Eye Care Associates of Hawaii – Honolulu

I love Eye Care Associates of Hawai’i! Dr. Ishimoto and her staff are very friendly and professional. Dr. Ishimoto cares sincerely about her patients, and takes care of them accordingly. She is very kind, thoughtful, and makes you feel comfortable. I’m very grateful for that.

Absolutely love this eye care office! Would’ve had a ~$ 800 bill for contacts, exam, tests, office visit, & glasses. Brought it down to a little over $ 300. They have the best billing dept and staff. Really amazing employees & Dr. Kuwabara is just very informative and patient. Always great coming to this office to get my eyes checked!

STAY AWAY IF YOU HAVE TRICARE
I had an eye exam at Eye Care Associates of Hawaii on Jan 15, 2013. My problem here was with the customer service personel who worked the front desk, who were clueless on how to handle insurance claims. Dealing with them was easily the worst experience with a doctor’s office I’ve ever had! This is going to be a long review but I feel their poor performance needs to be documented.
I have Tricare Standard insurance. As a single individual I’m required to pay a minimum of $ 150 deductible every year and after I’ve met that amount, Tricare covers all remaining medical costs, minus a 15% co-​pay. When I checked in at the front desk I provided my insurance card and the lady helping me called Tricare to confirm I was covered. The Tricare representative confirmed I was covered, however I still had $ 49 I had to pay on my annual deductible since I only had one previous doctors appointment for the fiscal year. Since I figured the appointment would cost me well over $ 100, I knew Tricare would cover most of the costs of the appointment, minus the $ 49 dollars I had left on my deductible. This office is a Tricare network provider, so I wrongly assumed the indivduals who would be billing me understood this.
However, when I finished with the doctor, the lady explained to me that Tricare indicated to her they would only pay for $ 49 of my $ 240 bill and I was responsible for the rest of that amount immediately. First, I was surprised she was billing me immediately after seeing the doctor because I knew it would take a few days before Tricare processed the claim and they could correctly determine what I owed. Secondly, I was also taken aback that her interpretation of what Tricare would pay was only $ 49, when it was the exact opposite of that. I tried to explain to her that I should only owe $ 49 plus 15% co-​pay but she didn’t understand. I then asked her to just file the claim with Tricare and bill me later, as that is standard protocol with network providers anyway. However, for some reason she still didn’t understand what I was trying to tell her and she instead billed me for the whole $ 240 up front and said they would file the claim later and reimburse me whatever Tricare paid. I was frustrated dealing with the lady because she did not undertand anything about the insurance claim process, so I paid the full amount even though I felt that wasn’t the right thing to do since NO other doctor who accepts Tricare had ever taken that approach.
When I got home I called Tricare to ask if the doctor’s office was correct in charging me up front. The Tricare rep informed me that was not how network providers are supposed to handle the claims process because whatever they may initially bill would be adjusted to a lesser amount based on their contract. The rep further warned me that because they already billed me before a claim was filed, there was a chance I would not be reimbursed based on the Tricare adjustment. Basically, the doctor’s office would disregard their contract with Tricare because they already had their money in hand. I then called Eye Care Associates back and informed the same lady I previously spoke with that they were incorrect in charging me up front if they were a Tricare Network Provider because the amount I paid would later get adjusted and the amount they charged me was likely wrong. Again, she didn’t seem to understand what I was telling her so I gave up decided to wait for theim to file a claim before I made a further issue of it.
Two weeks went by and after checking the Tricare webpage everyday to see if the claim had been filed, I finally called Eye Care Associates to check the status. I was then informed there hadn’t been anybody in the office who was familiar with Tricare claims and it hadn’t been filed. I then asked how long I should wait before the claim was filed and was told to wait a few more weeks. I became upset with this indifferent response and explained this wait was unacceptable. The lady put me on hold and when she came back I was told they would file the claim the next day. Sure enough within 2 days of that phone call my claim with Tricare was processed. To make a long story short I had to call the office several more times before I was finally paid in early-​March 2013 and they still shorted me $ 9 based on the Tricare contract adjustment as Tricare warned they would do. I finally had to go back to the office to resolve the issue and overall it took them seven weeks from my initial appt to finally resolve it. Unfortunately, I now know more about medical insurance claims then I ever thought I would and certainly know more about the process then the personel working at this office. If you have Tricare, then do not go here!

Great Eye Care facility.
I’ve been going to the one in Waipahu since I can remember but after moving to Manoa, this just makes more sense for me to go here.
The staff is friendly and seems to know what they’re doing which is always good.
The doctors here are amazing. I’ve been going to Dr. Ishimoto probably since I’ve had eyes and never once had a problem. She’s great and I would recommend her to anyone.
If your parking for the Ala Moana Building, park in Ala Moana either on the main level in front of Genki Sushi, or in the structure next to i on the second level, there is a walkway to get to the Ala Moana Building very nicely.

Apparently I’m not blind as a bat. Yay for eye sight!
Conveniently located in the Ala Moana Building, next to the shopping center and a block from where I work, the Eye Care Associates are comprised of four optometrists. I went to see Dr. Arakaki for a contact lens exam. She was pretty thorough and spent lots of time making sure that I not only got the most accurate prescription strength, but that she went over all the things I need to be careful of (i.e. I don’t blink my eyes closed all the way causing dryness and microscopic scratches on my eyes. Yikes!) She was super polite and as knowledgeable as I expect the person poking at my eyes to be.
I walked out with better vision and a satisfaction that I found my new optometrist.