University Lake Medical Center

"-Bruised ego over patient care & well-being - I have been a patient of ASI for around 8 years after being diagnosed with Cervical Stenosis and lower back disk inflammation. My case was recently transferred Mr. Levine and my 1st appt was scheduled in Feb 2020. My appt went well and thought he was very professional and thorough. I checked out and paid by bill, all out of pocket. My 2nd appt in April 2020 didn’t go so well. I had questioned him regarding my previous bill and why the charges were so high. Almost immediately, Mr. Levine advised me that he was having a very, very bad day. He continued to complain to me, that due to the COVID19 that non-essential businesses are being required to shut down & how many employees he had to lay-off and close several other svcs ASI provided. I continued to ask about my billing charges, where he immediately got very defensive with a passive aggressive attitude, while mumbling rude comments. He never explained the reasoning for my high charges, but chose to storm out of the room instead. I was shocked and very upset at what had happened & found myself in tears. I sp/w one of the staff members about what just happened to me. They were understanding of me & advised that he has brought other staff members to tears also. My 3rd & final appt was scheduled in June 2020. I called ASI & asked if I could change providers within, but was told that since I’ve already been seeing him, that they wouldn’t be able to make that change. I went ahead & kept my appt & figured that he would realize how unprofessional & rude he was at my previous appt & would apologize for his unacceptable behavior. He came prancing in the room & said “wow, I thought I would never see you again” & I said “why would you think that” & he said “well our last appointment didn’t go so well”, & I said, “You’re right, I did try to change providers, but the staff member said, since you were already working with me that I should remain in your care”, “Oh, you should have told me that before”, he said. “You’re right, you should see someone else”. I said, “Yes, that would be great”. He said, “Oh no, not here. You are no longer a patient of mine & will no longer be treating you, so you can go find another specialist somewhere else”. I have never experienced a so called professional who appeared to express narcissistic, egotistical & self-centered behaviors. I honestly believe that some medical professionals do not adhere to their sworn oath of - “First, do no harm”. Strange, my medical records state that I'm the one seeking care elsewhere, but he failed to mention that he is the one refusing to treat me. Shame on You!"

"The receptionist was "selectively" friendly and the doctor thought it was appropriate to initiate a discussion about racially related current events. I can't recall ever feeling so uncomfortable, needless to say that was my first and obviously my last visit there."

"I wanted to help the person who had the billing dept problems. Their billing department is the worst ever with the exception of Jackie the manager. What you have to do is request a copy of his medical records (he might have to sign), then send that to the insurance who requested proof of medical necessity. If they still deny, ask his doctor to write a letter describing necessity. As for the first insurance company, you can submit the claim yourself. Ask insurance for the form and provide your itemized bill that includes the billing codes (maybe have to ask the front desk, they should have a copy of that). With this place you have to basically do the whole claim and appeals yourself with support from the doc. I went through living hell with my insurance retroactively denying $10,000 in procedures and appealed the denial, they rejected the appeal, then I requested the basis of rejection.. she said no ones asked for that before (I saw it in the fine print on the rejection letter "you have a right to receive the medical basis for this rejection" or something like that.) You should have six months to file the appeal so don't postpone.. I think you still have a shot at getting it covered. Theres one gal in the billing department that can be such a blatant jerk. When I asked her why they haven't sent my insurance the medical necessity docs she told me "we file your bill as a courtesy and you know what, other doc offices don't even file your claim, they make you do it yourself..." yeah, so if I knew I was going to file the whole thing it woulda gone a heck of a lot smoother. I asked her why they hadn't sent the info because the insurance sent THEM the letter and I hadn't heard any update on why my claim wasn't being paid. I had been nothing but polite to her and was so shocked I asked for her supervisor. I was so flustered when I left her supervisor (Jackie) a message so she handled my whole claim on their end. I still had to be the one heading up the appeal though. Consider yourself project manager... billing should not be this complicated! Anyway, I love the doc, he's been amazingly patient w this mess and has helped me greatly. He's the reason I still even go there. As for actual procedures though, I'll do that at a different office. It took about 4 full months of spending hours a day and a referral for anxiety treatment for me to get that bill paid. Great docs though :)"

"This care we received from the staff was okay, I whole problem I have with them comes from their billing department. My husband has dual insurance so we aren't really afraid of going to the doctor, but his primary insurance will only pay if the doctor is in network or if you have an exemption for the facility. So my husband set up the exemption for this facility and gave the staff the number they would need to call to complete the exemption and they refused to take it saying we don't do that. So I told my husband not to worry, we'll just let the secondary insurance pay the 65% of the bill and we'll pay the $475 remaining co-insurance since they are being difficult (A bummer, but not a big deal after all he needed the injection in his back). So the primary insurance denied the claim as we expected, then they didn't submit it to the secondary, so I call their billing office (which is not located at Alaska Spine Institute) and asked the woman why it has not been billed to the secondary insurance. The woman refused to talk to me despite my husband signing a form at their office allowing them to talk to me (I watched him sign it). I suspect their files are incomplete due to not being located at the same location. Anyways I told the billing person that I am not asking her for information and just needed to make sure she has my insurance information correct so she could bill the secondary since they were the ones they were going to receive payment from. Then she finally told me she had never received the EOB from the primary denying the claim (again most likely because their office isn't located there). I e-mailed her the EOB and waiting for the claim to reach my insurance, after two months it never showed up. My husband called and asked them to submit it, this time they actually did. The secondary insurance received the claim and sent their office requests for more information because the procedure my husband had done requires a pre-authorization which they still could have gotten after the fact to show it was medically necessary. They never communicated with the insurance company so the claim was denied, and now I just got the full bill in the mail from Alaska Spine Institute, we are beyond frustrated with their rude billing department and their lack of care, compassion and responsibility to work with patients. Never before would I expect someone with dual insurance not get some part of a claim paid. I'm still in shock and super angry about paying this bill when I don't feel like they did their part to work with either insurance. But in the end its the patients credit that will get ruined if they don't pay so it doesn't leave you with many options. Shawn and Margaret Sealock"

"These people were THE WORST at giving compassionate care - not so much the doctor as his support system. I did not have problem it was a co-worker.... they did not call her back (the recording even instructs callers NOT to call a second time... tells you just how often people don't get return calls). The first time she was seen, the doctor ordered an immediate MRI and then left town for a week - I was told by the office manager that patients can not see another doctor until the original doctor releases them - WHICH he couldn't do since he was out of town. The pain my co-worker had was unbearable - getting worse and worse - not only would they not call m back - they would not even see her. When she did get a call they said they'd see her in another WEEK! finally drove down there and pleaded for them to help her and see her today - and the Office Manager ASSURED me she'd be getting a call within 30 minutes - WHICH she never did. They were sure fast to take the money and order tests, but their processes, communications, and patient care IS THE WORST! There was no one in the system down there who gave a damn. They could be the best doctors with the best equipment and what does it matter if they don't care about their patients... it's practically criminal. And for what it's worth - I've never written a review before, but this outraged me enough to actually do it... in hopes that someone else doesn't have to endure what I've watched my co-worker go through."