Howard B Heidenberg's Online Review Report Card

My husband saw Dr. heidenburg back in April, it was an act of god just to get the appoinment made as they don't answer the phone, you have to leave a message and then if your lucky they will call you back in a few days, and you better answer when they call because if you call them RIGHT BACK they wont answer so you have to leave another message and then the next day or so they might get around to calling you back. That should of been the first red flag! My husband was finally able to get in to see the Dr. and he said it was a good experience. However after the appointment we received a bill For $160...because they conveniently neglected to apply the $200 credit card payment they required just to make the appointment. Which left a balance that WE WERE OWED BACK of $40. I have called 4 times since June and still have not received my refund. They cant even process a simple refund so I am thankful my husband and i decided to not use this Dr. for any treatment, because i can only imagine the charges and the nightmare that would of been! I hope one day they will do the right thing and return the money I am owed, because they were certainly quick to take it from me!

Professional.

Dr. Heidenberg is awesome. What is not so awesome? The office staff and their lack of communication. On my first visit, no one at the office could give me even the smallest inkling of cost of the visit. Not a $100 not a $1000. They just kept saying “we will see what your insurance says in 6-8 weeks”. (For the record, I have solid insurance from my corporate job). Dr. Heidenberg recommend an optional procedure for my 2nd visit. A few weeks later, I called to follow-up and left 2 very clear messages for the nurse who never called me back. I then called back a 3rd time and spoke to an office manager, who stated that I need to call a different surgery center on Davis Island, and she gave me an extension which I wrote down clearly doubled checked. I called that number with extension and it is a bad number. After the 3rd attempt, I gave up on the lack of effort and communication by office staff. It is a shame: great doctor, poor support staff.

Unproffesional and incompetent! Don't go to his place. Doctors here just want to get your money performing procedures and then when you ask them what are the findings, they tell you that dont have your results in this office and they just tell you everything was ok! When you finally get the reports after asking 3 times for 2 weeks to the nurse and his personal, I noticed there were more findings on it that the doctor never discussed with me! Also, he hire third party companies to perform ultrasounds in his office that give you totally innacurate reports, ie: A report that says you have 2 kidneys when in reality you only had 1 for the past 8 years . Totally unprofessional! Not a place to trust you health neither your life. Malpractice.

Unproffesional and incompetent! Don't go to this place. Just want to get your money performing procedures and then when you ask them what are the findings, they tell you that dont have your results in this office and he just tell you everything was ok! When you finally get the reports after fighting and asking 3 times to his nurse and his personal, I noticed there were more findings in the report on it that doctor never discussed with me. Also, they hire third party companies to perform ultrasounds in the office that give you totally innacurate reports, ie: A report that says you have two kidneys with dimensions and everything when in reality you only have one. Totally unprofessional! Not a place to trust you health neither your life. Malpractice.

worst experience ever with a dr.

I was seen by Dr. Heidenberg in hospital and told would get biopsy results either Friday or Monday and would call me with results and schedule surgery. When did not hear from by Tuesday called and got voicemail. Finally Thursday someone returned my call. Nurse was rude and told me she did not even show me being a patient. Nurse told me they were trying to get biopsy results but since I had done test at hospital it was my responsibility to call the hospital and get results. I told nurse I had done just that and had no trouble getting results and didn't understand why the doctor's office couldn't get them. She told me they would get biopsy results and then schedule me for surgery. The following Monday my kidney doctor called Dr. Heidenberg's office for the biopsy results and they told the kidney doctor they did not have the results because Dr. Heidenberg had seen me in the hospital and that he would need to call the hospital if he wanted the results. I am 64 years old and have seen a lot of incompetence and rudeness in my life but nothing matches Dr. Heidenberg's office. I have kidney cancer and getting it out of my body in a timely fashion is of the utmost importance. Dr. Heidenberg and his staff have wasted 2 weeks of my time and hopefully the cancer has not spread while waiting on them

His care of patient is almost zero...Money, Money, Money.. His office billed Medicare despite of my strict instruction that they should not bill the Medicare but they did but Medicare denied it!!! I question his judgement on prescribed procedure which never happened.

I rarely write reviews, but Dr. Heidenberg was fantastic and had that classic DO approach -- what I describe as an "old school" doc. He and I engaged in substantive back-and-forth dialogue, a rarity in today's wham-bam medical world. He listened to my concerns (and googled medical theories) without seeming the least bit condescending or arrogant. What I was most impressed with was how obviously thorough he is as we probably discussed my concerns and health history for easily half an hour before he performed any actual examination. During the actual examination, he was very professional and had excellent bedside manner. He was able to provide a likely diagnosis on the spot and detailed all of the options. His approach to treatment was conservative, and I left the appointment comfortable in not proceeding with any treatment, but reassured that those options will always be there in the future.If more doctors were like him there would be far less complaints about the medical world.

Dr Heidenberg is awesome!! I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a caring and knowledgeable physician in the Tampa area.