Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates

I have been going to AGA for about a year and a half now for my Chron’s. I receive my infusions every 7 weeks. The personnel that work in the AGA infusion center at Emory/​St. Joseph’s location are simply great at what they do. From the Infusion Coordinator to all assistants on board, they treat me with the utmost care and consideration. The professionalism is top-​notch, and they go out of their way to make sure every infusion experience is comfortable for their patients. Their friendly approach and attitudes help to create a calm and satisfying atmosphere. I would recommend AGA to anyone with gastro related issues who are looking for a new Gastroenterology group to join.

Couldn’t be happier with a medical office and I am particular. We’ll run, good people, good job, and thorough. Dr. Nesmith is great and I won’t go anywhere else. They were also very accomodating with paperwork issues

Very professional and courteous staff. Facilities were modern and clean. Billing office worked diligently to resolve an issue with my insurance company.

Worst medical practice around. They don’t return calls, appointments are hard to schedule, getting your records released to another doctor after they don’t provide good care is near impossible. go elsewhere, this isn’t the place for you.

Trying to make the endoscopy appointment was a nightmare to start off then when I finally got it I set waiting to be called back for two hours from my appointment time. Then I was scared to death of the procedure and everyone was just so busy busy busy now after I have been so sick can’t keep anything down and have lost 7 pounds in three days when I called the doctor dr Patel he acted like I was a bother. Dr fox was very nice but everything else horrible

This review is for the Panola office in Lithonia. First thing that irked me is they send you a 15 page document and demand that you print and bring ALL pages with you. Half the pages are Marketing materials for their business. Costs savings for them but why should I print your Marketing materials for you? First visit 09−15−15 9:30am. I have reached my Insurance out of pocket maximum so all services will be paid 100% by insurance company but they still demanded I pay the copay. I got the Insurance company on the phone to confirm and they would not speak with them. So basically they want cash from me and bill insurance as well. The insurance specialist Syritha was not in the office and nobody else could handle any insurance issues. Waited 45 min before seeing the doc for approximately 3.5 min visit. There was no physical examination. 2 procedures were scheduled for Endoscopy and Colonoscopy. I was told I would receive email to order the pre-​procedure material that would come in the mail. If you’ve had a colonoscopy you know the night before you have to drink a gallon of this stuff that cleans you out. I’ve always just picked it up at the Pharmacy so thought well this is nice they mail it to you. Received the email and it is a Colon Prep Kit from the Colon Prep Center corporation containing Gatorade, Baby Wipes and Chicken soup and they want $ 30 for it. Of course Insurance doesn’t cover it because why would they cover Gatorade and baby wipes? Called 09−16−15 2:30pm and left voice message for Syritha which hasn’t been returned 2 days later. This morning sent email to cancel both procedures. They may have lots of suckers willing to pay premium for inferior corporate medical «care» but I am not the one… One other thing, the receptionist was very nice. Update 09−22−15 — left 2 voice messages and sent 3 emails last week to cancel procedures with no response at all. Drove to office today to make sure they cancel. Run away very fast and far…

My greatest complaint is how long I had to wait. I got there 30 minutes before my appointment time as required of a new patient. It was then an hour after my appointment time until I saw the doctor. It is stressful and frustrating waiting that long, which is not a good feeling for those at a gastro doctor.
The doctor also suggested I do some blood even though it was very obvious that it was unnecessary.
I also wish she had better explained the medication she was prescribing as well as how to take care of my stomach issues. Here I’ve spent my entire afternoon at their office yet I don’t truly understand how to improve my issues.
For positives, the doctor was at least nice and listened well.

The doctor and staff were fine. My problem came with the billing. We were between ending our regular coverage with Aetna and switching over to COBRA. The morning we showed up for my procedure we were told we would need to pay for the procedure in cash. Our backs were up against the wall, so we paid the $ 1500 for the procedure. We were then told that they would submit the claim to Aetna and we would receive a reimbursement for what Aetna did not cover. Fast forward 8 weeks, we received a bill from AGA for $ 247.00. I called the billing dept. at AGA and asked if we had paid for the procedure up front why were we receiving a bill. She stated that the $ 1500.00 was only a «facility fee». I told her we were informed when we paid the $ 1500.00 that it was paid in full. She then said that $ 1500.00 was the discounted price for paying in cash. I told her that was all fine and dandy, but it was still paid in full and to explain to me what exactly I had paid. After several seconds of silence (I thought she had hung up), she then said that Aetna processes claims in «stages» that still made no sense to me and it sounded like she was trying to pass the buck. I called Aetna directly and spoke with an incredibly helpful agent. She said Aetna does NOT process claims in stages. AGA submitted a claim for over $ 4000.00! I know that most medical offices will give some type of discount for paying in full at time of the service, but I’ve never heard of a nearly $ 3500.00 discount! Aetna then informed me that AGA actually owed me $ 600.00+. I called AGA back and told them what Aetna had informed me of. I then asked them how a supposed $ 1500.00 procedure turned into a $ 4000.00+ procedure. They couldn’t seem to come up with an answer for that. I called Aetna back and relayed my conversation to her. The Aetna agent called AGA on my behalf, they are magically more than happy now to reimburse my $ 600.00. We grumble and complain about healthcare in this country, perhaps it’s not so much a problem with them but with healthcare providers who mark up bills over 300%! The moral of this long drawn out story? Save yourself major headaches and perhaps a stomach ulcer and find another gastroenterologist.

