Hematology-Oncology Assocs Sc

First off, if I could rate Dr. Capone and her office as ⁰⁄₅ stars, I would. DO NOT waste your time and money at this place. The general office staff is mildly courteous; however, Dr. Capone is completely burnt out! She did not explain any procedures to me, and was utterly condescending. Then, they had the nerve to schedule appointments I never made, nor wanted; not once, but on two occasions, with the last accompanied by a cancellation fee.
Also, when confirming my initial appointment, the staff never informed me that I would have to park in a parking garage. I arrived almost 45 mins early to my appointment, and was still a few minutes late because I was trying to find the correct building. A little bit of customer service goes a long way. I warn you against places like this.

Dr. Regina Stein is one of the finest doctors I worked with since being diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
She gave me her cell phone number for emergencies when I was at my sickest and did not bat an eye when I called at 3:00 am Thanksgiving for help (she was not on call).
Regina is compassionate, hardworking and gets to know you first to make sure you are comfortable with her and the practice. She needs to know you and your needs to make sure that the course of treatment fits in with your personality, diagnosis and lifestyle. You are not just a medical file and diagnosis, you are a person first, then a patient.
I am in remission and she and the chemo nurses made this possible.
When I worked at a company with very iffy medical coverage, she knew I was outlaying more than I was making. She went to her partners and the insurance administrator and worked out an arrangement beneficial to me (and I’m sure to her detriment). Thankfully, I have much better insurance coverage now.
Also, the health insurance administrator suggested we work together to see if I would be eligible for grants from the drug companies and other cancer charities and foundations if I had trouble meeting the deductible portion. There is a lot of help out there, you just need to be willing to do the paperwork.
Regina’s called me at odd hours when I have a question– you just need to be patient because she has hospital visits to make, patient appointments. transcription and return calls to make. She is also entitled to a personal life, but I swear I don’t know where she finds the time. But she does call me back and I don’t care if it’s 9 at nite– she called because she knew I was worried.
I thank God that I could find a doctor that not only cured me, but cared about me as a human being.

I was referred to Dr. Regina Stein by my primary care physician for a hematology consultation. She was as nice as could be and very chatty during my visit. We certainly spoke a lot more about random things than my actual problem. (My condition is very minor, thrombophilia, and does not require any treatment nor have I ever had any problems. I was only there cause I was in need of a physician to work with during any future pregnancies because my sister had once had an issue.) I had a rather long wait before she came, but I left after my first visit thinking she was very nice and feeling comfortable with her.
Then came the bill. $ 400 (after insurance negotiated it from $ 493… we have a high deductible). She did no blood work, ran no tests. We chatted, she checked some physical things (lungs, ankles, poked my stomach), and she looked at the blood-​work results run by my primary care physician. I thought the charge seemed extreme based on other experiences I’ve had, so I asked my brother-​in-​law about it since he is a doctor. He asked me which code was used (99 245), and said it was completely wrong. He was adamant that I was being over-​billed and said there were only two possibilities: they made a mistake or they are engaging in billing fraud. He told me I really have to get in touch with their billing department and ask that it be investigated. I did so (this was back in April/​May), and I have gotten nothing but the run-​around. I’ve called back when no one got back to me as promised. «Oh, so and so is no longer with us. I will check and get back to you.» Nothing. I have never had anyone call me to address the issue.
So I (dumbly) go back again after two months because she wanted to re-​run the same blood test my primary had ordered just to make sure the levels from the first test were steady (the appointment was made immediately following my first visit). I thought it would just be a blood draw and had no expectation to see her. I assumed she would just call me with the results since that was the whole purpose. Nope. They said I was to see her, and I waited again for an hour. I didn’t question why she had to see me (I know, dumb), but I suppose I was trusting the physician to know how to do her job and to do it ethically. This time, it was pure chit-​chat! What was there to say? No results to read, no problems for me to report. Oh wait, she listened to me breathe and checked my ankles. So of course I get billed both for the blood-​work and for seeing her. Her bill was $ 94.87 after insurance negotiation.
Now as if this wasn’t bad enough, I never did get the results from her. She told me the exact day she would call me with the results (I made note of it), and I didn’t hear from her. So I called after a week, and they put me through to her voice mail. I left a detailed message. Another couple weeks go by (of course by now I’ve decided I need to find a new hematologist), so I call up the office again. I speak to billing first to ask them about the first bill, and I mention that I have never spoken to Dr. Stein about the results from my second visit. I am assured by the woman that she will personally put a note on her desk. I am covering my bases at the point and ask her to please mail me a copy of the results (which I did receive). I never did get a call from the doctor. I never did hear from billing about the first bill. I did call back once more to ask them to mail me any charts they had on me because I was switching hematologist. They told me they would mail me a release I had to sign first. I never received anything. I decided to move on.
The story has a happy ending. I have found an excellent hematologist, Dr. Brandon McMahon, with Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation. My first visit with him made me realize how unsatisfactory my care was with Dr. Stein. He explained things to me so much better, and he ordered some additional tests that he thought even more pertinent in my case. He called me with the results a week later and explained everything to me in depth, and he also sent an email 10 minutes after our phone conversation explaining everything once again so I could have a written record. Oh, and he has about the best bedside manner you could imagine! He’s a star!