Presbyterian Healthcare Service

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Where to begin...



I was a patient of a physician who moved his private practice to a Presbyterian medical office in September 2013. I have not (and will not) see this physician at Presbyterian, not so much because of him (he happens to be an excellent doctor who I respect a great deal) but because of the so-called "support staff". It seems that Presbyterian made a conscious decision to recruit people for these positions who finished last in their high school (or, perhaps, middle school) class. They then "trained" these people to be more rude and incompetent than they were originally.



I had a very simple question to ask my erstwhile physician. The staff would not allow me to speak with him (that's really no surprise); nor, apparently, could THEY actually speak with HIM. Everything was internally conducted by e-mail. Staffers kept assuring me that the physician would get back to THEM so they could get back to ME with an answer. Each time I was told something to the effect that I would hear from them "later today" or "tomorrow morning". I would wait a few days or a week. I wound up making perhaps four or five calls in the course of a week or so. During these conversations with the staff, I learned that all of the notes they were supposedly taking while we spoke never made it into their "system". Therefore, I had to relate my question over and over and over and over. No one knew what I was talking about because no one bothered to memorialize the conversations! Finally, I gave up, primarily because I knew I had an appointment to see the physician in six weeks or so.



Then, while I was sitting at home watching TV at 9:00 PM on a weekday evening, the physician called me. I was truly stunned because, frankly, my question certainly wasn't urgent. Not in the least, and I had made that abundantly clear to the staffers with whom I spoke. I was even more stunned when he proceeded to berate me for bothering him! He said he cared for very sick people and how dare I ask him such a silly question (it might not have been earth-shattering, but it sure wasn't silly). He answered my question but let it be known that I was the culprit for giving the staff a hard time. I couldn't believe my ears. Because I had (and still have) such high regard for him, I didn't fight him. In fact, I thanked him for answering the question. Then I started kicking myself for having done so.



The next day, November 14, 2013, I decided to make the switch to a new physician. The geniuses at Presbyterian told me to locate and print out a HIPAA Release on line and to fax it to request that my chart be MAILED to my new physician. I received a confirmation that my fax had been received.



I have an appointment with the new physician on Monday, January 6. GUESS WHAT? The geniuses at Presbyterian never sent the chart. I was on the phone with Presbyterian today for about 30 minutes, and no one so much as offered to copy the chart for me to PICK UP. I was willing to go rather far out of my way to do so. Can you imagine? Because no one from the records department was in the office today, no one else could or would dare make a copy for me. HOPEFULLY I will have it early enough on Monday morning so that my new physician can actually make my appointment a meaningful one.



Presbyterian is one shabby outfit to say the least. They are clearly obsessed with the bottom line and treat patients as if they are chattel. If you have a Presbyterian physician you like, try to convince him or her to go elsewhere...ANYWHERE. The staff he or she would be stuck with will be his or her undoing.