Austin Pain Associates

Please let me first mention that I rarely write a review about healthcare providers.
They do a difficult job and have to deal with ill people. Dr. Christine Anderson
is wonderful, caring, and you can tell she is in medicine for all the right reasons.
Unfortunately, PA Mary Jo Hart, who also attempts to cover the clinic, is the total
opposite. She is abrupt, condescending, and gives the impression that she
could not care less. Hey, what about people that are coming in chronic pain?
Does that mean anything? Mid-​level providers like Mary Jo Hart are what tend
to give APA a bad reputation. But let me be fair, Dr. Anderson has always been
very professional and she is what keeps me from changing to another clinic.
As an additional thought, with all due respect to those at APA who are caring and come to work each day to make a difference: this pain clinic needs a complete overhaul in attitude and courtesy from the front desk clerks to the providers. Obviously, by reading the reviews, there is a problem here. Additional and mandatory training should be instituted and directed towards patient courtesy, dignity, and respect. To those healthcare workers who do a laudable job, please do not accept my critique personally.

Uncaring & Unprofessional!
I have been on pain medication & management for over 20 years due to degenerative disks, fibromyalgia and lupus complications. Unfortunately it seems every time our insurance would change I was forced to find a new Pain Dr and that can make it hard to have good established relationships. I have been extremely lucky with my Drs until our move to TX! At first things were working out well and I found a great Primary and specialty Drs but then my Primary retired and none of my other Drs wanted to be responsible for all my meds. One med in particular. For the most part the meds in addition to trigger point injections, epidurals, acupuncture, massage, & exercise is all I need to function. Nothing takes all the pain away without making me completely knocked out which I do not want! I need to work and enjoy my family. However, every now & then I need what is called a break thru med to help. The only one that has helped me most Drs don’t want to be responsible for. So this is how I ended up at Austin Pain Associates a year ago. For one prescription of 30 pills to last the entire year. I was told not to see another pain Dr which I didn’t. I was told to return in one year. I called to get an appointment and was told I couldn’t get in for another 3 months which would be about 6 weeks past the one year mark. I said no problem I still had pills left. On the day of my appointment I arrived early to be asked for my paperwork. I explained I was a previous patient & was told that since I hadn’t been in for more than 6 months I needed to be reassessed. I said ok but I didn’t have any paperwork. The girl just kept giving me these looks like I was an idiot! Then she handed me the paperwork & said she would need to talk to the Dr. She was gone approx 30 secs not long enough to talk to anyone! Then came back & told me I’d have to be rescheduled! I was shocked. I said «so you — not you personally but your office, made me wait months to get an appointment, then didn’t tell me about any paperwork nor send me anything. I had to have my son in law drive me all the way down here (we live in another town 30 mins away & I had heart surgery 2 months ago so cannot drive yet) and have my husband take time off work to meet us there and now you’re telling me I need to be rescheduled because of some stupid paperwork? Except for my heart surgery and a mild TIA nothing has changed in the past year! I was so upset and all she did was give me this attitude of yeah we aren’t going to see you today too bad. Come back in 3 months and maybe we will see you! I must be extremely lucky because I have never been treated that way by any medical people. I guess they just get so many people needing pain meds and since regular Drs can’t or won’t deal with these types of medications, they are free to treat people however they want! I will NOT go back there ever and I know they do not care as they have plenty more people waiting to get in! It’s very sad that people who truly need these types of medications have to beg and put up with all this horrible treatment just to find some peace.

Honestly I felt like I was a cow being herded into a room. A room that I waited hours in. I I came here because this is a place my primary care doctor recommended. I got checked in. Waited literally several hours for the doctor to even see me. He spent about 10 minutes evaluating me and decided that the best course of action was to shoot my spinal cord 3 times at a cost of about 3 grand. That didnt really sit well with me so I got a second opinion from another pain management specialist in town that a friend of mine had seen in the past. Turns out there are other options that are less invasive and quite easier on my wallet that we can go ahead and try before pulling that trigger. Long story short, if you want to get ripped off with no remorse and be treated like a number, go ahead and get treated here. Otherwise I suggest you look elsewhere.

