I have had both great and terrible experiences with both clinicians and office support staff. I am…read morehappy with my current PCP at Clinical Associates. However, I felt traumatized by my treatment by a previous PCP there, her medical assistant and the office staff. All seemed careless, marginally competent at best and indifferent to whether I lived or died if it required any time, attention or effort on their part. It did not appear to be anything personal. The whole experience felt totally impersonal.
This was the Woodholme office, which seems horribly poorly managed with zero quality control standards. No one ever answers the phone. You have to leave a message. Maybe they call you back within 24 hours, maybe they don't. I don't think I ever got any response to any messages sent through the patient portal to my previous PCP. I once had a telehealth appointment scheduled with her, used the link the office sent me and waited about 45 minutes without her showing up. Tried calling the office. No one answered, as usual. No one responded to my voicemail. She finally called me several hours later and claimed the staff had some problem processing my insurance. God forbid they treat me without making sure the insurance claim went through. Nevermind that my insurance hadn't changed since my previous visit and no one else has ever mentioned having this problem. I was very confused, frustrated and disappointed by the process and the lack of respect it displayed for me as a patient, especially since no one called to let me know what was going on or to check whether I could be available later. I got a perfunctory apology and the sense that my PCP did not think this was any big deal. Just one bad experience among several over a couple of years before I fired her. Should have done it sooner.
Until recently, I also had a specialist at the Woodholme office, but she left the practice and wasn't allowed to tell her patients where she was going. She referred me to a colleague, which would have been fine EXCEPT when I tried in March to make a follow-up appointment, no one was available until November! Unacceptable when I'm trying to manage a serious medical condition, had just recently been put on a new medication, and had some concerns I felt needed monitoring. Fortunately, I was able to get an appointment with a few weeks with a specialist at a different practice.
I used to have a fantastic PCP and eye doctor with Clinical Associates, but both retired several years ago. Since then, things seem to have gone extremely downhill.
I am giving them two stars only because I like my current PCP so much. She is in the Reisterstown office, where a real person answers the phone most of the time, voicemail messages are returned the same day and my messages through the patient portal are promptly addressed.
Based on my experience, I would give the Reisterstown office four stars (have had some isolated issues with one very unprofessional staff person there or else it would be five stars) and the Woodholme office zero stars.