I originally wrote this review for Google months ago following a visit back in February, but since I've had so much angst and still have not had issues resolved I think it's worth spreading the word a little more broadly.
I've been a patient of Dr. Odle's for years, and I still love the care I received from him, but something is just plain wrong at the office now.
I went in to see NP Patrick Lopez for my annual visit because it would have been a while before I could see Dr. Odle. I am also happy with the medical service he provided.
One thing that keeps popping up is that my medical history at the office is always missing one thing or another, even when I mention it to the nurse who does the initial interview. I have a drug allergy which is unlikely to become an issue in the future, but it would be comforting to know that it's actually on my paperwork.
I cash pay for my doctor's visits, but I get reimbursed for them. When I went in a month ago (to the day), I asked to pay up front. They charged me $187 and gave me a receipt and a piece of paper that basically said I had been in, but didn't have the price of services on it. I specified that I needed a bill, but the office staff looked confused and said that what they gave me was "the bill."
This didn't suffice for reimbursement, so I called a couple times to ask for bills. I received a few non-bills (e.g. a health summary, which while interesting was a waste of postage for them and mostly a waste of time for me). Their email doesn't work and the web forms don't work to contact them, so you're just stuck with the phone answering service, which is through the larger Optum group and doesn't go direct to the office so you're playing the telephone game and hoping that there are no lapses in communication. Sometimes they'd even tell me that I'd get a call back, and I wouldn't get a call back and then the wong thing would show up in the mail.
On my fourth call, they suggested I call billing. Although the agent gave me a number that doesn't work, I called back and got a different number that did work.
This is when I learned that they decided that I actually owed them $251, not $187 as I was charged. The one silver lining is that billing actually sent an itemized bill the first time I called, which is not a guarantee.
Now, I'm willing to spend money for good care, but this is frankly bogus. If I ask to pay up front, I intend to pay the whole thing up front. If I ask for a bill, I want an actual bill. If I submit an online form, I expect a response (or else remove the form from the website!). If I get told I'll get a call back, it would be nice to get that call back.
There is no indication they were ever going to tell me about this balance until it went to collection, and I don't see any explanation of why the balance is more than what I was originally charged on the bill itself. The only explanation I can think of is that they decided not to treat this as an annual routine visit, which would be at odds with everything I said when scheduling the appointment and what I said at the appointment.
I used to work in non-emergency medical transportation, so I understand there are extra hiccups that come with regulations et cetera but this is becoming increasingly Kafkaesque.
I'm willing to change this review if I can get a good explanation of what happened and some reason to believe that it won't happen again, because I have often recommended Dr. Odle and his practice, but frankly I just can't recommend an office that doesn't keep medical information up to date and isn't clear and forthcoming with billing. Ever since the shift to 4C and now to Optum, dealing with the office has been a headache.
Update 8/30: I reached out to the office a few times and they explained that the reason why I paid less than I got billed is that the cash pay up front is for a "standard" visit and if it gets billed differently then the patient winds up paying the difference later. They couldn't resolve this, so I just paid the difference.
After paying the difference, I have asked for an itemized bill and have not received one, despite being told that it would be mailed to me (they provided my correct address) and then later being told it would be emailed to me (they provided my correct email address). read more