Had an appointment with Melanie Bailey - shares space with Dr. Ellis. She thought I could benefit from seeing him so went out to lobby and made appointment for July 30 with Dr. Ellis. No mention of any additional paperwork for me to fill out (had filled out over five pages for Ms. Bailey). Got a reminder call yesterday (7/29) that my appointment was Thursday at 1:30. Arrived at 1:25 and was asked if I had my paperwork filled out. "Didn't get any paperwork." The receptionist replied that they had sent it. "I didn't get any paperwork." Went and sat down to wait. She then announced that they had mailed it to my home on July 1. "I didn't get any paperwork. I'm telling you I would have filled it out if I had gotten any but I didn't get any." She said she'd have to let Dr. Ellis know.
Dr. Ellis came out and said he wouldn't be able to see me today because I hadn't filled out my paperwork. I told him I didn't get any. He said they have a script that they say when appointments are made and he's so familiar with it he's almost memorized it. "I didn't get any paperwork." I took a breath and thought I'd try to salvage something and said, "In the future, you might have them ask patients about it when they make the reminder call the day before." "Oh, they do," Dr. Ellis said, "I've heard them." I walked out and will not be back.
Dr. Ellis overtalks, he's more worried about his forms and his scripts and not being wrong than he is about the real needs of patients. He wouldn't have had time to completely review it before my 1:30 appointment. I was not told to arrive early or anything during my reminder call so he couldn't have had time to digest my paperwork. So why couldn't he have spent the hour talking with me as I filled it out, or building rapport as a doctor and patient? He's more worried about being right than the real needs of patients. I would encourage people to keep looking past Dr. Ellis and his staff if they are in need of a psychiatrist. The upshot of all of this is I saved money and any additional time. People go see psychiatrists because they're in real need. At Dr. Ellis's office it's more important to check the boxes and imply that patients are at fault and liars. What a joke. read more