This practice is huge, and it shows in every awful way. I have had a bad experience with just about every facet of this pediatric practice. I'm not sticking around to see if they'll work out the kinks and have already switched practices. (And I am THRILLED with the new practice. They are wonderful in every way NWPG has failed).
1. The doctor. We had Dr. Hwan. He was OK, generally pleasant. He started initial visits asking first if we had questions, which I liked. He seemed very by-the-book when it comes to following the guide, but this is my first kid so I'm not really an expert on pediatricians, right? However, subsequent visits began often with him saying "we talked about XYZ last time, right?" This didn't make me feel great about how much attention he was paying to the contents of the file, or what notes he was leaving. I did not get the sense at all that he was supportive of breastfeeding, and he made no effort to explore my kid's nutrition except to tell me at 4 months that I should be feeding him cereal now. When I tried to bring up exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months and baby-lead weaning, he said "you know that's a fad, right?" That pretty much shut down that conversation. I let it go. But all of this crap has added up.
2. On-call service. I used this only once in my child's 7 month existence. My kid spiked a high fever on a Monday morning in early May. I called the office during regular hours to speak with a nurse around 10 AM. And then I called again at 11:30 to ask when I could expect a call, again at 12:45 to ask if I should just bring him in, and when I called for the 4th time around 2 PM, I refused to be placed on hold. The last 3 times I called I was told that all of this was due to a glitch in their new system. I finally talked to a nurse (and also someone who identified themselves as "the practice manager"). Nurse told me to call if the kid didn't pee for more than 6 hours. So I call again the next morning at 7 AM because it was 6.5 hours. I was told by the on-call service that I would be charged $35 for the phone call, and I needed to know that before I requested to speak with the doctor/nurse. What the hell choice did I have? She told me to call! The person I spoke to told me it's 8 hours without peeing before it is an emergency. This here was finally enough to tell me it was time to find another practice.
3. Release of records, records transfer. At the last visit with my son (for the emergency), I knew I wouldn't be back. I signed a HIPAA release and a request to send all of his records directly to me. I did this personally at the front desk. (In early May). After Memorial day, I called to check on the records. I was told it should take 10 business days. They didn't know why it was taking a long time. I was told they sent the request over again. I went through all of this again in the first week of June. Then the front office staff gave me the contact information for the service that copies and sends the record. Who gave me the contact information of another department that takes the requests. I signed a release consent with the new pediatrician's office, who was eventually able to get a hold of them after more than 8 weeks. Which brings me to # 3.
3. Quality of care & documentation. New pediatrician (who is WONDERFUL) very politely asked if we had decided to delay some of the vaccines for my kid or use a different schedule than the standard one. Um, NO. I gave consent at NWPG to have my son vaccinated on the regular schedule, and I have little slips of paper that indicate what my son was vaccinated for. However, the records we finally managed to get a hold of after 2 months showed that my kid is missing boosters for the Polio and Hep B vaccines. That one of the "combination" ones given to my kid didn't contain what the paper said it did, or at least what the practice billed my insurance for. WHAT. THE. FUCK. Just because I'm OK with the concept of herd immunity does NOT mean I am OK with having my son get extra shots, if NWPG gave him the vaccines and didn't document, nor am I OK AT ALL with my child's doctor telling me he's had a full set of vaccines when he has not.
Other straws on the camel's back: I have had to provide my photo ID 3 separate times and watched each time as it was scanned into the "system." I have had to sign the financial consent forms at least twice, as well as practice policies. I don't know where these other scans went, but yet another frustrating piece of the bullshit puzzle.
You have to arrive at least 15 minutes early to be considered "on time" for your appointment. Then you get to wait another 30 minutes past your actual scheduled time even at 9 in the morning because every time the doctors are running late. I was willing to put up with that if I thought my son were getting at least the standard of care, but clearly this is not the case with NWPG.
I'm done with this place. read more
