Dr. Vyas seems to be a competent orthodontist, but over the course of a year, we've only seen her once. We saw her at our "free consultation", and haven't seen her since.
The billing practices from her office staff are sketchy at best. I would describe their business practices as hussling patients, not providing treatment or services.
The "free consultation", is only free if you decide not to pursue services with Dr. Vyas. If you do decide to move forward with treatment, her office bills your insurance for those services and rolls your portion of the cost into your "estimate". Which you are required to sign at your consultation whether you decide to start treatment that day or not. We decided to consult with another orthodontist prior to choosing a treatment plan, so my daughter didn't start receiving treatment for almost 6 months. At which time our insurance was billed for $1969, our financial responsibility being half per our plan. We were asked to pay a $250 deposit prior to the insurance being billed. Which at the time, seemed reasonable. But the statements I received from her office later were a little higher than my half minus our deposit. For 4 months I brought my daughter in for appointments and asked to speak with the person in charge of billing. She was never in the office. I inquired about making additional payments at every visit, but the receptionist seemed to struggling just to answer the phone and schedule follow up appointments. So I decided to wait for a time that the billing person was available.
Finally, after 4 months of inquiries, the billing person called me. She was reluctant to explain the additional charges, and kept referring to the estimate I had signed almost a year ago. Eventually she admitted that the additional charges were from the "free consultation" which is why they hadn't appeared on the EOBs I received from my insurance company.
The billing lady told me I could pay the balance in full over the phone right now, or my daughter would have to find a new orthodontist. I was shocked! After 4 months of treatment, a dozen visits, countless inquiries about the bill, and one actual conversation about the bill, this woman is hussling me for payment in full over the phone. Our "estimate" had put us on a 12 month payment plan. Apparently the payment plan is only an option for people that just blindly pay the bill, or allow Dr. Vyas's office to randomly charge their credit card at will.
I agreed to pay the bill in full because my 10 year old daughter still has a mouth full of braces and I didn't really have any other option. I'm not excited about going back to this office for another 8 months. I can only hope that Dr. Vyas and her clinical staff have more integrity than her administrative staff do.
I would caution all parents against going to this office. While the care has seemed adequate, the business is most definitely shady at best. Find an orthodontist who provides excellent care and has ethical business practices. I will be looking for a different office for my other children. I will not be rolling the dice on Dr. Vyas again. read more