The Vancouver Clinic – Columbia Tech Center

–I have a great dermatologist at The Vancouver Clinic at Columbia Tech Center! When I was diagnosed with cancer he truly was my best advocate. But his presence is the only reason why I continue to go there. I was unavoidably 12 minutes late to an appointment, and did not expect to be seen, and I was expected to pay. (I think it was $ 188.) Ok, that’s fair. But the condescending letter which I received from The Vancouver Clinic a few weeks later was offensive and insulting. See another review from someone else for a more detailed description of what is in this form letter that is sent out to everyone who is late, whether it is unavoidable or not.
–I chose a primary doctor there, and have been disappointed. Both doctors — -the excellent dermatologist and the mediocre doc who is simply trying to keep his head above water — are always rushed for time. I believe the Vancouver Clinic erodes quality of service by pushing these professionals to see so many clients in such a short time frame. It is unrealistic to expect that they can do a thoughtful history and physical for each client. The stressed, the very young, and the very old simply need more time with their doctor than The Vancouver Clinic allocates.
–Screwed up billing. Hold off paying your bills as long as you can, because they really flail around with insurance (well, who doesn’t, it’s a broken system), but will charge you more before the insurance company has settled its share. I have learned to check with my insurance company before paying any bill from The Vancouver Clinic.
If my excellent dermatologist leaves The Vancouver Clinic I have another doctor lined up, and you can bet that this potential new doc has no connection to The Vancouver Clinic. It’s totally worth the drive for a more sane, less demeaning experience in a different clinic.

The Dr’s and people you interact with are normal but they will rake you over the coals on cost. Unless your insurance pays for everything or you are on a super low deductible plan, you will pay a lot for their services. They will casually mention that they could look at something that adds over $ 500 to your bill without telling you about it or mentioning that the little extra attention is going to cost that. It is almost like their goal is to incur charges that will get you to max out your deductible early in the year so you and they don’t have to worry about it anymore:-) A new patient visit is close to $ 500. For the 5 – 10 minutes of Dr. time, that is pretty steep. If you want to understand why healthcare costs are skyrocketing, look no further than here.
I have engaged in their dispute process, the patiently listen and then do nothing. I was told they would call me back and it has been two weeks. I am following up with them again but find the hassle to be annoying. be sure to shop around if you value your money.

Since the clinic had my first review deleted (yes apparently they can do that!) I will rewrite it again for all to read. I personally went to Dr. Melissa Freeman at this clinic a month or so ago and I must say it was the worst experience of my life. When I went to Mayo in MN, they looked at my records from this place and asked «why wasn’t this test done» and «how can she tell you that after only one test?» From being told by the Dr. that «you are lying, you have had this your whole life» to asking me if I am going to kill myself when I go home. I found the first one funny as I do not remember her being around me during my whole life, I can remember all of my childhood and can’t seem to remember her being there. This whole experience has totally turned me off from the Van Clinic. There are many alternatives out there, I suggest that you go somewhere else. Its a shame though that they will just get this review deleted like my last one.

The doctors are good. The business side leaves a lot to be desired.

I have always had great experiences here at The Vancouver Clinic. I have visited three times now in the past two years for urgent care and have been treated promptly and properly. It’s quite a convenience to be able to make an appointment online for that day, or later dates. Once you set up a profile on your first visit, they even keep you in the loop in regards to test results, diagnoses, and other information concerning your visit.

I know you normally wait for urgent care. But 45 minutes and I am the only one in the waiting room seems a bit much. Seems like it would wise to explain we are running behind, or they will be with you shortly. None of that happening at this clinic. Urgent care, I guess I forgot the meaning of urgent. No sense of urgency here on 172^nd.

If you would like to learn just how meaningless you can feel, by all means go to the Vancouver Clinic. I had made a same day appointment on a day I was getting off work early. I ended up working a full day and had to push my appointment back until 4 o’clock. I ended up working overtime and had to call to reschedule for another day. The Vancouver Clinic charged me for two fifty dollar fees. I was told it is their policy not to charge a fee if it’s work related. They waived the first fee but refused to wave the second fee stating that it was a legitimate charge. I have explained several times it is entirely work related and it is not my habit to run late or miss appointments. The people making these decisions will not talk to you on the phone and once they make a decision they do not review it. You must live with whatever decision they make whether it’s right or wrong. My doctor was okay the pharmacy was okay and the lab was ok but their business department is horrible! Look at other reviews about them, this is not an isolated case. When a mistake is made you are going to be left holding the bill!

