Dr. Mary Elizabeth Nagle, DO

The deceitful and greedy way in which this group operates is shameful. One of the great things to come out of the ACA is that everyone with insurance gets certain preventative and routine care for FREE, such as pap smears and mammograms for women, a large variety of annual screenings, and a "well-woman" visit which lists 3 main goals as being 1) documenting your health habits and history, 2) Getting a physical exam, and 3) setting health goals. As a newcomer who just moved from Georgia, I called (as a new patient) to schedule my annual check-up with Primary Health Medical Group. I am a very healthy 46 yr old, non-smoker, fit, and only take the occasional prescription as needed. My appointment lasted about 20 minutes total, where the doctor reviewed my short medical history. So you can imagine my total shock when I received a bill for $280.54!! After 3 weeks of calling and leaving messages for the manager over billing at this location, to discuss the surprise bill, I… finally asked the front office staff if there was a way I could escalate this to someone who would call me back. This resulted in me finally receiving a call from this person, during which she proclaimed that the appointment I had was to establish me as a patient, and this is required before I can have the well-woman visit. This completely renders the law useless. The purpose of the preventative care MANDATED in the ACA is to provide health care access to people who otherwise could not afford their annual visits (even with insurance). It's not that the doctor's office can't bill for the preventative care - they DO get to bill the visit to the insurance company. The insurance company has to pay for the visit. But there should not be any billing to the patient. However, she continually told me what they are doing is completely legal and seemed to have no regard for the fact that legal or not, it is defeating the purpose of the law. Additionally, how on earth can a 20 minute visit cost $280.54?! I asked her this, and she began to rattle off the 4 very minor issues I discussed with the doctor during the visit when reviewing my 46 year old medical history. That's it, just 4 small issues that don't require any daily treatment and only occasionally require prescriptions. But she insisted the bill is based on patient's issues. I was rendered speechless by this. It just simply did not make any sense. And finally, NO ONE told me I would be charged for this visit even though I clearly stated I was scheduling my annual check-up. When I stated this to her, she said I should have asked when I scheduled my appointment. Well, I have been using the FREE annual check-up since 2010, so for a decade, and have never had this issue before. It did not occur to me to ASK if I would be charged for what is mandated by law to be a free visit. This comes down to greed. I will take my healthcare somewhere else, where the providers have concerns for more than just money.

Dr. Nagle is nice as well as professional. Very good at explaining your questions. Never rushes you even though she's busy. Very good at getting to the root of the problem and taking care of it or sending you to another's doctor that can. Easy to talk to, understanding.