Mt Sinai Center for Advanced Medicine

I cannot say enough bad things about the Mount Sinai Dermatology Clinic. I made an appointment with a specific doctor at Mount Sinai Dermatology (not a clinic appointment). I showed up and found out my appointment was at the clinic. I waited 1 hour and 50 minutes past my appointment time, during which they saw every walk-​in patient (about 25) before me. Then a doctor with whom I did not make an appointment saw me. He was rude and arrogant. I found out later that he was a resident who is only there on occasion.
During the visit, he said he was going to write me a prescription, but he insisted over and over that my insurance won’t cover it. I said that I know it does; he checked while I was there, and he said that it is covered. When he was leaving the appointment I asked him what his name was (so I made sure not to see him again). He hadn’t introduced himself at the beginning and was generally rushed. He said I can find his name on the Rx. When I looked at the Rx before I left, I saw that he wrote the prescription for a different strength of medication than what we had discussed. I found him in the hall and asked him about it. He quickly wrote a prescription for the original Rx he said he was going to prescribe.
When I took the Rx into the pharmacy they said they needed the doctor’s authorization. I’ve had to get this from my doctor in the past; it was always fast and easy. The doctor I saw in the past had no issues with doing it — -because they had written the prescription! This doctor explained to me via voicemail that even though he wrote the prescription, he would not authorize it because I was a first-​time patient and he needs to see acne on my face. I had shown up with a few spots where large pimples were healing, but apprently that wasn’t good enough. He said I could come back in when I have breakouts to show him.
If I could respond to him, I would say that the reason he doesn’t and might not see acne on my face (on his schedule) is because the medication, which I’ve been taking since I was 15, usually does a good job. I can’t respond because it is nearly impossible to reach this doctor, or any doctor, at this clinic. A Mt. Sinai operator sends brief emails to the doctor who calls you back (24 to 72 hours later) and leaves voicemails. I’ve already left two messages, and the doctor called me twice, both times when I was working, so I wasn’t able to receive his calls. Anyway, what I was trying to say to him was lost via the Mt. Sinai general operator. I even went up to the clinic again and waited for an hour, hoping that someone — this doctor if he was available — would do the authorization. They said that only the prescribing doctor could do the authorization and that the doctor I saw wasn’t in that day. Now I’ve spent money (plus my time and aggravation) on the appointment and it’s useless. So, I’m going to another dermatologist, having to pay another co-​pay. (I verified that he will do prior authorizations, even for new patients.)
After all of this, I talked to another dermatologist with Mt. Sinai Dermatology who said that they try to NOT do authorizations because it takes extra time. I said that I thought it takes about 5 minutes. She said that 5 minutes for every patient for many medications is more than they can handle. The funny thing is that this resident spent at least 10 minutes receiving my messages and leaving me voicemails.

If you like getting caught in traffic… Then this is your place to come! Otherwise Dr Beth korn is an Excellant immunologist and her office is run very efficiently.

Took my younger son (7 years old) there for an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist after he was in the ER at our local hospital over the weekend. We were able to get a quick appointment only by pulling some strings with someone we know at Mt. Sinai who has a high level position, otherwise we likely would have had to wait 7 – 14 days for a time slot. That being said, the building is a bit complicated with elevators & offices very hard to find & signage unclear or not at all.
There is a starbucks in the lobby & another seating area on the 2^nd floor with padded chairs, tables, & vending machines/​coffee. We were able to wait there until close to our appointment time since we got there early due to the long commute (it took us almost 2 hours & 4 trains to get there as it’s at 100^th & Madison) & we were traveling from NJ.
The doctor’s office itself was a wonderful reprieve — the walls/​floors were decorated with an aquarium motif — fish & waves everywhere & a real aquarium with live fish in the waiting room along with a few toys for the kids. We were taken in within 10 minutes of our arrival, had the first test, met with the doctor (Dr. Rica Arnan — who was amazingly calming & knowledgable) & then 10 more minutes to wait for another longer test which took about 1 hour. During the 2^nd more complex test, they had a fellow, sonogram tech, and 2 doctors review the test & help to ensure accuracy, which was very impressive. The doctor then came back after it was over & told us all was fine & she did not need us to come back at all which was a great relief.
All in all, we arrived at 9am for a 9:30am appointment & were out of there by 11:45am with 2 tests & a consultation with the doctor — not bad at all!
WARNING — There is NO cell phone reception anywhere in this building, so don’t expect to be able to use your phone.

I was only a visitor so I have no opinion on their actual service. I just found this place extremely confusing if you are looking for a patient. I finally found one security guard who took the time to make a few phone calls for me. Shout out to him.

I recently had my first visit to Mt. Sinai. It was a bit confusing figuring out how to get where we were going. But all of the staff we encountered were quite friendly, including the security guard at the entrance. Once we made it to the area for which we’d been searching, the staff was polite in making sure that we were supposed to be in the area. A lot of hospital staff are very on guard, which can help the patient’s safety. But this staff struck that rare balance of being welcoming front gate folk. They were patient. They were kind. And all the reports we got back spoke of very high quality medical services.