After moving to the Paso area from out of state, I was looking for a good, quality ob/gyn. I was very pleased to find Dr. Stephanie Mikulics. The lobby/waiting area seemed clean, nicely decorated and comfortable. I, initially, enjoyed the staff as well. I was so please that I remained being a patient for the next 4 years. I was seen several times a year, as I have am a "Daughter of DES". This was a fertility drug given to women back in the 60's. It has since been determined that the baby girls that were born after the mothers were administered this drug, are very susceptible to cervical cancer. Therefor, I have get a pap 2x/year. On one occasion, unfortunately, I thought I might have contracted a STD from my ex-boyfriend who was cheating on me. So, I went in to get checked.
While I was there for my annual pap, I also wanted Dr. Mikulics to check a lump I had discovered in my breast. I was worried as I had several removed and tested for cancer just the year before. Anyway, when I arrived that morning, Penny, the receptionist/office manager, seemed to be quite friendly as she normally was with me. We chit chatted, caught up on "life" and had a few laughs while I was waiting to be called into the room. Dr. Mikulics saw me pretty quick. She ordered some tests for my breast and sent cultures for my annual tests in. As I checked out with Penny, I needed to schedule a follow-up appointment but forgot my calendar, so I told her I would call her back in a few hours after I returned back home. I left the office.
I drove straight home and coincidentally, had just received a bill, in the mail from the lab their office uses for some of these STD (sexually transmitted disease) tests, including AIDS/HIV test that my insurance did not cover. This bill was just being sent to me for the first time, although it was for lab work from almost 6 months earlier. So, I called Penny with my billing questions & to schedule my follow-up appt. She, immediately seemed very rushed &agitated and told me she would look up the billing codes and call me back. She called me the next day, supposedly after contacting the lab, and left a message telling me that I "just have to pay it, she couldn't do anything else to help me, so don't call back!" I was absolutely shocked at her unprofessionalism and was still without any answers. This bill was almost $400..from 6 months ago, for LAB work only. I needed things explained to me before I just paid it. I never received ANY bill that large amount ever before. I am on a very limited income and have 2 different insurance companies that should have covered this bill. So, I called back, I got the office's answering machine & I left a detailed message, with specific questions, so Penny would know exactly what I needed explained. This was not some cut and dry billing issue like she made it. She called me back the next morning and seemed even more irritated than the day before. While I was trying to explain my confusion, she continued to cut me off, tell me that she couldn't help me and didn't have any more time to spend on me as this was not her problem. Mind you, I only actually spoke to her once for about 2 minutes in my initial call, then left a 2 minute voice mail message. That's it. Her abrupt, rude tone and behavior was completely uncalled for. I was always very friendly and decent with her in the past, so this was very unexpected & shocking. She informed me that she had another patient in front of her and had to hang up. I asked her if she could leave a message for Dr, Mikulics to call me back then. She said, "No, she doesn't handle billing, I do." She stated that if I wanted to talk to the Dr., I would have to make an appt. So, I said, I still need to make an appointment for my follow-up so I could ask her my questions during that time. She then told me that Dr. Mikulics would not spend appointment time on any STD, AIDS/HIV lab billing questions. It seemed as if she was the one that made the error in improperly submitting the wrong billing codes and didn't want to admit it, correct it or have me bring it to Dr. Mikulics attention. The next thing that came out of her mouth absolutely mortified me. She said, "And with your history, maybe you ought to get checked more often!" Then hung up on me!
OMG!!! I couldn't believe that she acted so unprofessional. This is a complete breach of confidentiality. Not only did she divulge my AIDS tests results in from of this patient, but to make this comment, insinuating that I was someone who slept around with a lot of men, was horrible! Two days later, I received a letter in the mail from Dr. Mikulic's office stating that I needed to look for medical services from another doctor, as they would no longer see me as a patient!!! Are you kidding me? Was I not allowed to ask a billing question of Penny? This woman's behavior is deplorable and she needs to be fired. read more