VERY POOR Administrative services. (Not referencing the physicians her) I always DREAD calling this organisation; phone call times are always interminable, very difficult to reach my MD provider, interminable hold time on phone to reach a diagnostic technician with questions regarding a scheduled test(s). Overall, just absolutly deplorable (patient) CUSTOMER service. It's still a for-profit business! Essentially it's an Alaskan health-care monopoly, sadly.. read more

My husband recently received care here for high blood pressure and intermittent heartbeats due to insufficient pumping in one ventricle. The office staff were professional, and the cardiologist did an impressive job, even sending personalized notes home to explain the results and their implications. The service was excellent! The medication the doctor recommended has made a significant difference; he no longer experiences skipped heartbeats, and his blood pressure is now better controlled without any negative side effects. We are very grateful! read more

No call back for my request for an appointment. Waiting .,, Very frustrating. I'm kept in a loop forever when calling. Left a voicemail but no call back. read more

I received top-notch care from start to finish. Everyone was knowledgeable, professional, kind, friendly, and patient. The turnaround time for results was impressively fast. read more

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING & EVERY STAFF member. Warm and inviting atmosphere with kind and friendly reception staff. Comfortable seating and a calming, not sterile atmosphere. read more

Never sent referral to my new out of state provider. provider has spent 2 weeks requesting copies of imaging with no response.

Rude front desk ,broken system computer. Avoid using them they have got to big. My heart had more stress

got a recommendation from the VA due to some chest pains and shortness of breath. took them 90 days to call me for appt. 90 days. got seen. find out a stint may have to go in. tried meds first. doc said to let her know if it doesn't start to feel better. left messages and a portal message. no answer. no call backs. they say they are busy. When we went to the appt NO ONE was in the lobby and the 2 girls working were so quiet I forgot they were even there. only going though here because I can't start over. don't waste your time. the office mgr needs to step in and see this is really bad. read more

Your'e just a number at Ak Heart Institute. Very impersonal medical care and absolutely horrible office and billing staff. Was billed for appointments I never even scheduled, & copays I already paid in cash and wrong dates on statement. Called them to resolve and told my balance was zero. Still getting bills, called again and very rude and of no help. Staff is of no help. read more

Over an hour on the phone with Alaska Heart and Vascular Institute. No matter what Department I have waited over an hour for them to answer my call. They have an option for a call back but after 3 days of waiting, no call back. This is a Heart care place. Do they even know how much stress this causes which transfers to my heart? I hope to speak to Office Manager and urge/beg them to get more bodies to answer phones. This amount of time is outrageous, and I wonder if the Office Manager knows this. I just spent 57 minutes to request orders be sent again. This woman said she was transferring me to another department, and I couldn't even ask what department, she just sent me to the next department. This is my 3rd call today, just to get orders sent for cat scans. I started at 8:30 am. It is now 11.46 am and I still do not have my request for orders to be sent. My stress level is at a 10. And this is a place for the Heart. Do they know or do they care how much stress place in heart issues? Beyond pissed. If I could give a zero I would. read more

EVERYTHING! I don't have the time for all my complaints so I used the heart icons on all the reviews I wholeheartedly agree with and I have been a patient for over 20 years! The only part of this practice I don't HATE is the cardiologists I have dealt with (except for one). In all these years, why does it only get worse and they get away with it with no oversight? read more

It is the best , Best place for.all.your heart needs. They saved my life with gods help and permission . read more

This outfit is composed of the worst communicators on the planet. Told my appointment was at 0645 they didn't open the doors until 0730. Checking in at 0730 I was told my doctor was with another patient. Who? I was the only patient there except for staff. I wasn't informed that I needed a prep before the procedure, in fact I wasn't informed of anything. This after trying for six months to get an appointment and I wasn't seen. The reception person said they would call and reschedule. I highly doubt this will happen before Christmas. It is August 5 now. Horrible public interface. If you don't have heart problems before using "the institute" you will after dealing with them. Zero stars is what they deserve because zero service or help of any kind is what I got. THIS PLACE DOES NOT SERVE THEIR CUSTOMERS. HIGHLY UNPROFESSIONAL. When one has a sign at the reception desk that says, "no abusive or obscene language", it pretty much indicates a high level of customer dissatisfaction just going in. I know I was rendered speechless in expressing my delight at yet another thing that these people can't tolerate, free expression of total frustration with a statistical anomaly, a super saturated concentration of the helpless. read more

