TLDR: don't go here. My condition was misdiagnosed, they are probably conducting unnecessary procedures to get $$$ from insurance, and are likely prescribing ineffectual medication for kickbacks. If you'd like to hear my reasoning, read below.
Went to this place for a rash on my foot. He had 5 star reviews (after looking for myself, I see where all the places he has received 5 stars were just from 1 or 2 votes - likely himself or from employees). The doctor my primary physician originally referred me to was too far away, so I went to this guy.
First thing which stood out was there was all diabetic information and the questionnaire was centered towards injuries, nothing skin related. I looked up his website and it said he also specialized in skin stuff, so I went with it.
Second red flag was that an employee immediately had me get 3-view X-rays taken on both feet for what was an external skin issue. The doctor never even referred to them when we spoke. I assume this unnecessary procedure was billed to my insurance, considering X-Rays typically cost $260-460 and if you do that for every patient you have, well... my guess is it adds up. The only negative side effect from unnecessary X-rays are increased chances of cancer for patients down the line, so I guess the extra $200 or so outweigh the cons of patient-exposure of radiation.
Next was the actual visit from Dr. Paul Sheehy. Nice guy. Spent all of 1-minute looking at my foot and told me it was a wart. (This was wrong, as I later found out.) He said normally they would do diagnostics by taking a chunk of the skin for processing, but considering where it was it would be painful. I'm glad he didn't do that, because I would be REALLY pissed on top of losing a $40 copay.
Dr. Sheehy recommends a compound medication. He rattles off a few ingredients that I, a non-medical degree holding citizen, do not know of, and tells me he is going to have a lab called Pharmzenx from New Port Richey to make the medicine and overnight it to me. He told me that I should NOT pay over $40 for this medicine, and if this lab tells me to pay more that I should inform them that the Dr. told me $40 max... wtf? A partnership?? Why couldn't I have a prescription sent to CVS?
He schedules me for a visit 2 weeks later - which I have since cancelled. He did not write down the information for the prescription so I could look up the ingredients, which I suggest he do in the future. Next day I receive a call from Robert at PharmzenX telling me my prescription changed (why wouldn't the doctor call to alert me first?) and that the cost would be $50 with their "Cash formula". I told Robert that Dr. Sheehy said I wasn't supposed to pay above $40. Robert didn't have an explanation for that. The reason Robert gave me as to why they were changing the prescription was because "They did not have the necessary ingredients". This was different form the reason Chris gave me the following week when they called again, and she claimed that in order to give me the discount of $50 the lowered the dosage % of the medicine, and that all the ingredients were still the same but otherwise I would be paying $150... okay.
I told him I would have to check with my Dr. first. I called Dr. Sheehy's office within their hours of operations and no one picked up - I left a voicemail and never heard back from them (I tried calling again on Monday 2x, no answer, no call back. I called on Wednesday and decided to just cancel the appointment I had scheduled at the end of my visit).
Interestingly enough, I work with the state for consumer protection and my office neighbors handle medicare/medicaid fraud.
I asked for their opinions and when I mentioned "compound medicine" the immediately rolled their eyes. While the process of compound medication is legitimate, it is often the center of controversy and fraud. Many labs mix compound medications with ineffectual ingredients to the point that you're pretty much putting toothpaste on the effected area. Additionally, a common scheme regarding compound medication includes patients who are automatically put on rolling prescriptions without their consent - and the next time they're billed, the price triples. This was obviously not my experience so I can't speak to whether either of these issues would have arose because I decided to just forego the headache altogether.
Which brings me to today. I went to the skin specialist I was originally referred to. She says it is obviously not a wart. She prescribes me steroids after a thorough physical to see of any other unnoticed skin issues (no X-rays!). Save your $40.
by Rachel
xxx.xxx.159.220
September 28, 2018
