Texas Family Physicians

This office is in for money making not in patients. I wish I would have read these reviews months ago! It would have saved me so much time and energy. BILLING. BILLING. BILLING. It doesn’t matter if they fire the lady who is doing it. It’s extremely clear that the practice taught her how to do things a certain way to make more money for the practice… I am sure she doesn’t get commission for each hit she takes out of a patient so again I stress that this is the entire practice not one billing Manager.
My other issue is that I live out in the Four Points area and the only way to see a doctor within a few days is if I go to Cedar Park… But wait that is not even a doctor it’s the nurse practitioner! I finally told them I refused to go to Cedar Park any longer because I live in the Four Points area. So, in order to see a DOCTOR and one in my area. I have to wait an entire week. They clearly do not take mental illness or depression very seriously. I told them I was feeling extremely depressed and they made me wait a week for an appointment to see an actual doctor. Depression isn’t something that is easy for some to admit and let alone take lightly whenever someone does admit they are struggling with server symptoms.
If you like to wait a long time whenever you have an appointment this is the place for that! They need to turn office into a place for botox, facials and spider vein treatments only.

First, I want to start by saying that I LOVE Amanda Gay and the office staff and have always had a pleasant experience with this team. They always seem eager to assist me in meeting my needs and answering my questions.
The reason for my negative review is due to the billing side of Texas Family Physicians operations and Ana Cortez, their billing manager. This is the first office practice I have been a patient of where I have not received a statement/​invoice to indicate services rendered and when payment is due. My first appointment with Amanda Gay was back in April and I received my first, and LAST statement from their office in May. In June, I was contacted by Ana Cortez who indicated to me that they would be charging my credit card for $ 160 dollars for outstanding balances. When I asked when a statement was submitted, she was not able to indicate this, only stating «we sent you a bill… check your insurance EOB». The EOB doesn’t clearly indicate what TFP will charge, just what my insurance covered and what «could» be charged by TFP, and more importantly, it doesn’t provide me a due date of payment to ensure I am not reflecting outstanding balances. The EOB indicates «this is not a bill» and I am usually receiving these 45 – 60 days post my date of service.
I have been dealing with Ana Cortez since June about their billing issues and needless to say it has been a negative experience. Voicemails are not returned timely. When I do speak to her on the phone and request documentation to be emailed to me, she communicates it will be done by end of day, and then I am having to follow up days later to see why I still haven’t received. Additionally, I have emailed Ana now on two attempts with no returned response. I was in the office earlier this week and expressed my concerns to the office manager, and still haven’t heard a response from either the manager or Ana regarding my complaints. I have requested to receive paper or email statements and you would think that would be a simple request since it is my patient right… not the case.
Their Notice of Patient Privacy Practice has no mention of their billing practice process nor do I show a Patients Bill of Rights that communicates this.
At the initial point of registration you are asked to complete a form that states «having read this form and talked with the physician, and/​or staff, my signature below acknowledges that I voluntarily give my authorization and consent to providing requested information for my credit card to be charged accordingly for the conditions listed above»… however, this is a one page form so there is no «above» that is referenced.
–When I asked for clarification on this form at the front desk, I was told it was in the event of cancelled appointments or defaulted payments to which I agreed to sign as I support this cause for payment.
If you «decline» to sign, the bottom form states «in the event you do not complete and agree to this authorization TFP will collect $ 120.00 deposit when you arrive for your office visit. TFP will process your insurance claim. After the Explanation of Benefits is received from your insurance company, TFP will refund any excess payments to you within 14 days.»
–Seeing as how my insurance company has and will continue to cover these services, it doesn’t make sense as a patient to pay this up front and since they are submitting bills 60 days post discharge, this is a significant lag time, as a patient, to wait for $ 120.00 to be returned to my account. Additionally, with the experience I have faced dealing with Ana– I do not have confidence in the timely turn around of this process.
–I did seek clarification on this process at my last appointment and the front desk communicated this was a «one time» deposit of $ 120.00 that would be used. In reading the above statement, you can dedact that this is not the case so there is clearly mis-​communication in the billing process within the office, which is why the situation became an issue in the first place.
Texas Family Physicians doesn’t have a patient bill of rights indicating their process, their credit card form doesn’t clearly indicate this process and what is verbally communicated at the front desk doesn’t match the process that is being executed by Ana Cortez and the billing team.
Short story long… I really love Amanda Gay and she has been the sole purpose for why I have continued being a patient of this practice. This location is a drive out of my way that has to be planned/​scheduled time away from work but I enjoy Amanda Gay as a practitioner and her bed side manner with her patients. She truly is a joy to be around. I hope that the back end operations of this practice can be straightened out so that this practice doesn’t lose patients because my patients is wearing thin.

I don’t recommend Dr. Megan Passé and her staff to anyone because it’s quite shocking how «medical codes» for billing can be manipulated to their convenience AND run «unnecessary tests» to make extra money and leaves patients helpless. If you pay co-​pay, you won’t know any of this is going on behind the scene. I’ve never written bad reviews before, but you need to know this.
I investigated and I know for sure they run «unnecessary tests» on patients. I took my test results and its bill to the other clinic and they confirmed by telling me «You must have been billed a lot. I would never order a test for a 38 year old woman to check testosterone level. Some others are for women that are going through menopause.» Apparently doctors can tell, but I won’t know so they took an advantage.
I started investigating since my bill was high. I called them and they said they would adjust medical codes (which I don’t understand what they are saying with all the jargon.) I never heard from them for THREE months while I left multiple voice mail. I get the last bill which will go to collection center if I didn’t pay, and they said I’ve signed their paper agreeing to pay so I am responsible for all.
My friend recommended her to me, but she will never going back after this. My whole community knows about this and stopped going since we found out eventually this office is in for money making not in patients.

