Alexander A Prattes, MD

I have contacted my insurance turns out m co pay was $ 15 not $ 175 like this lady in the office overcharged… second visit $ 15 bucks still not $ 50 dollars like once again i was charged…
they have advised me to demand a refund and if not get Deparment of Insurance to investigate them for fraud and also zocdoc where i found this guy is going to follow up…
Charging you whatever they deem right without running your insurance first is fraud. i don’t care where or who you ask. It’s plain and clear. I have no deductibles and even if i did it’s between me and my isurance. She not entitled to charge me anything but what IN NETWORK CO PAY REQUIREMENTS STATES. THEY ARE IN NETWORK. NETWORK CO PAY IS 15 NOT 175. 150 inflation? I’ll pay my share to my insurance that’s again between myself and my insurance not this lady and what she thinks is the right amount to be put on my card.
and for the lady attacking every single other review on here. it’s great you had an awesome time. people complaining that they were overchraged and doc prescribed bad meds or was cold and uncaring is valid and real. you don’t need to attack other folks and what they experienced in this crappy office.
beyond the money issues. this guy spent 2 minutes the two visits i went there. for a simple abscesses in my armpit. the second time he looked at it and said i need to go to a surgeon to drain it and then told me to go ER. a whole 1 minute in the office his wife promptly says that will be $ 50. I go to ER waste a full day the PA. not surgeon not doctor. the PA that drained my abscesses laughed when i told him this is what the «doctor» i just visited told me to do go to a surgeon because he doesn’t do the draining himself. and as bad as this sounds this happened that’s the saddest part of this «warm and caring» doctor. prescribed the wrong antibiotics as well since the ER PA actually told me those anti biotics are not good for treatment of the type of infection my arm had. so he gave me a different one and i stopped using the cream and pill this «doctor» prescribed.
all in all a terrible experience but the silver lining in all this. i’ll be honest i’m a quiet polite person i try to be nice and not raise noise. i hate when people take advantage of that
i hate when people think you are dumb because you are quiet and don’t speak up as much as some loud roudy folks… the great thing is this wonderful technology we have here and i’m a geek so i did my research and info and was able to get to the bottom of this terrible place.
i’m sad i didn’t learn of this ahead of time as my arm was in pain and i needed to go to a doctor. the false positive reviews lead me here but they showed their true color within 2 minutes of being there. and again my hope is that the next poor guy/​girl that needs to go see a doctor gets on here and after seeing this guy in his network and thinks oh he’s got lots of free slots for appointments. theres a reason for all those open slots. go find a better doctor. heck go to the PA in er he was much nicer and caring and actually fixed my arm and the kicker i didn’t have a co pay/​dedicutable in er where they actually fixed my arm. vs the 4 minutes total spent time with this «doctor and being charged $ 225.
Maybe the lady running that place like queen of the world will think twice before slapping 175 dollar charge on some poor patient or justify the 2 minute office visit with a 50 charge.
I’m done with this place. sad part is i honestly was looking for a good primary care to start going to on a regular basis since i’m not really a doc person. and after dealing with these people there’s a reason i’m not a doc person. i understand being a doctor they still got bills to pay and mouths to feed… doesn’t give them the right/​license to steal and overcharge. and be terrible.
what happened to taking the oath to heal and help your fellow human beings. eh doc?
don’t bother going here. unless you want to be charged way way way behind legal limit of a co pay for an in network visit fyi. what should have been $ 30 cost me $ 225
but believe you me i’m going to get every department and lawful method to get my money back from these crooks.

Dr. Prattes is one of most thorough doctors I’ve come across. He went over all my blood work in detail and really made sure to take his time in explaining everything. You can tell he’s very experienced and doesn’t miss anything. I’m so grateful to have him taking care of myself and my family.

I think they run insurance scams. This is the only doctor myself, my wife or any of my 3 kids go to who wont accept the co pay and we have to just pay out of pocket for the visit. Some stupid reason like we have to make our deductable? Anyways the doctors wife also asked me charles we havent seen you since may thats 18 months. How have you been getting your zoloft? First off assuming i was in on 1^st of may 2014 and went back today wouldnt that be 15 months??? Maybe why their billing is so screwed up. Second… apparently the head doesnt talk to the ass here because what a comment…“where have you been getting your zoloft?” My response «umm from the doctors prescription where else?» Her response «that cant be he only writes prescriptions for 4 months». So shes calling me a liar? I cant wait to go through my records and see that i have in fact been for a visit since may of 2014 and then ill really start and investigation into their record keeping. That could be very dangerous to other patients!!! I write this in rage as i wait for my prescription to be filled. I was out of zoloft from friday until now. I called several times to the office on friday to explain that traffic had me stuck and asked even if the doctor could slide me 2 for the weekend i was told no. And of course doctor wasnt gonna wait. Had to make that tee time at marbella. Thanks for being so compasionate!!! Unlucky for you I dont let things go very easy.

