Pain Management Institute Llc

I recently injured my back and came to this office after a referral from my neurosurgeon. I had a great experience! Everyone was very nice and made me feel at ease. I had to wait a little to see my doctor but it was worth the wait. He was very knowledgeable and answered all of my questions. He went over my MRI in great detail, showing me the areas in my spine that are the problem, and made sure I understood the plan. I am looking forward to working with this doctor to gain further pain relief and get my life back in order. Back pain is no joke!

This review is for the billing office at PMI, which was absolutely horrendous. They are awful — without question the worst experience I have ever had with a billing department anywhere.
I went to PMI for an epidural in early June. They participate in my insurance (GEHA PPO), the epidural was a covered service, and I had a letter of medical necessity and a referral from my surgeon. I should have been required to pay a standard $ 30 co-​pay, but instead PMI required that I pay for the entire procedure out-​of-​pocket on the day of the epidural. I never would have agreed to such a thing, but I was in terrible pain and needed the injection. They assured me that I would be reimbursed, but said that their policy was that I had to pay out-​of-​pocket before the procedure.
They bill as two separate offices (PMI and as an outpatient surgical center), and they made me pay them both. I put $ 950 on my credit card with their assurances that it would be reimbursed.
So, no real surprises here, once they received their payment the billing department at PMI would not even return my calls. My husband and I took turns calling every couple of days, leaving messages, asking for assistance. We called with the insurance company, our HR specialists at work, etc. I actually went into the office and tried to get help with our reimbursement. The vast majority of times they wouldn’t even take the call. On the handful of times their monstrous manager of the billing department did accept the call, he assured us and the insurance company that he would forward us the necessary paperwork, which of course never happened.
I actually had to threaten to file a lawsuit to receive my reimbursement, which I would have done simply because I was so outraged by their conduct. I sent a formal letter of complaint to the GEHA PPO office and said I thought they should be thrown out of the network altogether. GEHA actually AGREED with me and started taking steps to remove them from the network.
GEHA then called PMI and said they were going to lose their status as a covered provider. After this call and a good six months of unbelievable stress and horrendous treatment by this office, I finally received my reimbursement in early December.
Buyer beware — they could not be worse. In the future I would rather stay in actual physical pain than deal with this lying pack of criminals again.

I’ve been a patient of Dr Frank Lee for a while now. I’m overly pleased with his care. He’s caring and explains everything in terms I understand. He doesn’t rush through our appointment and takes his time to listen. He is also conservative in prescribing medication and tries to give me what helps. Where as other pain management places just get you in, give you an rx, and send you on your way. Almost like a drug factory.
And the staff has been great and responsive to any of my requests. I would highly recommend PMI and Dr Lee !
This is and edit being added on 7-​30-​2015 to my original post above:
OK maybe I should have waited to post this great review of PMI and Dr Frank Lee. But to be honest Dr Frank Lee asked me to go onto Unilocal and post a good review of him and the practice (should have seen the red flags). He said they had a bad review and that this would help counter that. Well now that I have been there a while I see why there is some concern with this practice. I am not going to go into to much detail as I will be writing a letter to them, to most of my current doctors and to the medical board about how they have handled several situations, including the latest issue. In short, I asked for four months back of Dr Lee’s notes on me. Reading over them not only did he not do things either to me or tell me about that he put in there which is in my medical file for all doctors to see. But most recently he told me things and added things to my file, which again didn’t tell me he was, to cover him and PMI I guess from investigation issues. Now I guess it’s going to be a he said/​he said debate. But this one I’m not going to let go. Made an appointment to see Dr Arvsnaghi on 7−30−15, which he is one of the main or is the main doctor of the practice. Guess he found out that I was leaving and canned me as a patient. So now not only do I have to worry about what Dr Lee has been putting in my file. But this now looks like it’s on me and not them, again to cover them and the practice. I wont go quietly and please watch what you sign and who you sign it with. My opinion, I think a lot of the pain institutes out there are addict factories. Just my opinion.

I was very glad that the doctor I see as a rule and I’ve been going to this office for over two years because he listens very well and spend the time to listen to me and the problems and its why I went to his office and left the last. when I’ve gone to last week when I went I was very surprised that the doctor I was supposed to see wasn’t in and I had not been informed that he wasn’t in and I could make another appointment with the doctor so I can see who I used to see them but is more convenient so I saw somebody I hadn’t wanted to see. I wanted to see.
Dr. I saw told me some story about the law and taking a drug test which I add otherwise avoided because I don’t believe in the kind of testing that they do but I took the test anyway just to go along and I never should have.
I did not appreciate the personality and approach of the doctor that I saw for this one time visit hopefully.
Pain doctors are very difficult to deal with sometimes becauseof the personalities of the people were being treated for pain being pushed to extremes by the medications that they have to take.
Everything I read in the recommended ias well as the –non-​recommended reviews was true From my experience and I have been to several of the offices of PMI pain management Institute.
and get the DC office the people at the counters and the office people there that I met and had to deal with when I went to that office were horrible in the way these folks topeople in the waiting room and on the phone and I would never return to the office unless I had to.
The counter and office people at the Bethesda office seem much more user-​friendly. Doctors I mentioned above are the ones from the Bethesda office now and they work actuallyadd both DC and Bethesda depending upon the day of the week. But I did like Dr Soros and had absolutely no problems with him.
The dr I saw on my most recent visit told me some story about how the DEA makes these doctors force everybody to take a drug test. When I hear about my results and how they handle it whatever it is that they find or want to talk aboutI will report that experience here as a follow-​up.
I have to use voice to text and anything difficult to read please understand these software isn’t perfect.

While I understand having to wait for your actual appointment past the scheduled time, I also expect some consideration of my time. As my 9:30 am appointment pushed past 10:00 am, I asked the receptionist if she could give me an idea of how late the doctor was running. She said two patients were ahead of me (already in the exam rooms) and couldn’t say how long they would take. That sounds fine, but she was very short with me, did not express any concern, and in general gave me the impression that I was irritating her and it had nothing to do with her.
I have waited much longer for doctors before, and knowing they are doing their best and make an effort makes it okay (I like doctors who don’t rush their patients, so I’m willing to wait). In this case, I got the feeling that PMI had no interest in showing consideration for their patients’ time, treated me like one of the herd, and lost my trust in them overall.
As for care – I only had one appointment before that, and the doctor was fine. I am sure the care their patients get – eventually – is adequate. If they’re willing to wait.