Advanced Heart & Medical Center

I like Dr. Don Michael a lot; he is straightforward and does his best by his patients, and that is why I continue to see him. Unfortunately, his staff isn’t always as dedicated as he is. I have had problems with them sending refills to my pharmacy of choice. They seem unable to give proper refills when needed. I use a controlled pharmaceutical and have been told by the staff that it isn’t available for refills. I’ve kept all of my appointments as scheduled, but because of their internal office rules, this week I was suddenly forced to drop everything I am doing to take care of something that shouldn’t be difficult to figure out, in my opinion. I was told I had to see the doctor to get a refill. This is a drug that one is most definitely not supposed to quit cold turkey, yet here the staff was telling me that I cannot have a refill until I’ve been seen by the doctor and that for some reason, I can’t see him for at least another week because he’s too busy for me. Again, I never missed an appointment; but was forced to come in this morning to speak with the doctor. When I was there, he approved the refills, but apparently his staff didn’t believe him or myself, so they refused to send the refills to the pharmacy. I wasn’t let in on this information until I was sitting at the pharmacy for over 90 minutes, waiting for them to find time to approve my refills. The pharmacy called at least twice, I called once from the pharmacy to let them know I was waiting for it. Finally, the pharmacist called and asked what was going on and they begrudgingly gave me a 14-​day supply. After today, I will likely be looking for a new doctor.