Pappas George P, MD

I met Dr. Pappas last week in Seattle. He was taking care of my mother who had a very, very serious surgery. My family and I were extremely pleased by the high level of care our mother received from Dr. Pappas. He is an excellent physician — and has a kind and attentive manner. We had a lot of questions for him and he answered each one with patience and kindness. He treated my mother with respect and made sure everything was being taken care of as she was being monitored and cared for post surgery.
This is a 5 star physician!

While Dr. Pappas is okay as a pulmonologist, I have to say that his office staff (NW Hospital office) and business practices are the worst I have encountered. His office manager, Jennifer, asked for my insurance information well ahead of my appointment. Knowing what services would likely be needed, based upon a discussion of why I was coming in, she claimed she contacted the insurance company and called me back to state that everything would be covered (Regence Blue Shield). When I came in for the appointment, I asked again, including the mention of lab services (NW Hospital). She said it was all going to be covered, sans my required co-​pay. Well.. .. .. .I am still being harrassed by NW Hospital and by Dr. Pappas’ medical billng staff, as that relatively short office visit, with some blood drawn at NW for labs, totals almost $ 2,000.00 and I am on my third level of appeal with Regence. NW Hospital turned over the matter to collections at some company in Renton that has been calling me at work and making threatening phone calls. Dr. Pappas did write a letter of support to challenge the insurance refusal to cover any aspects of his treatment or the labs, but he has failed to change the billing code to be consistent with the position he takes in the challenge letter! So, his letter is, essentially, useless. The worst part of this debacle is, that the office manager knew I could have waited a couple of weeks to come in (non-​urgent), and then I would have been fully covered by my new employer’s group health coverage. I have offered to pay what would have been the co-​pay amounts, if Regence had really covered the visit, but Dr. Pappas’ business manager refuses to even consider this and simply demands the full retail amount at once. This is another example of an okay physician, using people with poor judgement and poor people-​skills to manage the business and operations end of their practice. I would never return to him because of his office staff!