In MY OPINION, these offices are run by thugs and thieves. I agree with the reviewer who said the DEA (I blame the lawyers, too) has scared these people into being all but useless. I went through three PAs or nurse practitioners before I found one who was more interested in treating me than making me feel like a naughty school child. There was one man who wasn’t satisfied unless he made me cry during our visits: he even once told me I had made him miss his lunch. Their arrogance and incompetent practice management caused them to reduce their number of locations from eight to four, and their number of doctors from about ten to four. They were, in my opinion, exploitative when it came to their monthly drug tests. The following is an exact list of what I was tested for, at $ 2,000 a pop, $ 200 of which was my responsibility since it by far exceeded the usual and customary tests the insurance company would allow:
12/​11/​2015 MDMA (IA)
12/​11/​2015 PCP (IA)
12/​11/​2015 THC (IA)
12/​11/​2015 OPI (IA)
12/​11/​2015 CODEINE (MS)
12/​11/​2015 MORPHINE (MS)
12/​11/​2015 HYDROCOD (MS)
12/​11/​2015 HYDROMORPH (MS)
12/​11/​2015 6-​MAM (MS)
12/​11/​2015 OXYCOD (IA)
12/​11/​2015 OXYCOD (MS)
12/​11/​2015 OXYMORPH (MS)
12/​11/​2015 NOROXMRPH (MS)
12/​11/​2015 FENTANYL (MS)
12/​11/​2015 NORFENT (MS)
12/​11/​2015 METHADONE (IA)
12/​11/​2015 EDDP (IA)
12/​11/​2015 PROX (IA)
12/​11/​2015 MEPERIDINE (MS)
12/​11/​2015 NORMEPER (MS)
12/​11/​2015 TAPENTADOL (MS)
12/​11/​2015 TRAMADOL (MS)
12/​11/​2015 ODESMETH (MS)
12/​11/​2015 BUP (IA)
12/​11/​2015 BENZO (IA)
12/​11/​2015 CLONAZ (MS)
12/​11/​2015 ALPRAZ (MS)
12/​11/​2015 FLURAZ (MS)
12/​11/​2015 LORAZ (MS)
12/​11/​2015 NORDIAZ (MS)
12/​11/​2015 OXAZ (MS)
12/​11/​2015 TEMAZ (MS)
12/​11/​2015 BARB
12/​11/​2015 CARISOP (MS)
12/​11/​2015 MEPROBA (MS)
12/​11/​2015 AMPH (IA)
12/​11/​2015 KETAMINE (MS)
12/​11/​2015 NORKETA (MS)
12/​11/​2015 GABAPENT (MS)
12/​11/​2015 PREGABALIN (MS)
12/​11/​2015 TCA (IA)
12/​11/​2015 AMITRIP/​TCA (MS)
12/​11/​2015 NORTRIPTYL (MS)
12/​11/​2015 ETOH (IA)
12/​11/​2015 CREATININE
Eight different benzo tests and 18 – 20 opiate tests? Can you say thievery? That is MY OPINION.
They made an art of not answering the phone. Their overhead was such that you were seen by two different pseudonurses before you ever got to see the PA or nurse practitioner. Approaching one weekend where they had let me go for three days without a refill because I had an emergency, they were going to let me go until the following Monday or later. When I finally got them on the phone, I told them I was getting into my car and that they needed to tell me which direction to head for a refill because I wasn’t going to wait another three days for a refill. EVERY SINGLE MONTH I would call to verify my end date and every single month I received conflicting information, and twice I was three pills off, out of a count of 120 (0.025%) and I was punished by being made to come in every two weeks instead of every 30 days for at least two months. For a time, I had to see them twice a month because they had different people prescribing psychotropic meds; for twice a month for at least a year, I described the symptoms of what I did not know was a dangerous medical condition and they failed to diagnose it. After falling and hurting myself several times (9 stitches in my forehead, a smashed ankle which required surgery and 9 screws to repair, etc.) I self-​diagnosed my condition after determining I was severely overmedicated on a single drug. Speaking of the people whom I saw for meds for my particular condition, at one point I was taking six different medications. I quit them all and sought another provider.
I was warned by other doctors that if I left this practice, I could have been blackballed from the pain treatment community, which is why I stayed for far too long.
This information is my opinion based on my experience. In retrospect, I believe I should have gone untreated than deal with this poorly managed organization that was mainly staffed with people who either didn’t care or didn’t know what they were doing. As with any organization, the problems start at the top. Think long and hard before you get caught up in this spider web.

