Kimberley Montierth

Review of Lifestages Ob Gyn

I m sad to have to rate Lifestages at 1 star becau...

I m sad to have to rate Lifestages at 1 star because Dr Hughes is a phenomenal doctor. She delivered my first daughter and the experience was everything I hoped, completely natural and both the baby and I were completely healthy. The reason for my 1 star rating is Shannon at the front desk and the billing system. Knowing this was my first baby, I had no clue how any of this worked and was new to the whole experience.

When you go to Lifestages, you are required to sign a contract to make monthly payments on what insurance MAY not cover before you have the baby, which was not clarified to me at the time. To clarify, you will be forced to pay BEFORE you have your baby almost $2,000 and these payments will be asked for randomly by whoever is working the front desk that day. Clear as mud? Every appointment I went in and asked if I owed anything and was told Nope! We ll let you know if insurance says you owe anything! And I went on my way. Suddenly, when I went in for my 5-6 month appointment, Shannon confronted me about not making monthly payments and demanded I pay $360 that appointment, which I was not prepared for since I had asked multiple times before if I owed anything and hadn t ever experienced a doctor s office operating this way. Every appointment after that was an anxiety ridden, dreaded experience since I was basically playing Russian Roulette with how much I owed at the time and would be verbally intimidated to pay a random amount Shannon decided on since I needed to catch up on the monthly payments I didn t even know I was supposed to be making. Apparently most practices don t run their clinics this way, which frustrated me since I would have chosen a different clinic had I known otherwise. Currently their billing department is trying to peg $1,600 worth of charges on me instead of going through my insurance, which i ve had to call and explain to them (and did so in person) now about 3 times. My insurance is being amazing with the fact that the front desk will not even attempt to rebill my insurance because according to Shannon know that the insurance will never go back and re-cover the 3 months of past bills since my daughter was born which is hilarious since my insurance told me they had no problem doing that.

In short, if you are mentally prepared to deal with Shannon s pushiness, failure to inform you on what you owe (because sometimes Shannon was not at the front desk when I left), and are prepared to dread the end of each appointment because you have no clue how she ll treat you or choose to charge you, Dr Hughes really is an incredible doctor. Sadly for me, my experience with the front desk over and over again and now having to deal with more financial garbage 7 months after having my baby, doesn t outweigh what an amazing doctor she is. I m only putting this review out there in case a new mom isn t sure which clinic to go to, I would suggest going through someone who doesn t require monthly payments on an estimated amount and who will just bill insurance like normal.

**EDIT** After the very rude and demeaning response from this office I feel that I should clarify that during the time of going to my appointments I was paying what I owed, and ALWAYS asked before I left what I could pay and was told each time that they would bill it and don t worry about it but never did. Then the front desk girls would treat me like a criminal when they randomly decided on a day I went in to charge me $300-$400 at a time that I had NO IDEA I owed. Normal offices charge your insurance and then send your bill to your home, they don t ask for thousands of dollars up front for potential fees and intimidate you when you don t pay when they feel like it, not when you ask after each appointment. Now fast forward almost 2 years later and I m STILL trying to rectify their ugly billing practices. The LAST thing a pregnant woman should have to deal with is intimidation and anxiety every time they go to leave your office. Shame on you for your petty response and shame on you for how your billing department runs.