CAUTION: Dr Rutvi Shah is the only doctor taking new patients right now. Don’t risk it. You’re better off at another clinic with a doctor who doesn’t use their lack of experience as an excuse to deny care and ignore disability needs. Shah would not discuss medications I was currently taking. She did not center my autonomy like I requested based on disability. She claimed a lack of familiarity with commonly prescribed drugs and had no interest in learning or understanding my needs. All I needed was a doctor to help transition my care to the new clinic. That included being clear with her that I didn’t want to keep seeing her longer than needed, once she helped me find a better fit. She assumed some misguided sense of duty that I never expected from her. She doesn’t know how to do her job and shouldn’t be seeing new patients. Shah was incapable of the simple task of helping a disabled patient review current medications and take a request to find other available providers over time that would be a better fit. Shah is very capable of pointing at her screen and being limited by what it says. If that’s her way of showing care and compassion, they should have AI doctors. This clinic is a mess. Shah suggested I see another doctor and the front desk scheduled that visit. They would not provide another primary care visit the same day even though my insurance would cover it. The excuse provided by everyone including the clinic manager was that it’s a Dean rule about billing. Anytime you hear a clinic blame insurance, it’s a red flag. Medical systems set standards for clinical care that are then contracted by insurance. I’ve used the Health Advocate company to repeatedly inform providers that their business practices set limits on care, not insurance. When providers blame billing, they don’t understand insurance coverage and won’t take the time to confirm it. Most medical systems don’t use the free insurance provider help line. They go off what they believe or have been told by others. The only other billing limitation would be in the medical records system. Epic has no such restrictions. Shah was incurious, insensitive, disinterested, and did not at any point contextualize care within disability or see my requests as accommodation needs. That’s not a good set of skills for a “new” doctor and the only one accepting new patients here. Shah did not show any understanding of disability need or awareness despite being given a patient introduction letter stating my needs with context. The clinic manager ultimately scolded everyone for trying to schedule me to see any other doctor than Shah. I couldn’t even establish care with her then see other doctors. I should be able to do that since that’s standard for any clinic. Folks are able to schedule with available providers aside from their primary care doctor. I was prevented from doing so by the clinic manager at my first visit as a disabled retired adult between primary care providers and needing a simple check in. They refused service as a place of public accommodation. I will be pursuing available remedies. SSM Health DMG is an unholy mole sauce of mismanaged inaccessible medical “care” that shares medical, clinic, and department directors across multiple facilities. The mistreatment and stigma from one location leads to lack of access broadly. This is very harmful to patients who have medical trauma and do not receive disability aware contextualized care. Managers do not provide staff autonomy to use medical discretion and reinforce barriers rather than work to accommodate disability needs. They set incomprehensible rules that don’t allow their ability to meet covered services by insurance. Some staff are trying but they get crushed by the boot management. This is not compassion.
