Boise Anesthesia, P.A. Review

No one asks you who you would like to provide your anesthesia care, but if they were to change that, don't choose anyone from this group. I asked the anesthesiologist to provide just local anesthesia during my short outpatient procedure and he acted like I didn't have any idea what I was talking about, then I overhead him tell my nurse that I should not speak to the doctor before he did. I stayed alive and don't remember the surgery, so I guess he "made me comfortable". The real problem is the billing. I received a bill a month after surgery, paid it within the week, received another bill the next month, thinking it was for a surgery I had a week later, paid it within a week, then received another bill the next month and checked back to see that I'd been billed three times for the same procedure. I called and was informed that the bill had gone out just a day before they received my payment (paid electronically, so that's impossible). I asked to check if it had already been paid twice and was asked if I was on a payment plan -- no, then finally she tells me that my account has a credit and they were sending a refund check -- what? It had been paid twice and I was still billed a third time, and she says it's because the bill went out a day after payment that was made 2 months ago??? Something is terribly wrong. We'll see if I get a refund and if the bills stop coming.

Terribly managed billing department. It took 9 weeks to bill us. The unfortunate thing is this service will be bundled with a surgery and nobody will read these reviews until afterwards.

Horrible billing process. They did not work with my insurance company despite them being part of our approved provider network. They tried to bully us into paying what they thought we should owe them after insurance paid them their agreed upon network price. They then would not resubmit the claim to my insurance and caused enough frustration, aggravation and headaches to ensure that I will never be using their services again.

Unfortunately by the time you read this review it's probably already too late and as far as I know you aren't provided options for different anesthesiologists (in and of itself unethical). But this group charged me more than double what they said they would. I was charged nearly $1,500 for almost 40 minutes of surgery (although they called it an hour since apparently I was "under the care" of the anesthesiologist for that long). I was expecting to pay about 700 based on their initial estimate. When I spoke with them about this they asked me several times who I spoke with as if I had recorded the conversation with the person who gave me an estimate i expected to be trustworthy or at least close. Then she told me if I paid the whole amount right then that she could "cut me a deal" at 40% off. I was forced to pay $900 on the spot with no real reprieve. Suing would be difficult and more expensive and so essentially I'm over the barrel and I can't help but feel they know it too.
The anesthesia itself was fine. I'm alive, I didn't wake up.
Expect to be gamed price wise.
This company should be ashamed of themselves.

When it comes to health I am sure their Anesthesiologists are just as good as anyone else who has gone through school and training to do their work. Frankly that is no longer what sets a healthcare provider apart. What makes the difference is the total experience including after the patient is seen and Boise Anesthesia hasnt figured that out. With providers in the area catching up to modern technology like e-bill and flexible financing options Boise Anesthesia is in the stone age still and even their stone age paper statements are horrible to read and understand. Even for someone who is able to pay their medical billing I wound up on the phone several times just for third party "customer service" reps to mess up my payment plans and wind up selling me to a collection agency where I finally got some quality service ironically. If it was possible to use someone else when at Als or Luke's in Boise I would but they basically have a monopoly in the area so maybe that's why they dont care to change. Hopefully Als or Luke's gets the message and starts looking for others to contract with and maybe we can get some new competition in Boise for Anesthesiologists.

The anesthesiologists in this group choose not to be a part of most insurance plans, including those the hospitals they work in accepts. This means that when you have surgery you are responsible for a large bill. If the anesthesiologist does happen to accept in network benefit coverage they use the rules to take more money from the patient by putting an extra claim on top of it, which is totally legal, but most doctors don't do this because it is not fair to the patients. If you dispute your claim they will just keep repeating over and over that they are allowed to charge this much and tell you to call your insurance carrier to pay more. Your insurance carrier legally can not tell them to accept less because they are out of network. The hospital will inform you that they are contracted and do not work directly for the hospital so there is nothing they can do about how much they charge. My insurance pays 100 percent of all costs after I meet a high deductible. With all three of the surgeries I have had after my deductible is met I have had to pay over 300 dollars to each of my anesthesiologists, while the doctors who performed the surgeries, and the hospitals I had them in all accepted in network benefits so I had no remaining balance. I understand that the current system of health care allows this to happen, but considering most doctors do not take advantage of patients by padding their paychecks off the backs of the patients, I certainly hope this group of doctors will change how they do business.

Calls and texts in a harassing manner for survey information. Sends flyers constantly as well for survey information. Must have wasted a tree on these requests. Before I even got an EOB from my insurance company Anestesthia Associates of Boise sent my personal information over to a collections agency to harass me. I am not pleased with my experience. Unfortunately you can't pick your provider. Terrible providers! I will call Saint Luke's and complain about the terrible treatment by this practice.