My mother is an elderly patient of Dr. Simpson's, though she is (thankfully) quite healthy for her age. She is also on Medicare. If you are on Medicare and don't want to be gouged at every turn, choose another doctor's office.
I like Dr. Simpson and have no dispute with her credentials or competence, but I find unfortunately that she and her office consistently submit billing codes that are higher than earned, no doubt so Medicare's reimbursement will end up paying them what they want to be paid. This is a common tactic known as "upcoding." And since Medicare doesn't pay many of these questionable codes, my mother ends up being responsible for them. This is just wrong -- she is on a fixed income and cannot have surprise medical bills show up, especially since she hardly even goes to the doctor.
For example - last year my mom had her annual (covered) wellness exam. Dr. Simpson coded for the wellness exam and an ADDITIONAL 1 hour long office visit which was not covered by Medicare, so my mother ended up being charged over $100 for a visit she believed was free (the total compensation charged by Dr. Simpson's office to Medicare was over $900). If she had known she would be charged $100 my mother would not have gone -- there was nothing really wrong with her. And let's be clear -- even including the wellness exam (which was covered), the time Dr. Simpson spent with my mother on that visit was nowhere near an hour. Now she just charged us for a 25 minute office visit AND a $40 charge for filling out my mom's handicapped placard application, which she did during the office visit, and which is apparently never covered by Medicare.
And when I called to dispute the charge, her office billing staff got very defensive and told me they had no control over the codes and billing (not true) and sent me on a wild goose chase, even giving me the wrong billing number for UCLA Health. It is very clear the office billing staff are focused on the doctor's bottom line and could care less about customer service or patient care. (When I finally reached the right people at UCLA Health billing department, they were patient, helpful and pleasant).
If you are on Medicare, beware. Review your bills carefully and learn what the codes stand for, or better yet find a health care advocate. Unfortunately, you will need one. read more
