Orange County Urology Associates

My wife had Kidney stones — which needed Shock Wave Lithotripsy. As of today, over one year has passed since the treatment and I am still getting incorrect billing statements. I have called them numerous times. Every time I get the response, «I need to forward this to my manager». Or, it is the insurance company’s fault. And, when I ask if they can reach out to my insurance company, they REFUSE!!!
My wife has a chronic illness, and I deal with medical billing a lot. Orange County Urology Associates is hands down the worst medical office I have ever dealt with. If you don’t enjoy long pointless conversations with inept medical billing staff, take your business elsewhere.

Today I heard from manager Diane and her caring, professional interest in my experience as a patient is equally as important as getting the medical care I need. For my employer, I must provide, in a timely manner, a medical report with a prognosis & treatment plan. The anxiety of not knowing who handles the paperwork, or how to be sure the right eyeballs are on the forms, were resolved for me when I heard from Taylor in the office today that the documents are completed! I can’t emphasize enough that in today’s reality, getting the right paperwork is almost as important as the medical care itself. Unilocal reviews are for our personal experience, and I know that I’m receiving first-​rate medical care at OCUA. Now I can breathe easier because the staff has directly helped provide me with the all-​mighty paperwork side of care that I needed. Relief!

Horrible staff. Like many other reviews here, I have to say that they are rude and unhelpful. I’ve been trying for 6 months to get a medication authorized and they point blank said that they will not call insurance companies. Fax only. Not enough information is sent. No follow up. I have to call them repeatedly. STAY AWAY.

Thanks Dr. Kim for caring.
Special Thanks to Megan, Diane and Marie for staying on top of scheduling and getting authorizations for me. These 3 ladies are amazing. I don’t know what else I can say … Thank you thank you so much for caring.

Dr Spitz is the best in his field and very knowledgeable but unfortunately we had a very bad experience with office staff specially Taylor that is rude, never answer phones and doesn’t return left messages. She should not be there as she does not understand the urgency in some cases.

Dr. Spitz was awesome and my husband had a great experience with him. We have no complaints about the actual medical treatment. However, the low rating is related to the billing process and interactions with the staff. OC Urology required us to pay up front for the services my husband had. It took us over a dozen phone calls and messages (at least half un-​answered) and a few personal visits to the office in order to get the services billed to our insurance and to get refunded what we were not responsible for. This process took 11 months!

I was told to be 15 minutes early. I have now been here an hour plus and no one has said anything about the dr running late. So far I rate them as 1 star.

Wow! Dr Don Bui is one of the most compassionate, intelligent, done-​to-​earth doctors I have ever met. Dr. Bui inspires trust and really treats his patients like family. Prior to my appointment today in Fountain Valley, I received a call from Anthony in the Insurance Dept. There had been a change in my coverage and Anthony was kind and patient in getting the correct information. And even checked back with me after he spoke with Dr. Bui.
I’ve been seen at both the HB and FountainValley offices; both are well-​run with happy staff.
It makes a difference with the experience if the staff likes working there.
Thank you Dr. Bui, Anthony, Emmy and all the staff. You have an practice to be proud of!

With all the complaints I’m reading. I heard the doctor’s are amazing, but I would not come here for a visit because the front office staff are horrible. They choose young adults who only care about their pay instead of the patients. They obviously get paid a good decent amount for them not to care. The first impression of an office clinic is their receptionists. This big of a company need a fresh new receptionist group. They are very rude! The doctors do lose their patients because of the front office staff. If this company saw no complaints about their staff than they know they hired a good group, but all I keep reading is about how there staff is rude. So hopefully they make changes on their group of employees to make this company better again.

This is regarding the PA, Dr. Acosta. I found her to be insensitive, and dismissive. She did not listen when I tried to explain why I was there after my general practice doc told me to see my urologist and Dr Megalia was fully booked. I had 4 0r 5 «uti’s» in a row. After doing a culture of my urine which DID show something «going on» but no bacteria, and an xray and ultrasound to check my kidney stones, she had the nurse call and tell me it was «NOT A UROLOGICAL PROBLEM» and to go back to my GP. The End. And this on a Friday!
My wonderful GP, Dr Mark Adlard, sent me to Dr Wallace and he has found an inflamed bladder, clearly showing on a cystoscope done in her office. She is treating me for this now, finally.
I love Dr. Megalia but will never see Dr. Acosta again, and I am disappointed in the practice that they have her working there with no «bedside» manner .
I have never had a problem with the nurses or office staff as other people have.