I’ve been going to the Vancouver clinic for about 20 years, and have been referred to many different specialty areas in the clinic. Overall, my experiences there have been good.
But I do have to agree with a couple of things mentioned by the other reviewers — especially in the past year or so:
* They now charge a late fee of $ 50 if you don’t give them 24 hrs notice to cancel an appointment. ~ People with health issues don’t always know that far in advance that they won’t be able to make an appointment.
* The doctors do seem to be spending a bit less time with me than they used to, and I spend more time with the nurses.
* The Pacific Sleep Center used to work very well for me, but about a year ago, I had to wait 4 months to see the doctor, for what is really just a paperwork formality.
** So all of these negative things have just been in the past year or two — my guess is that they are under new management, which is trying to minimize costs, and are over-​burdening the doctors.

An open letter to TCV:
Recently I missed an appointment. I understood the policy of charging a fee for a missed appointment and completely accept that as fair and reasonable. However I received a letter in the mail today regarding my missed appointment that was completely offensive and unprofessional. The letter stated that if I missed 3 appointments in a 12 month rolling period «for reasons that we do not find acceptable» I will no longer be permitted to receive care from any TCV location. I’m going to tell a couple things: It is not MY privilege to be your customer, it is your privilege to have ME as a customer. Your customers can choose to be with a company that values their business, you however can not exist without customers. Secondly, who are you to determine what is an acceptable reason for missing an appointment? Have you elected a «Missed appointenet czar» who will determine my fate based on their arbitrary judgement? Why I missed an appointment in frankly none of your business. I and I alone will determine whether I have something more important or not. Your arrogance in this statement only highlights your obtuse regard for customer service.
At this point, I will most likely search for a new privider whom I believe values me as customer. Considering that you view my business as a annoying obligation, you probably won’t care much about my departure. But maybe you will realize that you have lost site of the basics of growing a business which is that every customer should feel appreciated and serviced with respect, and you will redirect your policies to reflect those values.

This is absolutely the worst provider to deal with. I booked an appointment 3 months ago and I got a reminder of it the day of the appointment which was a Monday and having moved 3 hours away I called to cancel the appointment and she told me there would be a $ 50 fee it didn’t matter if I just got the reminder or not. Her condescending tone quite possibly is what pissed me off the most. I cannot even believe they have that rule along with terrible customer service! What a joke!!!

Very dissatisfied with the care here! Dr Fischer was the worst experience with a doctor I have ever had. A nightmare!

Trying to get medical supplies from the Sleep Center is a stressful hassle. They keep withholding my supplies until I have unnecessary appointments. When I went to the appt. they never took me back out of the waiting room. They just handed me a bunch of papers and didn’t explain any of them to me, this was the data download from my Cpap. Stay away from Pacific Sleep Center. Wrote customer service, never heard a word from them.
I have to say the cardiology dept on 87^th is spot on, great service.

If you value your health and sanity, stay away from the Vancouver Clinic. I have never had a good experience there, no matter which doctor I have seen, ranging from pediatricians, obstetricians to neurologists. You are just a number. There is no personal attention. To get an appointment takes up to 8 weeks for neurology! On each visit there has been an unpleasant aftertaste and I have come away feeling as though I have received vastly inadequate help.
When I had a miscarriage, I called the obstetrician, Dr Seekamp, who had no time for me, telling his nurse after a 1 hour 45 min wait, that I should just call 911 or bleed to death! Horrific!!! Miscarriage does not warrant 911… it warrants a caring, compassionate doctor. To all pregnant women out there… stay away from this OB-​GYN clinic. I made the mistake of going back to them for a D and C, only that they botched that up too and I had to have a corrective operation to fix their mess or never have children again.
When I saw their pediatricians for my 2 year old, they forgot about us in the consulting room for over 1 hour!
The Vancouver Clinic really needs some serious re-​management and to learn how to treat patients with respect and compassion.

