Dermatology Associates of Southwest Washington, PLLC

I’d like to start by communicating that this is the first negative review I have ever left in my life. Even with not so great experiences I will avoid leaving a review for the sake of the business. This however needs to be known. Nice people, I’m sure they mean well. They told me my service would be covered by my insurance - this is why I used them. While I was there the PA casually asked me if I wanted her to do something about the wart on my hand. I said yes and she sprayed it with nitrogen. Months later I get a bill for over $500 saying my insurance didn’t cover it - a line item for over $300 was on my invoice for spraying my wart. There was zero communication of any type of up-charge for that. Had I known I would have absolutely declined. That seems like a complete lack of integrity to not communicate that. They have also begun automatically billing me which I did not verbally consent to. I wouldn’t recommend going here.

The first time I called to make an appt, the receptionist asked about my insurance. Once provided, she said “you probably need authorization from your insurance company, so call them first”. When questioning if something on their end was showing I needed “insurance authorization” she said “no, I just have seen this insurance before”. When I assured her I have never previously needed authorization, she went ahead and changed her answering saying “you’re going to need to see your PCP to get a referral”. Again, I assured her my insurance didn’t require a referral but she was clearly not understanding and continued arguing with me, so I ended up just hanging up. Fast forward a couple weeks I reluctantly decided to try again. I called to schedule an appt. This time I wasn’t faced with the same “referral” and “authorization” requests that I was the first time but was told I had to make a $150 deposit to schedule my appointment. I have never heard of anywhere doing this and my father who also goes here told me they have never asked him to make any sort of deposit. When I got to my appointment I asked about this. Their response was “if you get any additional testing done during your appointment we will just use your deposit money to pay for it”. (I can understand them never getting payment for some things from people but for the reason I was having my appointment, I was 100% sure I would not require any testing). They said I would get all the money refunded, subtract my copay when the insurance was billed. It is now over a month since my appointment and I have yet to receive my refund despite getting confirmation from my insurance that the billing has been processed. I called the office and they simply said “it has not gone through yet”. We’ll see how long I have to wait to actually get my money back, because I bet a lot of people don’t keep track and never get their refund without even realizing. Probably will never go here again simply due to everything described above - what a pain. (I will say the provider I saw was great and I had no issues there).

I was a first time patient with health insurance and still paid $150 for the doctor to be in the room with me for 5 minutes only to tell me that I can take care of my skin issues on my own with a trip to the grocery store. She didn’t ask me anything about my family medical history despite filling out the required forms of my family medical history that clearly states items that should have been discussed. She took one look at my hands and said “Oh you need to be moisturizing everyday. This is why you have what you have.” Then proceeded to push her products on me to buy them. I wanted to discuss far more than the one item but after I told her I didn’t have the money to go through with any procedures that day she basically said, “Well that’s that then. Here are some samples and have a good day.” Seriously? I spent $150 for a 5 minute meeting with a so called doctor without any resolution to my problem or any further discussion about issues I’ve been having? I almost want to call back and demand at least a 30 minute exam. But I don’t trust this dermatology practice any longer and do not want to waste my money. What a bummer because if I go somewhere else I’ll have to pay their first time patient fee. 10/10 DO NOT recommend. Update: And to top it all off, they over charged me and had to give me a refund!

Be forewarned, if you have an appointment at 10:45 and show up between 10:40-10:45 THEY WILL not see you. They require you to show up 15 minutes prior to your scheduled time or they cancel your appointment. I own a business that also books by appointments and if I required someone to show up at 10:30 for a 10:45 appointment............. I would book that client at 10:30. I did not have the opportunity see experience whether or not they are good at their craft so I cannot attest to that.

Medical staff very dismissive towards women's health. In-take process is overly long and staff unfriendly. They either don't take notes on previous patient visits or they don't read them. Push cosmetic procedures and his franchise doesn't focus on real "heath care". Signs and videos in waiting room focus on profit-procedures not real dermatology skin care. If you care about your skin's health, you should go elsewhere. Appointment was a waste of time amd now have to go to a different place again this year just to experience a real annual derm-check. Place is a joke.