Before I get into my issue with this office, I must say this: The doctor I saw did a great job. I…read morewent in with a very painful ear infection and the care he gave me was competent and effective. If the care I received were all I had to talk about, I would give this business a much higher rating.
However, I was extremely disappointed with how this office handled my billing. I am uninsured and very low-income, so before I went in to the office, I contacted them via e-mail to ask how much their services would cost me. I was told that it "shouldn't be more than $150." I was able to pay that, so I went in to the office, where I was asked to sign a document in which I agreed to pay $150 up front. I paid this and went in to see the doctor.
When I came out of the doctor's office I was given a piece of paper listing what I had paid in cash and the service I had come in for. The way this sheet was laid out made it look as if the service I received had cost the $150 I paid. At no point during any of these three above-mentioned discussions did anyone indicate that I still owed the office money.
A month later I got a bill for $163. The $150 I had put down apparently had covered the cost of my procedure, but only $20 of the "new patient" fee. Again, no one had even indicated to me that any such fee existed or that I would be charged after leaving the office. Because I need to budget for each of my bills, I wasn't able to pay this bill, and I went in to the office to complain.
Now, I admit I was hoping they would cancel the bill, but even though they didn't, I might have been mollified if they had at least apologized for the lack of clarity in their billing process. Instead, I was told by two different people that it was, essentially, not their fault, because the ladies at the front desk had no way of knowing what the doctors' fees would be. This in itself seems like a problem with their billing procedures, but either way, I don't believe it could prevent them from at least telling me that there would be an additional bill coming. Instead, I feel as if this bill was snuck on me, because they didn't want to tell me they were sending me a bill without being able to tell me what it would be.
On top of this, when I spoke to the lady at the front desk, she said that the visit fee could have been up to $400, a sort of "be glad it's only this" attitude that seems like entirely the wrong approach to a client's complaint about a bill.
All in all, the trouble with their billing process pretty much balances out the quality of the doctors' care, especially for me, since I don't have the money to easily handle sudden $160 bills. If you do, or better yet, if you're insured, then by all means visit this office. Otherwise, just keep in mind that you'll need to keep an eye on your wallet.
