This practice had to do just one thing -- send a prescription for heart medication to my pharmacy -- and it couldn't manage to get it done. At least five people there checked my pharmacy information, yet the prescription never arrived. Hudson Valley medical practices are negligent and irresponsible and for the most part staffed by incompetents. The doctor on call whom I finally got on the phone and who refused to give me his name said it's "inappropriate" for me to complain to a doctor about prescription issues. Well, I think it's inappropriate for a medical practice to play Russian roulette with a patient's health by not sending critical prescriptions. And the name of the doctor I spoke to is Sankar Varanasi. Ain't no hiding in the digital age! read more

This review is strictly for the administrative and scheduling staff at the practice. Sharon was professional, pleasant, friendly, and very efficient in scheduling a multitude of appointments. Follow ups to this review will be posted later. read more

The Heart Center - Or entrance directly to the center, go to the very top level of the parking garage and follow the green awning in - Hospitals Near Me - Poughkeepsie, New York

The care at the Poughkeepsie Heart Center is par, met expectations, did not exceed. The Billing department on the other hand needs a complete overhaul. In May of 2024 I got a bill for $68 for services supposedly provided 4 years earlier in 2020. No billing code, no EOB, the only description was "Cardiology". No additional information than it came from the Heart Center. I did not have time to deal with it so I just paid the bill. The next month I got the same bill again, the only difference was that instead of "Cardiology" it had a name (presumably a doctor?) that I didn't recognize. I figured it was a valid assumption that they were slow to process my payment since the bill was from a supposed service 4 years ago, so I ignored it since I already paid it. The next month I got the same bill again, indicating 60 days overdue. I checked my HSA account (thanks Fidelity for having copies of the processed checks, I even have their account number printed on the back) and saw that indeed the payment was processed over a month ago. Now I'm pretty annoyed. Their hours are only 9-5, so I had to take time away from my job to call and try to get this resolved. After 30 minutes on hold I finally got a representative. I explained the situation, no empathy at all. The rep gave me the boiler plate "I will send the account for review". I asked for a case number, but no, there is no case number. They just ask for a review. Not all people are honest, so it didn't bother me that they wanted proof of payment. But no, it is not possible to email, it has to be a FAX or paper mail. Seriously. So I found someone who still has a land line and tried to fax it, but their fax machine didn't answer. So I burned a stamp and sent it in the mail. The next month comes along and I get the bill again, threatening to send it to collections. Now this is for a $68 bill for services supposedly provided 4 years ago, that I ALREADY PAID MONTHS AGO AND SENT PROOF. So now my wife had to get involved because I would not be able to control my temper (heart condition, you know, reduce stress and all that...) and went through the entire scenario yet again. The automated phone system hung up on her 3 times, finally got through to a person. She asked them to review the recorded call from the last time. They didn't do that, but they did have a record of the call. This rep seemed to at least understand that the problem was on their side and said they would call her back. They also said that they were having trouble finding the account because it may already have been sent to collections. (This is a $68 bill from services supposedly provided 4 YEARS AGO, no billing code, no EOB, nothing, THAT I ALREADY PAID MONTHS AGO, and sent proof.) No call back. Not surprised. But we called back! This time they said the account balance was $0, and I have nothing to worry about. Really? You mean I trust that I'm not going to get a call from a collection agency? This goes way beyond $$. It is bullying and harassment. They already lost me as a patient, which is way more $$ than this incident. (Although $68/month for the rest of my life does add up after a while since paying the bill doesn't make it stop.) I am well aware that "healthcare" in our country is a for-profit industry, and I still wouldn't want to live anywhere else. But it doesn't even make financial sense to chase $68 bills 4 years later and badger patients until they leave. Summary: Do not recommend to a friend. read more

Fantastic care! Highly recommend this facility. Caring and accommodating associates, staff and doctors.

my mother should have had an echo right away per her coat with Dr Yen and they put her 2 weeks out, I had to do CPR on her the day she collapsed and vassar and heart drs chose not to listen when I said certain things even though I am a nurse, I am completely disgusted with the care and will never use them for myself at this point and chose to switch my father, if echo was done my mother would still be here with me and I will definitely pursue this as I am a nurse and feel the care was not there read more

