Louisville Family Practice Doctors

"We have no health insurance, so the first two appointments we had with this doctor we paid for out of pocket on the day of the appointment. We did not even ask for a discounted rate (which the multi-million dollar earning insurance companies get) or any sort of assistance. The first appointment cost $65, which I found very reasonable. The second one ...more cost $114 and I assumed the difference in the price was because she had blood work done, but later I received a bill from the lab and an additional bill from

for an extra $10 for the venipuncture (for drawing the blood). I called their billing office to ask why I had paid more the day of the appointment if it didn't even include the blood work. They said there were different "levels" of appointments. I pressed for a more specific answer and asked if it was based on the amount of time the doctor spent with my daughter (which would make sense, a lot of professions charge by the hour), but they vehemently denied this, they said over and over that it had nothing to do with time but it was their three different "levels". I started to wonder if these mystery "levels" have to do with how much the doctor pays attention (level 1: doctor quickly guesses, level 2: doctor makes an educated guess, level 3: doctor actually cares and tries to figure something out). By the time our daughter had to see the doctor a third time we knew her medical bills were surpassing $5000 so we did not pay upfront. The third appointment cost $68 (which they call Level 2), plus $35 for a strep screen. I called their billing office again and asked if they had a sliding scale fee system for patients without insurance, they said they did not but that they did have a financial assistance application that they could send out to us and we should mail back in 30 days. I received the application on 4-22 and on 4-25 my father-in-law unexpectedly passed away. On 5-5 I called them again to let them know what had been going on and to explain why I had not been able to mail back the completed application yet. The representative didn't even feign concern, she said the application had to be back to them by 5-19 (even though I received it on 4-22) or we would be denied any assistance and would not be eligible to apply again. She did not offer her condolences for my father-in-law's passing, nor did she allow for more time to send back the application even though I offered to send them proof of his death. Part of the application requires that we send proof of our eligibility for Medicaid, which we are not, and the tax records they request would show them that, but they insist that we send a denial letter from Medicaid along with all the other papers. I went to the office that processes that application twice, taking different stacks or papers each time and I am still waiting, a week and a half later, to receive a letter back from the main office in Frankfort. I called the

billing office again today to explain to them that we applied for Medicaid as soon as we were able to and that we are still waiting for a response from them, but they, again, were very rude in telling me that the application had to be submitted back within 30 days. I asked them if they would, at least, give us the same discounted rate that they would offer an insurance company (MANY providers are willing to at least do that), and I reminded them that we paid full price on the day of the appointment the first two times our daughter saw their physician (who was not even able to diagnose her!!!) but they refused. It is a shame that this company refuses to treat patients as real people (they are not even treating us as customers), I would have taken my daughter back to this physician again had it not been for the despicable treatment we have received from their billing office.

Update:
After filing this report and getting help from Angie's List, this provider allowed us to turn in the application, which reduced the payment amount and we have paid it in full. Thank you Angie's List!"

"Dr Code has an excellent bedside manner, is very thorough. You do not feel like she is rushing you to get to the next patient. Front office and techs were personable and efficient."