Vascular Birthmark Institute

We saw two physicians at Vascular Birthmark Institute: Dr. Francine B. and Dr. Milton Waner. Both physicians left an unpleasant feeling in our stomachs.
Dr. B., whose full last name I prefer not to mention, saw my 1.5 year child in a consultation and, throughout our 20 minute visit kept referring to her book, available for sale on
. She said our child needed a surgery and assured us that heir office handled plenty of similar cases. When we asked her to show before and after pictures of cases similar to us, she gladly started to show pictures of all her cases, but none of them were similar to our case. She insisted that the surgery be performed as soon as possible.
She referred us to Dr. Waner, the surgeon, and I made an appointment on the same day. The office staff assured me that he was accepting my health insurance. On the day of the appt, I was running late and called the office to inform them of our delay. The office staff informed me that I should still try to make it on time even though Dr. Waner is usually running at a delay of 1.5 hrs…
After a long wait in a hot reception room full of dirty toys, we were finally called into an examining room. Dr. Waner waltzed in a sharp and visibly expensive suit, pointed at my child’s hemangioma and said that it was not going to go away by itself and that a surgery was needed. My baby started to cry. We spent no more than 10 mins in the room, during which time all our questions were answered. As we were dressing to leave, I was told that someone wanted to see me. Rushing to the back room, I was directed to Sonia, the office manager and biller. She was eating her lunch, looking at my insurance card and asking for a copay, that didn’t really apply to our visit. After a few arguments from me, she let me go but, nevertheless, it left an unpleasant feeling.
A few days later, I called the office to make an appointment for a surgery. I was told that Dr. Waner was a non-​participating provider and that the surgery would cost us $ 8−10K. Luckily, the hospital stay and the anesthesiology would be covered by my insurance. I asked for the specifics, such as time, but was told that the actual time would be available the day before the surgery. We decided to postpone the surgery because of the finances. Some three months later we got a $ 400 bill from Dr. Waner for our 10 min meeting with Dr. Waner.
Dr. B. has probably spent years researching vascular malformations and it is only to her credit that she published a book about it. However, I do not appreciate listening shameless plugs of her book during an office visit, rather than getting straight answers. Dr. Waner is probably a brilliant surgeon. He’s probably one of a kind. His fees are steep and his office staff is probably instructed to lure in patients at any cost. After paying Dr. Waner’s consult bill, I did some online research and found a number of offices (some of them associated with Columbia University and NYU) that deal with vascular malformations and accept my insurance. It is unlikely that I would go back to Dr. Waner’s office as his office strategies make me irk.