Dr. Brannon Frank and PA-​C Shawn Kyle have been caring for me for more than 8 years. I have chronic back pain after serving over 23 years in the military. Throughout that time they have had my interest at heart. Recently, Shawn led the appeal when I was disapproved for a promising spinal cord nerve stimulator. Shawn made several calls to argue the approval and the decision was reversed. I am now approved for the spinal stimulator. I owe Shawn a great deal for taking the time to launch this successful appeal on my behalf.
Thanks to their help, I hope to recapture the facets of my life that have been dulled and otherwise lost to pain!

I have to echo the other posts complaining of «cattle call» treatment. Austin Pain only let’s you see PA’S (physician assistants) or whatever they call their equilivant. They over book like crazy so you are in a crowded waiting room with lots of dead time once you do get called to the checkup area.
If they weren’t so concerned with profit through volume it might be an OK place. That’s not going to happen with Austin Pain’s mind set. Go somewhere else.

I’ve been taking my father here for a couple of years for back pain treatments. The staff is friendly and attentive. The reception area is clean and has CURRENT magazines. There is a commercial Keurig with several kinds of coffee too. I mean when you’re waiting for an hour and a half these small things count. As far as treatments are concerned my father has finally found a source of relief that he can count on.

I“ve always made a rule to only post positive reviews for business being a business owner myself, but I had such a bad experience yesterday with a Doctor at Austin Pain Associates I felt its my obligation as a patient to warn others. First it took 3 weeks to get an appointment with anyone because their records department couldn’t seem to find any of my medical records sent by my referring Dr, twice… When I finally got there, the 20 page new patient form I had faxed over prior to my visit had not been found yet… When Dr. John Wages finally graced me with his presence, he was condescending and arrogant .Ok, I can handle the mans ego, but when I began to ask questions about my own care, he became abusive… He told me he didn’t care if I got out of pain or not… There was no explanation for his lack of compassion that I could find… Ive been in pain for months and caught in the system of the medical resource system dictated by the insurance company… Doctors who don’t care and big companies with $$$ as their leader… Im still in pain. looks like its my problem without a solution.

I am just tickled pink, I went yesterday for my injection and trigger point shots
I was so nervous I wanted to cry but the staff was incredible they made me feel at ease and today 8 feel so much better .
I can say I am so happy to have Dr. Wills has my doctor even though I had to wait. I did not mind it really bothers me if a doc sees you exactly at your appointment I feel like he is rushing not Dr. Wills he is easy to talk too and listens. I have 10 more Appointments with his staff because I just do !

I am really blown away at the age of 55 years old at how I was treated by them! My primary Dr. is leaving the practice and she suggested that I might benefit from going to pain management. Today I was treated like a criminal. First of all I went there to interview this place to see if it would be a good fit. The Doctor took an assumption approach and told me that there wasn’t anything wrong with my back when in fact the State says differently since I am on disability!
He also said that he would not prescribe me Valium that I take for muscle spasms and that the medicine wasn’t designed for that. REALLY! I have been taking it for severe spasms for several years now. He also had his nurse hand me a cup to pee in again like I am a criminal when I was just there to find out if he was a good Doctor.
I would never advise anyone that has multiple diseases like myself to see this place. They are all about what they believe works and not about what really works for you. He also farms out all of your existing illnesses to Doctors that he knows!
I also want to urge anyone to look at all of these blogs because people are telling the truth here. You can look at two or three good reviews but the next twenty tell all.
I urge everyone to know that this isn’t the only game in town but it does seem to be a game. Their pee test are for criminals!
These people need to be put out of business forever!

