Michael L Griffin, MD

I would give Dr. Griffin 4 stars and not his staff. They tried to call me before the appointment that I would have to pay $ 700 dollars due to my deductible. They had the number wrong so I didn’t to hear about the amount or the same day payment policy.
I arrived at their office and was told about the $ 700. I had not brought my debit card linked to my FSA account. I told them I would return the same day or next and take care of it. They agreed very reluctantly. I didn’t return the same day because I was looking for the card. The second day they call the number on file which was my wife’s number. She gives them my phone number but instead of calling me they go ahead and bill my card without my approval.
I understand they need to bill for services, but they could have a customer centric approach and have some flexibility.

Re JW
While we are happy there was nothing wrong with your child; we must nevertheless bill for services.

My husband and I brought our 9-​year-​old son in to see Dr. Griffin today. He and his staff were exceptional. The nurse was very warm and made our usually anxious son feel comfortable and relaxed, even getting a few smiles from him. Dr. Griffin was extremely thorough and spent a good hour with us. This was my first experience with a doctor where I didn’t feel rushed; he answered any questions and explained everything in detail, putting our minds at ease. I’m so glad our pediatrician recommended him! If we are ever in need of a pediatric cardiologist again (hopefully not) we wouldn’t hesitate to bring him back to Dr. Griffin.

I paid the co-​pay. He spent 30 minutes max with our son. Told us all was good (thankfully). Then billed our insurance over $ 3,000. They then sent a bill for $ 500 of the remainder. I called, let them know we had the bad luck of both of us being laid off within a month of each other, with 2 kids depending on us… anyways, they immediately sent me to collection over $ 500. Totally pathetic. I was willing to pay in installments, but they wouldn’t accept anything but the full amount. I dont know where or when it is that Dr’s loose their humanity, but this piece of crap of a human being lost it long ago. Enjoy your vacations, golfing and your mercedes… I hope losing your professional integrity is worth it. I hope messing up a decent family going through rough times helps your ego.

I was very nervous while I was on my way there after reading all the bad reviews. What I noticed was that most reviews have to do with insurance issues. As soon as I walked in I was greeting and they were very friendly. I had all the paper work ready to go so they were fast in getting me started. My daughter who is only 7 months old was very cooperative, and they were very gentle with her. The doctor was very nice and also was also very calm with my daughter. The whole experience in general was awesome. Left very happy.

Mean, rude, arrogant, discriminatory, inconsiderate, sneaky staff to deal with. I have been putting up with this office for 7 years, since my child was found to have a heart murmur. The front desk at not the most friendly people, zero customer service, flat affect, no friendly greetings or chats, sign, pay and sit down. They would look at you with fake smile, maybe because we r not Caucasians. They won’t call to remind you for an appointment, they said it’s not their obligation or requirement, then lo and behold u missed the appointment and they will call you a day after and charge you $ 200. Without a warning that this will be charge of the appointment is missed. We tried to negotiate, with the business of our day to day life, we sometimes forget. But they said «you should know your appointments» we beg to have it reduce or asked for an installment payment, because this amount maybe to small for them but it is big for us. They would not consider, but instead they said will increase the bill $ 10 every month of not paid in full. This is not the only pediatric cardiologist in the area. I would not recommend this place even to my worst enemies. Besides I am in healthcare too, we don’t treat our clients like they do, and Dr Griffin is not the most impressive pediatric cardiologist anyway.

We saw Dr. Michael Griffin alongwith another doctor. While the front office collected our co-​pay, they didn’t mention anything about 2 co-​pays for 2 doctors. Hence, I was a bit surprised when I received a call last week from the office of Dr. Griffin stating that his co-​pay was due and I hadn’t paid. I informed the lady on the line that I had already paid and when she clarified that it’ll be separate, I asked her to mail me the statement. When the statement finally came in a few days, Dr. Griffin’s office had already put in a Late Fee on it while I never received the statement before. And when I called up the office, someone spoke to me quite rudely and kept insisting that it was my fault that I didn’t enquire about this earlier or pay-​up earlier. The folks at Dr. Griffin’s office are quite unprofessional and rude. The Bay Area has plenty of good doctors and I would advice you to read all the reviews prior to going to this doctor.

