Anderson Allergy & Asthma

I came to Anderson Allergy because they’re big proponents of sub-​lingual allergy drops (a take-​home alternative to weekly allergy shots). I didn’t have a primary physician to refer me, so I just called and made an appointment, which worked out fine. They had me come in for a consultation, but it turned out that they could already to the first round of allergy tests (air-​born allergies) on me right then. I came in for a second appointment, where I did the second round of allergy tests (food allergies). The results were pretty interesting, so I recommend that people without traditional allergy symptoms still do the test, which is often covered by insurance. (For example, I had no idea I was allergic to mustard, which was probably one of the more devastating results…) Since then, I’ve been doing the drops and nose spray as recommended and wonder why I waited so long to start treatment.
I did, however, take a star off my rating because of the front desk staff. In my experience they weren’t the friendliest and lacked some attention to detail. Also, I’ve called a few times for prescription refills and no one answered the phone. That’s really a shame because the doctors and nurses were professional and patient, taking a surprising amount of time to provide general education about allergies and to explain the process of taking the drops. Overall, I recommend this office, but I hope they can work out their front desk staff.

My son took allergy shots here for several years. Frequently, I would get called up to the window in the waiting room and told I had a «balance due» for charges that could never be clearly explained. Instead they would give me pages of printed entries showing charges to the insurance company, deductions, payments, and charges with none of it matched by date or service.
Finally, I got a receipt from them saying my account was paid in full and from that day on I paid and got a receipt every time we went in. Incredibly, a year after his last visit to the office, I got a bill from them saying we still owe $ 116. The explanation when I called? — «Our billing so was so messed up, we just found this charge.»!!!
Like others who have written, we went because it was «convenient.» Trust me, it’s not worth the convenience. I haven’t even written here about how we didn’t see the doctor for years, only the PA, or how rude they are when you need an Epi-​pen or other prescription renewed. Everything is based on pay or we won’t talk to you. I heard several people humiliated in the waiting room over needing to make payments before they could be seen — when the billing system was so inaccurate, no one had any idea what the real balances were!

I had a very pleasant experience at this office! Dr Anderson was very knowledgeable and took his time with me :) He had EXCELLENT bedside manner and eye-​contact (which is extremely rare with health care providers these days). Even though I filled out mountains of paperwork he STILL took the time to ask me all the questions personally (concerning my family history, past medical history, etc, and without rolling his eyes like other doctors do)
The workup before the doctor was pleasant too. Kayla assisted with my vital signs as well as my breathing test and was very patient with me even though I kept coughing throughout the entire test and had to start over!
Allergy testing is not pleasant no matter where you go and unfortunately people only take the time to write down something when they have something negative to say. I on the other hand feel differently. These negative reviews are ridiculous!

Update. Good grief, still bad. Very high staff turnover. Poor bookkeeping. Some surprisingly unfriendly people work there (a mixed bag, though; again, high turnover). Does a physician even work here? We are transferring to another allergist immediately. Unfortunate black eye on the medical community. Makes one wonder about what this office is really doing with the weekly injections.

I went to this allergist for the first time about a month ago. I had never been to an allergist before and picked this one frankly because it was the closest one to me that was «in network.» So I go to my initial appointment which was fine (I really liked Stephanie the PA) and I was due to come back the next week so they would do the prick test of airbornes. So I return a week later and they pricked me with 64 of the allergens and I noticed that they all kinda looked the same after a few minutes had passed… and after the 15 minutes was up, they came in to look at it and they said they weren’t impressed by what they were seeing because they all looked the same. So either I was allergic to all of them or none of them because I guess they all looked the same as the two controls that were in the batch. So they say they’re going to have to test further and I said, «Right now?!» and they said yes, and they come back with like 25 needles full of serum and they make 25 marks on my arm and start injecting the needles into my arm under my skin and I had no idea what was happening. It was really painful and I was not mentally prepared for that kind of test. I started feeling funny from the pain I was feeling from the injections, that the next thing I knew I was dripping with sweat, dizzy, feeling like I was going to throw up, all at the same time. I tried to tell the nurse to stop but she just kept going, and then I fell backward. The next thing I know all these people are in the room and they’re saying to get a cold cloth for my head. So the nurse practitioner came in and told me to take deep breaths, calm down, etc… and then they started injecting again. So after all that was done, they came back looked at those results and it turned out that I was most allergic to dust mites. So at that point there’s the NP, the doctor, his PA, and some nurse I had never seen before in the room and they start talking about the results/​options. I told them I just wanted to feel better but didn’t want to be hopped up on medicine all the time, especially if this is only a seasonal thing. The doctor left and said the NP would take over, and then somehow she left pretty quickly and the next thing I knew, I felt like I was being given a sales pitch by the mystery nurse. She was asking me, «How badly do you want a better quality of life? Do you want to be carrying around your Zyrtec and Flonase for the rest of your life or do you really want to FEEL BETTER» and I said I didn’t know because I don’t fully understand what is going on with me?! The next thing I knew, she was going on and on about shots and basically telling me that was my ONLY option and I told her that my quality of life would suffer in a different way if I was being drained of ALL of my money to get shots! She didn’t like that I said that and kept going on about the shots and I was still so dazed from fainting and overwhelmed by everything that the next thing I knew, I was making an appointment to have «rush» shots, which she explained was like combining 15 visits into one. (seemed like a good idea so I wouldn’t have to be driving out there all the time) DIDN’T mention any risks, side effects, how it’s really DANGEROUS or anything like that… and then tells me I need to have my epi-​pen with me all the time. I said, «A what?!» And she tells me I’m crazy for not having an epi-​pen! She shows me how to use it and I’m thinking… is this because of the shots that I will need this or because I am going to die from a dust allergy?! An epi-​pen for a dust allergy, really? I left feeling like I had just been given a sales pitch and was backed into a corner after I had just lost consciousness on the table. Why would you try to push something on someone that had just fainted? It was absolutely horrendous. My husband called the Office Manager to complain and was sent to her voicemail and it took over a week to get a call back from her. She never once apologized for her staff’s behavior (particularly «sales nurse» as I called her) and was trying to cover her own tracks throughout the whole conversation. I was appalled that we did not even receive an apology or a promise of better patient service. Since they were convinced that this was all me and that they did absolutely nothing wrong, and that EVERYONE needs an epi-​pen (allergic to dust or deathly allergic to peanuts, we all need it apparently), we told them we had no trust in their ability to fulfill their oaths as doctors, nurses, etc., and that we would part ways. Awful business practice to say the absolute least.