I was a patient of APA for 3.5 years. Dr John Wages over saw My PA Jennifer. I also was seeing Bruno for counseling. If your looking for a pill mill, this is not the place for you. If your looking for pain management and help dealing with pain expressly chronic, this is where I learned to live life again. The clinic is a all the way concept of dealing with pain and the mental effects it has on the body and soul. Yes there are urine tests and other protective measures in place to protect the clinic from being a pill mill. If you fail the UA I can’t say what happens as I’ve never been there so can’t say what happens. Common sense says don’t mix drugs as the outcome maybe death. Dr Wages and Jennifer were the most respectful people when it came to dealing with chronic pain and the meds that I was taking. They were up front and you have to sign a contract that what you are taking is it. If you need early refills you best have a good reason why your taking more than what your supposed to and chances are the refill will be on your next appointment.
I agree 100 percent as this is not a pill mill and you have been informed ahead of time what to expect the tests you will be asked for and the end results if you fail to stand on your own word. I have run into the need of increasing a med and the phone is the best way to ask what you should do. The mental side of APA saved my life after 10 years of constant pain the 24 for hour of why me and the way people treat you when they here your on narcotics for pain. Bruno was a very upfront and honest guy. If you go with the program and answer the questions honestly you will find a person who really listens and cares about the out come of your treatment. Chronic pain deals with all aspects of your life. Jobs relationships, why are you in pain and different ways to help over come the stigma from being in a situation you can not control. If you can then you do not need to be here. He saved me from myself as I was heading to a messy end. I would recommend APA to anyone looking beyond the pill and deal with it response from doctors. You may not like the upfront methods like a urine test to see if your taking unauthorized meds or taking more than your supposed to. But it’s there to protect you and APA from a overdose or a pill mill reputation.
They taught me how to live with my pain.
Thank you APA

I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect going into a pain clinic. The front desk staff was so friendly and made me feel welcome. Dr. Le didn’t judge my pain and was very helpful. He explained in detail the best treatment plan for me. I felt like I was being taken care of.

ONCE AGAIN… I am at the mercy of this «place where no one cares»!! My pharmacy has sent 2 fax messages since «LAST Thursday»…STILL no response. I have called, personally, and no response. If you are looking for a competent, caring medical staff… DO NOT look to Dr «A’S» staff. He is great, his staff? HAHAHAHA! JOKE with no punch line.

I started out here seeing Dr. Paul Le and in the beginning he seemed to really take an interest in helping me with my ongoing pain. That was in 2010 and I was working in north Austin so it was no big deal to see him. Then my job moved more central so I moved my appts to the 35^th Street area so I could continue to see him and receive back injections etc. Then in 2012 my job relocated to south of the river and they opened up their offices on Wm Cannon and West Gate Blvd. So I decided that I could no longer go north to see Dr. Le; Bad mistake on my part. Saw a couple of different docs at the south location — very awful experiences. They definetly are hung up on being a money making machine. They charge outrageous fees for seeing PA’s and wanted me to see them on a weekly basis! Really? I would not recommend this practice to my worst enemy — well maybe I would as I know they would suffer greatly at the hands of APA. Save yourself some money and the headache and check out other pain docs on Unilocal and
and don’t allow them to run you over. Remember they are being paid to take care of you!!! Not the other way around!!! APA seems to be a hit or miss type of clinic. Some docs are ok and a few patients have had great experiences but it appears this practice is continuing to go downhill and there are more and more negative reports in the past few years. I will never return to them — EVER!

Where did Dr Silberberg go!!! What a loss to APA to no longer have Dr S on staff. He has been my Dr for several years and has changed my life by helping me with my pain management. He always has taken the time to make me feel heard and cared for at each apt. He keeps me up to date with all the latest advancements in pain management, take the time to explain everything to me and he even ask me about my personal life, something I really appreciate. That personal touch is hard to find these days. All I can say is that i hope he has plans to set up his own private office soon! I will definitely be looking for him to follow for my pain care!

