Peter A. Schneider, MD, FACS

Dr. Schneider has been my urologist for several years. I find his genial manner and excellent medical skills to be just what I want in an MD. I recommend him enthusiastically,

i used to agree with the other reviewer, and rave about dr. schneider… until today. here’s why.
i started seeing dr. schneider at orinda urology. on my first visit he spent AN HOUR AND A HALF WITH ME, ON ONE ONE. unbelievable. he did tests, we talked about options, and he said (among other things) «the best surgery is the one not done»… made me think he really cared.
i saw him three other times… each time felt great, and made me go out of my way to refer him to friends. i even called once to make an appointment, and he answered the phone himself (!).
well, dr. schneider closed orinda urology, and joined sutter… and the glory days are over.
i saw him in jan. 2014. i didn’t really need to go in, as we could have discussed try a double dose of my medication via the sutter online communication website… but he said it had been a while, and why didn’t i come in so we could do some basic tests and make sure all was well… made me think he cared. more to the point, i expected business as usual. there was no indication or warning of what was to come.
the total time for the appointment was 25 minutes… 10 of which were with dr. schneider.
i just got a bill from sutter for the appointment: $ 574.94 … twice the amount of what my initial vist at orinda urology cost, and only $ 100 less than ALL FOUR of my previous sessions with dr. schneider at orinda urology.
i called the doc, and said i thought there might have been a mistake in the billing. he said he no longer had anything to do with codes or billing, and referred me to the sutter billing department.
i said i somehow didn’t expect that the sutter billing department would care two cents, and asked if he would help.
he said he thought i wasn’t listening, and made it clear that he did NOT, in fact, care that the costs for his services had more than doubled. he observed that sutter probably had ‘a much higher multiple than orinda urology… maybe 400%’.
i replied that that might be so, but didn’t make it right.
i said that i came in based on the expectation of trust that he had set over several years, and that it felt like bait and switch. i asked if he thought he had owed me a warning that services might be more expensive now that he was at sutter, or felt any obligation to contact the billing department to see if there was any way to adjust the codes and statement.
the answer was ‘no’.
so i call billing, and get a guy who says that they already ran my charges through blue shield, which had already applied them to my deductible, which meant they couldn’t be changed… but if i had asked when i checked in, and told them that i did NOT want the charges to go through my insurance, and instead preferred to pay out of pocket, they would have given me a 40% discount.
i asked the billing guy if he thought the front desk had any obligation to discuss insurance options with patients checking in.
the answer was ‘no’.
ok, so much for sutter billing caring.
so i call blue shield, and sit on hold for half an hour (supposedly because of obamacare), and then gave up… throwing away more good time and money after bad.
up until yesterday, i would have recommend dr. schneider without reservation.
i don’t mind that the doctor has chosen to join a larger group, and offload billing and other sole proprietor headaches.
BUT…
1. not knowing that sutter was going to charge his patients 2−4x what orinda urology did seems out-​of-​character. either way, it’s not ok.
2. dr. schneider and his assistant not knowing that those with high-​deductible catastrophic insurance policies can get 40% off if they pay out of pocket seems out of character. either way, not ok.
3. it’s hard to see blowing off a loyal patient who’s followed him to sutter when they ask for help as anything but uncaring
i will pay the bill and try to forget it as quickly as possible… and try to remember ‘caveat emptor’.
i already have a new urologist.
this was a needless and needlessly upsetting (and expensive) fumbling of the customer service moment. it cost me money, and dr. schneider a patient… and hurts his reputation.
UPDATE: i received a nice call from ‘annie’ at sutter, after dr. schneider asked them to review the codes they used for my bill. i explained that the codes were probably perfectly appropriate for sutter, and that the problem was two-​fold: 1. no one at sutter offered me the option of paying out of pocket and saving 40% while using a catastrophic health insurance policy (imagine that), and, more disappointing, neither did dr. schneider or natalie… who HAD watched my back re: my health insurance in the past. annie was very kind, and said she would see what she could do. points to sutter.

It is a luxury to have Dr. Peter Schneider as my urologist. I have been his patient since 1994 and have nothing but 5 stars for him and his team.
Dan