Your phone system is a screwed up mess! I spent twenty minutes yesterday going round and round in your stupid phone tree. Finally, I gave up. Tried again today. Same darn problem. Gave up again. If "all your people are helping other people", and callers are stuck in a phone tree for twenty minutes, THEN YOU AIN'T GOT ENOUGH PEOPLE! That's really strange because every time I walk in the place I see staff in the waiting room and more cashiers around the corner . . . almost eight people mostly sitting around doing nothing. Haven't you folks ever heard of an answering machine where a caller can leave a message? A simple and inexpensive solution. Doctor's offices are people places. Phone systems are an extremely high public relations area. This area needs some extremely important management attention. Too bad there aren't more cardiology clinics in town! read more

If I could give this practice zero stars, I would. While many of the doctors are very good, the business practices are a colossal mess. My mother has been seeing Dr. Scolnik for several years and every single year it is a massive circus to try and get an appointment. Every year she calls and leaves a message to get a call back to get an appointment because no one ever EVER answers the phone, EVER. BUT, even more terrible is that no one from the Heart Institute ever calls my mother back. They refuse to make appointments further out than a month, at least that what they tell my mother. She's tried dealing only with Dr. Skolnik's nurse, but cannot get any response out of his office either. If you have the ability to go anywhere else with a competent cardiac doctor, go there. Even if it's out of state Alaska Heart Institute isn't worth the stress and hassle. Unless you like elevating your blood pressure from hours spent trying get ahold of a live human being. read more

9 years ago this office was made of mostly decent people who seemed to really care. I'd give zero stars if I could. Now it's a rare occasion to speak to anyone from this office who isn't fed up with everything they are doing. They are frustrated no matter what you need. If you call to ask a question about your procedure of surgery you shouldn't expect a call back in less then a week if at all. If you dare to call and ask why, you will be lacked a problem for them. Should you actually have a complaint don't expect anything to make it right. They don't care and they have said directly to me and other that exact statement. They call you a liar if your memory of events in any way differs from what's written in your chart. They aren't lying, YOU ARE! They doubled my medication after I called to say my heart rate was bouncing around after pacemaker surgery. I was told I would get a call to follow up on the med change in a few days after the nurse spoke to the surgeon. The office manager "Karen" told me I was told only to take the increased meds for one night and that no further call was needed. That is a lie. I wouldn't have continued to take the dose change if I was told not to. Also if I had misheard her why could t they just call back and let me know after any of the messages I left voicing my concerns? A simple quick phone call would have answered my concerns. Day of surgery was an epic fail. Showed up early for my 12:15 scheduled time. Didn't wait to long before going back to the prep area. Got into a gown, a very kind nurse offered to braid my hair which I said yes to. My IV was placed and then the nurse comes over to me to tell me the dr was running behind. Ok, I said how behind is he? She said an hour maybe a little more. Alright not ideal but certainly understandable. The waiting began. This turned into SIX hours of waiting! I was watching everyone else come in get their IV and then go back for surgery before me. I was there before almost all of them and was made to sit and wait until the last spot of the day. Why was I told to be there so early if I was just going to be trapped there by an IV not being able to drink anything and throughout the day see people coming and going as if I didn't exist. I wasn't told that I had access to a Tv. I wasn't told why I was made to wait until the last possible time. Then they had to rush my recovery to get me back to the hinkle house so I could make my flight the next day to then drive two hours after landing to get home. The man who had his procedure before me was pushed over at the same time as me. So he had over an hour of recovery as I was rushed so everyone could go home after a long day of procedures. I was also told that there was not going to be any pain control aside from Tylenol after leaving the recovery room. I was told not to lift my arm above my head or to lift anything over so many pounds. I'd like to see the nurses or drs manage pain after surgery without medication, while immediately leaving the hospital, going though TSA less then 12hrs later, flying an hour and then driving two hours on back snow covered roads to get home and then try to actually rest. Nobody has any answer as to why I was made to wait over six hours for my procedure and if you dare to complain you are met with a lot of nothing! No return calls, and if you do manage to reach someone it's never their problem. If you take your concerns higher up you are treated to Karen and her judgmental harassment and bullying. She makes fun of you, blames you for any concern you have, tells you everyone in the office hates you, mocks your tone, humiliated you when you try to explain your disability to her or when you try to tell her that she's triggering your PTSD she literally yelled my name and said oh you have ptsd to bad oh my and kept repeating the same abusive comments over and over before telling e if I don't like how I'm being treated that I should take my medical needs elsewhere. Then she hung up on me. I've reported this and all other issues to the hospitals "patient experiance representative but I'm not expecting anything to come of it honestly. I haven't seen any form of repercussions for any of the abusive and civil rights violations that have occurred there. This is why it continues. With no oversight, no consequences and no fear of a patient actually being believed they have no incentive to care. They know they can treat you any way they want with impunity. I do not recommend anyone go to them for any kind of treatment. If need be go to another state if you have to. These people work in a toxic environment that patients are directly effected by. They have a million rules and "conduct" expectations of patients but they behave shamefully. The scary thing is, we need them to treat our hearts but they clearly have none. Please report any and all issues you may have so it's at the very least documented. read more