I most often write about restaurants and food so it’s only fair and balanced to review businesses that deal with food’s inevitable route and exit.
The patient experience was top-​rate. The staff and doctors obviously care, and keep things on schedule and moving (no pun intended) even though they’re busy daily.
This location owns one of the new Fuse endoscopy systems, and I made a special request for it.
Prepping for Colonscopy isn’t fun, but the propofol power nap and breakfast to follow (shout out to Another Broken Egg and their corned beef hash) and the terrific people at AGA more than made up for it.

My visit took 2 hours, which I find unacceptable, especially considering I showed up 15 – 20 minutes early, with a copy of my insurance, my records, and completed all new patient information before I arrived. I hate the location, as they are next to the hospital (plan for lots of traffic and confusion) and the parking deck is a bit of a walk and costs $ 5, so be prepared. When I found the office, it was very busy, and the front desk people were not wearing smiles or sounding happy and inviting at all. I had to wait around 20 minutes after my appointment before seeing anyone. My doctor, Dr. Hon, I felt, barely spent any time with me, and did not really ask or answer too many questions or concerns. She just seemed to want to order an huge amount of tests and then have me come back in a few weeks to review them, so I do not even get a copy of the results, I needed to be seen 2 – 3 weeks after to be comfortable, but they scheduled me 4 weeks out anyway, and when I call to change it, they are so busy that I hung up after waiting on hold for 10 minutes.
Even more annoying the labs are not even drawn from their office, and if I had known that, I would never had made the appointment. I know that is not a deal-​breaker for some people, but it is for me. Also, since I gave them a copy of my insurance card at the front desk and thought everything was going to be done there, I said they could keep it. When I found out that I had to go to a separate LabCorp (and another long wait and separate billing), I told them that I needed it back. Apparently the lady had thrown the information in the trash, not shredded it, which is the correct procedure. They fished it out of the garbage in front of me and handed it to me, basically also chastising me for telling them that they could keep it, and even so, «keeping it» does not mean throw it away and not shred it properly. Throwing away that information is breach of HIPPA/​patient privacy (hello identity theft), and I heard the desk people talking about how the original lady should not have done that (doubt I was supposed to hear it though, even though they were really loud). I pray that my followup is better. I would prefer to transfer my information to another doctor office, but from what I have read from reviews (and I wish I had checked before coming here), they are a nightmare to deal with concerning billing and medical records. Umm, the building looked nice and seemed up-​to-​date and clean, so those are positives.

THEY’RE BILLING IS A NIGHTMARE!!! Every visit incurred so much paperwork for me to handle all due to they’re billing department having the intelligence of a box of rocks. I even got turned into a collection agency, never received ANY documentation, it went onto my credit report, all because AGA had some crazy address for me. As of this very moment, I’m trying to handle ANOTHER billing problem from an office visit six months ago because there was no prior authorization from my insurance company. Now, $ 339 bill is in MY LAP. I’m not kidding, every visit, a new billing headache. And as for that collection, AGA says they are not responsible for the collection agency’s illegal collection practices. YES, YOU ARE! YOU TURNED THE BILL TO THEM. THE COLLECTION AGENCY IS YOUR CLIENT. Morons!!!

I came here with my mom. We arrived at 12:45 for her 1pm appointment. They didn’t call her in the back until 3:00pm!!! I went to the window two times (my mom was ready to ask for her co-​pay back and leave) to ask about the long wait time. Each time I was told 30 more mins. There was an older female (jazzy granny type) at the desk. She was very nice. **TIP TO THE OFFICE AND DR. BERRY** inform patients of the wait time. You don’t want patients to waste your time, please don’t waste ours!

These folks are HORRIBLE, to provide just a few examples:
1) They made me get to my first appointment an hour early, but didn’t do anything with me until 15 minutes after my appointment (when the finally asked me for my insurance).
2) For my second appointment, they told me three different times to be there.
3) For my procedure, they call me three hours before I was supposed to be there to tell me they couldn’t do it – after I’d been miserable for a week being off my medication, and hadn’t eaten since midnight the night before.
4) They scheduled my procedure, and not until a couple days before told me that I would have to pay several hundreds dollars up front before the procedure.
5) Everyone in a staff position I interacted with was surly and rude… just really despicable people.
6) I had a distinct sense that they didn’t care about my health at all but were only interested in charging my insurance (and to a lessor degree me) with expensive procedures.
7) It took 20+ minutes on hold just to schedule an appointment.
So if your into being abuse as a client, to get crummy service that might not improve your health, but line there pockets while wasting your time: these people are for you. Elsewise… go somewhere else. There have got to be better options in ATL.