Had a first time appt at 9:00 for eye exam. They made me wait 50 minutes then came out and said they scheduled me wrong. How could you screw up «eye exam»? So, another 15 minutes of sitting. After filling out all the paper work, telling them my RIGHT eye was the problem, the gal says and ««film in your LEFT eye» What are they not reading??? Going to go back to my regular Dr and never ever going to the columbia tech again. Just do not have their «stuff» together! BAD BAD EXPERIENCE

Dr. Karlin in Internal Medicine is awesome. He has treated my husband for a little while, and has been a great advocate for him. Review for him alone would be 5*.
Urgent care we are not as happy with — saw them on a Saturday, then told to come back on Sunday as well…3+ hours there both days. Sunday they sent us to the ER, however when the ER tried to obtain the x-​rays from urgent care, they could not get them. ?? Not cool. Review for them alone would be 2*.
The building and atmosphere is pleasant and clean. The wait to see any specialist is outrageous though.

I recently took my son to the Urgent Care at Tech Center. When I arrived there was only one person in the waiting area. When we got check in I asked, «How long is the wait?» they told me there was one person in front of me and 2 already in a room. It would be about 15 minutes. Over an hour passed and the person in the waiting room had been seen and left. I asked when would we be seen? To which I got oh at least 30 more minutes. I was flabbergasted because I have a 4 year old who was getting bored and I’m like you told me 15 minutes! Oh sorry it’s so hard to know. Seriously they should know what their average wait time is and than never quote less than that. The customer service for that reason alone was horrible. They only had one doctor on staff. Once I got back (which was 2 hours in to it) the nurse said the doctor was finishing with a patient and she thought it would only be about 15 minutes. We seriously waited another hour. I was fuming! It was completely ridiculous. To make matters worse the doctor had know idea what was wrong with my son and prescribed a medication that she HOPED would help. I can’t believe they only have 1 doctor on staff for Urgent care. Any time I’ve been they need no less than 2 for how many people are coming in. Totally understaffed too!

I took my children to get their hearing tested. Previous to the appointment I called my insurance and asked if it was covered. They said as long as it was billed as preventative care. I then called Vancouver Clinic and explained the situation and why I wanted to get my children’s testing done and asked if that would be considered preventative care and they said «yes». After I took them Vancouver Clinic, I got a bill for $ 600.00 that was not covered by my insurance. They had billed as «diagnostic». They point blank lied to me that it would be billed as preventative. Had I known that I would have sought out a more affordable clinic to take my children too. The front office clerk then told me they will lie in order to provide what tests they think is necessary for the children to take. I will never go here again. They charge me $ 300.00 for a routine check-​up what my local clinic charges $ 80.00 for. Who by the way provides better care. «The Vancouver Clinic» is very commercial and all about the money and end of the month numbers. Patients beware!

$ 300 for about 15 minutes in the room with the doctor? Seriously? When I called to complain I was offered a 10% discount if I paid TODAY! Sorry, but that’s just not right.

Just a basic clinic. They are designing all their new clinics to match each other, and that can be convenient.
Very clean, and well organized. But recently they upgraded their medical records, and not everything transferred over.

I went to see the Orthopedics department at The Vancouver Clinic Columbia Tech Center. I saw ‘Jaideep Iyengar’.
What an a-​hole. He is the worst doctor I’ve ever had the misfortune of seeing — he made me feel stupid and humilated by saying that an injury that had been diagnosed by 3 other doctors and that was causing me extensive pain was «nothing» and effectively «my pain was up in my head, so tough it out».
What a jerk. I will never go there again.

We are happy for choosing Vancouver Clinic and their Doctors to help assist us when we are sick. They have been such good helpers especially with our little one. Thank you Dr. Lyons and Dr. Freedeman for helping our daughter get better. We really appreciate all the help you both have provided.

we loved a few of the dr. s that work here. but we cant afford to be taken advantage of anymore… last years sports physical cost us $ 375.00… it went into review and they refused to change the cost or coding…
so we decided… we would give them another chance.
there was no way that they could over charge us again.
they are a big company…
we were wrong… we just got a re-​review and have to pay $ 996.00 due to them not coding our dr. visits right. this company is horrible… i can’t believe they are still in business… what crooks…
i say find a real dr. office and stick with them… stay clear of vancouver clinic…