Costa Sandra R DO

I miss Dr. Costa so much! I moved away two years ago and have not been able to find a doctor I like nearly as much. I guess I’ve been spoiled.
Dr. Costa is nonjudgmental and I was always able to get an appointment within 24 hours if I was sick. She always takes time to answer questions, and I always had a LOT of them. We made decisions about my health care together. She got to know me and treated me like the kind of patient I want to be – someone who takes part in healthcare decisions, not someone who blindly follows doctor’s orders without understanding the reasons and the risks. She even supported me when I said I wanted to try to manage my diabetes with diet and exercise instead of the medication she wanted to prescribe.
I like Dr. Costa so much that for a year after I moved I kept her as my doctor even though it meant driving two hours each way to appointments! That didn’t work out so well when I was really sick so I had to break down and find a doctor locally. (She did prescribe for me over the phone, though, when I was sick and unable to make the drive.) No charge for calling in prescriptions, unlike my current doctor who charges 25 bucks!
They maintain records on a computerized system (also unlike my current doc who uses paper records). It makes it easy for them to compare test results to track progress.
One complaint: when I did change doctors I asked for a copy of my medical records and they cost more than 100 bucks! They had to be ordered through some other company that manages records requests. I suspect (though I’m not sure) that I could’ve had them directly sent to my new doctor perhaps at no charge) but I wanted a copy myself as well. I feel like the charge is unreasonable because my insurance company and I already paid for the creation of the records. I understand a small copying fee, like 20 cents a page or something to cover costs, but this ended up being much, much more than that per page.
Anyway, 5 stars for Dr. Costa, zero stars for the office policy on paying for records.