Caveat Emptor. AS with many professional practices, the professional staff is fine to excellent. Read on dear reader: As with many professional offices, the business model is horrible: misleading at best and overpriced too. Was charged One Thousand Two Hundred Twenty-Eight USD ($1228.00) for an ultrasound of my neck. The national average is Three Hundred USD ($300.00) according to the following site: https://www.newchoicehealth.com/procedures/head-and-neck-ultrasound Was told by Heart Center office staff the insurance "approved" the scan. Turned out the insurance merely approved a 'scam'. WAS NOT TOLD before THE PROCEDURE the amount of my co-pay: $150.00. My usual co-pay is $25.00, if any, for an office visit related diagnostic. I even recall telling staff in charge of scheduling, as I always tell, -- I am veteran and can get the same done for close to zero out of pocket so do not schedule if co-pay is more than $25.00. The clerk called me a few days after the doctor visit and said my insurance 'approved' them doing the diagnostic. She did not know the co-pay. I stupidly let it go. Why? Read on. Upon arrival had me sign a waiver that I would pay the copay. I signed the co-pay document, standard protocol without knowing the cost at that time. (My bad.) Here's why: Almost every other medical professional office I had gone to (I am 72 years old) accepted my insurance as full payment. I understood minimal to no copay. I came to know that is not what the clerk meant. Typically, my experience was- the co-pay is tied to the original office visit (co-pay of $25) where the procedure is recommended thus, no co-pay for the test. Because of Covid, I had to come back to have the test done. What makes it worse is I always make it clear to private office schedulers is if the co-pay is higher than $15 or $25, I will go to my local VA facility. When I spoke with the staff about "this after the fact" they begged ignorance and told me in no uncertain terms it was my obligation to know the co-pay amount before authorizing the diagnostic. OK. Lesson learned. About this office: not consumer-friendly. And misleading, as above mentioned. Caveat Emptor. The office billing supervisor called me and told me she had no authority to waive the co-pay. LOL. It is a sorry day for this office that staff has no authority to make good a miscommunication from a staff to a client/ patient, a senior, and a veteran at that. Stay away from this office unless you wish to get scammed. Or have your checklist of questions to ask beforehand. And make sure you get answers in writing from them. read more

Dr Lawrence Solomon as a cardiac physician is great, however, not the first time there's been a communication breakdown with the company. i was in vassar hosp, got released november 22. Needed a prostate procedure and got an appointment for Dec 5. Surgeon needed clearance from cardiologist. called heart center Dec 1st, left message on nurse voicemail. No call back on Dec 1st or 2nd. surgical coordinator tried to make contact as well. No luck. called again after hours dec 2. spoke to answering service. very nice person but all she could do is leave a message for the next day. got voicemail back dec 3 at 1:30 from patty telling me to call scheduling. seriously? Heart center, shame on you. whats your excuse? read more

Dr Yen is outstanding and this review has nothing to do with him. The Heart Center, affiliated with Nuvance Health, outsourced their billing to a third party. The continuity on this outsourcing between the Heart Center, Nuvance Health and the third party is horrible. I paid two bills in March for a procedure done in February, than 9 months later in November I get another $800 (after insurance) bill with no explanation of what the charges are for other than "cardiology". I've tried 5 times to get clarity on the charges - twice by phone, three times via their website - and no one has responded. read more

Nurse Jenn is so helpful in navigating the ridiculous insurance BS Dr Kantaros is thorough and LISTENS to his patients He is a world class doctor The coumadin clinic is friendly and very responsive I hope with the changes in ownership that these superior qualities don't fall by the wayside Great practice with great ethics and patient care read more

My father is a patient at the heart center. He is currently in a lot of pain and needs surgery. However, the surgeon cannot proceed until the heart center provides written instructions. In the meantime, he has to wait and suffer. Even though he has gone in person and called multiple times over the past week and a half, nothing has been done! Extenuating circumstances and emergencies happen, no doubt about it, but when patients are in pain, they shouldn't have to navigate elaborate bureaucracy to receive care. This is not a criticism of the doctors or nurses working there; they do excellent work. The fact that it takes so long to hear from a doctor or nurse points to another problem: corporate medicine prioritizes profit over patients. And judging by the other reviews, we're not the only one experiencing this issue. read more