SUPERB!
I was the over-​anxious family member today with a special patient that was having two procedures done on the same day. THAT in itself had to be worked out, as they don’t usually do that– but for our needs, they worked it out. LETHIA in Dr. Fox’s office is efficient, friendly, and on her job. She’s at her desk, she will speak with you, she returns calls, and she is proactively helpful. She even listens! The last woman in that position was simply dreadful.
The clinic staff, from the woman working the front greeting/​take your hard earned last dollar station right down to the cleaning crew are wonderful. JERMAINE went out of his way to make my special patient feel comfortable and cared about in what could have been a stressful environment. Miss Tierra went above and way beyond at the end to be sure that we did not leave without every single bit of the information we needed, and Typ was cheerful, upbeat, and pleasant. I wish I remembered all of their names. We encountered not ONE staff person who was not genuinely kind. It was like these people knew us. I know they were doing their jobs, but these folks either love their work or they are just good people. I suspect it’s a little of both.
Ms. Alvarado in pre-​cert is to also be commended. Pleasant, personable, competent, and just on her stuff– efficient.
The medical field is what it has become. No way around that. However, when you run into a place that is well run when the patient shows up for the care, you’ve gotten lucky. My family will be using a provider from Atlanta Gastro-​Midtown as the need for this type of specialty care arises.

Seriously! These guys go out of their way to take care of their patients. I have seen the PA, Kim, and OMG, is she awesome! 10 stars to Kim and rest of the staff. They call the pharmacy to put in prescriptions, they call other Dr offices to schedule appointments, they call and schedule exams for you. They are amazing. Oh, can’t forget. Kim is gorgeous! (with all respect, of course… :D)

Unfortunately the entire experience was horrible. Once Dr. Wolf entered my exam room he started reading all the records I had sent/​brought with me. After about 5 – 6 minutes he says that he can’t really help me and doesn’t know how to read the reports from the radiographer. So event though they had all my information prior to my visit they had me come in basically to collect my co-​pay. I made another appt at another office and called to get my records. I called everyday for 4 days (and left messages) and never got a return call. Finally I called a second time on day 4 and ended up having to speak with an office manager. She stated that even though I brought in my own records she couldn’t release them back to me. If they would have called me back on day 1, like their voicemail says, I would have had ample time to get my records… now Im left with about 24 hours. Horrible office, horrible customer service. The only person I didn’t want to pull my hair out speaking to was Monica, a different office manager. Starting the appeal process to get my co-​pay refunded to me and the claim back from my insurance company.

This office didn’t keep appointments.
I wish I’d read these reviews before I scheduled with them. I was impressed with the efficiency of the office & testing procedures, in the beginning. That’s the good part.
This is where it gets bad, and defeats the entire purpose of going there. I’ve had 4 appointments cancelled last minute AFTER my costly investigative procedure and lab tests. I don’t know any useful results of any of the tests or procedures, several months later, because I can’t get in to see a doctor. I don’t know what to do going forward, because I can’t see a doctor.
The last time I went to their office for a scheduled appointment, I sat in the waiting room 35 minutes before a receptionist bothered to tell me the doctor was not there, and I’d need to reschedule, again. No one called to tell me ahead of time. No one told me when I arrived. No one apologized for taking my time away from work. Several months later, I still haven’t heard back from anyone.
I truly wonder if the business plan is to bleed money out of tons of tests, with no intention of actually treating the patient once testing is completed. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…
If you actually want a medical diagnosis and follow up on any tests you get, I wouldn’t recommend this office.

I had a great experience. Dr. Suh has excellent «bedside manner». The rest of the office was helpful too.

I’m glad other people had good experiences. Mine was not great. The second visit involved a 3 hour wait, without explanation. When I finally saw Dr Suh, it turned out that not only had he not looked at my scans, but the main office hadn’t even faxed them over yet. In addition, he knew nothing about my case. I’m not naïve, I know that doctors don’t actually remember all their patients. But if you’re already going to be 3 hours late, take an extra 30 seconds and look over my forms so that we can pretend we have a relationship.
When I had a prescription called in, the office never made the phone call. I went to the pharmacy and found that out, and then called the office, where I could never get in touch with a nurse. It took three days for my message to be answered and for the prescription to be called in.
I had a procedure done, and the nurse who dealt with me gave me incorrect instructions on what to eat. She told me to eat breakfast foods like eggs and pancakes after my endoscopy, and a result of these instructions I got really sick that night.
Finally, I got an outstanding (and incorrect) bill from these guys three weeks ago. I have called their billing department once a week for the last three weeks, and have yet to receive a return phone call.
I will say that the anesthesiologists were incredible – very professional, funny, and comforting. But that was the only positive part of my 3 visits to Atlanta Gastroenterology.

Most physician practices and clinics could stand to take notes from this place. I’ve been a patient here for a few years now, and my service has been consistent throughout.
From the front desk staff, to the patient care tech (Abraham), the nurses («Z» is mine), on up to Dr. Gitlin and his P.A.C. Cathey Williams, I have always recived fast, efficient and caring service.
Speaking on Dr. Gitlin specifically, he has an awesome bedside… err, exam table manner. He even (literally) held my hand as I went through an outpatient procedure without anesthesia. I wish I didn’t have the condition that I have that makes it necessary to be a patient here, but I’m fortunate and happy to be able to recieve such top notch service and care.