A total of 5 hours waiting for him past appointment times over 2 visits that totaled 5 minutes of face time and examination. Compounded by shady billing practices and unprofessional staff. I would NEVER recommend any see this doctor. Would give 0 stars if I could.
Was referred by a former primary care doctor to see Dr. M. Called first to get quotes since he was out-of-network for my insurance. If it weren't for how they handled billing, I would not have bothered posting a negative review, thinking that anyone with half a brain would NEVER let this person operate on their spine, and they could just spend the small co-pay to find that out themselves. However, their billing practices are shady, and now I'm stuck with a nearly $1000 bill for getting an X-Ray done in his office, hence the review, just trying to save you from getting stuck like I did.
So, as to insurance, they don't tell you that they bill their diagnostics (X-Ray) through the hospital, so when your out-of-network… insurance processes it, you get 2 bills, one for a specialist, and a second from the hospital, and this is the pricey one.
Some history: car accident, been in PT for 4 months before seeing him as first specialist for this neck/back injury.
Back to my first visit. I went to his office, was in his office for a total of 3.5 hours and only spent 3 minutes with Dr. M. (Yes, I did spend 7 minutes talking to his nurse, and I assume he did spend some time reading my X-Ray, but only 3 minutes face to face.) He said nothing was obviously wrong based on X-Ray, gave me orders to get an MRI, and advised taking a break from physical therapy between that appointment and the follow-up MRI read.
I stopped PT for 2 weeks while I scheduled the MRI and got the follow-up appointment. During that time, my symptoms got worse, and I needed to restart PT before seeing him for the follow-up appt.
I then got my MRI done in-network, and went in for the follow-up. Again, spent about 2 hours there and only about 2 minutes face to face. In that 2 minutes, he told me that I am not a surgery candidate, I have advanced Disc Degeneration, and that I can likely not get better, gives me a list of Physical Therapists he highly recommends and gives names of two pain doctors that I should see to teach me how to live with the pain that can't be cured.
After dropping the bombshell that a mid-30 yr old active male will now have to live with pain for the rest of his life, Dr. M walks out and sends in a resident to go over the two referrals (PT and Pain Doc). Needless to say, I'm a bit floored and can't really even think of good questions to ask, but I did go over the PT prescription, and found out that he left off a part of the prescription to work on my neck (his original prescription only authorized PT for my back). I then asked why Dr. M said it was so important that I only see a PT on his referral list, and the resident said that those are only PTs that are under the same umbrella as him, and that I can see anyone that I want.
Since that appointment, I have seen two other MDs that disagree with his degenerative disc disease diagnosis, I am getting better under the new doctors care, and I hoped to never have to deal with this.
I've also talked to a medical professional that works occasionally with this doctor, and that professional said they would NEVER have let me go through with seeing Dr. M if I would have told them about it first. They gave several reasons which I will not repeat as I don't want to post second hand opinions, but the many of reasons I heard were corroborated by my own experiences with him (as brief as it was.)
So, in sum of Dr. M himself: His recommendation to take a break from PT was wrong, I found an error in his later PT prescription, I've visited two other MDs that disagree with his Disc Degeneration diagnosis and have gotten back on the path to recovery. His own RN contradicted him on why I need to only see his recommended PTs. He spent next to no time explaining what was happening to me (maybe because he doesn't know and I'm for the better anyway?), and cannot manage his time.
Now, onto his office: They bill their X-Rays through the hospital despite the X-Ray machine being 2 doors down the hallway from the examination room. When you call in advance and state, "For the purposes of my insurance, what are you going to do so that I can get authorization and an estimate cost of services..." they do not give you the most important piece of information, that they will use an accounting trick to scam you out of money.
My insurance won't pay because of how its billed, and it has been a nightmare working directly with Northshore Orthopaedic to reverse the nearly $1000 charge.
Their billing department (at the hospital) won't take any ownership because they say its the practice's fault. Calling the practice directly is impossible. Over 85 minutes on hold only to be transferred to a complete stranger's cell phone at the end of waiting. Seriously, the person had NO connection with Northshore Orthopaedic and said her phone just rang and I must have the wrong number.
I called back, and found out that the name of the practice manager they gave me initially was wrong, that they would get me in touch with the actual practice manager, and that I will hear back shortly.... meanwhile, I'm waiting to hear back and have a $1000 bill going unpaid, just waiting to get turned over to collections for this sorry excuse of medical practice.
NEVER USE THIS DOCTOR.
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