For years I have been seen by doctors at the heart center in the beginning it was great fantastic give him five stars as the years went by it kept getting worse I would call for an appointment and didn't get a callback for a week or maybe even two weeks it was very hard for me to get an appointment To see the doctor that I trusted the most in the past year it was impossible to get in to see anyone or even get a call back to schedule an appointment so I left the heart center and I'm now without a heart doctor I am tired of them making me feel like I was wasting their time I did Go to see another doctor but again he made me feel like I was wasting his time As it stands today I would not recommend the heart center to anyone except for one person there she is the best but again it was very hard to get an appointment to see her I trusted her the most read more

Horrible customer service. The "patient portal" refuses to work and when I try to contact them, no one but no one picks up the phone. You end up with one recording after another, going nowhere. I just wasted another 30 minutes without getting anyone to talk to. And at 3:15 in the afternoon! This place is everything that is wrong with modern medicine. And try getting an actual doctor on the phone. Just try. read more

This practice treated my old Mother like garbage 4 years ago. I went there this week and the Dr. paid no attention what I said and gave me a dismissive lecture that was irrelevant to my situation. What is the point of going to these arrogant, self-serving medical mills? read more

The office staff is rude and slow. I like the doctor but the office manager should work on friendliness with the staff.

Simply put the previous reviews are nonsense, this place saves lives. The medical doctors are caring, capable, and competent beyond the norm. The techs and nursing staff mirror the doctors compassion and care. Scheduling is easy and straightforward. My appointment s have been prompt, test results are made easy to understand, medications are explained with detail. This place saves lives. read more

Thought it was just my experience. Had a heart episode in June. After several weeks someone ordered more tests. Never heard back from any doctor. Calls go into a central phone maize and promised callbacks never happen. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Don't do it. read more

I have had nothing but good experiences at the Heart Center. Doctor Varinasi has been my doctor throughout my experiences . I have found him to be most knowledgable about my particular problem, and have had nothing but goodexperiences with the rest ofthe staff at the Heart Center. Highly reccommended ! read more

This review is based on the Fishkill location for my elderly mother, who was a patient there for about four years. Overall, the experience was just ok, nothing great, nothing terrible. Dr. very hard to get in touch with personally, they force you to leave messages for the medical assistant all the time. The first time she came out of the hospital she saw the nurse practitioner, not a doctor, which I did not appreciate. I felt the care was adequate, and was an ok choice for us because it was close, but in retrospect I regret not bringing her down to Westchester or the city because I think the overall care and quality of physicians, as well as the attention given to patients, is much better. read more

Once again, it's back to the scheduling nightmare. We LOVE the doctors and our nurse practitioner. TOP SHELF!! Our surgeon & cardiologist ( Dr. V & Dr. P) are probably the best in the world! Unfortunately, they do not handle the scheduling. If they did, it would most certainly NOT be the disaster it is. One would think that hundreds of calls a day come through one line . A line that is always in use-- or taken off the hook. So, you get a reminder ( mailed, not phoned), that its time to come in for your follow-up visit. As there have been some heart "issues", you're glad to know help will soon address them. That is, if you can GET to the wonderful staff. But, no---help is blocked by scheduling. I've made, on average, a dozen to two dozen attempts a day for 6 days & have not been able to get through even ONCE! Busy, busy, busy. The stress on heart patients going through this scheduling fiasco can't be understated. The fix is simple. Hire a staff or answering service to do nothing but scheduling. Done! A scheduling TEAM. As large as it takes to allow patients access to scheduling within the first half dozen attempts. Who knows. The day may come, when you can reach them after only 2 tries. One can dream. read more

My mother was in ICU and had an ecocardigram that showed a heart murmur. The cardio doc. told her that she had a blocked aorta and that she would need a stint or balloon inserted into her groin and to the valve, she should make an appt. to see him and go over what would be done. I was in the room the whole time. When she went for her appt. He told her he never said any of that and she needed open heart surgery. I was not able to make that appt. otherwise I would have told him he was a liar because he had not said anything about open heart surgery. And ;he just looking to milk the ins. companies. Get a second opinion before you have anything done here. read more

I agree with the previous review . The heart center has some good doctors but no one cares specially the administrative staff they have no customer service and they are rude in the sense that they don't listen to your concern or explain their policy . As for the test center technicians they have no compassion and very rude to patients. Also, they never cleared their financial policy and did not let me know they were part of the hospital outpatient which mean I had to pay extra copay. I would never go back there or recommend anyone to do so either. This place is about money... money ...money read more

The Heart Center doctors are known for their arrogant, bullying, non compassionate approach to care. They scare the people in their care with no regard to the art of health care. Hopefully they will improve in this regard, read more