ARA Diagnostic Imaging – Midtown/Austin Vein Center

6 stars+, I need more stars to rate my experience!!!
First of all, I had been freaking out over possible bad news from my blood tests the week prior. Apparently, I needed to have a liver biopsy done. All of this coupled with nightmare colonoscopies I’ve had in the past AND 18 years of dealing with military and VA doctors (I’m recently retired Air Force) and I had already worked into a panic attack and unable to sleep, fearing both the procedure AND results.
My anesthesiologist, Mr Tiger, called me the day prior and gave me very informative details and reassurance that the procedure would not be difficult. The next morning, I was going to the room right on time. Mr Tiger made both my wife and I comfortable, and spoke with the doctor to help me start with some medication to ease my nerves.
By the time I was taken into the procedure room, I already had another excellent technician start the sonogram, and very soon afterwards my Dr, Dr Suh, introduced herself and again explained the procedure, ensured I was more than comfortable and we talked about personal experiences that we enjoyed to relax. The next thing I know, the procedure was over before I even knew it had really started!
Back to my room, and some pain slowly started creeping in. The push of a call button, two pain meds later, and I feel good enough to write this message after meeting a manager, Tammy, and expressing my gratitude for a wonderful experience.
I performed Quality Assurance — type work for the Air Force for a long time in my career. Everyone knows that people rarely praise, and usually only complain!
Friends, if you have good service and experiences, please take the time to write about it! Employees deserve it just as much as those who deserve complaints, and being recognized does your part to help keep the good people there for us!
Thank you Mr Tiger and Dr Suh — your care and professionalism is what all patients and all of society deserves in any setting. God bless!
David Russell

I was really nervous about going today for my scan after reading all of the reviews on here. I had actually scheduled it before reading the reviews and based on how I’m feeling I didn’t want to push the date so I just said I’d go and deal with whatever fallout there was.
I was pleasantly surprised to find everyone here to be completely professional and quite friendly. I got there a little early, like they asked, to fill out paperwork. As soon as I finished up, they took me right in. My wait time was less than 10 minutes.
My technician was extremely caring and walked me through the whole process. She let me ask questions and was very eager to answer them for me. Before the procedure started, she even asked if I wanted a warm blanket since the test was going to take about 90 minutes. Multiple times during the procedure she asked how I was doing and about half way through asked if I would like another heated blanket.
ARA did a fantastic job.

Similar to lots of reviewers, I had a terrible experience at this facility. Relatively unfriendly customer service at the front desk, and an EXTREMELY painful injection of contrast medium and the saline that follows. At the conclusion of the procedure, I was told by the clinician that I should definitely come back if my arm swelled to the size of a basketball (I’m not kidding), after which he abruptly turned around and walked out of the room. I assumed that someone was going to walk me back to the closet where I had deposited by clothes, but after a few minutes, I realized I was on my own. I located the clothes, went back to the room and got dressed, and then tried to find the lobby. Taking a couple wrong turns, I repeatedly passed by the same clinician, who didn’t say a word or even acknowledge my presence. If I have radiological needs in the future, I’ll implore my neurologist to send me to another facility!

We had an appointment at 9 AM. At 9:40 asked them to find out if the Doctor was running behind. They called and then went back to the patient rooms but couldn’t find either technician or doctor. They weren’t sure who we were supposed to see. They never acknowledged that none of their staff kept track of patients once they check in. No one ever came to get us or informed us that they were running behind. We waited an hour and 15 mins. The technician was extremely rude and unprofessional stating that she wasn’t going to see us. She stormed around in the middle of the hallway to walk us back to the waiting room when we responded that patients are scheduled in time blocks after she commented that she «spends as much time as needed with her patients». In the patient room she refused to close the door while taking personal physical and medical information. She left all of our medical history open and visible on the computer screen. The office manager did not acknowledge nor accept any miscommunication or lack of professionalism on their behalf e.g. running behind, not communicating the wait time, clarifying who we needed to see, and especially the technicians unprofessional attitude or whereabouts that caused the delay.
Needless to say, looking for an alternative. The level of service very poor.

