It saddens me to write this review. I started to going to Camelback Health Care when they first broke out on their own--they had an office on 40th St. around the corner from where they are now. In the early years--the office was clearly patient focus. there was even one occasion when Dr. Reed called me after hours to check on me. I thought that this was going to be my health care home for a long time. Unfortunately things changed. They moved onto Camelback into a much more expensive office and started offering botox, juviderm, etc. Initially I didn't think much about that--I actually thought how cool--they have established a cash flow to support the practice--so those who are providing primary care can really focus on that. How wrong--over several years things have deteriorated. It is not about the actual health care which is okay--it is about the patient/physician relationship and the staff at the office. the tenor of the office is one of the fact that they have forgotten who pays the bill. In my case that is mostly me because of high deductible insurance. I have seen the front office treat other patients terribly including me. Now with your appointment the eyes are focused on the electronic health record and not building patient rapport--I had taken to making notes so I could get everything covered in my 15 minutes. One of the things that they have really let go of is managing patient expectations. i had several occasions where I made appointments with specific needs only to get there to find out that what I had scheduled for could not be accommodated. If the folks on the phone had provided better information, perhaps I would not have been so frustrated.--Clearly they have no respect for the patient 's time.
I am not naive about the nature of health care today. In fact I manage a case management program that helps keep patients informed about the care they are getting--we are successful because we treat our patients with a great deal of respect and we keep them informed about what to expect. Camelback Health Care has lost all of that caring environment that was so evident--When I would go, all I could see is get on with-don't bother us with your concerns because we need to make our quota of patients so we can bill, bill, bill!
I wrote two snail mail letters over the past three years to the office--there was no response to the first one and for the second one I got a CYA letter that I had voluntarily terminated from them and to call 911 if I had an emergency. It pains me to have switch physicians---even now--I think if someone had reached out to me to discuss my issues that I would not have terminated the relationship. Clearly though there was no concern that a patient was leaving under a negative situation.
I know the world of health care is changing--but I think through my experience--there can be a balance for the need for the physician to produce in order to encounter and get paid and still have some concern about what is really going on with the patient.
I knew I had made the right decision today when I walked in to get my medical record. there are now blue flyers on the counter that gives patients a whopping $30 incentive if the patient posts a positive review at a variety of websites including yelp. The flyer ends with a statement that feedback helps them provide better service and keeps them viable and ends with "we love out patients". The fact that the office is now offering incentives concerning reviews speaks volumes to me.
I for one felt that love a long time ago, but the love has been replaced with a production oriented medical office. If you want to be a part of a production line --this place is for you--the health care will be fine--but if you actually want a health care home and a meaningful relationship with your primary care provider--for me at least Camelback Health Care is no longer that place.