This review is based on one visit. I probably should have listened to Yelp prior, but decided to give the doctor the benefit of the doubt since I understand Yelp reviews can be emotional. But wow, I have a story to tell you.
I found this office through my United Healthcare app, whom I have great health insurance coverage through. My wife and I recently had a baby boy. We're at that age where having more children would be high risk. Plus, we now have two kids, so permanent birth control seemed like the best option for us. And out of all those options, a vasectomy is regarded as the least invasive linked to little complication and zero deaths. So it just made the most sense.
I setup my appointment with Dr. Kassabian's office for a consult, which was surprisingly available the next day. When I arrived, I was going through my new patient setup. The office assistant looked at my insurance card and told me they don't accept it. I was confused since United Healthcare showed they were covered. She then said they only take PPO, which I responded that PPO is what I have. Then she tried to visually break down my insurance card, telling me it doesn't say "PPO" on it, instead showing the words "health plan" (which was shown just before my account number). I just had a baby with my wife so I'm quite aware what my insurance type is, but she then started saying I had HMO. I've never had HMO before, and I know my other doctor's don't accept HMO either. After basically arguing with the office assistant, I finally convinced her to check with them. She called United Healthcare to check while I started filling out the paperwork. Let me say this again - she called them, where other offices run this information through a computer to check coverage. She called the number she found on the back of my card, was placed on hold, then had a long detailed conversation with the UH rep about my coverage. Finally she summoned me back up to the window, saying my insurance was good, not even apologizing for the confrontation.
About 10 minutes after turning in my new patient packet, I get called in. I was immediately asked to give a urine sample by the nurse. From there, I was guided to my room to wait for the doctor. My frustration with the office admin was so great, it took me a second to realize how dated and dirty looking the exam room appeared. Furthermore, how cold the nurse was. She had barely spoken a word to me. Finally, Dr. Kassabian arrived. He has a very nice and straight forward demeanor about him. I asked questions about the procedure since I'd been reading a lot about it. I was curious to know about the no scalpel vasectomy I'd heard so much about. He'd told me that he doesn't do those because, "they don't work very well". He only does the old incision style vasectomy. So, if you have a vasectomy done here, you will have stitches and scarring afterwards. I understood and braved the idea and his advice.
They scheduled me to come back for the vasectomy later that week, which I did appreciate. But the same office assistant was trying to get me to pay a $300 deposit. I was able to get her to waive this strange deposit, and just get scheduled. However a family emergency occurred later that day and I had to cancel my vasectomy for later in the week. In hindsight, I'm so so so very grateful I did.
Throughout this important decision, I was nervous. So nervous that I was throwing a bit of caution to the wind putting my trust and guidance towards this doctor and his staff. But my wife, who works in medical, always says the office staff makes the doctor. When I reflected on my visit, even verbally sharing my experience with other offices, I always got, "how does an office admin not know how to read an insurance card?" ...I know ...I know. Red flag, right? Then I researched more about no scalpel vasectomies by talking to other doctor's and reading about the risks online. From that, I realized Dr. Kassabian is either not comfortable with performing this type of procedure or is too cheap to equip his office with the necessary equipment. Regardless, these are my man-bits we're talking about here and I was no longer comfortable having this kind of work done in this office.
I've since been able to compare my visit here with another urologist's office. The other office did charge a $100 deposit, but they helped me understand why. Many men apparently back out at the last minute. So I understand that the deposit is there to protect their time. That makes sense. That was never prefaced with Kassabian's office. Plus, $300?!
I'm sitting here typing this review the day after having a no-scalpel vasectomy performed by another urologist two buildings over. It was easy, painless, and quick. Plus, their office staff knew what kind of insurance I had just by glancing at my card. Seriously, don't go to Kassabian's office. It's just not worth it. There is so much better out there. read more
