Michaela W. McDonnell, M.D.

The bill I received was exponentially greater than I was told it would be. I also was charged a new patient fee even though I had been there before.
I was seen at the Center for Advanced Dermatology (CFAD) on August 22, 2013 to have two moles removed. Before I made my appointment with them I double and triple checked the approximate amount I would have to pay by looking at my previous bills from the CFAD and also with the scheduling lady at the CFAD. Each mole would be approximately $40.00 to remove as they had been in the past. (They were completely for cosmetic reasons, with absolutely no suspicions of cancer.)

When I received my bill in the mail, I was completely shocked to find the bill was $436.33 for my portion and my insurance had already paid $285.67, for a GRAND TOTAL of $722.00!!! I almost died! This cannot be right I thought. I immediately called the CFAD and asked them to clarify the charges. Whomever I talked to was very helpful but was not able to change any part of the bill. When looking at the bill in detail I noticed that one mole cost $114.00 to remove, the other was $146.00 to remove (not horrible, but still much, MUCH more than my previous appointments) AND the Pathology cost was and additional $318.00! I had NO idea I would be charge any of these amounts or I would have NEVER, EVER gone to have two moles removed for complete cosmetic reasons. Why had this not done at my previous appointments? Why was I only charged around $40 a mole at this same business location for the exact same procedure???

In addition to this and probably the most shocking part of the bill was that I was charged a "New Patient" fee of $144.00. This was completely absurd as I had been there MANY times before! When I asked the billing lady on the phone about this, she said that since I had not been seen in a while, they had to charge me the "New Patient" fee. I was very upset as I was never told I would be charged this extra $144.00 and I didn't sign ANY sort of paper work stating that I was in fact considered a "New Patient". The lady on the phone even checked with her supervisor to try and get this dollar amount removed from my bill and called me back later to say I'm sorry, I cannot do that, this is our policy. I tried to reason with her a little more saying I should have been told this in advance in a verbal statement at the very minimum, but certainly a written agreement but she couldn't budge. How ridiculous. I was very, very upset. This total bill was AT LEAST $544.00 more than it should have been. I told them I would gladly pay $80.00 to see the Nurse Practitioner I saw (I was not even seen by a true Dermatologist) and $100.00 to have both of my moles removed, but $722.00??? Absolutely not!