Of all of the medical services I’ve received in my entire life, nothing really compared to the poor treatment I received at this facility. I wouldn’t send an enemy to this place.
First, ARA told me that had an open MRI when I made the appointment; they — in fact — do not. They have a large bore MRI, and it is closed. A very nice lady told me this when she tried to use the first machine, but the antennae on the machine wasn’t going to fit comfortably. So, they decided to try another one.
Second, they didn’t even have the machine turned on when I had dressed for my exam. While it warmed up, another woman was playing on her cell phone.
Third, after the machine was turned on, the new woman running the test had me wait while she and a bald man counted the various medications they had at their workstation.
Fourth, the woman running the test did not communicate when the pictures were and were not being taking during the exam (they occur in a series). I have a neurological illness, and being forced to stay in the same position without shifting for thirty minutes causes an extremely painful sensation.
When I squeezed the indicator to ask her about when I could shift because parts of my body were neurologically burning, she shrieked over the intercom to wait for twenty more seconds (and I do mean shrieked). She then attempted to scold me for pushing the indicator, because she’d need to take that round of pictures again. It was particularly obviously that she really didn’t care about me as her patient, and she cared even less about anything that I had to say.
She still didn’t communicate with me about the start and end of each picture series, and for thirty minutes I laid in that closed tube in agony.
Finally, when she came in at the end of the test, I told her exactly how I felt about her behavior. She never apologized and told me that holding still is part of getting an mri. I told her that I have never heard of anyone getting an mri where they couldn’t even shift one time in thirty minutes and that she should be ashamed of how poorly she communicated.
I complained at the front desk when I left. The bald man was there, and he immediately started making excuses and never apologized for the experience. This is the same bald man who made me wait when the test was already late when they didn’t have the machine ready to go at the appointment time. I asked him for the name and phone number of the clinic director, and he never gave it to me because he was too busy shuffling papers on a clipboard, acting non-​chalant, and repeating the catchphrase, «Well, I guess you know what it’s like to have an MRI.» One of his colleagues had the good sense to comment, «You know, communication is key» in agreement with my statement.
Call me crazy, but I don’t think that having a MRI is supposed to make parts of your body burn because of neurological pain. I also think that a medical professional would have read the condition that I was being treated for and realized that extra care was needed in this situation. Beyond that, a professional staff would have apologized for making multiple mistakes instead of getting defensive and blaming their lack of competence on the nature of the procedure. I also don’t think that the front desk should have claimed to have an open MRI if they don’t have one.
With all of that said, the receptionist was very nice, and she was concerned. Also, one of the techs (a portly man with earrings) was very kind, considerate and polite. Also, the first technician who was supposed to run the test in the first room was very nice. They were concerned about what had happened, and for that they should be commended; however, that curly-​headed woman who ran the rest and the bald man with the neon tennis-​shoes can kiss my foot. I’ll never darken the door of that facility again, and I will actively warn others who are considering a test there.
There was no need for them to act like this. If the MRI technician had apologized for her behavior and corrected her behavior as soon as I mentioned it to her, then we would not have had a problem. Through pride, arrogance, or a combination, she became defensive. Maybe she was busy playing on her cell phone on the day that they covered professional courtesy and human decency. When you make a mistake, just admit it and apologize. Had she just admitted it and apologized, then this could have been a «three-​star» experience despite the gross neglect, because I could have seen that it was a mistake. When it’s really obvious that you aren’t sorry for what you’ve done wrong, then why should I ever use your services again.
If I were the clinic director, I would want to know why this occurred. None of this review was about the pictures that were taken, it was about the customer service.

I had a 2:25 appointment. It is now 3:15. Not only am I missing work and not being paid for this time but I had to go up to the receptionist to ask what was taking so long and all they said was.“we cannot find your chart. It will be 5 more minutes.” I have now been waiting 50 min. This is absolutely ridiculous. Asking someone to show up 15 min early for paper work and then you take 50 min to even call them back. That is completely unprofessional and I am offended that I have been treated this way.

