CHA Somerville Hospital Primary Care

BEST MEDICAL CARE IN MASS Just saw my doc green again wow what a fabulous primary care facility! I have been going here for 10 years and would never go anywhere else for my primary care doctor… the staff is caring and the nurses are fantastic I feel like they are family (and they are to me) I am a baby boomer who lives alone and I can’t tell you how many times I have called or emailed them (yes they will email you back asap) for advice on what to do what to do haha Best part… if you are a member of THE RIDE then you are in luck! THE RIDE goes right there now! no switching your ride at another location. I’m in Quincy and it only takes 20 – 30 min to get there which is fantastic… Plus, they have a lot of programs to help you in life such as if you are in need of diabetic help, help with insurance and help with payments. Look no further and make this your final Primary Care decision. And they have some appointments at night and a clinic on Saturday. Now they are affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess, Harvard, Mass General & Tufts. Plus they have an ER right downstairs that you can go to for tests and such no more having to go to another hospital… You will be glad you switched!

This place has been nothing but disappointment after disappointment. I don’t even know where to begin. They make me wait several months just to get an appointment for the first time with this new doctor, after my old doctor randomly left with no explanation, and then after waiting several months, this new doctor canceled the day of my appointment. After that, she refused to refill a prescription I’ve had for 15 years, until I came in for an appointment. Furthermore, when I went to schedule yet another (still first time) appointment, I still have to wait A MONTH. What the heck???

I went to the CHA Somerville both last year for an annual check up, as well as several years ago while in college. My PCP, Dr. Arshiya Seth, was and continues to be the best doctor I’ve had since I was a kid, very attentive to my needs and health. I first learned about the Cambridge Health Alliance back in college when I got sick with a really bad throat infection. It was hard to breathe, swollow food, or even talk. I didn’t have a doctor at the time because I had moved to Boston and didn’t have a health plan through my school. I was trying to avoid going to an emergency room and get stuck with a huge bill. A friend of mine from Cambridge recommended going to the CHA. Dr. Seth was able to reschedule her day to get me in on a short notice appointment. I would recommend anyone going to the CHA to request her, and would recommend the CHA in general. Her supervisor was great as well during my check up a while back. Double thumbs up!

I am fed up with this place.
I see Lynn Crawford who I really like but the place is horrible. She is good but everything else… Wow.
First they sent my bills directly to collections.
They make you wait for hours
They have incompetent admins who when you ask for them to relay something to your doctor it never gets done
You go in for one thing they surprise charge you for a procedure you didn’t have
The people who take your blood have absolutely no idea what they are doing, dude had to prick me SIX times.
And finally what topped it off is when your insurance changes so you can only get home delivery, you call to ask them to phone in the prescription to Cigna, they said they would do it but no… You continue to call them to repeatedly ask them to phone in a fricking prescription, they don’t so you go another month. Then you call them and get really mad at them– they finally do it but for the wrong drug!!!
Please for the love of god, go somewhere else. They either are super busy and don’t have the capacity or everyone there hates their job. I don’t know which.

Let me start with saying I have been coming to them for 4 years now and am committed for life to my PCP Dr. Arshiya Seth at this hospital. She has been so good to me that I feel it will be impossible to find this accomodating, personalized treatment from any other PCPs. She always keeps up with her appointments and I never have to wait for more than 5 minutes. She listens intently to my problems, has shown appropriate concern and given apt medications that brought relief instantly. I once had to infact call her at odd hours while I was in California for refill of my medication and she quickly found me a pharmacy very close to my location and sent over to them my prescription. I think very highly of her since and will always be grateful for her consideration of my situation as her patient even when I was miles away. I love my doctor for being the best at flexibility, attentiveness and caring behaviour −10÷10 for knowing her job well.

Sadly, I am required to give at least one star. If I wasn’t, this place definitely deserves zero stars. Sub standard care with most care providers really not caring about how you feel. Had strep throat for 3 months. Dr. Seth treated it with weak antibiotics and it never went away… Medication gave me thrush. She treated me with the thrush medicine (thrush went away) but strep never went away. She was at a loss of what to do, and said I must be a carrier of strep (mind you, this was the first time i ever came up positive in my LIFE), and advised me to take the thrush medicine. I went to an ENT doctor who thought that was the dumbest thing, gave me stronger antibiotics, and i never had a problem since. Every time I go to see her, she rushes through her appointments. Gave me pepcid for severe heart burn, abdominal pain, and wouldnt push for a sooner appointment at GI doctor (been waiting 4 months). Saw a doctor at another hospital, and they gave me medicine that actually works. It was a no brainer really. She doesn’t look into the problem enough and just shrugs it off. Also, the desk staff there is terrible. Can barely understand them when you call for appointments. I had a secretary mess up my ultrasound appointment because she forgot to call and schedule it. Instead, she was on the phone with her boyfriend. I show up for the time she gave me, and ultrasound said she never called and that there was no appointment. The ladies at the desk mostly screw around, picking their nails, playing with their hair with not a care in the world. Today I waited 45 minutes for an appointment and they never called me from the waiting room. They said she took a patient who came in late, and proceeded to schedule me for an appointment 8 days from now. Mind you, this is appointment is a sick appointment. That was the straw that broke the camels back. Bye bye CHA! you suck!