Excellent experience, people are great, Nancy’s attention to people makes you feel very welcome a pleasure to deal with

Re: Green Light Laser Surgery from Dr. Moses Kim in Irvine and Laguna Hills, CA
I felt compelled to give you my experience with «Green Light» Laser surgery, because of all the angst I felt leading up to my surgery and the fact that I had noticed that the majority of the reviews were negative and my procedure was just the opposite. It turned out fantastic!
My problems came on suddenly, as I noticed I was urinating 6 – 7 times per night and always felt the urge to go and I wasn’t getting enough sleep.
I made an appointment with a referral doctor (not Dr, Kim) and expected for him to reccommend some excersises or perscribe some pills. After scoping me, he informed me that I needed surgery because my prostrate was blocking off my bladder and that I was retaining over a quart of urine, even immediatly AFTER urination. The doctor then informed me that I needed to use a catheter a minimum of twice per day… very painful to insert and that he needed to go on vacation and would set me up for 3 weeks away. I then asked the doctor what would happen if I did nothing… he replied that eventually I could end up on dialysis. A no-​brainer. I scheduled the surgery.
In the meantime, I went through inserting ther catheter for days and went online, reading everything I could on the possible procedures available and their outcomes. I read hundreds of reports and reviews. I was running out of patiance, and wanted an earlier surgery… this became a blessing. Evenually, I found a video online of Dr. Moses Kim, from OC Urology, performing the Green Light Laser surgery. I called his office and explained about my problems, how I hated the catheter, that I would rather die than be impotent and could he help me? I also explained that I am 74, walk 5 – 7 miles per day, that I am very fit and that I love sex and still have it 3 – 4 times per week. He set me up for the following Monday and just before I went into surgery, he reassured me that all would go well.
Here are the facts of the surgery: You are asleepand wake up a couple hours later. No pain. The worst part was the couple of days following the surgery of wearing a leg catheter and needing to get nup at night (whichI was used to doing) anbd empty the bag. Not so painful, but awkward and embarrassing. Try to have the surgery during the week, so that you can get the bag removed before the week-​end. Otherwise, you will need to wear it for 2 extra days… fun.
There was very little pain for the first 9 days. I took a yellow pill for burning and swelling. He also perscribed Cipro to prevent infection and he gave me a pain killer, which I didn’t use at all.
Day 10: surprise! Tissue started breaking loose from the surgery and passes out with your urine flow. It alarmed me, as evidently they told me it was going to happen, but I wasn’t liistening. I think this was the second worse part… right after the leg catheter.
Also, I was told «no sex» for 21 days. but, on day 14, I had sex twice.
Everything worked great.
I experienced a little burning from day 15 – 25. After that, I was able to empty my bladder completely, and also have sex like a bunny.
My research analysis on all this, is that the Green Light Laser Surgery is only as good as the doctor performing it.
If it is done by a doctor with very little experience, you may have a lot of bleeding, infections and a slow recovery.
Thank God, the with Dr. Kim, after 25 days, I had less than a half of teaspoon of blood. Look for his «Green Light Laser Surgery» video. I live in California, but would recommend him, even if you live in New York city.
Good Luck! The surgery is a piece of cake. John

Dr. Meaglia has always been great for the last 12 years but for the first time I ran into an issue with an office worker. Dominic called today telling me I hadn’t met my deductible, which was not true. I called back and told him I had met my OOP maximum for the year. He disputed my statement and told me he got his info from UnitedHealthcare (UHC). While he didn’t say the word ‘liar’, that’s what he intimated. I called UHC and thought I had it cleared up and got a reference #. I called Dominic back with the reference #. He called back a little later and said I had not met my deductible, again not true. Multiple calls to UHC hopefully cleared it up. UHC left a message for Dominic saying I had met all OOP costs. During one of the calls with Dominic, I told him to cancel my appointment with Dr. Meaglia as I was so ticked off.
He could have just looked at my account and determined that my account has always been paid in a timely manner. He could have just billed for tomorrow’s visit and have me pay what was owed. But he was an $&@:/%# by telling me that I would have to pay up front before seeing the doctor. His attitude is not conducive to a heathy business and OC Urology Associates could do much better with their public facing employees.

I didn’t have the experience that others state. I received a referral to Dr. Meaglia. He was fantastic.
I will return and recommend.

