In June I got an HMO where I had to choose a new primary care doctor, and saw great reviews of Dr…read more Chung, so I chose him. I had a physical there in June and another visit a couple of weeks ago because I had some additional medical issues.
In both of these appointments, the treatment I received from Dr. Chung was awful, and came nowhere near the standard of care one would expect from their primary care physician. Your health and wellbeing are so important - which is why it's so important that you never become a patient of Dr. Chung's.
On my first visit, the annual physical, Dr. Chung spent a total of 4 minutes in the room if I'm being generous. After going through the regular PCP motions, he asked me if I had any questions or concerns about my health, of which I had a few and wanted to ask him about. But when I did attempt to ask him about each of these concerns, he rebuffed me, saying he didn't have time to address them and that I would need to make another appointment to address these issues. At probably every doctor's visit I've ever had in my life, the doctor asks if you have any further questions or concerns. Whenever I replied, all of the doctors tried to address my questions and concerns in some way - a little advice, a prescription, a referral, etc. - until this appointment with Dr. Chung. I was stunned, and I still am.
So I made a follow-up appointment and had it a few weeks ago, in which I wanted to talk about 4 concerns, 3 of which I put in the notes in the request for the appointment, so that the doctor would know exactly what I was coming in for. Though I won't reveal the exact medical issues, I could've told you before the appointment that what I needed for each of them was a referral to a specialist. When I showed up to that appointment, however, Dr. Chung started the conversation by saying, "There's no way we're going to get through all of these issues. I have time for maybe 2." When I asked why we couldn't get through all the issues, he said that he just didn't have time to get through them all in one appointment. He then told me - again - that another appointment would be needed to address the other 2 issues.
So, once Dr. Chung's primary goal had been achieved -- negotiating down the number of my issues he was going to address so that he could force me to have to come back and get to bill for another appointment -- Dr. Chung finally started working on what is the primary goal for every other doctor, but only the secondary goal for him: figuring out the best way to treat my medical problems.
Sure enough, when Dr. Chung actually allowed me to speak and tell him about each of these problems, he quickly agreed that each issue had to be addressed with a referral to a specialist. Dr. Chung actually spent almost the entire appointment on his computer searching for the doctors in my plan's network that he refers patients to. In total, he probably spent about 15 minutes with me in the room, but it was spent searching for 3 doctors who his office apparently refers patients to all the time. On the second doctor, whose name Dr. Chung couldn't remember, I started to search myself in order to speed things up so that there would be a chance of addressing more of my issues. I found the doctor he was thinking of on ZocDoc within 30 seconds. So, despite his best efforts, Dr. Chung actually was able to issue 3 referrals instead of just 2. To add icing to the cake, one of the specialists he referred me to has moved and no longer works at the practice, so I will have to get a different referral for that one, too. For the last issue - which I guarantee will simply require a referral to a specialist - I would have to make another appointment - again, not because the medical issues need more time to address than can be fit in a single visit, but because of ineptitude with a basic computer function.
Thankfully for me and my health, I will not allow him to pull the same trick again. Dr. Chung provides an unacceptably poor level of care. Whatever you do, don't trust him with your healthcare.
