The doctors on staff are thorough, knowledgeable, and wonderful working with children. The administration staff is disorganized at best. I ultimately do not recommend this practice because of this.
My children have been patients of this office for about 18 months now. I had a very difficult time attempting to schedule my oldest daughter’s first appointment. My husband and I are both myopic, and we were seeking vision care for her due to extreme motion sickness. I was originally told she would need a referral from her pediatrician, contrary to what is advertised on the company website (appointments available starting at 6 months old, no mention of need for referral). I had to speak to three different assistants before someone would actually schedule us for a pediatric eye exam, with one even saying that she “didn’t need it”. I had to bring up that it is unlawful for an office administrator to give medical advice and deem my daughter’s eye exam unnecessary in order for me to be taken seriously. I should have seen the writing on the wall then.
Today, my middle daughter had an appointment scheduled for 9:30AM, but woke up at 7:30AM with a fever and rash congruent with Hand, Foot, & Mouth Disease. After consulting with her pediatrician, I called the practice three times beginning at 8:00AM. I attempted to leave three voicemails, but the answering service hung up on me all three times. I also left two text messages to the practice, which is another standard way to contact them. The day’s new priority for my daughter was to get her to the pediatrician to get her well. At 10:00AM I was called by the office manager and told that we missed an appointment and there would be a charge of $80.00 on our account. I informed the office manager that I had been in attempt to contact the practice for hours to avoid any confusion, and that I do not consent to a charge. I have never once been charged by any facility, medical or otherwise, to have to last minute reschedule due to a rampant illness in the patient. The office manager told me the $80.00 charge would be placed on our account, and we could “discuss it being refunded at the rescheduled appointment.” I once again told her I do not consent to a charge and offered an excusal note from my daughter’s pediatrician. The office manager told me I signed a financial policy and claimed she did not have my credit card information in order to charge me, so my frustration was undue. We are in the Peeps Program, so the practice absolutely does have my credit card information on file. Of course I am aware of the financial policy, but there are no exceptions for illnesses and medical excusal notes are not accepted? Would they rather me bring in a child with HFM? She also told me I could have called or left text messages, and that any one of their office staff or virtual assistants could have responded. When I told her that I did both of those things, she said she couldn’t guarantee that anyone would get to me and that the virtual assistants are used for taking notes in appointments only. I asked to speak to the doctor instead, and was told “she could maybe call next week”. The office manager used professional words but a condescending tone, scoffed at me, told me I was having “a circular conversation”, and effectively told me I was upset because my daughter is sick - not because of the runaround she gave me.
Overall, the doctors have both been so kind and patient with my girls, and I have loved the experience of the care they have received there; however, the admin experience is a nightmare. They are unable to take accountability for any shortcomings and ultimately place responsibility on the patients. We are going to do what we need to do to avoid any extra nonsense charges, but we will be finding a new practice.
