Altitude Family & Internal Medicine

Reviews 3

MI

Michelle Braun

Worst experience ever - stay away from this practice. I am on daily thyroid medication. I have been taking this medication for YEARS. I called my pharmacy to get a refill and it was denied. The PHARMACY told me they were told I needed to be seen. Yes, the PHARMACY, not this medical practice. Nobody from this office could be bothered to call me and tell me I needed to be seen. Nobody from this office called me and told me they would refill this time, but I needed to be seen in the next month for another prescription. You can imagine how angry I became that I wasnt given the common courtesy of a simple phone call regarding my thyroid medication. I am not prescribed morphine. I am not prescribed percocet. I am prescribed hormones to replace the ones my thyroid doesnt make. I called the office and I was pissed. I left a very angry message stating the lack of professionalism for not bothering to call their patient. I infact said I was "pissed." Later, I get a phone call fro Dr. Hoffman. She starts by saying her assistant told her I left an inflammatory message about my prescription. I let her comment go. I tell her how mad I am that her office couldnt be bothered to call me regarding this matter. (Excuse #1) She states they told the pharmacy to rely a message. I tell Dr. Hoffman that it isnt the pharmacies responsibility and that they couldnt care less if I scheduled a doctors appointment. (Excuse #2) She then states that when I patient isnt seen for a year that they arent considered a patient. I ask her how I am suppose to know this... she tells me its common provider practice. I state Im not a provider so how would I know?? She apologizes not for working for an inept office and for her staff not knowing how to call patients, but for MY lack of understanding how a doctors office works. She says she will refill my prescription so long as I schedule an appointment, which I was planning to do anyway. I tell her how upset I am that my prescription was denied without any common courtesy for my care. (Excuse #3) She then deflects the lack of patient concern and tells me that she would appreciate that any additional messages I leave dont contain profanity. What??? I told her I never cursed in my message. I told her I used the word pissed. I asked her what curse word I used- no response. I asked her if she even heard what I said to which she states yes... hummm... read several lines up where she tells me her ASSISTANT TOLD HER I LEFT AN INFLAMMATORY MESSAGE. She never said she herself got a message... yet another deflection from being a professional provider. The last time I was in this office with my boyfriend, it was a ghost town. Phones werent ringing. Nobody was in the waiting room. Office staff has left and was leaving and doctors have left... sinking ship?? From the outside it appears plenty of their patients are tired of their lack of professionalism. They are tired of having to be seen and then having to be seen for something else related... this office is deliberately making their client base be seen for the office visit cash so they can keep their doors open. I am considering filing malpractice being as medication I desperately need was denied and the doctors office failed to contact me or to communicate with me regarding this matter. On top of that, my boyfriend is turning over billing he received from his insurance company as he was charged for nicotine patches AND DOESNT SMOKE! Beware of an office that doesnt have YOUR health care as the primary concern but rather their bottom line.

ZA

Zachary Pember

This establishment engages in sleazy billing practices and deception that may qualify as fraud. I scheduled a routine annual wellness visit with the explicit statement that I only wanted to schedule a preventative wellness visit that would be fully covered by my insurance under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. I explained that while Im young and healthy, I was making the appointment in order to qualify for an insurance premium credit offered by my employer. The office receptionist acknowledged my statements and proceeded to schedule my appointment. On the day of my appointment, I again informed the front office staff of my desire to only receive the minimal preventative care visit required to satisfy the requirements of my insurance while being fully covered as preventative care under the ACA. This was acknowledged with the ambiguous statement "well see". I decided I wanted to completely ensure I was being clear, so I proceeded to explain my request directly to the doctor I was scheduled to see. She acknowledged my statement with a head nod, and proceeded with the office visit. The problems became apparent when I received the bill. I was expecting a bill that would be fully covered by my insurance, but instead I discover that my insurance only covered a portion of the bill. It turns out I was charged for more than a simple annual wellness visit. I was perplexed because I had made it exceptionally clear about the medical service I was requesting, and I could not identify any part of my office visit that would have been considered outside the realm of an ordinary annual wellness visit. Naturally, I thought I could get this fixed by simply contacting their billing department. My wife (who handles most of our medical bills) talked to a woman who tried to explain that "they do office wellness visits differently" and tried to argue that my appointment counted as two visits because I had a very brief conversation with my doctor during my wellness visit (a conversation started by the doctor I might add). In no context that Im aware of is responding to questions from a doctor during a wellness visit the equivalent of requesting and receiving "further treatment". I was informed that this issue was presented directly to the owner of the establishment, who did not yield to our request that they drop the billing for the "further treatment". Im left to conclude that there may be systematic billing malpractice at this office. Despite the relatively small amount that they claim I owe, the circumstances surrounding this case reak of intentional deception and I intend to explore my legal options to put an end to this. If anyone reading this has had a similar experience recently with this establishment, Id be interested in having a discussion.

JO

Josh Mitchell

VERY FRUSTRATED with this practice. First was assigned to PA after asking to have Dr. Hansen, then wasnt able to reschedule for 2 months and still havent be able to be seen. Went in for pre physical blood work which was required and they sent the blood to out of network facility. I am now stuck with $1300 lab bill, and headache to resolve. Go find another practice you will be happy you did. UPDATE: GAVE OFFICE SECOND CHANCE AND THEY STILL SCREWED UP. FINAL REVIEW BELOW. DO NOT GO TO THIS OFFICE, save your time and your money and choose another provider. I went to this office because my insurance changed at my work. I should have seen the writing on the walls from the get go. I first wanted to get my yearly covered physical out of the way, and meet my new Dr., only to find out that the unprofessional front desk staff scheduled me with the PA instead of Dr. Hansen as request. I had to wait another month before being seen, in the mean time they said I needed to come in for blood work which I assumed to be routine, as my previous Dr. did the same. Little did I realize that they charged me an office visit to allow a PA student drill and miss my veins. Then while waiting for my physical I got the worst shock of all, the blood work bill. This office sent my blood to an out of network provider, and ordered 2700 dollars worth of blood work. That drained my HSA for the year. THEN the worst part on top of that is there were tests that my insurance would NOT cover at all because they are not deemed to have medical value. Now I am responsible for even more after having HSA cleaned out! The office refuses to return phone calls, and is frankly a joke. I wont even go into detail what issues my wife has gone through, but if you decide to go to this provided consider yourself warned!