Dr. Lawrence M Ronning, MD

I called to make an appointment with Dr. Wind for my husband's medical eye exam for diabetes. Only after arriving for his appointment did we find out that Dr. Wind does not go to the North Canton location, although he is listed on our insurance website and in the phone book with the North Canton address. I wasn't told that he didn't go to the location when I made the appointment, but that's fine. My husband needed his eye exam and we were already there. I was very specific that the exam was a medical exam due to his diabetes. Because he had this exam several times at their Perry location, I knew it was covered by insurance. It wasn't until AFTER the exam and he was paying the co-pay did they ask if our insurance paid for REFRACTION. Not really knowing what this was, I said that our insurance pays for the diabetic medical eye exam. He did not need an eye exam to check for glasses, we have another provider for this, and in fact he had already had his eyes checked for… glasses earlier this year. Again, when I made the appointment I specifically asked for the medical exam to check for side effects of his diabetes. I called our insurance company the next day, which confirmed that they only pay for an exam for medical purpose only, not an exam to check if glasses are needed. We were not asked BEFORE doing the exam if he wanted to have this done. Has we been asked, we would have declined this service as he had already had it done once this year. If you are going to this office to have a diabetic eye exam and your insurance pays for it as a medical exam, please know that you will sign papers before the exam that you are responsible for any charges that your insurance doesn't pay for, and then they will do an exam that you DID NOT NEED OR ASK FOR, and they will then charge you for it! Either they are very poor at communicating, or this is a way to bill for additional services not requested. I am hoping it is a communication problem and they will own up to their mistake and remove this charge from our account. Either way, our insurance will not pay for this extra exam, and since we did not request it, we will not pay for it. I have the previous explanation of benefits from the Perry eye clinic that shows we have never been billed for anything other than the comprehensive eye exam, so to say the refraction exam can't be excluded is incorrect. Make sure you ask questions when you go to any exams, and know that you are in control of your own health care. If it's not covered by your insurance and you don't want to pay for it, you have the right to decline the service and not be forced into extra exams that you do not request. I knew what was covered by our insurance, and I knew what to say when I made the appointment. Unfortunately, this office did an exam that wasn't requested, and didn't mention it until afterward.