I just visited Somerville Hospital for the first time today for a physical, and I cannot gush enough about it. From the moment I walked in the door I was made to feel welcome and at ease. I was a bit lost, so one of the kind women at the information desk showed me to the primary care office and the receptionist had me signed in and my paperwork filled out in under five minutes! I had no wait time whatsoever. My appointment was scheduled for 9:20 and at exactly 9:20, I was called back.
The nurses were all kind and made me feel comfortable and the facilities were clean. After the usual preliminary questions I only had to wait about five minutes for Dr. Demosthene. She was very knowledgable and professional. She answered all my questions and gave recommendations for improving my health and addressing my concerns without once making me feel patronized or ashamed – as some doctors do. She did a full physical, ordered some blood work and a vaccination, and even recommended an OTC shampoo that would help my itchy scalp!
Now, as for the blood work and the vaccination itself, there’s something you should know before I continue: I HATE needles. I positively, absolutely despise them. It’s not even that they hurt that much, I just freak out at the thought of something piercing my skin. I’ve managed for the most part to get over it when it comes to shots, but I still can’t handle getting blood drawn. I have deep veins, it almost always takes more than one try to get the vein for every nurse I’ve ever seen, and the entire time I feel like I’m going to pass out or throw up. I’ve never been able to give blood because every time I’ve tried, my heart rate shoots up so far that the volunteers absolutely refuse to put a needle in me.
My vaccination went off without a hitch. The nurse talked me through it, distracted me, and it was over in a couple of seconds. After I told her my problem with getting blood drawn, she advised the other nurse to have me lie down during. This nurse also talked me through it, took her time finding the vein, and only had to do it once to get it right. That is literally the only time in my entire life it has taken a nurse once to find the vein. It was almost painless, I didn’t feel like I was going to throw up, and I was fine to walk to the bus after just a couple of minutes of staying seated.
Overall, it was probably the most stress-​free, efficient, and painless day I have ever spent in a hospital or doctor’s office.

My company switched insurance on me, sadly, as I had been going to Harvard Vanguard and was quite enjoying my experience there. So with my new insurance from United Healthcare I searched their site and came upon Cambridge Health Alliance.
My first visit was in December. They were nice enough. I have a flexible work schedule so I’m able to make appointments at off peak times so I haven’t had issues with long wait times (except for the Eye Center which was another matter entirely). My doctor is an intern, but at every appointment has consulted with the resident so I was never too concerned about that. I visited Dr. Patalano in the Eye Center and I had a good experience there (other than the waiting room torture). Overall I’d give them a three on the actual care and clinic experience. The one star comes from the negative two stars that CHA as an organization gets for their fraudulent billing.
I started getting bills for $ 15 after each visit, despite having paid my $ 25 copay before my visit (not much, I know, but annoying when my insurance is supposed to cover 100% after copay). So I reached out to their billing department, told them it must be a mistake since I paid the copay, and they told me they would look into it. I never heard back, but got another bill for the same thing since I didn’t pay the first one.
After two more visits (one for a knee injury and one for a yearly physical), I noticed that again I was getting weird $ 15 invoices. I then got one for $ 25 for the copay for my physical. My insurance covers 100% of the yearly physical with no copay. So I didn’t pay any of the invoices, and called up my insurance company. They reached out to CHA to find out what was going on, and discovered that CHA double bills for all office visits. They code one claim as a doctor visit, which I owe a $ 25 copay for. They also submit a second claim (FOR EVERY VISIT) as an outpatient facility fee. For this I apparently pay a co-​insurance. So in one doctor visit, they are submitting two claims. My insurance basically told me that this is highly unusual, and that their advice is that I find a new doctor to avoid the billing issues. Because of how the claims were submitted, I was responsible for an additional $ 15 on top of my copay every time I visit the doctor. So I decided that I would pay the invoices to get them out of my hair, and then find a new PCP at a different facility.
Now we get to the real gem. One of these visits was an annual physical, which with my insurance is 100% covered. That means I don’t even pay a copay. And, in fact, when I checked in to my physical that morning they did not charge me a copay (because it was a physical). So a month later I get two invoices, one for the fraudulent $ 15, and one for the copay that I did not owe for my annual physical. I get on the phone with a rep from billing and she tells me that it was not coded as a physical. So I told her that I made the appointment three months in advance as my yearly physical (since it was 12 months after my previous hassle free physical with Harvard Vanguard). I did not come in for any specific complaint, it was just a yearly check up. So because of that, the fact that it was coded as something else was a mistake. Her response was that because we discussed a specific health concern that meant that it was no longer a physical and was now a regular office visit. Huh? So I explained to her that part of an annual physical is that you discuss with your doctor all health related issues that are concerning you. Her response? «I’m sorry but you’re wrong».
Now I may have overreacted with my next tirade of epithets (she hung up on me), but the fact remains that CHA’s billing practices are fraudulent, and possibly even illegal.
DO NOT EVER GO TO ANY CHA OFFICE. I have a PPO so I’m just going back to Harvard Vanguard and I’ll gladly pay anything my insurance won’t cover so I can have the peace of mind knowing that I’m getting my health care from a professional operation.