Dr. Griffin and his staff fit our daughter in to his schedule when she got an alarming treatment plan from another cardiologist. Kim was terrific, getting my daughter’s records for us when the other office wouldn’t release them at my request. Dr. Griffin gave us plenty of time and calm reassurance. He is knowledgeable, has a great bedside manner, and knows the area specialists and gave us thorough and sound advice. I highly recommend his practice.

We are a new patient to Dr. Griffin and can’t say enough how wonderful, supportive, knowledgable and caring he and his office staff have been. At a time of much emotion, fear and anxiety for my child Dr. Griffin and Kim were there with our family every step of the way. Always taking my calls and explaining each finding and each step in the process. Our family can’t thank them enough!

My son was seeing Dr. Griffin for his heart condition for two years but I finally stop his appointments because dealing with his front desk has been one of my worth experience ever with a doctor’s office. First, they charged me $ 50 for rescheduling my appointment one week before the appointment date. Second, When I challenged them about my $ 100.00 balance (they charged my insurance company $ 2K for 45 minutes of a regular check up) the lady laughed and said they don’t get paid that much from the insurance company and reported me to the collection agency. Dr. Griffin himself doesn’t really have a great bedside manner either.

Today I received notice from a collection agency that Dr. Griffin has sent us to collections for $ 623.12. We have not seen or spoken to or received anything from Dr. Griffith for the past almost four years — no bills, no phone calls, nothing. Since they make you pay on the spot for every visit, the only thing this could be is for that missed appointment that we called and cancelled 22+ hours prior in 2010. I am disputing the collection and will be discussing this with the billing division of the AMA and whomever else regulates medical billing in California. This is super sad and as a professional office they should be completely embarrassed by this.

My child has been a patient of Dr. Griffin for several years. We’ve never had a problem with the office staff, and I pay attention to such things.Dr. Griffin has a wonderful bedside manner with the kids, and you never feel rushed during the appointment. I’m surprised to see all the negative reviews here but if you read through them, many of them are disgruntled parents who are having insurance issues, cost objections, or simply a bad day — petty complaints. These days, instead of solving small problems (like billing, or surly office staff members) by having a conversation with offending parties, people feel empowered when then can just fire off a negative Unilocal review and avoid confrontation of any kind.
The reason for four stars is we juts don’t see Dr. Griffin enough to warrant five stars, nor do I have enough experience with pediatric cardiologist to assert — the best there is!

I had a bad experience with the office staff, too. I sent in a copy of our insurance card, front and back, by mail, a month before my child’s appointment. And then I called and verified that they received it. And they did. The appointment occurred and then two months later I get a nasty call and nasty email from the office saying that they believed I didn’t have medical insurance and that I need to pay $ 495 in the next TWO HOURS or they’ll send it to the collection agency. I didn’t like being threatened like that, and I emailed another copy of my insurance card immediately, and they DID NOT accept it! First time in my life — with three kids and several moves so we’ve been to many doctors — that any doctor’s office has refused to bill my insurance and sent anything to a collection agency. I work for a pharmaceutical company so we’ve got great insurance and this visit is completely covered under my plan. It was a real sign of disrespect and unprofessionalism for Dr. Griffin’s staff to behave this way… especially since I didn’t hear one word from them in the two months since the appointment. And it’s maddening that I did everything ahead of time and did everything right, too, and it still came to this.
I’ll get this straightened out eventually but I just don’t appreciate the hassle or the negativity. And, don’t forget, this was their mistake! They were the ones who lost the copy of my insurance card!
I agree with the other one star postings, go see another pediatric cardiologist so you don’t end up dealing with staff like this. No one deserves such an unexpected and downright hostile exchange from a doctor’s office.

I have to agree with some previous negative review about their office people, it’s not pleasant experience. My child went in for an ECHO checking, the bill is close to $ 3000 for an one hour visit, after insurance I have to pay $ 600 on my own, this is a surprise and I questioned if all check/​charges are actually happened. I called the office for the bill, the lady does not want to explain each charge and simply told me this is what insurance company approved, no matter how much I need to pay it. I paid the bill but feel cold for the way they reply, I believe there is no mercy even for people cannot afford the cost, so if you do not want to see surprise and deal with the office people lately, you’d better check cost first before you go in.

I too am surprised to see negative reviews. I’m not sure about the billing and front office, but for me that wouldn’t matter, because I want an excellent doctor. Dr. Griffin was professional, highly recommended by my pediatrician, took so much time to understand my son’s life, and was so helpful. He included my son in all of his thoughts and listened to what was really going on, gave strong advice and truly listened. I would recommend him to anyone. As far as his wife, who is the nurse, she too is excellent. I had some concerns with my son a month prior to our appointment and she had me come in asap (it was close to closing, but she didn’t care) and spent quality time with my son. She followed up with a phone call and also reassured me a few times before coming in about his condition. She was caring and professional.

