Gastroenterologists - Ventura, CA

"Dealing with this doctor and his office was a huge waste of my time and ended up leaving me at square one for getting a colonoscopy scheduled. First, it took more work than it should have for me to get calls back from the appointment scheduling person and also the billing department when I had a question about the initial bill that I received (after my telemedicine call about 5 months before). Second, they billed for a telemedicine call that they require knowing that the insurance provider - who they are listed as a provider for - may very well not cover that part of the overall colonoscopy appointment (which is a covered treatment). They also don’t tell the patient upfront that there is a good chance this telemedicine call will be on the patient to pay for. Third, their billing department has some real glitches in how it operates based on their admission to me that they sent out some initial bills months late due to an error on their end, and then had the bills sent and marked as “past due.” This happened to me which is how I learned of this error that affected more people than just myself. As someone who pays her bills well before any due date, it was upsetting to receive “past due” on my very first bill from them (and to receive it months after the telemedicine call). Fourth, they are not forthcoming about how realistic it is is to get your colonoscopy scheduled in the month(s) time frame you have available. From the initial call to them in October 2021, it took four months to get the required telemedicine call with the doctor - who spent much of the call trying to push me to go for the more expensive pre-procedure liquid to drink (even after I told him again and again that I am sensitive to cost as a part time teacher and that I am fine with the liquid I had taken when I had this procedure the first time around). The doctor also assured me that I could get the May date I needed (so, 7 months after my initial call to his office to get an appointment). The doctor also said someone would call me in a few weeks when they were doing the schedule for the period I needed. No one called me…. I started calling, leaving messages, and finally, after about the third attempt to reach a person and leaving a message, I got a call back with a message saying I was scheduled for late June (which I could take or leave), but there were no available dates in May. If I had known this initially, I would have found a different provider and avoided the headaches of wasted time, sloppy billing practices, and having to spend almost an hour on the phone with a telemedicine call that had almost no medical substantive value to me. End of the day, I’m out about $120 since my insurance provider would not cover the call as part of a colonoscopy procedure (which the doctor’s office should have been able to tell me back when I confirmed they were a provider with Aetna and gave them my insurance plan information weeks in advance of my telemedicine appointment). I would hope the actual procedure would go smoothly with this doctor. On the phone, he was personable, friendly and sounded conscientious. But, frankly, I finally got so frustrated with just getting a treatment date that would work and, then, becoming concerned what the overall procedure would cost me end of the day, e.g., the uncovered telemedicine call, that I’ve decided to hold off and find another doctor and medical office for my colonoscopy. "