My children have been patients at Andover Pediatrics for over 5 years. I love all of the doctors in this practice and truly feel a special bond with Dr. Hurley, who has been caring for my kids since birth. However, their practice has really gone downhill over the last year or so and I no longer feel I can trust them with the care of my children.
I feel as if their office staff operates separately from their medical staff and have a totally different set of values and practices. The medical staff have only ever been professional and respectful. The office staff are rude, inconsiderate, unhelpful, and just plain incompetent.
One of my children was born at the peak of the Covid19 pandemic and I couldn't have any visitors, birth attendees, etc. at the hospital with me. I labored wearing a mask and couldn't leave my room at all during my stay at the hospital, which was difficult. Imagine my surprise when I walked into Andover Pediatrics with a 3-day-old newborn for her 1st office visit to discover all of the front desk staff wearing their masks around their chins/below their noses. This was irresponsible and disrespectful to the vulnerable patients who were susceptible to covid and other illnesses.
After my second child started visiting this practice, I started to receive bills for standard office visits. After contacting my insurance company, I discovered that they were billing the visits incorrectly. I obtained the details the office needed in order to re-bill these visits correctly and provided them with everything. It took over 5 phone calls to this practice before they finally got it right. It wasn't that they didn't have the info they needed, they simply didn't care enough to do a little extra paperwork to make life easier for their patients.
My last encounter with this practice will be my final one. I asked to obtain copies of my children's medical records, which is a standard request in all medical practices. Andover Pediatrics makes patients jump through hoops just to have access to their own medical information. Despite this, I had my children's records released to me, so I could have them on file. I did not leave the practice (though that thought had crossed my mind) and did not transfer my children's' care to any other practice.
A few weeks later, my family was on vacation several hours away from home when the baby contracted conjunctivitis. I called Andover Pediatrics' answering service at 7:30am and asked to speak with a doctor or nurse to get advice (do I go to Urgent Care? schedule a telehealth? have a RX called in????). They totally ignored my phone call. Sometime after 12:00pm, I called the office to get a status update. They said that the office manager made us inactive in their system since I requested copies of my children's medical records and just decided not to return my phone call - who does that???? I explained that I had not transferred to another practice and that Dr. Hurley was still listed as the Primary Care Physician for both of my children. The VERY RUDE person I spoke to that day insisted over and over that my children had a different doctor listed under my insurance plan (she was confusing my kid's policy number with my husband's and kept reading off the name of his doctor, who doesn't even accept children as patients). She refused to listen to me and hung up on me. I was in tears after this phone call, because I had a sick child and an uncaring medical practice who refused to even point me in the right direction. I immediately called my insurance company (who verified Dr. Hurley is, in fact, still listed as the primary care physician for both of my kiddos) and found an urgent care clinic who could help. Thankfully, my baby is doing well and thriving in spite of Andover Pediatrics.
If the doctors in this practice read my review, and I hope they do, I would like a follow up phone call. I'd like to know what actions are being taken to prevent this from happening in the future. In the very least, I hope they make the sensible decision to replace office staff who tarnish their image. read more
