Newport Center Surgical

Beware! Filthy facility, very unprofessional, and money-​hungry. They are thieves! Billing department is rude and uneducated especially Jennifer and Kevin. Insurance denied claim because it was out of network and asked for a refund of $ 15,000 that the insurance paid to the center. I have emails and calls from Jennifer begging to call the insurance and ask them to pay as an in network benefit. Then she threatened that i would be billed for the $ 15,000! But if i got them more than the insurance offered to pay ($ 350) i would possibly get money back. So i spent over 2 hours on the phone with my insurance! In the end they ended up paying $ 32,000!!! 4 surgeries at the center and they are coming after me for $ 200 – 300 two years later! Thieves and rude. Very unprofessional and filthy surgery center! Think twice before your doctor’s office hands you their surgery packet. Read before you set foot in this dump.

Just had my ACL surgery here by Dr. Kim two days ago. I was a bit nervous after reading the other reviews but felt better after discussing concerns with Dr. Kim and his front desk staff. I was contacted last week by the insurance person, James, who was very helpful. My insurance plan changed to deductible this year and he was great in explaining the upfront costs and working with me. Day of surgery check in was easy, all the nurses were so nice and accommodating. Parking was super easy. They called me the next day to see how I was doing and if I had any questions or needed anything.

I had 2 procedures done within 2 weeks of each other. My review is for the facility, nurses, check-​in and anesthesiologists only.
If you have an allergy to adhesives (which is common in people who are allergic to latex) be prepared to have the staff treat you like you are a pain in their ass. I had to explain to the staff that «vet tech tape» exists and is for people who are allergic to adhesives. No one had ever heard of it. They called me prior to my surgery and were NOT ready to take care of me and my medical allergies. They did not have on hand proper medical equipment for neither visit. They had ample time to prepare and were unprepared.
Upon checking in I noticed the staffers had difficulty reading the notes on my chart (in the tablet computer) about my allergies and past surgeries in their tablet computers. The data was entered by hand and illegible. I was asked constantly, what does this say? I would tell them and no one bothered to rewrite it so it could be legible. This was alarming to me.
The first time I checked in they ran out of pillows. The second time I checked in they ran out of gurneys and patients waited in chairs instead of in beds both pre-​op and post-​op. They don’t seem to have an office manager to take inventory and order supplies as needed.
When I was wheeled out of the facility in a wheelchair I asked, why is the wheelchair so hot? The man told me, we don’t have enough room, soooo we store them outside. Again, not a well run facility that they store wheelchairs outside in the hot sun, cold winter air and rain. Not very professional.
I was called the day before to push back my time. I checked in on time. A person who checked in late was taken ahead of me. The order seems to go by which surgeon is done first. They don’t take people in order they are scheduled or arrive. I arrived early and was taken back late. People who arrived late & after me were taken back before me. It seemed disorderly and disorganized.
In pre-​op and post-​op the nurses seem rushed and under pressure. It feels like a conveyor belt system where they crank through as many people as possible as quickly as possible. I felt like I was in a factory rather than in a medical facility. The nurses seem a bit stressed trying to keep up with the patient load.
I was given a red wrist band due to my medical allergies. My allergies were handwritten on the wristband despite knowing my allergies ahead of time the wristband was not prepared prior to my arrival. Despite having the red wrist band alerting the staff to my allergies… it did not work. I had regular medical tape applied to me where my IV had been despite my red wrist band saying, «DON’T DO THAT!» I told the nurse, NO! I am allergic. She just stared at me like, whaaaat? I held up my wrist band and she realized… I never even looked! I asked her to wash off my skin. She did a half assed job washing off my skin.
Upon being woken up after the second procedure I asked the nurse, where am I? She thought it would be funny to tell me, «You died and went to heaven.» I fail to see the humor in that sentence. People are already nervous, anxious and stressed out. Telling them, «You died.» is NOT FUNNY or professional. I am sure I am not the only person she says this to and believes it is humorous. Her lack of professionalism made me angry.
I had 2 different anesthesiologists. Both were arrogant, smug, condescending, rude and prickly. I did not find them to have a good bedside manner. I did not find them comforting. I found them incredibly irritating. The head anesthesiologist was the worst one. He got aggressive with me when I informed him of my allergies. I had a reaction on my skin at the time to prove … this is real. He said something along the lines of «only people in the medical field develop an allergy to latex and adhesives.» Oh, really? I don’t think so. Idiot. He also gave his medical opinion about my medical problems when I was not even speaking to him. I don’t see him for treatment, so shut up! I didn’t ask you what you think! He was superior, smug, seems to have taken advanced courses in «God Complex» in medical school because he believes everyone around him is an idiot and only HE knows all… like a great a powerful god that he is. I don’t like paying someone to treat me like shit. It irritates me. The head anesthesiologist didn’t see me in post-​op as is normal. He didn’t check in on me.
Overall:
I was not treated well because the staffers were unhappy at having to deal with a common medical allergy that is easily and adequately dealt with at labs where I get a blood draw. Why? Why is that labs know how to deal with me and a surgery center is unprepared and then treats me like crap???
Beware:
If you have allergies? Avoid this place. They are not educated on allergies. They are not prepared to treat you properly or even glance at your red allergy wrist band. They treat you like you are a pain and your service suffers.

