First Med

I just left. I called the office at 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon telling them I had a sick kid with fever and rash and asked if we could be seen. I was told yes — looks like 90 min wait. So we went and we waited. I was told we couldn’t leave the waiting area to even take my kids outside because if they called our name and we weren’t in the building we would be put at the bottom of the list. The said they wouldn’t take me number and text me either. After everyone had been seen in the waiting room and 90 minutes passed– I tentatively asked how much longer– we were down from 3 ahead, to 2 ahead and then we were told we would be next. We waited 30 more minutes– I went back up and asked again– and was told this time there were appointments that had to be seen– and I said I understand but do all the appointments for the day need to be seen before we got worked in because I needed to know –I was completely polite not upset or anything I understood etc but just that my kid was sick and we had already been there 2 hours and just needed some reasonable time frame to go by — she said oh no that is not the case you won’t have to wait for all the appointments to be seen. Then 10 minutes later I get called up to the front desk saying all the appointments that had just walked in (5 total she said) would have to be seen first before we were taken back. Which would have meant at least another 2 hour wait. A 4 – 5 hours wait and after closing time. I was needless to say completely flabbergasted and furious after I had been told the opposite for the two previous hours and they acted as if they did nothing wrong or had not lied to me about the waiting process. If I had been told from the beginning that we would not be worked in or that they were so booked that it would be 4 hours before we would get seen– I would have made different choices rather than to confine my poor sick kid and his little brother to that office waiting room all afternoon for nothing.
They say they can’t turn anyone away and that is why they weren’t honest in the beginning? I guess? It is the most inhumane disgusting excuse for a medical office I have ever seen in my life — and I work in health care so I have some idea of the issues at hand — enough to know there was no excuse for me and my kids to be put through that horrible experience when we were already sick. They should have said «We are booked solid and it may not be until past 6 o’clock before you are seen» or had some compassion and worked in my poor sick son like they told me they would. And no apology no we are sorry — just that they don’t triage like an emergency room? WTF? and when I understandably got upset after being lied to and being screwed over they acted like I was crazy. That office owes me and my kids an apology. That is the only reason I will ever set foot in that office again.
What they did was despicable and inexcusable. I was very patient and understanding the whole time, even when they told me i would have to pay cash because they couldn’t verify my insurance on a weekend. And to turn around and do that after they knew my son had been laying in there waiting room for 2 hours?!? And without shame!

I have been moved to write this review by a series of truly exasperating and insulting experiences with this group recently. To start with, I will point out that I am an MD myself, but working in the research and pharmaceutical field and do not practice. The point being that I have a better than average understanding of the standards of medical care as well as the ethical obligations of those who practice the healing arts. To make a long story short, I’ve never been so offended and made to feel like a burden only tolerated so as to charge for service. The longer version, for those interested, is as follows: After a serious surgery I was released from the care of my surgeon but was informed I would need to follow up regularly with a primary care doc to continue to monitor my recovery (my foot and leg are still suffering from significant swelling and occasional serious pain.) I made and appointment and explained my situation. I saw one of the nurse practitioners and she was ok — not that sharp but good enough. She wrote me a prescription for tramadol, which I had a remaining refill on from my previous doctor. Because I did not need to med immediately the prescription was put on file with my pharmacy. Two months later I went to fill the prescription. Apparently, it had been written incorrectly as tramadol has recently gone from a non-​controlled drug to a class IV scheduled drug. The pharmacy called to get the correction made and I received a phone call from a nurse that the doctor would absolutely not correct the error because the KTRACS (state wide controlled substance tracking system) indicated that I had another doctor prescribing the med and was clearly drug seeking. I was absolutely floored. I had been absolutely clear in my visit about my situation and that I was in transition from another doctor. They made me feel like I didn’t even deserve the treatment I had been prescribed by my surgeon and then their own staff member. I was informed that I could, however, make an appointment to come discuss it with the doctor. I should point out that this clinic now has a strict policy on phone refills — they ABSOLUTELY will not renew anything via phone or pharmacy fax. You MUST make an appointment. The thing is that they will also only write a prescription for 3 months of anything — including things like the blood pressure med I have been on for years. This is CLEARLY a revenue seeking decision (and when you get to the office, you’ll know why — the staff is terrible and the office is very run down.) Aside from being upset by this experience, I have also been absolutely stunned at the incompetence of their office staff on more than one occasion and have never once been their and not had a nightmare dealing with the billing and insurance. The wait times are I have experienced have also been over an hour every time. As a professional having trained in many offices, I can honestly say this the least organized and most concerning practice I have ever seen.

The medical care was mediocre at best.. . nothing outstanding or horrible. I called there ahead to see about a sports physical and was led to believe it would be covered by my insurance. I couldn’t get my child into our regular doctor and urgent care was extremely busy, so I went here. My regular provider charges $ 25 and urgent care charges $ 40 for a sports physical. First Med, however, charges $ 215, which all has to be paid out of pocket. This was my first and last visit to First Med!

BILLING NIGHTMARE!!! As a patient for over a year now I would expect some decorum and leniency on a weekend when there is a supposed «balance due». Let me make it clear that I have Tricare Prime Insurance thru the Army and they cover EVERYTHING. The front desk could not show me a bill, only said I was «red flagged» and had to pay $ 150 or I couldnt be seen! I explained to the lady that I was on medication that had to be refilled THAT DAY or I get sick. (I have a medical disorder) She said «cant you go to the ER?» Why the heck should I incur another bill for my Insurance all b/​c you say I owe some mysterious bill that I never knew about until I had called the day previous to make the apt. I asked «can I pay ½»? She said «no» it has to be the full balance b/​c its a «returned check». Uuummm I had a stop payment on a check to them when I found out they were charging me for a service they were already paid for by Tricare! I told her if anything I owe you a $ 30 fee, THATS IT. She stood there with a cold look on her face and said «sorry I cant help you»
Let me also add that if they cannot «verify your insurance» on a weekend… you either pay or leave! They claim they are «urgent care» but dont accept payments or say «ok we will just bill your insurance on Monday and if there is an issue we will send you a bill» Obviously SOME of the people there only want $$$$. Its a shame b/​c I really liked Dr. Ramberg, hes very polite and knowledgeable. I dont care for other practitioners there as much.

I’ve been with Dr. Ron Burt and his wife Nancy, plus several of the other docs there since the place first opened. I’m very pleased with them, and despite a few billing issues, which did get resolved eventually, I’ve had no problems with getting appts and being seen on walk-​ins. Very convenient when one can’t get away. Of course, there is often a long wait on a walk-​in visit, but that’s to be expected. I like that they respect my choices in my own care, and don’t have that «we know better than you» attitude that often clouds doctor/​patient interactions. Dr. David Dunlap has become my primary and I find him very open to patient-​led care. I recently had my first appt w/​the new PA, Rebekah Johnston, and although she didn’t know much about bio-​identical hormone therapy, she immediately got on the phone with King Pharmacy and set me up to see Brad, the pharmacist for a consult. I had my meds that same day, through the wonder of the fax machine, and quick communications between them.
I really like that she was willing to go above and beyond to find what I requested, and helped me to be in control of my care.
Edit: I’ve had to remove a star after some difficulties with the staff here. Getting refills on Rxs is cumbersome and requires yet another appt and co-​pay for a monthly Rx, and getting tests read is iffy. After having a nurse opine on my condition over the phone, without having any knowledge of my history or reason for the tests really shook me up.
Also, the billing department has messed us around several times now, so I’m not very happy.