I visited Dr. Yarbrough recently because I needed a skin check. It had been a couple of years since I had one and being that I live in Arizona, I thought I should get one. A skin check is covered 100% by my insurance. I looked on Cigna to find a dermatologist and Dr. Yarbrough was relatively close to my work and had acceptable reviews. I called them and asked for an appointment. They asked what the appointment was for. I replied "A skin check". They said OK and I made the appointment.
When I went to the appointment, the dr came in, asked me to remove my shirt. He then did a quick examination of my torso and arms. He didn't say anything about the spot on my hand so I pointed it out. He said the tiny spot was pre-cancerous, quickly grabbed a device and applied a microsecond shot with liquid nitrogen. It was obvious he wasn't going to look at anything else so I pointed out a couple of other things he missed. He said they were OK. I said there was something on my leg and showed it to him. After dropping my pants, he said that was OK too and quickly left the room.
When I went to leave, I was billed $136 for some sort of surgery. I told them I didn't have any surgery. She laughed, took my credit card and ran it for $136. I didn't argue (mistake) because I figured the whole thing would be taken care of by the insurance and that I'd be refunded the $136. Several weeks went by and I found out that it wasn't covered and I have to pay the $136 for the "surgery". I called the doctor's office to dispute the bill. I told them I went in for a skin check. Their reply "We don't perform skin checks." Now that's an odd comment from a dermatologist's office. Shouldn't they do skin checks on ALL their patients?!!! Then when confronted with the "surgery" issue, they said that I did have surgery - "cryosurgery". Really? That 100 millisecond squirt of liquid nitrogen was considered $136 of "surgery"?
Needless to say, I lost that battle and learned some lessons.
1. The representative I called was correct -Dr. Yarbrough truly doesn't perform skin checks. He's not thorough. Not even close. He never looked at my scalp and had no intention of looking at anything below my waist. I'm sure he didn't look at my feet, buttocks, or the back of my legs. For all I know, I have skin issues in those areas. If it wasn't for the areas I pointed out, he probably would've missed them too.
2. Any tiny, and I mean tiny, issue on your skin will cost you big bucks.
You can make your own decision. I won't go back. read more