Karen Lawson, MD

Review: I called to make an appointment to get a consultation for a cosmetic procedure (hair removal) and made an appointment for a few weeks away. That morning, I was feeling a little under the weather and watching TV on the couch. I fell asleep and woke up 30 minutes after my appointment was suppose to start. I immediately called to see if I could still come in and explain the situation to the receptionist, [redacted]. She stated I would have to reschedule my appointment and that I would be assessed a fee for not showing. I was, at first, not worried about this because I felt horrible about missing the appointment but figured I'd check to see what the amount would be. $75. I told her I had never seen an amount that high. She told me that was the fee for "new patient missed appointments" and the regular missed appointment fee was only $30. My assumption is that the policy is in place since missed patients miss appointments more frequently than current patients.I was never notified what the missed appointment fee would be. Had I known in advance, I never would have scheduled an appointment with this business in the first place. Further, no one tried to call me to see if I was still coming to my appointment when I did not arrive. The receptionist, [redacted], was completely apathetic and made no effort to work with me to resolve the issue without outside interference. I informed her if we could not resolve this on our own I would use other methods. She told me I could either reschedule my appointment or hang up. Immediately after hanging up I checked my credit account and saw I had already been assessed the $75 fee and it was showing as a "pending" charge on my credit statement. I had already been assessed the fee without any notification prior to my calling the office.Desired Settlement: If something had happened with the doctor and she had to cancel or miss our appointment I would not be able to receive compensation for my time. I am wiling to pay up to $30 for this missed appointment, but charging $75 to some patients and $30 to other patients is unethical and discriminatory. Charging $75 for no services rendered alone is outrageous. $30 seems appropriate to compensate for some of her missed time and that is all I am willing to pay.

Business

Response:

December 2, 2013

Please note that I offer initial cosmetic consults FREE OF CHARGE to patients who are interested in our procedures. Unfortunately, free is sometimes equated with low worth and at times patients abuse this service. In order to protect the time, we clearly advise the patients when they call to schedule this consult that we need a 48-hour cancellation time. If the office is closed, they are told to leave a message as our service tracts the time and date of the call. On no uncertain terms they are told that there will be a $75.00 charge for missed appointments that are not cancelled at least 48 hours before the scheduled visit time. All new patients are advised of this policy, in fact, when we take their credit card information, they are advised the reason we need the information is to hold the time slot and to charge their card if they don’t show or don’t cancel in a timely manner.

**. [redacted] is no different than any other patient who schedules a new cosmetic or medical appointment. If the patient does not cancel at least 48 hours in advance, he or she is charged $75.00. In addition, this patient was personally called by the staff a few days prior to the visit, who spoke with her and confirmed that she planned to keep the appointment, which **. [redacted] affirmed.

The patient did not show for the appointment and did not call until 40 minutes after the appointment to request to be rescheduled. It is unfortunate that she slept through the appointment slot, but there is considerable loss of revenue; as most patients return for crealment and some are treated during the first visit.

The other fee for missed appointments that the patient mentions is for established medical patients, all missed cosmetic appointments are charged $75.00.

Thank you for your time and effort on this matter and if you require any further information, please let us know.

Sincerely,