Pathway Medical Group

I’m so sorry to write this but today was the last straw.
I’ve been a patient at this primary care physician for almost 20 years now. There have been issues in the past, rude front office, paperwork not sent ahead to the lab, having to leave the lab to get the paperwork, countless unanswered messages just to name a few. I was willing to overlook it because of my fond and wonderfully caring experiences with Roxanne, Dr Hemphill and Dr Johnson in he past.
I went in today after a 45 minutes wait (I was 8 minutes early for my appointment) and was forgiving and understanding (sometimes things run late and they did apologize) but then when it was my turn to be seen I was talked down to for 5 minutes and then shooed away with the words «we’ll discuss this when you come back».
I GET that it was closing time but I was there on time, a full hour before they closed. After being so disregarded after years and years of «letting things go» and «being understanding», it was the last straw. I’m finding a new primary care physician and I can’t stress enough that more people should do the same.

Between my wife and I, we’ve had more than our share of bad experiences here. The first time I called to make an appointment as a new patient, I requested Dr. Hemphill (a few years before he passed away). I was told I had to wait almost three months if I wanted to see him for a regular physical, which was fine because at the time I wasn’t in any rush. But in any case, «three months?» Good gratious, that’s rediculous. The next time I was there, I went with my wife to her appointment. She didn’t see a Dr. so they scheduled her with a PA. She was having symptoms of virtigo. They endedsend you to a number of specialists because they don’t seem to have the expertise in properly diagnosing your illness. The front office staff is by far the worse I’ve ever encountered. They act as though they absolutely hate their jobs and take it out on their patients. And be careful, they may bill you or your insurance company incorrectly. Once they charged me for an office visit when I shouldn’t have been because I was there for a follow up. Then there are the assistants, with the exception of Roseanne. The last few times I’ve been here, I get the same gal with the worse attitude. i find it ironic that these people are in the health care industry, because caring for your health doesn’t appear to be one of their priorities. And finally, don’t call anyone or leave a message expecting a call back from a doctor, PA or otherwise. In my case it was a question regarding my prescription and you would think I would get some sort of reply? Nope! I’m glad it was just a question and not a life or death situation. Then… once there was a time when I waited for three hours, and yes i had an appoimtment. You would think they would be kind enough to tell me they were running behind or reschedule. Nope. Trust me, if your in need of any sort of medical assistance look elsewhere. Go to the Urgent care instead. I was treated much better there. ***not finished revising***

I’ve been coming here for years loved DrHemphill and Roseanne there great not to thrilled with the front office staff not to friendly

This practice is one of the best I have ever encountered. The doctors and the PAs are very compassionate and listen to what you say. I was having seizures and because my doctors listened to me we figured out it was from a medication. I have been seizure free for over a year. If Dr. Johnson did not believe in me who knows what would have happened. I recommend them highly. The only drawback is you do have to wait a while sometimes but it is worth it when you see the doctor because they will take whatever time you need to help you! It is a win win.

I am stuck with this clinic for now, but when I call them they either do not answer the phone or they answer and then hang up before I can ask a question. Their front office staff should all be fired

I would give this place 0 stars if possible over 20 minute wait time just to make an appointment over the phone! Then at least a two month wait to see my actual doctor, the only available appointments are with a PA
I wouldn’t recommend this place it is outdated and has slow staff

Dr. Heidelbaugh is one of the best doctors in town. She really cares for her patients and does what she can within her ability to get quality care for them. Highly recommend her.

Dr. Hemphill is good, but the staff there are imbeciles. They lost my results to my blood work, then said three times they’d call me back with answers and no call. What do you know… they’re closed now. These people are not professionals by any means.

