Note: Dr. Germaine Green is a pediatrician at Universal Primary Care.
My daughter's primary pediatrician is Dr. Germaine Green but has also seen Dr. Serena Tu as well. Dr. Tu was great! However, since my daughter mainly sees Dr. Green, my review will be based on her, her office staff, and other pertinent topics. Also, I know that wait times are pretty common for almost every healthcare related office, so I did not focus too much on wait time. Read section on "Wait Time" for more details.
First off, Dr. Green from the first day I met her (which was when my daughter was two days old or less) was so warm, thorough, kind, patient, and professional. I can see why she's a pediatrician! She's so great with interacting with my daughter.
Every visit that we've had, she has been consistent in terms of being timely as possible considering her patient load (I will talk about wait time later); warm and kind as she enters our room; thorough in her physical examination; informative; will definitely address all questions & concerns that you might have; provides health promotion (informs me of what to expect in the next stage of life for my daughter and what I can do to help); and so easy to talk to. She listens to your questions and concerns, which is so essential in healthcare.
It seems that recently a new pediatrician has joined this practice-- Dr. S. Rao. So, there are a total of three pediatricians now.
OFFICE STAFF
Melinda (one of the main front office staff) is awesome! I know how busy she must be with all the phone calls, registering people, and other administrative tasks that she is doing but she has been so patient and kind in-person and over the phone. I haven't had much interaction with the other office staff but I think that they're probably as helpful!
NURSING STAFF
Our nurses have always been great. In terms of interacting with my daughter in checking her vital signs and giving immunizations-- they have been gentle, patient, and professional.
SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS
For most if not all of my visits, I was able to schedule dates/times that pretty much met my expectations. Also, Melinda will offer to schedule your well-baby/well-child visits ahead of time (for example, if your child(ren) is going to have a 12 month old visit, she will help you schedule MONTHS in advance), which is helpful if you want to get a certain date/time that you want.
In terms of scheduling sick visits, I was able to get in pretty fast as well. The nurses on staff most likely triage your child(ren)'s situation and will schedule accordingly.
WAIT TIME
For well-baby visits, I have not had to wait much longer than my scheduled time slot (maybe about 10 minutes or so?). For a sick visit, we did have to wait for a long time (maybe 45 minutes-1 hour) but that day was unusual in that there was only one doctor available that day. I think that it helps to schedule your appointment either as the first one of the day or the first one after their lunch break.
Once we're in a room, for well-baby visits-- the wait is not that long. For our sick visit, the wait seemed longer but it could be because I had a sick baby and felt the urgency for her to be seen.
INSURANCE & PAYMENT
I have HMO insurance and was starting to get discouraged that I wouldn't be able to find a doctor that I liked because of my limitations; however, I was wrong! I found Dr. Green who was one of my top choices!
Payment method for copayments-- I've only paid with check or cash, so I'm unsure if they accept any other forms of payment.
AFTER-HOURS HELP
I left a message after hours and got a call back from the on-call doctor right away. Also, the nurses are great about returning your call and answering questions.
WAITING ROOM
They recently relocated to a new office. The office waiting area is large, which is great if you have a newborn or baby who needs to be strolled around or kids who want to walk around. There are plenty of seats and also they have set up a little library area-- not many books yet. The interior decoration is nice and the office itself is nice. Kid-friendly.
PARKING
There is a pretty large sized parking lot and there are no parking fees!
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