Alaska Heart & Vascular Institute - Waiting inside to see my cardiologist for pre op exam. - Cardiologists Near Me - Anchorage, Alaska

Been trying to get in touch with our dr since July. Left multiple messages saying we're going out of state in September. Our house sitter called us to say they want an mri.. on September 15. Wtg peeps. Fix your phone system or hire competent people. read more

This clinic is VERY poorly run. They lose paperwork, they don't send records to other doctors after promising they will and their phone tree efficiently eliminates the practicality of reaching anyone by phone. I called one nurse 4 times over the course of a week with no response though her recorded message said she would return the call in 24 hours. I called for several days to get a prescription for blood thinners after they diagnosed AFib. No one responds to portal requests. One cardiologist misdiagnosed a lymph node in my Aorta recording it in my chart as a lung nodule that needed monitoring causing me to fear a return of lung cancer. I think they only survive because they are a virtual monopoly. read more

Like others, I would give it a zero star if that rating existed. I am an established patient having some shortness of breath symptoms. Next available appointment for my doc was Oct. 9 over 5 months away. As I said, good thing I am not having a heart attack. I finally got in to see a nurse practitioner, who recommended an electrocardiogram. That's only a two month wait for an appointment, and then the doc agreed to do a followup another month later. Seems like the outfit is trying to stick their fingers in the dike to keep afloat when it's more appropriate to lower the water level. read more

I have a pacemaker that Alaska Heart has supposedly been monitoring for a couple years now. In September of last year I found out accidentally that there was no data being uploaded for a couple of months by my pacemaker to the people who are tasked with monitoring it for issues. However, during this time they billed my insurance company for almost $700 for interrogating it. In phone calls to AHI asking them how they can bill for interrogating when there was no data to interrogate and why didn't the person who billed me for that service and even sent me a letter telling me everything was looking fine, I got a big song and dance trying to explain things and then was just told that I didn't understand what they were saying. The question is simple, how can you charge for interrogating a pacemaker when there was no data to interrogate??? How can you not notify a patient that the thing that keeps their heart beating is not sending the data it is supposed to? I had them send me the information they used to support the billing of $700. They sent me all the data which proved that for the period of 05/25/2023-08/23/2023 that I was billed for, there was absolutely no data recorded after 06/25/2023. My advice if you have a pacemaker is contact them regularly to ensure your pacemaker data is being received because they sure aren't going to tell you if it isn't. read more

I think their providers are good but the follow up and the personal attention is some of the worst of any provider I've ever been to

This place is very unresponsive. Numerous times I have called during business hours and been unable to talk to a person. Numerous times I have left messages or attempted to and never heard back. Having heart problems is often scarry and serious. They need better help! And they charged $150,000 for a day surgery!! read more

