The doctors (MD) and Medical Assistants/Scribes are great, and some of the Physician Assistants (PA) are too.
However, the office staff are rude, incompetent, and negligent. They fumbled the prior authorization with insurance for a medication I needed, and it took another 2 months for it to be processed. I had to prompt them repeatedly with weekly phone calls after my insurance company called me to say the DermaSpecs team had provided incorrect paperwork and cpt treatment/billing codes, and they could not get in touch with their office. Imagine paying copays, and hundreds via insurance, only to have to do their job for them. My insurance's prior authorization dept explained the billing issue and cpt code mistakes so I could address it... I then spent far too many days playing telephone with the DermaSpecs office. I even had to explain what a cpt code was to the front desk staff in order for them to redirect me, when I tried to address this in person.
Needless to say, that prior authorization expired and it took several weeks yet again to get a new one. Apparently no one had noticed or thought to renew it, all the while continuing to provide services. They tried passing the uncovered costs onto me but *surprise balance billing is now illegal* and their responsibility. It's their job to maintain patient records and handle billing; they know insurances do not pay for services rendered without a valid prior auth and yet make careless mistakes.
While addressing the insurance/cpt snafu, I spoke with different offices since the DermaSpecs only has 1 main line (which can be answered by any of their branches). Only the Astoria location's staff has been snarky and condescending. The front desk has been brazen enough to roll their eyes when I was in-office standing in front of them to see... and I've witnessed them argue and raise their voice with patients when they've expressed appt timeliness/ wait time/ insurance concerns. They have such a high receptionist turnover rate that its unclear whether they've been trained in customer service yet or if this is truly the highest level of "professionalism" the office can provide. I hope it's the former, for patients' sakes.
Don't expect to be seen promptly, even with an appt. Wait times have sometimes run an hour past my scheduled appt time. Walk-ins are discouraged... they tend to claim they're fully booked after 12 pm, despite an emty waiting room. I decided to wait there one day just in case a patient canceled (because I had a free afternoon and needed a consultation); not long after sitting in a waiting room with 1- 2 other people the Dr's schedule "freed up".
The only reason I used this office so often was out of convenience because its by my job. That and their doctors work with a great specialty pharmacy that's able to navigate my insurance's rules to provide meds my insurance won't approve elsewhere.
TLDR
try another DermaSpecs location. Their doctors rotate and some offices are better than others. read more