Don’t go there unless you are ready to get screwed. They charged my insurance an arm and a leg and then charged me an additional $ 620.00. This is total BS. Do some price shopping. Go to another city if you need to. You will still come out ahead. No wonder they were so nice. They were laughing under their breath. Never again.

Plan on waiting at lease an hour even if you schedule your appointment months in advance. I have been here 3 or 4 times and they always have a wait. They need a better scheduling system.

Austin Radiological Association has consistently made a positive impression on me. Throughout the years I have had mammograms, MRI procedures, two biopsies and ultrasounds as well as one X-​ray. I have been to the Anderson Mill branch, the Cedar Park branch and two in the 38^th street area. These are annual exams and a few scares. Every single person in every department (including billing) have been 5 stars. Always clean.
Today’s rate is only about phone conversations asking the following questions, of which once again I rate Austin Radiological 5 stars.
After reading the Times Magazine article, I decided to shop around and get the codes for the procedures, code to identify the medical facility to my insurance company to find out what the negotiated prices are from the chargemaster and to investigate the age and type of MRI (in my case a bi lateral breast MRI with contrast).
They answered all my questions except the MRI question because I did not have to ask as they have imaged me and I have seen the quality of their results on CD.
They do have a code for the MRI which includes the reading, another separate code for the contrast and another code for the computer generated technology which is a code my insurance company does not take or agree to ($ 38.00). They told me the tax ID code they use for my insurance and answered all my questions. Instead of one code they have 3 and one not covered by my insurance.
Their bi lateral breast MRI will serve what I need.

They were both professional and very helpful… I brought my 5 year old daughter and they set her up in a room with a kid show on the VCR, and one of the women from the front desk sat with her the entire time I was in the machine. I thought that was above and beyond customer service, and appreciated the added help.
In addition, I originally wrote about how their web site was not secure, and is an HTTP not an HTTPS web page. (indicating that your name, and credit card information (and possibly birth date) information is possibly out on the net in human readable form, and not obfuscated in any way). I sent their webmaster an e-​mail, but was not sure anything would be done.
UPDATE: Within one hour they had sent me 3 e-​mails indicating that their web page had been updated. Apparently it was an issue introduced within the last day. I can’t verify that, but I did go to the web page for bill pay and indeed it is an https page now, so there is no longer the original concern about security. The manager who contacted me by e-​mail was courteous and professional, and took the matter very seriously. As such, I have put in this update and increased their rating from 3 to 5 since all aspects of the experience with them has been above and beyond professional.
Dang those scans are expensive though. The MRI is a CYA for a doctor in some cases. My friend mildly hurt his wrist and the doctor wanted an MRI. Nothing that a few days of natural healing wouldn’t cure. To request an MRI seemed definite overkill. But once you say yes… you’re in for a big bill. Of course, serious problems will benefit greatly from the scan. I’m just saying… beware the upsell doctor.

My x-​ray session was very professional. However the follow up for the billing was very unprofessional. They had sent me several bills to an outdated address, and when they received confirmation that I had moved, they did not call me to inform me. Rather, they sent it right to collections, which is now on my credit score. As soon as I found out, I called them and paid the balance, which I would have been happy to do so upon my initial visit. After repeated conversations with their support team, and paying off the balance, they refuse the remove this from my credit score because it is «company policy.» But given the situation, it makes no sense.

