Beautiful office, very tech forward, and super lovely staff. From the start, I had a pretty great experience at this office. I had to switch from an office I already really loved due to moving so I was nervous. The checkin person was incredibly friendly, the initial person I worked with during my exam was as well, and the doctor was engaging and thorough. I had zero complaints and was ready to leave the office to write this as a five star review....
So why 3 stars? I work in the insurance field. I understand the importance of taking ownership of your own benefits and not relying on a medical office to provide you with the information about what coverage you have. For this reason, I checked my vision benefits before my appointment and knew that I had a $10 co pay for the exam and a $0 copay for my contact lens fit/follow up. I've had the same plan for several years and that's always been what I pay but it's still good to check in case coverage changes. At check in I was offered a $39 photo of my eye in lieu of traditional dilation and I agreed as I hate the idea of getting my eyes dilated. For those doing the math, I'm now up to $49 due for my appointment.
At checkout, I was told my total was $153. That's a difference of $104. I paid it and then went to my car to make sure I didn't misread something on my coverage. Nope, $0 exam copay, $10 lens copay.... I go back in to ask the person at check out. She explained to me that I had a "premium" contact lens fitting which is only discounted at 10% per my plan. I did see this on my benefits but have never been charged for a premium fitting so didn't think it applied to me. I'll say this, if I wasn't one to know things about insurance coverage I may have just accepted that as "just the way it is." I could have easily accepted that I got a "premium" fitting because they used extra technology that felt high end. But that's not what premium means. When I asked what the difference is, the person at check out said she's been asked before but doesn't really know. She offered to find out from another person in the back. She was very kind about the whole thing and happily went to ask and brought back a print out explaining the difference. I was told someone would call me because the person she tried to ask wasn't available. There was a lot of vision jargon on the printout that I didn't understand so I had to go home to look up the meanings. Basically it means this.... If you have regular bad vision like not being able to read a street sign far away, you don't need a premium exam. Premium is for premium lenses: astigmatism, multifocal or monovision lenses, post-surgical lenses, etc.
I was called the next morning and told that they'd made an error in coding and was overcharged by mistake. They had already initiated the refund to my card for the additional $104 that wasn't truly due. Great! Glad that's squared away. However, my 3 stars still stand. It's 1000% possible that it was an honest mistake. These things happen. It's also possible that it wasn't a mistake and they're up charging for the reasons I stated above. Because if I wasn't me and heard premium exam I might have just agreed to paying it because I could see how the extra technology might make it "premium."
Ultimately, I couldn't confidently refer my grandparents to this office without feeling like I needed to check their receipts after every visit. read more