Dr. Gruenenfelder performed my bladder sling using my own tissue so that I would not have to deal with possible synthetic mesh complications. She was thorough and explained possible issues such as having to return to OR to «stretch» the sling if I have certain issues that were clearly explained. She is great!
My review was for a visit back in I believe Januray of this year. I would give 5 stars but the front office, like so many other reviews, can be rude and most do not understand the insurance. Being in the medical insurance billing and medical office management for 25 years, I had to do a bit of educating when they tried to tell me that they didn’t take my insurance. I explained to them that Dr. G was on the list of in-​network providers under my plan. They tried to collect $ 250 up front… And this was 4 months after she had done my surgery and was paid by the insurance they said she did not accept. I waited another 20 minutes for them to contact whoever does their billing or whomever to confirm this. Once done then I waited 20 more minutes in waiting room and another 20 in examining room.
The nurses though have been nothing but caring and gentle and I appreciate that. I feel bad to have to give this office 3 stars but it is obvious by past reviews that either a cleaning house needs to be done in the front office or a conversation.

The staff here is wonderful. They are patient with older clients. Jacqueline explained the procedure, and comforted my aunt during the procedure. Dr. Gruenfelder is wonderful with patients and explains procedures, diagnosis and answers questions at the patient’s level of understanding. She provides a «therapeutic touch’ with everyone. She’s very pleasant and will address all concerns.

Don’t bother. As many others have said, the doctors might be ok, but the entire staff is totally unresponsive. Pay upfront for an expensive procedure, then the doc won’t read the biopsy results for over a month. When he finally does (oh yeah, pay for that too) he smiles as he delivers some pretty bad news, tells you you need a bunch more tests, surgery, etc, and go read a book about it. Here’s a 2-​page list of facilities, some of which might be able to do the testing you need, and some of which might be on your insurance. Good luck with your research. But that isn’t the worst.
So, now we are trying to get treatment, and the office won’t bother to talk to the insurance so that the tests and such can be authorized. «Oh sure, we will give him the message…» «We will call you right back…» and you never hear from them.
The people from local hospitals and insurance companies have told us that they have had the same problem with this practice… won’t return calls, don’t send the orders in time, etc.
We even enlisted the help of our Primary Care physician to try to wrench a response from these people, and she got nowhere.
Keep looking.
(Oh, and did you notice that some of the 5-​star ratings are from people who are somehow authorized to take photos from inside the waiting area? Uh… have y’all heard of HIPPA?)

Outstanding team! Very professional! Very thankful that we found about this firm I totally recommend OCUA… Love you all

Terrible Followup & Non-​Responsive Practice —
I would not recommend anyone to this group of urologist. Not that the MD’s are bad, but their nursing and reception staff needs better customer service training. When I first arrived I heard a few of the reception staff talking down to two different patients. Felt bad for them but they should have taking that conversation to a more private area (HIPPA)
I had a very difficult time with getting Dr. Moses Kim to call me back to discuss a medical prescription issue, and NEVER heard from hi again after my first and LAST visit. He prescribed me 3 medications and also could see which insurance I had when doing so. All 3 meds required prior authorizations before they could be filled. My SaveOn pharmacy told me that they would contact the doctor’s office and let hime know about the process. after about 7 days I call the pharmacy to see if the prescriptions were ready and they said they have not heard back from the Dr’s office.
I call Dr. Moses Kim’s office and spoke to the «Pharmacy» nurse. She told me that I would have to call MY insurance company and ask for a list of approved medicines. I laughed at her and said, «Why would I need to do that as you are the nurse/​Dr that is prescribing the meds in the first place. The response was, «I don’t have time to speak with insurance companies»
I said, «you don’t, then what am I paying your office to do?» She then told me to give her the number to the insurance company and she would call. 45 — days later and I receive a letter from my insurance company denying the medicine once again, stating that the Dr did not provide the required information supporting the need for the prescription.
I called back and spoke with the nurse again, and she said there isn’t anything more she could do. I said then I would like to speak with the Dr. and could she please have him call me ASAP. She replied that Dr. Kim would not call you back for something like this.
3 months later and still no meds re prescribed or a call from the office.
Bunch of insurance scammers.

Two weeks ago (almost three months after the initial visit), I am still waiting for a call from the «new» billing manager. She promised to call me the next day, well over two weeks has passed. I am still waiting for them to bill my insurance and for them to reimburse me. At this point, I am not sure what to do other than file a claim with the BBB and my credit card company. NO ONE IN THE OFFICE RETURNS PHONE CALLS. DO NOT PREPAY FOR YOUR APPOINTMENTS BECAUSE THEY WILL NOT REFUND YOU.
It is too bad because I hear Dr. Spitz is a decent doctor.