It has to be a tough gig, being ARA. You provide a service based on tools that provide data which is interpreted differently depending on who looks at your end product. A good percentage of those tools irradiate the human body, which may or may not contribute to cancer over time. Probably the bulk of people waiting to use your products, in the waiting room, don’t want to be there. And, when you are done providing the service — assuming things went according to plan and you’ve done your job well — they hopefully leave no worse for the wear than when they walked in the door. But I doubt they walk outside immediately afterwards and go «FUCK YEAH RADIOLOGY!!» (Even if radiology ultimately saves their lives.)
When I review places for service, I like to take into account the actual product, and the human element. But for non-​radiologists/​non-​docs like myself, how can I legitimately say «dude, that small bowel series I had? Look at the lower 20 feet of small intestine! LUMINOUS!» I guess if my doctors said «these are terrible», I could take that into account, but that hasn’t happened yet. So I’m going solely on the customer service at this location of ARA.
The tech who set up my hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid (HIDA) scan was really nice and kept checking on me the whole time. HIDA scans, which check the effective bile output of your gallbladder, are probably the absolute easiest scans to get in nuclear medicine. You get iv’ed with a radioactive tracer, while you lie on a table with a fancy camera that detects what’s happening in your innards, and outputs a picture on a screen you can see while you lie there. You lie there for typically an hour and half or so, then get up and go. Done.
The camera at this ARA had a problem just before my appointment, but after I had already been admitted to the test area, so they were delayed about 45 minutes. During that time I sat inside a sort of ‘on-​deck’ area for the machine. The tech still waited and chatted with me the whole time!, which impressed me, but not only that, after the test, she walked back in and gave me a free gift card to a local restaurant because of the delay!
Sooooo why not the 5 star for this ARA? Let’s face it; it’s medical testing, and there’s nothing ARA can do about that. Unless they set me up with my soul mate during a scan or gimme a million bucks, I don’t think this guy is ever going to be able to give any radiological venue more than 4 stars. Still, their work saves lives, and that’s worth way more than any positive review I could give these people.

God forbid tha a serious illness affect your family. Medical bills sacking up and becoming overwhelming. That is what happened to us, even with outstanding insurance coverage. It took just over two years for my husband to become healthy again and for us to be in a position financially to pay all of the debt we had incurred. We are not deadbeats. We had no intention of «skipping out» on the medical fees we owed. However, we did need to make payments and negotiate some of the bills. ARA would have nothing to do with it. We could either pay or not! Our total billing was in the range of $ 3900, of which our insurance covered all but $ 800. The billing department staff were hateful, mean and treated us as through we were some sort of criminals. We have paid ALL of our medical bills and were able to work with and make payments to all of the hospitals, clinics and doctors we owed, except for ARA. Our credit score is 738. I tried contacting them 1 last time to make arrangements for payment and was told «NO». Our credit will suffice without making this payment. We own our home, we can get car loans and lines of credit from our bank. I am certain that ARA will continue to stay in business without our $ 800 but we have no intention of ever paying these horrible people. If they have no compassion and are unwilling to work with the ill, they need to get out of the medical industry.

My doctor ordered a skull X-​Ray from ARA sometime last year. The doctor reported that there were no abnormalities on the skull, leading me to have surgery. Upon cutting open my forehead, my doctor discovered that there were in fact bony lumps on my forehead. The operating surgeon was mislead by ARA’s radiologist into believing that the bumps were soft tissue, like a lipoma, instead of bony protrusions.
ARA’s lovely (sarcasm) Dr. Wiseman completely misread my easy X-​Ray. Upon inspection of the images even I could see the lumps. The doctor claimed that I didn’t have the expertise necessary to read an X-​Ray but the science of an X-​Ray is not incredibly complicated and the images are especially straight-​forward in regards to bone density and shape, exactly what he was supposed to be looking for. When he called me on the phone his demeanor was very defensive and protective, although he did admit that my forehead had an «undulating» surface (which is exactly what he was supposed to see, whether or not the lumps were bone matter or soft tissue).
Dr. Wiseman and my other doctor then teamed up to completely snowball me. Watch out for this establishment and their doctors, who probably just look at X-​Rays on their iPhones in between golf shots.