Our lovely CM Damien dropped me off here last week when I was on the verge of death from the flu and pnemonia. I sort of stumbled in, told the woman at the registration desk that I needed to be seen right away and within three minutes i was in a Johnny and on a stretcher in the ER.
The staff was attentive, albeit a bit too talkative for my taste. When I’m in a hospital I want everyone to shutup unless they are asking me if I want more drugs.
As far as Unilocal stars go, I suppose this could technically be a 2 star because, «Meh, I HAVE experienced better».
But, due to the fact that these peeps saw me in record time and had me hydrated and antibodied up within 6 hours, I think they def deserve this three star rating.
*Also, hottest doctors I’ve ever seen in a hospital. What gives?

What a relief to read these reviews! I have seen Dr. Arshiya Seth several times and have not been impressed. She seems to be most interested in going through her checklist of questions, prescribing some sort of medication, then moving onto her next patient. When I leave appointments with Dr. Seth, I find myself asking, «What just happened?» and «Was that helpful?» The answer in each case has been, «she following rote questions without listening to my answers» and «I feel no better off than when i arrived.» Hopeless.
01÷14÷13 update: I saw Dr. Seth again today. Though I do not believe she was aware of my Unilocal review (I told her about it at the end of our appointment), she took time to explain everything she was doing and why. She listened, asked my opinion and seemed genuinely interested in what I would like to do. The experience was VERY different from what I described above — five stars for today’s visit (three stars taking into account my past experience). Ohhh yes… and I received a call from Melissa in patient services who wanted to know the details of my complaint. If this is what I can expect moving forward, I’m staying with Dr. Seth and Somerville Hospital.

This is the worst practice I have ever been to.
My PCP is Dr. Arshiya Seth. She is a nice enough woman with ZERO interest in patient concerns, who values keeping things short and sweet over providing thorough care. I came in one day because I was having panic attacks out of the blue (never had them before). She prescribed me ANTI-​DEPRESSANTS even though she made me take «the depression survey» and it indicated no sign of depression. I had to haggle with her to give me a psych referral instead. No talk of alternative medicine, acupuncture, massage, rest, taking time off work – nothing. Just doling out the pills as a cure-​all in the hopes of getting me in and out in less than 10 minutes.
So I stopped scheduled appointments with Dr. Seth. Instead, I started going to the Urgent Care Clinic in the same location. It’s worse.
Dr. Kathy Shea was my most recent horror story. I came in with bronchitis that was severe for over a week. I asked Dr. Shea for antibiotics; she said it was still viral, and prescribed me expectorants instead. Two refills of expectorants and a trip to Mt. Auburn Hospital later, I got put on antibiotics and got a cough syrup with codone. Dr. Shea argued with me every step of the way, declining to take my symptoms into account (mucus production, difficulty breathing, inability to sleep) and then went on a tirade about how doctors are overusing antibiotics. With some convincing, I got her to do a chest x-​ray, which she conveniently «forgot» to call me with the results of.
In sum: Doctors are entitled to their personal beliefs about the healthcare system, and they are certainly due to be busy, but letting their own baggage get in the way of patient care is UNACCEPTABLE.
Dr. Brian Green is due for a complaint call in the very near future.

