suggested that I cancel my mom's surgery and I find another specialist. After, waiting for 3 weeks for the surgery, and making arrangements, it will have to be canceled just the day before it was scheduled.
It's very painful to see how low-income people are turned around by the doctors if they can't afford paying for the cost of the surgery in full prior to the surgery and there is not much flexibility with the payment plan. I completely understand, that this is not a free clinic, I am willing to pay, but please be flexible with me and allow me to pay in installments.
It looks like Dr. Barnes staff does not care about his patients, they only care about collecting the money.
This situation is very inhumane, and I am wondering if Dr. Barnes is aware of what his staff is doing.