It’s not entirely clear to me if all the reviewers of Austin Pain all had bad experiences from the same docs, or a particular location. I’m going to say yes, otherwise I was incredibly lucky. I had nothing but good experiences with Dr. Khan at Austin Pain (the location — River Place off of 2222, just south of 620).
The office staff were super nice and I was genuinely impressed with their responsiveness when I left a message with a nurse after a steroid injection that Dr. Khan had recommended.
Also impressive to me was that Dr. K listened to everything I had to say, and really did not try to push me on any treatment that I wasn’t interested in. He explained all my options and did his best, that I could tell, to help me out. When he said that I might want to consult a surgeon, he got me in to see somebody within a couple of days, when apparently, a lot of the good orthopedic/​neurosurgeons are often booked a few months out. (This was made evident when i tried to get an appointment outside of his office with one, and 6 weeks was the soonest they could get me in as as a new patient).
Yes, they drug test now if you are going to get a narcotic med. This didn’t bother me like it did some of the other reviewers, but I’m not sure whether that was because they were just pissed off that the staff didn’t warn them that their insurance didn’t cover whatever they were testing for (which would piss me off too).
I wish anyone with chronic pain well, because having been in those shoes, they are very, very uncomfortable shoes to fill.

I was referred to APA by my kinesiologist for a consultation about a nerve block procedure following a spinal surgery. The Dr. they scheduled me with doesn’t do nerve blocks, so when I arrived and told him my symptoms, he cut me short and said it isn’t his area of expertise and I should talk to someone else. I appreciate the honesty, but not the waste of mine and his time. He was aloof, short, and just told me to reschedule, though I still had to pay for the appointment.
When I went to reschedule, they said the next opening to see the Dr. was nearly 4 weeks out. But she had an opening for me to have the procedure done in a week, and the lady at the front desk suggested I sign up for that if I didn’t want to wait a month for another consultation. She was unpleasant, rude, and short, too, like I was wasting her time.
Being in a ton of pain, I went ahead and scheduled for the nerve block procedure. The procedure itself was quick, painless, and the doctor who performed it was really nice. But it didn’t help my pain at all.
I will seek elsewhere for any kind of pain treatment in the future.

They too eventually got around to monthly urine tests. They also started a new policy that patients had to see a psychologist on their own dime since insurance does not cover it. Pain clinics are just money making machines. I was constantly encouraged to have spinal injections so my regular doctor wrote a letter stating that injections were not beneficial to me and in fact were harmful. So, since I was not going to have the costly injections, the rule for me to see a psychologist was instituted.
I was lucky that my internist took over my meds and did not subject me to anymore invasive procedures or unnecessary urine screens. After 15 years being stable on my meds, I no longer have to jump thru hoops every month!

With all of the negative reviews I see here, it would appear that APA, like just about anything else, has it’s good and bad attributes. I count myself lucky that I have not had the experience of dealing with a few of the Drs. here. I can only speak of my experience with DR. Ajaz. I have had nothing but terrific experiences with him. I have had a few scheduling problems due to the fact that their computer only allows appts. so far out. Every time I deal with Dr Ajaz I am secure in the knowledge that he knows what he is doing. He takes his time with me, and we go over every aspect of my RSD. The pain is excruciating, but he and I have been able to find a comfortable middle ground where I can function somewhat normally. With me I will never regain full use4 of my hands or legs, but with his help I can get by.
I am truly sorry that there are some people there who are obviously less than thorough and seemingly uncaring. If you need a pain management Dr, I highly recommend Dr. Ajaz.

I was referred to APA (Dr Paul Le) and have little, if anything good to say about this. UH. business. (it’s a business, NOT a medical facility, in my opinion). In just 6 months months, with 4 appts, I have seen the good Dr only twice out of 4 appointments. Once, he was a no show!!! ruined my day, but then had to go, AT HIS REQUEST, at 7:30 am a few days later. The final visit I saw some «wanna be» Nurse Practitioner, who’s sole duty was to act like a big bad sister. I don’t often FIRE a Dr. but when I do, it’s well deserved. Know what they call the guy at the bottom of his medical class? Doctor!!!
I would not recommend this business to a friend.
BY THE WAY. They have several locations around town. your results may vary.