I’ve only had two experiences with the Primary Care facility and both have been terrible.
My first visit was for my physical. I live down the street and figured it’d be a convenient option. Note to self: convenience is NOT all that it’s cracked up to be.
1.) The assistant asked me how tall I thought I was… she took my word for it and didn’t even measure me!
2.) The «doctor» came in for my physical asked me if I had any pre-​existing health issues. To my knowledge, no, no I don’t. Again, she took my word for it and didn’t take my blood or request a urinanalysis. Um, hi, this is my first time here!
3.) She asked if I had ever done drugs. At one point, I was a recreational smoker of weed. I tell her this (why should I lie to my doctor?) I kid you not, she didn’t know what weed was! She asked me for the «clinical term».
4.) I asked for an STD test. She asked me, «Why?» Um, because I want it? Who doesn’t want to be responsible? She ended up escorting me out without even doing it.
My second time I visited the Primary Care ward was because I legitimately felt like I had razors were being shoved down my throat. I called, in tears, asking for a strep test. I get on the phone with Nurse Barbara. Nurse Barbara asked me why I hadn’t gone yesterday. I explain that I had attempted to go to a facility close to my office. They were booked so they had called their facility in Davis. They were booked too. I ended up going home and passing out from sheer exhaustion. I explained this situation to Nurse Barbara (barely, as my tonsils were almost swollen together) to which she becomes accusatory and chastises me for looking at another facility! Is that a joke?! After that, Nurse Barbara, I definitely will be!

This place looks and feels worn out. And not just because its an old dingy building; the general attitude of the staff is one of lethargy and apathy. The care I’ve received there has been almost entirely not to my liking. (One recent doctor visit gave me a glimmer of hope, but that doctor also works at another facility, so maybe that has something to do with it.)
Complaints:
1. It takes an incredible amount of time to get an appointment.
2. Doctors and residents seem to be more interested in clinical training techniques than patient care.
3. Of the 4 doctors I have met with over the years there, only one has made me feel like he was really listening to me.
4. Lack of communication in terms of scheduling and treatment expectations.
On the plus side, they have free parking across the street.

Good God, stay away. This is the most backward, ridiculous «health» operation I’ve ever had the misfortune of coming in contact with.
From insurance fraud, excuse me, «standard charges» to mysteriously disappearing bills and nonexistent itemized statements, you are pretty much assured that any misery you had that led you to them for treatment doesn’t end in the office. In addition to shady and predatory billing issues are their «doctors».
Aside from the physicians at my PCP’s office these quacks are whacked. I’ve been lectured on how English should be the #1 language in America after being subjected to 10 minutes of proving that I do, in fact, speak English which was super awesome and I’ve managed to find the one specialist that’s so good he doesn’t need to look at or touch you to diagnose what’s going on. Brilliant! He can come in and check his email and still make a diagnosis. I want that job!
Until I land a tony job like that I guess I’ll spend some time trying to guess how much money I’m supposed to send since invoices are so last year.
If you are shot in front of a Cambridge Health facility do yourself a favor and ask for a ride over to MGH. It’s not worth it.

I’ve had nothing but stress and frustration from dealing with Somerville Primary Care. They are always running late, and by the time they get to me they want to rush me through as quickly as possible. They also avoid appointments altogether when possible. For instance, they told me that because I’m young, I shouldn’t even bother coming in for my annual checkup anymore.
The worst experience by far happened last Winter when I fell very ill with multiple infections. My doctor absolutely would not prescribe an antibiotic. I literally missed over two straight weeks of work. Because my condition was neglected, I wound up with a sinus infection, a bronchial infection and a respiratory infection.
It got worse and worse, and I didn’t know what to do. A friend recommended that I go to the CVS Minute Clinic, for a second opinion, so I did. The nurse practitioner couldn’t believe that my doctor didn’t prescribe something given my condition. She put me on antibiotics on the spot and told me that if I wasn’t significantly better by morning I should go to the hospital first thing. The antibiotics worked very quickly and I made a full recovery within a couple of days.
All of this is to say that the level of care I received at SPC was terrible. I would strongly recommend that people look elsewhere if they expect to be paid attention to.

I agree with jylcat. I recently had to find a PCP and was referred here via the Cambridge Health Alliance. The doctor that I saw was a resident, who would be leaving in a couple months. She seemed all right, but brushed off some of my health concerns since I am young. However, my biggest pet peeve is that it has been a MONTH since I put in my prescription at the pharmacy and it still has not been approved! My PCP hadn’t filled out my paperwork, even after I phoned in a couple times to make sure the paperwork hadn’t been lost. If it had been heart medication, as in jylcat’s case, I don’t know what I’d do! I am def. thinking of switching to another facility.

I’m not impressed with the health care provided at this facility. It’s fairly easy to get an appointment, but I don’t feel the care received is particularly good. It has the feeling of a very low-​cost clinic or something like that. I feel pretty rushed every time I visit and some complaints have been brushed off.
The worst part of this facility is attempting to get a Rx refill. You should literally plan a month ahead of time. The pharmacists at Brooks and CVS have told me SPC is notoriously horrible at phoning in Rx refills for their patients. I’ve had to wait anywhere from 3 – 8 days for HEART medicine. It’s the worst part of this service and I’m very strongly considering finding another PCP due to this.
EDIT 7÷25÷07: I stopped going here and started going to Harvard Vanguard. MUCH better and more complete health care.