A little known fact. Doctors must «join» ARA for a fee in order to get on the website and view their own patient’s xrays. I learned this the hard way when my Houston doctor needed an x-​ray today. I arrived at ARA and was told there was one person ahead of me and that it would be approximately a ten minute wait. After thirty-​five minutes I was called back. I asked the tech if they could send a copy of my xray to may doctor the same day, and she said he could view the xray directly on the ARA site. Oh Good! Easy. Not quite! I have used ARA for 20 years for all of my family’s imaging and xray needs. When my Houston doctor was unable to access the site, I called ARA to learn why. I was told that doctors need to be member of ARA in order to access records. Again, I was not told this upon arrival or when I was charged for my xray. I asked if there was any way to send the image technologically. After talking with several people including xray techs, imaging library, and an ARA manager, it ARA determined that there was absolutely no way to send the images to my doctor. He refused to join the system and I support him in this. Since my doctor needed the images today, my husband just came home from work early and quickly emailed the images from the disc I requested at the time of my xrays. Easy-​peasy-​lemon-​squeezy!
I will let you make your own deductions about ARA. IF they get back to me with changes to the system, I will update review here.

Make sure to double check costs quoted for MRIs. My husband’s came back double what ARA said it would be. Not a pleasant surprise! Neither the manager or the supervisor were interested in explaining why there was a difference, even though they admitted they quoted the much lower price.

What’s a better way to make your boobs into pancakes? Or let’s see how flat they can go…“are you OK”? the technician asks… sure if you call flat boobs OK.
Go to ARA or Women’s Imaging Center! The staff is always professional and all the technology seems to be up to date. This place has grown from a small imaging center to a huge center-​but you couldn’t tell because the staff are extremely organized. It’s super clean and your in and out in no time!
I’ve been here for 4 separate times for mammograms. A couple scary visits and they put me right at ease. I actually drive out of my way to go back to this location because this location has the radiologist right at the location, the one near my house is just where they take images.
The parking is OK, it’s tight but I’ve never not been able to find a spot. I was able to get an appointment the same day! Unheard of these days!
I would recommend this for your next mammogram or women’s ultrasound

My 100^th review is for the ladies.
When it’s time for you to have your…
breasts — boobs — tits — knockers — melons — sweater puppies — macaroons — fried eggs — hooters — jugs — ta-​tas — boulders — twins — fun bags — headlights — mammies — bowling balls — bubbies — gazongas — tetons — mounds — bazoombas — girls
…flattened into pancakes, there is no better place than the women’s imaging center at ARA. After fainting during my first two mammograms, my doctor, the fabulous Dr. Kimberly Carter, diagnosed vasovagal syncope, which means my body reacts in an exaggerated way to health-​related emotional distress like having blood drawn or harsh squeezing of my breasts. The trigger results in a sudden drop in my heart rate and blood pressure, which reduces blood flow to my brain and causes me to briefly lose consciousness. It’s fainting, people! «Vasovagal syncope» sounds a lot more interesting and a lot less wimpy.
Heather’s my girl at ARA. She wheels in a stool and lets me sit for the squishing. She’s very nice about it and doesn’t make me feel stupid.
Advice for first timers — wear pants. The «gown» they give you is really just a shirt length cape-​type thing with one snap at the neck.
Four stars isn’t so much «Yay! I’m a fan.» as it is, «This place is clean, the staff is friendly and competent, the equipment is up to date (as far as I can tell) and they have juice boxes and granola bars for people with vasovagal syncope.»
Frankly, I’d prefer not to ever have my lovely lady lumps flattened again but that would be just plain reckless.

These guys know me well. This location of ARA is conveniently located beneath my oncologist’s office and my oncologist even does my scan scheduling for me.
I’ve been to ARA at least 6 times in the past year for regular radiological services like CT scans, as well as for Nuclear Medicine tests like PET scans and MUGA scans. The staff is always amazingly friendly, even though I think that some of them must have a hard time doing what they do for a living (imagine being the first to know a patient has a tumor or something else).
The only two things I don’t like about this place is that the lobby always smells like B.O. and they’ve made me eat barium pudding twice now (think about eating Noxzema, and now realize that Noxzema is BETTER than barium pudding).
If you have to have radiological services, this is the place I think is best.