What a joke AK Heart has become. I've been a patient of theirs since 2000 and boy have they changed for the worse. A person used to be able to get detailed care catered to them specifically as a patient. Now it's like going to any other big health clinic where you are just a number ( another customer, another easy payment for them), instead of an actual patient who might have different needs or isn't lumped into the normal pacemaker/defibrillator category. They used to cater individually to each patient's specific condition. Not anymore unfortunately. For example, say you go in for a device check, simple procedure takes less than 15 minutes, you don't see an actual doctor or PA just a device check attendant. What are these device check attendants credentials? Do they actually know anything about having a pacemaker/ defibrillater and what can and can't be done with one? Do they know what procedure you need to go through to have surgery on another part of your body? Do they even know how to read the battery meter on the screen?, Or are they told to just feed you bull crap to send you on your way. In my case No they don't. It's quite sad. If it wasn't for Steven Compton an incredible heart doctor surgeon, I would find a different place to go even if it meant going out of state! And I still might if AK Heart doesn't get their act together. No, I would not recommend this place to anyone! read more

I know times are difficult for everyone. this clinic is not responsive and they have testing done and do not share the results and even when asked for an interpretation I read on the portal they did not respond. read more

Customer service does not exist. I have been on hold for 1/2 hour and still waiting.

After my testing was completed I had to wait almost a month to get the results- and I'm the one who had to ask for them! Yeah guys, it would have been nice to be told if I was at risk of flopping over in my dinner plate without me having to hunt down the info myself! Also, they like to stretch what could be done in one appointment into 2-3 which to me sounds like a money trap! If I ever have cardio issues again, I'll go to the lower 48. Don't let their fancy sign or office fool you. It's a mirage. read more

This is one of the worst! And I mean WORST medical providers I have ever had to work with! They have yet to release my father's medical information to his surgeons out of state and everyday they don't is a day my dad is closer to death!!!! How dare you be so inept at your jobs!!!! Your staff is the worst. How can you live with yourselves knowing that clerical errors and bad management are actually killing people. By not being timely with the health of the most vital organ you are signing people's death warrant. I hope you can live with that guilt. Because of this I may have to live without my father. read more

I had a scare and the Regional Emergency Room couldn't find anything wrong referred me to the heart institute. Two days after the emergency room visit I was at heart institute for my meet and greet. Very friendly staff. I got checked in with minimal amount of time to meet the Doctor. My husband and I were placed in a room where we waited. waited some more. Then the Doctor comes in and we discuss my emergency room visit half way through my visit he excuses himself to take a personal phone call 6 minutes later he returns he asked a few questions and tells me it must be nerves that caused the excitement. I was with the Doctor maybe 22 minutes 6 of those minutes he was on the phone. No vitals were check no stethoscope was used gave me his card if I had need of in the future. I left feeling relieved. On your way out of the clinic it says pay here now. I sat down to pay and waited. This gal finally sit down and she flips through papers and said " we don't have yours totaled yet, we will bill you".( I am thinking 200 to 250) two weeks go by and I get the bill $ 538 dollars they had billed my insurance got $378 from them and I call the institute billing to discuss my bill? 5 phone calls with messages left and two more weeks have past and no response! Since when does a meet and greet cost so much. I will not be back. read more

This review is for my experience over the past 6 months and the care for my husband with his heart condition. This journey started in June of 2016 when we learned my husband had serious issues with two valves and 3 arteries in his heart. He was born with A bicuspid valve rather than the tricuspid valve, and that bicuspid valve was failing as well as his mitral valve. From there his Cardiologist said a local surgeon would be contacting him within the next two weeks. A month later that did not happen and my insurance had gotten involved and we found out that my insurance would only pay 100% of his surgery if we went out-of-state. So at that point my struggle with Alaska heart institute was getting all of My hubby's medical records sent to the facility that we chose with the insurance company. Alaska heart Institute took over 30 days to get his records sent to the facility we chose that being said we could not have surgery until October 2016 after starting this journey in June. So now fast-forward to this particular check-in, here we are again last month in early February we found that the surgery didn't go as well as we had hoped. My husband had an echocardiogram done early February that showed a problem with the repaired mitral valve so the doctor ordered an MRI immediately. Now, immediately to them was two weeks, so February 21st. We heard nothing for several weeks then got a call from the surgeon that took care of him in Chicago last October that he had received the MRI and that it appears my husband suffered a heart attack. Needless to say we tried to get that follow up appointment only to be told nothing was open until March 21st, an entire month after his MRI. This to me is ridiculous and appalling, you hear one Cardiologist say "Heart Attack" and you'd think "get him in now!" But no...Alaska Heart had no time slots earlier. So now we are looking at yet another open heart surgery and the Cardiologist here wants to see my husband back in 30 days with his plan as to which hospital to have this done. Front Desk.....no openings, we will call you to set it up. No call. We are limited in Alaska medical wise, but we are SCREWED with this Heart Institute. Sad customer care. read more