I came in to see Dr. Prattes (in beginning of June) after being dissatisfied with a prior PCP. I have anxiety and borderline hypertension. Dr. Prattes has wonderful bedside manner. He’s very calm and I can tell he cares for his patients. After speaking to him for 10 – 15 minutes and telling him of my issues. He asked if I had issues sleeping and I explained that I did but only when stressed or anxious. In my opinion, can be the case for almost everyone. He then proceeded to tell me he would give a prescription of Trazodone. (For those who don’t know… Trazodone is a tricyclic antidepressant)
He explained it would help me sleep, and also hoped it would carry on into the next day and benefit me in my hypertension and anxiety. I was VERY skeptical taking any anti-​depressants or mood stabilizing drugs. I am a SAHM for a 2 year old. Still being skeptical about having to take this medication, I proceeded to quarter the 50 mg tablet 2 days later. I was out like a light within 15 minutes. Waking up and causing me to be even more anxious. My husband was talking to me and I apparently was passed out. This was only on 12.5mg of the drug!
The next morning I woke up feeling hungover and sluggish. It was awful. I explained to Dr. Prattes a few days later the scenario, and he did not seem at all concerned. In fact, he told me my body «needed to adjust to the medication and would like me to to take the entire 50mg.» I still did not feel like taking the full dose would be safe for a mom who needs to be «on» for a toddler all day and night. I began to increase to 25mg and stopped at that dose. Stopping for 4 – 5 days since my son got sick. Boy, was I glad I only took 25mg for almost a month! Let me explain why…
Over the course of the 3 ½ weeks of being on Trazodone I noticed some hair loss. I chalked it up to just hair shedding. I have extremely thick, and coarse, wavy hair. I only started to realize it was getting worse almost a month into being on trazodone. Hair was everywhere! My son would even pull it off of things. I pulled my hair back in a pony tail and started bawling! It was so thin! I have never felt wind on my scalp! I scheduled an appointment right away on July 9^th. I’ve lost almost 25% of my once thick hair! I explained the situation to Dr. Prattes as I sat there crying that the trazodone had caused such horrible hair loss. I can tell he felt awful, and proceeded to call a dermatologist. Of which I went in to see the very next day. When I spoke to Dr. Toy (Do not recommend him!) he told me it was telogen effluvium, told me to google it. He then told me Dr. Prattes didn’t think it was due to the trazodone but it was anxiety driven, (Um, what?!) and told me to use rogaine. Gee, thanks! There is so much more to that story, if you’d like to read about what happened with THAT Dermatologist see my other review!
After going to a holistic Doctor (Dr. Llorentes… who is wonderful!) I realized that physicians in western medicine that are not educated thoroughly in eastern or updated on recent studies in the medical field will often times just hand out prescriptions without first looking more in depth to find out if there is something that is lacking mineral or vitamin wise.
Dr. Prattes only did a basic lab test for cholesterol, thyroid and basic vitamins to check for deficiencies.
I found out after seeing Dr. Llorente that I was deficient in Iron, ferritin was low, Vitamin. D, potassium, my adrenals were low. All of which were contributing to the stress, anxiety and fatigue. NONE of which would have been helped being medicated on trazodone. I’m so upset with myself and Dr. Prattes for not telling me of any potential side effects of being on this drug. Perhaps he didn’t know Tricyclic antidepressants caused hair loss. If that is the case, that’s very distressing. Imagine if I had taken the full dose! I am quite sure if I had listened to him, I’d be even more severely depressed and would have had 50% or more hair loss!
If you are reading this and have stress, depression, anxiety, fatigue, or just don’t feel 100% please see a reputable holistic Dr. before taking any mood stabilizing drugs… and better educate yourself on the human body. You’ll be glad you did!
UPDATE
3 months later my hair is still falling out. Not as severe as it was, when this whole thing started but it’s still falling out. I’ve lost 50% of my hair in 3 months. I’m outraged I listened to this doctor and took the Trazodone he prescribed. My reputable therapist I saw a month ago was shocked this doctor wrote out a prescription for Trazodone. He told me they don’t use this drug any longer for anxiety or insomnia. Very outdated. I regret ever going to this doctor. I’m scared this hair loss can go on longer than 6 months. I’m fearful that I won’t get my thick hair back. It wouldn’t surprise me if this doctor gets sued for malpractice or otherwise.

Dr. Prattes did complete physicals as well as bloodwork for my wife and I in preparation for our adoption. He was kind, patient, thorough, and did the bloodwork himself. His office staff was helpful and conscientious with the paperwork we needed and helpful with scheduling our appointments very quickly. We would both recommend him to anyone who needs a caring doctor. We will be going back! Thanks!