My wife has had Shelly as her doctor for over a year and have never seen her once. I call in to make an appointment and the soonest she can see her is in 2 months?! It’s always like this, so instead she see’s the PA (still have to wait a week).
Today was the last straw. Waits are always over an hour, this time we were there for two, with only one other person in the office when we got there!
My wife is 10 weeks pregnant, and needs a referral to an OB. The PA comes in asks questions like a nurse would, says she’ll be right back. She never comes back. My wife is throwing up two or more times a day for three weeks and went to urgent care a few days ago for an IV. I BEGGED for medication. The PA wouldn’t come back to talk to me, and the nurse said «The OB has to prescribe the medication, this doctor can only prescribe it if you’re really nauseous» She’s throwing up all day long so it’s really bad obviously. The nurse said «I’m just telling you what the doctor said» YES! ONLY IF SHE’S REALLY NAUSEOUS! SHE COULDN’T BE MORE NAUSEOUS. THIS IS DANGEROUS!
She says no she won’t prescribe you anything. At least have the doctor come say it to my face! Seriously? She says eat some crackers to curb the nauseous. Haha some crackers. She eats almost nothing and throws everything else up. The referral will take at least 7 days.
Was this just one incident? Obviously not, people were complaining to each other in the waiting room about how inept this office is. The office staff was rude to someone who didn’t have the right card. I mean REALLY rude. She didn’t do anything she just brought the wrong thing.
My wife chose Shelly Heidelbaugh as her doctor because she saw a lot of good reviews. Don’t make the same mistake we did! You will never see her! Even if somehow you do, everyone is rude and the wait is absolutely ridiculous.
I never write reviews, but my wife and unborn baby are at stake and these people DO NOT CARE. I can’t let that go. PLEASE do not go here!

Loved the P.A.‘s and medical assistant, Cynthia. But I have the same complaint as most about the office staff and wait time.
1. Waited over 1.5 hours with an appt.
2. Waited over an hour when I came in for my return appt. @ 4pm only to find out that I was scheduled for the wrong type of visit. (Was suppose to have a full physical, done only on the mornings. But instead scheduled for just an office visit.)
3. Was told I did not have to pay a copay for my physical when I rescheduled for the CORRECT TYPE of appt. When I came in for that appt, I was told that was incorrect, and was told I had to pay. Confirmed worth my insurance, no copay for physicals. Called them, was told they’d have to review blah blah blah… basically I’m assed out $ 20.
4. I am on an HMO plan, yet they told me to schedule my own ultrasound. Hello! You need to submit for an authorization for me to go! No Auth, insurance won’t cover it! Shouldn’t they know how insurances work?!
5. Whenever the phones rang, they all had this annoyed look on their faces.
Seriously, staff needs to be re-​trained on procedures… they don’t ask what your next appt is for, they just assume it’s a regular visit. And they don’t check your insurance when scheduling either.

Frankly, I would love to be able to give a review on this place! However, I can’t even get my foot in the door!
Last Thursday-​start of my sinus infection and reported having difficulties breathing. I called to get an appointment for Friday. Told to call back «next» week or go to urgent care after 5. Frankly, this should have been a clue right there that place sucked and to call the insurance company to change when I could! NEVER have I ever had a doctor’s office with all my sinus infections/​breathing difficulties (I’m allergic to everything — so with allergies and asthma, I have sinus infections a few times a year average) ever tell me to wait that long! Longest I ever waited was maybe next day first thing in the morning (and that was because I wasn’t having breathing difficulties and it was near the end of the day). Obviously I wasn’t waiting. I went to Urgent Care. They diagnosed me with a sinus infection and a double ear infection.
This Thursday, I called again to arrange a follow up with my PCP since my ears were still bothering me (I’m known to keep fluid in my ears due to the allergies/​sinuses and really just need to get the referral to ENT). Told my PCP was booked til September! They asked if I wanted to see a PA. I said fine. Next appointment wasn’t until next Tuesday. Are you kidding me? I’m not waiting 5 days more with ear pain. before even being looked at. Ugh. I decide to call the urgent care again. (That call didnt go well… that’s another story).
Urgent care was of no help, since their response was go to ER (this isnt an ER matter… not wasting hours sitting there for this either). I decided I would just continue with aspirin and otc ear drops for the pain, and take an appointment with the PA for next week just so I can get the referral I need to see an ENT.
Today, its Friday. I’ve been calling since 9 am. The phone wont even ring! I’m just getting a busy signal. Telling me a doctor’s office doesn’t have call waiting/​multiple lines?!?
NOT HAPPY. I’m just going to call my insurance company change what’s needed, and likely just suck up my afternoon or Saturday sitting in the ER just to get what the heck I need. This is a joke. I wish I read the reviews on the clinic itself in the first place. I just looked up the PCP… big mistake evidently.

I came to this ghetto looking office twice and I had to wait more than an hour to see a doctor. The second time I came here I waited 2 HOURS for a follow up urine and blood sample result. After waiting forever, the doctor comes to say they put my urine in the wrong container so I have to go to a lab outside of the office to take another sample and to come back here for the results. Bitch please, I’m never coming back to this shithole again.