So far, so good

I’ve been seeing Amanda Gay for almost 5 years! I followed her from another clinic a few years back. She’s the best! She’s very personable and genuinely cares about her patients. She calls you by name, you’re not just a chart. The nurses are friendly, too. The office is super clean, the very cleanest I’ve ever, ever been in! It looks and smells brand new every time I go inside. My only complaint is the wait. It really does take quite a bit of your day. I show up to my appointment early every time and I still end up waiting at least thirty minutes. It’s a long wait. But worth it! I’ve never had better care at a doctor’s office or clinic. I won’t switch as long as I live in Austin and as long as Amanda still works there!

This was my first visit and I was treated like an old friend. I had a little bit of a wait, but once I got into the office, I realized why. The intake nurse and Amanda Gay PA both took the time to get a very complete history. We discussed more than what I came in for. It was a holistic approach to my healthcare. I walked away solving a medical problem that I did not know could be fixed. A 15 minute wait is worth this level of customized service.

I love Tammy she’s Awesome for your skin care needs! she’s a Medical Esthetician, she does it all! Photo facials & Venus Freeze Machine as in Dr. Oz show. She’s beautiful inside & out.

Will NEVER return or recommend anyone else to this practice! My husband & I have been going to both locations for over a year now & really liked the NP, Ivone Bickham but the rest of the practice is a completly different story. It had slowly started going down hill but we kept returning as we liked being treated by Ivone. Now we can no longer tolerate the fact that no one is willing to help us when it’s actually needed and we do not plan on being around to see if it gets any better! From the front desk girl, Heidi, to the billing department, Anna, the practice is completly unorganized & they seem to have no idea how to work in the medical industry.
Just slimming down to the major recent incidents (as there have been many)…Heidi scheduled my husband for an Echocardiogram 3 different times within 2 months with the dr who comes in from another practice to provide that service, but yet wasn’t at this practice any of the days she scheduled him on. Even after I confirmed the 3^rd appt scheduled 2 days prior to his appt (as he had already had this happen twice before), he showed up & was told yet again (after waiting a while in the lobby) that the specific dr he was needing to see was not there that day… AGAIN! My husband spoke with the manager, Stephanie, but after hearing him out only said she apologized but there’s nothing she could do except schedule him for another appointment. No thank you. When I called & spoke with Heidi of the incident she not only told me that the dr who comes for that specific procedure has a confusing schedule, she admitted to not going over her schedule prior to the patients coming in. So obviously there is no preperation being done for their patients. Her exact words at a different point of the conversation were «I’m not very bright».
After receiving bills from a physical my husband is required to have yearly & is 100% covered through his insurance, the billing department, nurses or anyone who listened to the many voicemails I left were never able to help me, they would always «get back to me» yet never call me back. It became a weekly phone call I had to make as my insurance said they would cover the rest of what I was being billed if the medical practice would re-​code the lab work sent in as preventative which is what we were told his appointment was. Finally Ivone, the NP, called me back this past week (the physical was in July) to hear me out & see if she could be of any help as I had to basically beg Anna to have anyone else call me back since she was unable to provide any assistance. Our insurance also provided us with information that they were billed for 2 different appointments for my husband when he went in to have a mole removed on a different day. So not only was my insurance charged more, we were charged more. When this was mentioned to Anna in billing, she said there was nothing stating that in clinical notes so she would have to have the head nurse call me back. That never happened either. When I finally figured out exactly how much to pay as I was tired of fighting to get them to re-​bill my insurance as asked, I tried to set up a payment arrangement where they automatically took the money from me on the 15 for 3 months, that didn’t happen either. So I just called to make a payment over the phone & was asked if I could just mail a check as that would be easier. They want your money but have a hard time trying to figure out how to take a payment when you want to give it. That same phone call I figured out they had stored my husband’s credit card info from his actual co-​pay from his last visit made in July when she asked if I would like to charge that card? That was never asked of from him nor me, so they keep your credit card info on file without your knowledge!
Not only have we never even met the actual doctor of this practice, no one seemed bothered when I told them we would be transferring out of their practice or when we spoke to any management of our problems. I don’t honestly think this review will go very far but I truly hope they get their staff together & start some improvement techniques for all their pateints sake. I work in the medical industry as well & cannot imagine treating any of our patients the way my husband & I have been treated over the last 4 months!

I waited 45 min to be called in after my appt time and I was 10 min early, total 55 min & another 30 min after I was assigned a room. A gentleman came in 30min after I did was called in immediately to see the same person. He appeared to be friends with a few staff members and I had the impression that he was given priority treatment. When I asked how much longer I had to wait to be seen the nurse shrugged at me and rudely said she didn’t know. When she finally called me into the room the same nurse was cold and short. I understand that there may be times when a facility will run a little late but at least acknowledge the patient waiting so that they are aware that they haven’t been forgotten about. And even if the patient asks how much longer it would be, don’t top it off by being rude. I liked Amanda Gay and she immediately apologized for the wait.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Amanda Gay! I followed her from another clinic and even though I live south I travel to see her because she is so great. She really listens and has easily diagnosed problems other physicians seemed to miss. Her nurse, Stephanie, is just as thoughtful and helpful. They make you feel like your family and not just money walking through the door. The staff is always pleasant and I am always treated professionally and kindly.