Deborah E.
wrote:
Zero stars if it were an option!!
I have been a long time patient of Las Vegas Skin and Cancer Institute. I have even referred friends and family. This will no longer be the case!
Let me start off with a positive. The front desk manager and her staff are phenomenal. The PA Aaron is also awesome!! They are all so sweet and kind.
Now to the the dirty part that feels like a doctor taking advantage of his PPO patients. Starting in the middle of January, the owner, Dr Taheri, implemented a new billing policy forcing PPO patients to meet insurance deductibles ( which in my case is over $3000 a year) before allowing insurance to cover the appointment under the copay ( again, in my case is $60 a visit). What used to cost me $60 in now costing me over $100 every month for a routine visit. The office has been instructed by Dr Taheri to code differently forcing PPO patients to meet their deductibles, which in my opinion is inappropriate on many levels. They also won’t tell you that because I have a PPO insurance, it is actually cheaper to be a cash paying patient(don’t use insurance). My copay (paid at the time of my appointment) is $60 (with insurance) plus the additional amount that is billed to me at a later date because of coding. The total for the monthly appointment is well I’ve $100. By switching to cash, my appointment is now $70 and no further billing. I had to figure this out on my own!!!
When I asked about this in the office, I was directed to call billing directly so that, in my opinion, they didn’t have to throw the company “under the bus”. I called billing and the man I spoke to was rude and insisted that I needed to call my insurance for clarification because, again in my opinion, he didn’t want to put the company in a bad light. After spending an hour on the phone speaking to my insurance, who has no vested interest in Las Vegas Skin and Cancer Institute, and doing some of my own research, it was the office that started coding differently, which explained the difference in billing. I called the office again and presented what I had learned from my insurance company. Only then did the staff explained that this was a decision made by Dr. Taheri at the beginning of the year in an attempt to force patients to meet their deductibles. They also don’t tell you thatThis was not something they were going to disclose until they realized I had gotten to the bottom of the issue and they felt cornered. They went on to explain that I am not the only patient who have brought this to their attention but there is nothing they can do about it. They said the only recourse I have is to write a review, which I did. They explained that patients have been leaving the office crying because they feel they are being taken advantage of because of this new coding policy. They can no longer afford the services that was covered by their insurance at their last appointment with a simple payment of their deductible.
The medical assistant even expressed that this would be the last appointment she would be seeing me because she is quitting. She disclosed that she will no longer be working for Las Vegas Skin and Cancer Institute because of how she and patients are being treated by Dr. Taheri. This is so disappointing.
My dermatologist moved to SF. Need an appointment before the end of the year. Recommendations between Hollywood and SM? (I just became one of those Facebook people, sorry).
Jeremy B. replied:
Dr. Taheri -- just down SMB from Yahoo - http://www.lalasercenter.com/