Trying to get anywhere with his office is next to impossible. I went in for an initial visit in November and discussed the possibility of taking the surgery route while also trying to lose weight with the help of GLP1 medications and diet/exercise. Dr. Heller agreed we could proceed with the steps towards surgery to fulfill insurance requirements, but simultaneously try to see if sufficient weight could be lost using the GLP1 medication/diet/exercise route. The office wasn't sure if my insurance would cover the GLP1 medication, however, I am very familiar with my insurance company and I have taken this medication before, gotten it covered, and I knew they would. At my initial appt, all of this information including my history of having been in numerous weight loss programs before, trying the GLP1 before, etc. was provided. The medication was ordered and denied because it requires prior authorization. When the denial came it said it was denied because I have not tried weight loss programs before as required by the insurance company. I called the nurse to ask her to appeal. She gave me push back saying that it would be denied based on this. I knew it wouldn't because I've done this before. Also, I would have thought this would have been noted in my chart from my initial visit with Dr. Heller where this was all thoroughly discussed. I ended up having to send in all of my old records from my previous weight loss clinic. She submitted the appeal, and got the GLP1 approved. This was back in November. In the meantime, I proceeding with the plan we talked about, I'm not losing weight on the GLP1 medication/diet/exercise and I meet again with the PA for progress visit. I've got my psyc visit for surgery scheduled. I've got my EGD scheduled, I've got my dietician visits and all that. I'm proceeding as planned and let her know that I want to try to go the surgery route. Dr. Heller at the initial visit had told me I would most likely need a Fibroscan to check my liver and for insurance purposes. At this visit the PA also stated that I would need a Fibroscan to check my liver and to proceed with the surgery route. I tried to schedule it that day on the way out of the office. The front office staff said no, they'll call you to schedule. I don't hear from anyone. I call the office to schedule and now the front office is telling me that they need to check first to see if I need it. They tell me someone that deals with insurance will call me back to let me know if I need it or not even though Dr. Heller originally told me at the initial visit that I would most likely need it and then the PA told me at the last visit that I would need it. In fact in my visit notes from this visit it literally says "Orders (Last 12 Hours): * 91200 Liver Elastography w/o Imaging, w/Interp & Report Amb". It's literally right there in my chart but I can't get it scheduled because now they need to verify again that I need it. I am told it will take 24 hours to get a call back to first find out if I need it, then to schedule it. I also went to look for the notes from my original visit with Dr. Heller in November and they are not in my chart at all. It's like it never happened except they billed my insurance for it. I also have my insurance company's CPB which states that one of the criteria for qualifying for the surgery would be a diagnosis of NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) and a Fibroscan would be the necessary test to diagnose this to see if I meet criteria or not for the surgery. Additionally, in order to schedule this, I am being told I cannot do it at any Banner imaging facility near me on the northwest side of Phoenix. The front office staff have told me that the ONLY option for this is that it must be done in their office in Gilbert. So I would need to drive all the way over to Gilbert to get a scan of my liver. This is after they determine if I really really really need it despite the notes in my medical chart stating it was ordered already for me. I am trying to get this surgery scheduled before June because I have already met my deductible and out of pocket for the year and because I have already been down this weight loss road with several other providers and I would like to take this next step towards improving my help. It is extremely frustrating to try to get the care you need, follow the steps that were laid out by the provider in previous visits, and then get blocked from proceeding when time is of the essence by someone in the front office that will not listen and because there is no communication between anyone in that office to help a patient overcome these types of hurdles. From the initial visit and having to fight to get them to appeal for the GLP1 medication after this was already discussed with the doctor to now trying to get surgery set up as planned, this has been an awful experience with Banner Estrella Bariatric Center. I can't get through to anyone and I still have not gotten a call back to schedule my Fibroscan read more

I give this place 2 stars because Dr. Heller is caring and has always been great with me. However Riva Isreal the PA that you will be meeting with is one of the most condescending people I've ever had to deal with in a medical office. She forgets what she promises and tells you at previous appts and then gets defensive and talks down to you when you are confused by her conflicting info at the next appt when things don't make sense or add up. Every time I go in I think I've done everything I need to do only to be told that there's something else that's missing that THEY failed to communicate and then blame it on you. She's also humiliated me by being judge mental and speaking poorly of my insurance like I'm a piece of trash. She takes a one size fits all approach to everyone and every answer to any questions you have are extremely impersonal and sound incredibly scripted like she says all the same things to every patient without hearing their own personal situations because not every patient is the same. It's kind of like talking to a wall where everything is bounced off and right back at you. With that said it definitely makes you feel like she's not listening to a damn word you're saying. I've repeated myself so much that every appointment feels like the same appointment and I've never left that place not being completely in tears. And that's just the PA. When I schedule things it's like nobody knows what's going on and I think they also make promises they can't keep. I was supposed to have a preop appt back in December only to find out it wasn't that way at all. Pearl assured me that everything was done and once they get the approval from insurance, that my keep on track appt would turn into a preop. I had my EGD and my psych eval completed. When I scheduled the psych eval back in may or June for August, the psychologist quit at the last minute. I was contacted by that office and was told that banner Estrella would be reaching out to me to reschedule. Needless to say they never did and I had to call myself and I couldn't get in till October. The psych eval was the last thing on my list to do according to Banner. So to my surprise when I had what I thought was my preop, I basically had to start the 3 month process over again. Supposedly they are trying their best to get me through and this was discussed at the December appt but again,yesterdays appt was a complete repeat of December and absolutely no headway was made and Riva had the AUDACITY to tell me they were doing me a favor by seeing me. If all of this wasn't terrible enough, when I had my EGD a major hipaa violation was committed when I was given another patients paperwork that told me I had pancreatic cancer when I didn't. Needless to say I have lost complete faith in anything this whole operation says and does and am either considering quitting due to the emotional damage and stress this place has given me and have decided it's probably not worth it. I'm also contemplating transferring to a different office but at this point I'm not sure how much more I can handle. It's really stressful and emotional going through this process on your own and having to do a lot of mental work and changing a lot of things in your daily life to prepare for surgery and then having an unorganized, uncaring and condescending staff on top of it it's just not necessary at all. This should be an exciting time and support is very important. One last thing, as I was leaving and checking out, I heard the PA and whomever the office manager was speaking about my situation and it sounded like by her tone, she didn't really care about anything besides the fact I was "complaining". You should probably close the door or at least wait till I leave before discussing patients. read more

You will not find a more caring, friendly, encouraging, and helpful staff anywhere. I am 9 months post surgery and completely off all of my prescriptions for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes. I have lost over 90 lbs and should hit my goal at or before my 1 year mark. I wish I would have done this years ago. read more