This facility was very clean. Everyone there was really nice. I personally asked my Doctor about my insurance being accepted and he said yes. You MUST read ALL the paper work they give you. It says any deductible or copayment must be made before the surgery. That is not how MOST surgical centers work. So be prepared to pay some amount of money. I had to pay $ 700.00 which I had to borrow or they wouldn’t do the surgery. I do understand why they do this, there are a lot of flakey people out there that won’t pay there bills.
As for my doctor, he was awesome. I had rotator cuff surgery and I was in and out within 4 hours. I would recommend Dr. Gibson to anyone needing surgery. I would rather go

Hospitals are for sick people. My son just had is ACL repair here. They were upfront about the out of network charges. Cost me 1800.00 but I am sure my son isn’t exposed to the bad bugs. This is a first class operation all the way.
Bonus: every nurse is at least an 8!

I recently had my knee scoped at the center and I didn’t have the same experiences as the other reviews. A week before my case, the insurance department from the office called and clearly informed me what I would owe on the day of and what to expect after my surgical case. The location was a little bit difficult to find but I called in and got clear directions from the office staff. I was worried about my surgery but the doctors and nurses eased my concerns. My doctor spoke to me and my family after I had woken up and told us my surgery was successful and gave us my after surgery instructions. Over-​all, I had a great experience with Newport Center Surgical.

I was originally unhappy when I saw the claim of my surgery done at this center was denied and my insurance informed me that they notified the center that they are not in the list of preferred providers. I made the original contact to this center to ask why and was giver the opposite response that they were informed that this surgical procedure will be covered. Apparently there were misunderstanding somewhere. But they have followed up and worked it out with my insurance resulting in the payment by my insurance. Their billing people have been very nice and but this issue did cause me some unnecessary stress.

Unlike other surgical centers in Orange County, this center will not honor in-​network benefits. Other surgery centers help establish what the true out-​of-​pocket expense will be prior to surgery and are willing to work with their fees. I would go elsewhere, if possible for any out patient procedures. Don’t let them fool you. They make more money being out of network.

BEWARE!
I am writing this warning about this facility’s deceptive business practices.
We used Dr. Warren Kramer (we posted a review for him as well) and he may be a great surgeon, but there are many other qualified and excellent surgeons who are honest and forthright and transparent in their business practices.
I will give details but first, let me say that I would probably have given the surgery center a 5* if it were not for the dishonesty. My husband’s rotator cuff surgery from a dirt biking accident turned out welland we particularly liked the anesthesiologist who did the work and the follow up. He was very compassionate and attentive.
Anyhow, we booked the surgery and gave all our insurance information to the dr. office. We were told we were approved and my husband was scheduled for his surgery. We were told the surgery was done at a nearby surgery center. No ifs ands or buts. We are approved for surgery. Here is your date. Here is where it is being done. (The Dr’s office set it up with the surgery center.) On the day of the surgery, we signed all the typical forms and also met with a side vendor (we didn’t know this was a part of it, but they were just there waiting for us… we spent 10 – 15 minutes with them) about an ice and compression machine and signed a bunch of papers related to that. We never met with anyone from the surgery center except to briefly sign the forms.
The Newport Center Surgery place now claims that at this time we were informed that the surgery center was NOT IN NETWORK. This is not the case. We were NEVER informed that the facility was not in network. If we had been, we would have noticed that because this means it will not go toward deductible or annual out of pocket maximum (I am in the insurance industry… In would have noticed).
Weeks after the surgery as we took our kids to the Dr. etc., we were not understanding why we were still having to pay medical costs… we should met our deductible AND annual max by now. We FINALLY figured out that it is because the surgery center amount we paid was not being credited toward anything… it was just going into the black hole of «out of network».
I can even see if this was a surprise that they were out of network for us, but they take NO INSURANCE! They are out of network for EVERY insurance. So they know this EVERY SINGLE TIME with every single surgery.
The Doctor’s office never notified us and neither did the surgery center, even though they knew. Of course they have one of the zillions of forms we signed that says they are not in network, so there is nothing we can do legally… all we can do it warn you.
IMPORTANT additional information: DR. KRAMER IS ONE OF THE OWNERS OF THE SURGERY CENTER! So it seems obvious that his deception is not accidental but purposeful to line his pockets with more money.
We explained the problem to both the surgery center and the Dr.‘s office and they said «You know. You signed the paper». Period.
It seems obvious this is the script they are used to delivering.
This is so sad because we really wanted to trust them and now we are out not just our $ 7000 deductible and additional $ 2000 we have to pay in coinsurance (our 20% after deductible is met), but the WHOLE additional amount for the surgery center on top of it. So disappointed and disillusioned.