If you have a colonoscopy here be prepared for a very large bill over and above what is covered by…read moreinsurance. Do your homework.

Avoid this place--shady billing practices and a total nightmare dealing with insurance…read more I came here for a preventative colon cancer screening because of my family history--my close relative passed away from colon cancer at age 40, and I'm 36. Guidelines say you should get screened 5 years before a family member's diagnosis, so I pushed for this to be done proactively. From the start, I felt they were deliberately vague and ambiguous about how the procedure would be coded and submitted to insurance. I made it clear this was a baseline screening due to high risk, not due to any symptoms or problems. Right after my procedure, I found out my insurance had expanded coverage to include free screening colonoscopies regardless of age. Had the correct procedure codes been used, I likely would have been covered 100%. But instead, they submitted diagnostic codes, which led to thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs. When I asked them to help re-code the procedure to reflect the original reason I came in--preventative screening--they refused to help. To make things worse, everything was completely normal during the procedure, but they still took a random biopsy. I was told that would only happen if something looked abnormal. This further complicated insurance and billing. I didn't ask for any diagnostic testing--just a standard, high-risk screening. Now I'm left with an unnecessary bill and no support from their billing department. They are not transparent, not helpful, and not honest about how they code or bill insurance. I believe this was a bait-and-switch. This entire experience left me feeling misled and taken advantage of. If they had just submitted the codes accurately, I likely would have been fully covered. I wouldn't wish this kind of stress on anyone--especially when you're already dealing with the emotional weight of a family cancer history. Next time, I'd honestly consider going abroad for a screening rather than dealing with this mess again.

Felt like I wasn't truly being listened to my entire appointment. Doctor was talking about aids and…read morekinda made a joke about aids ( saying i didn't have it, no shit this is a GI consult what ) just felt unprofessional, dismissive, and overly opinionated. I brought up how my Primary that i've had for over 20 years now said i specifically didn't have what this GI doctor claimed i do, and he didn't have a good answer other than " he knows more about this than him " ok big guy. I will find someone better!

From the day we made the appointment, we experienced excellent service in the Office, including…read morebeing called in on time, with a friendly and knowledgeable staff. We were offered several choices as to where the procedures would be done and the doctor was available for questions right after. After the tests were taken and Imaging was done, we received timely phone calls with suggestions and updates as needed.

I had a good experience. The nurses are friendly and are available to answer all your questions…read more Dr. Ramanaujam prepares a thorough write-up that you get upon discharge which is helpful since you are not fully there while in recovery. They have streamlined all the procedures that Rohan D. was talking about and everything is pretty much online, so no problems there.

Dr. Srihari Ramanujam is a highly qualified internal medicine specialist with a G.I. sub-specialty,…read moretrained at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He saved my life, when my routine colonoscopy revealed pre-cancerous sized polyps. In spite of reminders from my primary care physician and other medically trained relatives, I was procrastinating the process for lame but obvious reasons In an unfortunate coincidence I heard about two friends of friends who died suddenly and prematurely, younger than me (younger than me!) because of insidious colon cancers. Here, by the way, is the proper use of the word, as insidious means a hidden, dark, entrapment - a gradual, unnoticeable process that results in serious harm (not exactly a synonym for evil, it's an adjective that can modify the word evil). Dr. Ramanujam's bedside manner is excellent, which is an absolute requirement for gastroenterology, I think I mentioned, for obvious reasons. My "procedure" (what a euphemism) was at the 375 River Parkway location in Glendale, (not to be confused with Columbia St. Mary's clinic actually named "the Glendale Clinic," which is in Brown Deer!), where his clinic staff is remarkably tactful, disarming, considerate, polite, and obviously alert, attentive to detail, competent. Unlike too many uneducated medical staff, those younger than me respectfully referred to me as Dr. de Silva, rather than treating me like a child ("Mr. Rohan," how insulting that is!), you so need the little shreds of dignity when you're in a hospital gown reeling from the humiliating "colon prep" (uggh). Okay, so why give a man who saved my life four instead of five stars? Well, it's not exactly his fault, but he works for Columbia St. Mary's, who, if you can consider corporations to be people, is something of a rapacious money-grubber, belying the expensive advertising suggesting that patient care is their primary motivator. Way back when I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, the physician ordering the sleep study made herself my primary care physician on the paperwork (without my knowledge). Then, because my insurance pays for sleep studies, every year with her tacit approval the sleep study clinic hits me with phone calls, and letters trying to scare me into getting follow-up sleep studies. Although my insurance would pay, since there's a standing physician order, there is no medical reason for annual sleep studies once a CPAP has reduced the sleep apnea threat, it's an expensive procedure that does not need to be repeated regularly (unlike colonoscopies or eye exams). Then, before this procedure, I got a dozen (no exaggeration) phone calls from different people representing Columbia St. Mary's, but since their priority was checking on my insurance status (the wallet biopsy), important medical preparation instructions weren't prioritized, or missed entirely. If I followed the phoned in instructions for the colon prep (uggh), I would have been behind schedule, but instead I followed the instructions from the pharmacist and on the box itself. Written instructions actually sufficed, but on the phone one of them gave me the wrong clinic address (actually a bit understandable, as I was supposed to go to the clinic in Glendale, not the "Glendale Clinic," but why would you name the clinics this way?). The worst was a frightening series of calls from their outsourced "preregistration" "Service." Preregistration, not a word by the way. The day before, when I was already preoccupied with the "colon prep," (uggh), I got a very suspicious call from a highly inarticulate woman purporting to be working for "preregistration," (not Columbia St. Mary's) asking me the sorts of questions one would need for either identity theft or house burglary. You know how you know that the Nigerian Prince e-mail scam is a scam because the spelling and grammar is so weak? Same reason to suspect this caller. Although I cut that call off halfway, I was still so worried about what information I did give I didn't sleep at all the night before the procedure, though I wonder how well I would have slept given the "colon prep" (Uggh.). She was asking all sorts of information that the hospital should already have, without any reassuring reason. I think that's because there is no reassuring reason, they (the institutional "they") just have all sorts of redundant processes to insure patient ability to pay. I was about to use a metaphor (pay out of the nose) that would be inappropriate on two or more levels. Okay, so if you're over 50, get a colonoscopy. If you want the best, schedule it with Dr. Ramanujam. Be prepared for the Columbia St. Mary's shake down before your "procedure," it's as bad as the "colon prep," (uggh), but the the lead-up to the colonoscopy is the only bad part, the actual procedure in the clinic is not at all unpleasant because of the staff at the clinic.