North Chattahoochee Family Physicians

BUYER BEWARE!! Horrible office staff....not the check-in staff but the billing personnel. When did it become such a money making enterprise that discussing ones health with the Nurse Practitioner during a Wellness visit results in double billing .....both the insurance company and the patient!? Apparently if you ask a question during your Wellness visit that touches on a separate issue...I don't mean asking for a prescription, heaven forbid.....I mean asking who they would recommend for a hearing exam and requesting additional tests to be done along with the routing blood-work (no different from previous requests at previous Dr. visits in Florida) ...that promptly changes the nature of the visit to both a Wellness Exam PLUS an Office Visit for which they can charge the patient the co-pay!! I questioned the young woman at Check-out about why I was being charged the $30 Office Visit Co-Pay and she snippily replied that the Nurse Practitioner did more that what would be covered in a "normal" Well visit and her Office Manager backed her up. Both have obviously had this conversation before because they both went directly into rude mode.

Make sure you do your homework about exactly what is covered and not covered by your insurance company! I called my insurance as soon as I left the office to find out if I had been charged correctly and they assured me that the referral plus the additional lab work I requested fell squarely under age -appropriate guidelines for a Wellness Visit and the billing department at the Doctors office used their own discretion as to what was billed.

Interestingly the Physicians group will bill this at the higher rate of being seen by Dr. Culpepper as opposed to one of the nursing staff.....I have of course never met her. This office is definitely run like Big Corporate America having lost sight of their intended purpose along the way of helping people. Now they are more focused pursuing the dollar...

I have been a patient of Dr. Griffith's for almost 20 years. I have never had a bad experience with anyone in the office. Me, my wife and our teenage children all see Dr. Griffith but on the occasion that we have seen one of the PA's or other doctors the experience was just as good. If you are looking for a new family practice you would be wise to choose this one.