Dirty, unprofessional, and rude. Even with an appointment, your wait time will be an hour. I have left three messages about getting lab results and have gotten no response. After a month I still have no answers about the tests or any contact about what to try next. They are very outdated in terms of what you can find in most offices in 2014. I went here on the recommendation of a friend who saw one of the doctors but I could never see a doctor because they were always booked 4 weeks out. The PAs are actually PA-​Cs who are not as qualified as a PA so pay attention to that if they ask if you want to see a PA. I went to this office four times to give it a chance but I am not going back. When it comes to health, everyone deserves better than what they have to offer.

No doctor in office, dirty x-​ray room and old x-​ray machine and I got terrible service I made an appointment to see a doctor, but when I got there I got to see physician assistant Mayngan Stone for about 5 to 10 minutes; she said that the doctor is not there and will not be in because he had a day off. When I got there I asked the front office medical assistant to verify my insurance coverage because I wanted to know if they cover my visit, she told me to have a seat and when she called me up again to the front window of their front office, she said that my insurance will pay for the visit, but few months later even though I went to their office in westminster I received a bill from seal beach for $ 200 and the statement states that it’s $ 290 for a visit.

Dr. Heidelbaugh is great! So are Alicia the nurse practitioner and the nurses. My complaint is with the office staff and policies. I just came from there and this is what happened. I have a copay of 3 dollars. I gave the office person a 20 dollar bill and was told they did not have change. Normally I pay everything with an ATM card but its three days before payday and I have 96 cents in my checking account. I said I would just pay double on my next visit but she said no I had to pay the 3 bucks in order to be seen. She then told me to go to the liquor store up the street to get change. Are you kidding me? I am overweight and have an ingrown toenail (one of the reasons for my visit) and it is very painful. I trudged up to the liquor store and got the precious 3 dollars. Ones only, mind you. Who ever heard of a professional office unable to change a 20 dollar bill? Very unprofessional in my opinion. Also, the office should have offered to go get change for me while I waited, not the other way around. There is no sign indicating they want exact change posted anywhere. I told the nurse practitioner about it and she arranged for the office manager Flor to come in a hear me out. Flor immediately became defensive and kept interrupting me before I could even finish explaining what happened. No offer to look into the matter and get back to me. Just straight flat out stated that was the policy. Not even an apology for the inconvenience! I mean, what if I were elderly or had heart problems or any number of serious conditions that made it difficult or impossible for me to walk to the liquor store? They would have refused to see me that’s what. Great medical staff. Everyone else is terrible.

Everyone I know has the same problem here. I don’t think I or anyone I know has waited less than 1 hour in the lobby. It’s close to my house, but that seems to be where the advantages stop. I’m currently in the waiting room again at the time of this review. They said not to leave as I would be seen in less than 5 minutes. It’s now 1 hour and ten minutes and counting. Please don’t overbook your schedule.

love Dr. ALICIA she is a wonderful doctor. She should get her own office. I give this a bad rating because you make an appointment and wait 2 hours to be seen. If you come here be sure you don’t have plans. You need important documentation, you call them to see if it’s ready they say they will call you back, nope they never call you back. You have to call them consistently. Happened to me. Then they said they had it, I go to pick it up, guess what it’s not even finished. Please if you say you have something done please have it done.

This clinic is by far the worst clinic i have ever gone to. I waited 2 hours to see the Physician Assistant for 10 minutes. My appointment time was 2:45 pm and i got there at 2:40 pm. and i was still in the waiting room at 4:00 pm. and then another 40 minutes wait in the patient room. OMG. IF i didn’t have an ear infection. i would have walked out without seeing the PA.

I love my doctor Shelly and also the PA Deena– I never get mistreated here. The staff is friendly and I have been coming here for a couple years now and have no problems! Im happy i found this place

Been with this doctor office for several years. Finally going to make the change. Office visits take hours. I’m here right now & been waiting 2 hours to be seen for a possible ear infection & very sick. I’m in pain & feel horrible. When I asked finally if I were next the doc happened to walk by & sassily replied that I was a «walk in» (meaning no appt) & she would fit me in when she could. I’ve had numerous other problems here so I will take my biz elsewhere.