Not once, but twice they saved my life, then put me through cardiac rehab, gave me appropriate medications,and taught me how to help myself - and it's still working, going on since Christmas Eve, 2000 - 11 years and counting, and I'm still here! Does Yelp have TEN stars? FIFTYkaZILLION? read more

My husband was referred to Alaska Heart Institute and had we known then what we know now, we would've requested a different provider. Their lack of courtesy, poor customer service, and outrageous prices when compared to other local providers has ensured we will never go back, and hopefully our referring doctor will no longer send patients there. CUSTOMER SERVICE: Each time we were told we'd receive a phone call in x-amount of days, we never heard from them. We would call and leave a message and still would not get a call back. The one time my husband got through to a nurse, she said she'd pass the info on to the doctor and he or she would call back in a few days. To this day we never heard from them and this was a couple months ago now. We just gave up. I think most people expect to have to wait on doctors, but usually they eventually get back with you. It is very frustrating and disappointing to receive NO communication from your medical provider. PRICING: This is a big one - listen up people! If you need any standard diagnostic procedure done (EKG, Echo, etc) GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!!! I guess because this is a large organization, they feel they can charge whatever they want and get away with it. We found out later that a $2,400 procedure at A.H.I. is between $1,400-$1,600 at Alaska Regional or Alaska Imaging. Our insurance paid A.H.I. $1950 (more than the total charge elsewhere) and we were charged the remaining $450 that was "above and beyond customary charges". The real kicker here is....if you have NO insurance and go to AK Regional or AK Imaging, they give a 75-85% discount...so someone can walk in off the street with no insurance coverage and get the same exact procedure for LESS than the amount we were charged AFTER our insurance already paid them $1950. Hindsight is 20/20. COURTESY: The billing department straight up lied to us. When we called with concerns about our bill as mentioned above she told us the $2400 price is "set by Congress" and she couldn't help us. What?!? This sounded fishy to us which is why we called around and got the prices at the other providers. Our hope was we could prove to our insurance company that A.H.I. wasn't charging above and beyond (since she said it was a set price) so they would cover the rest of our bill. What we found out was she lied and A.H.I. is in fact charging more than other local providers. Why a billing person would lie about what they charge is beyond me. read more

Several months ago my primary care physician detected a heart murmur and made an appointment with a cardiologist for me. After several tests the cardiologist told me a chordae on my mitral valve had broken and he sent me to the Cleveland Clinic to have the mitral valve repaired. I had heart surgery about a month ago and was back in Anchorage about 10 days after surgery. I don't know how to rate my experience because the pre-surgery experience was very good, with both the Alaska Heart Institute and the Cleveland Clinic. The surgery itself and my recovery in the hospital following the surgery all went well. However, once I returned to Alaska getting help from either the Cleveland Clinic or through the Alaska Heart Institute has been difficult. The Cleveland Clinic apparently feels I should be consulting with my local cardiologist, and probably so. The problem is my cardiologist is out of town, apparently for most of the summer. So, flowing heart surgery I have no cardiologist to consult, and may not have access to my cardiologist for months. When I call with a question I'm told I should discuss it with my primary care physician. So I would rate the pre-surgery portion of my experience as very good. I would rate the post-surgery portion of my experience as terrible. I have no cardiologist to consult with. It's sort of like we patched you up now go away. read more

They got my heart beating properly again. The doctors and their staff are top notch and friendly, too. Thankfully, I was directed to a sleep study and found that sleep apnea was probably the cause of my AFIB. Now I'm sleeping good and getting healthier. Thank you Alaska Heart Institute! read more

alaska heart Institute is the best place to be if you have a heart problem they are the best smartest professorail Doctors five year later and have no problems they save my life read more