I met Dr. Griffin, his wife and staff nearly 8 years ago with my twin boys. My boys began seeing Dr. Griffin soon after birth when I decided I would not sit with my boys in a large hospital cardiac clinic for hours being shuffled around between residents, fellows and staff. When I met Dr. Griffin and his wife, I instantly fell in love with them and the care my boys received.
If it weren’t for Dr. Griffin and his wife, one of my twins may not be here today. They have stood by my side as a mother who is in tune with my children’s health issues. They have ALWAYS been there for my boys and our family when dealing with serious cardiac and/​or health issues. I can say without a doubt Dr. Griffins care, treatment and bedside manner is paramount. He is very attentive and thorough. As a parent, if you put your child’s health first — you couldn’t ask for a more highly qualified and amazing doctor!
I am appalled after reading the horrible reviews with low ratings. They are all stemming from money. I have never been charged a fee. I also have never missed an appointment in nearly 8 years or I have rescheduled way ahead of time. By canceling a child’s heart appointment you are potentially risking your child’s health and safety. Shame on any parent who associates money with their child’s life.

I totally agree with Ed J. This office is unethical and needs to be reported to the AMA. My daughter recently had an appt. there. She had a couple of quick tests and an even quicker discussion with Dr. Sheridan. We were there less than an hour, after which my daughter was told there was nothing wrong with her. Imagine my surprise when we got a bill for nearly $ 1,700!!! Who makes $ 1,700 an hour for a quick office visit? We were told us to come back in a month for a follow-​up. Yeah, right!

I’m amazed at all the bad reviews. I’ve seen Dr. Griffin for fetal heart scans for two pregnancies now (almost done with the current one). Visits are once a week from 16 – 24 weeks, and then a few more visits after that, so let’s call it 16 visits total so far. I’ve never found the office to be less than courteous and helpful. I’ve been late a few times, including my most recent visit, and they’ve always been nice about it, telling me to focus on driving safely and not to rush. On billing, they always tell me when I come in if I have a balance, and ask if I’d like to pay it then or to make other arrangements. Maybe it’s because I’m there often? I will say that virtually every specialist I see does charge for late cancellations/​no shows, and you generally only get one free, so I guess even if that happened, I wouldn’t be up in arms (though I do think they should change their reminder schedule if they really are penalizing people for canceling at that call — that’s not fair).
As far as actual medical treatment, Dr. Griffin does a great job. I like that it’s actually him doing the ultrasound and the echo, not a tech and then him stopping in for two minutes. I tried Packard’s Heart Center previously, and the doctor literally never even came all the way into the room. They also would not do weekly US, which is considered the standard of care for my condition. Dr. G is also great about taking a quick look at the whole baby and will say fluid looks good and he’s seeing definite growth. I haven’t had to deal with an actual cardiac issue with him, just screening, but I have a friend whose daughter has seen him for more complex issues, and she loves him as well. My other doctors (OB and rheumatologist) are also very confident in his skills.

I was ready to write about cancellation policy charge, and was shocked that many others were in the same situation as me, They can not practice this… In fact, I canceled my appointment when they called to confirm, which they claimed missed their policy by 5 minutes time (I wonder if they wait in their office timing your appointments), but since they said that they called me and not I calling them, I would be charged 200 usds for late policy. They are tricky in that they said that Dr. Griffin would review the charge, and guess what, they were sneaky to charge me 6 weeks later on my visa card! Please everyone… go to Stanford Pediatrics Cardiology… we don’t deserve this kind of treatment from Dr. Griffin office. I believe what goes around will come around, and treating innocent people like this, the office will have bad luck.

Please save your money and run for the hills. Dr. Griffin’s office is unethical and unprofessional. His wife, Kathy the pittbull (the rudest person) makes up the rules as she goes along. Had I had more time in my life I would have dragged her in front of the judge for fraudulent billing. This office needs to be sued.
Dr. Griffin has forgotten the oath of medical ethics, «the practice of medicine is a privilege with which comes considerable responsibility and I will not abuse my position.» He has the responsibility to employ ethical staff and not abuse patients.