HOWARD GALEN E MD

Dr. Howard is knowledgeable and patient friendly. Have been going here since 2010 and have loved it. The staff is friendly and empathetic to their patients. I hate how much imaging has to be done with my condition because of the radiation involved, but he does his best to accommodate my personal and medical needs all at the same time!

Very disappointed. I was recommended to them for pre-​op by our hospital, but the staff is very abrupt and pretty nasty.
We visited Dr. Galen’s office in February 2015. Seeing as I used to work in a medical facility, I know EXACTLY how CPT procedure codes and insurance billing works. They like to treat people like idiots. I wanted to pay up front (and they understandably want to collect up front). There were NO surprises on our visit. We discussed exactly what would be done, and exactly what code would be billed, and exactly what would be paid.
After paying $ 111 up front on code 99 203, we were later billed (without our knowledge) on code 99 204, and now they want to collect an additional $ 62, more than 50% additional. This is total bait and switch. Exactly what was discussed up front is exactly what happened in the office. Nothing different. I would have had NO PROBLEM paying $ 173 up front, if that’s what I was quoted.
After calling to discuss this with them, thinking it was just a mistake in billing, not only was the receptionist snippy, but the office manager was especially rude and extremely condescending. She just kept saying, «Well, you know we’re not Wal-​Mart?» «You know this isn’t Let’s Make a Deal, right?» and other rude comments like that. Then she said, «There’s no way to know up front what’s going to be billed.» Well, that’s complete nonsense. We knew and they knew EXACTLY what the visit entailed, and it went EXACTLY as discussed.
We knew and discussed up front in advance what we came in for, and we got exactly what we discussed, a pre-​surgical visit and X-​ray reviews.
Well, on a good note, luckily, Blue Cross Blue Shield understands about fraudulent insurance claims, and that it’s rampant, and they are helping us resolve this. Doctors do they WAY more often than anyone ever notices, which is why insurance rates are so high.
Good luck, all! Watch your bills CLOSELY!