Well we have belonged to this group for a year now for our two girls and it was the worse mistake we have made. Both girls have yet to see their primary doctor, but one of the girls did get to see a doctor once (yearly exam) all other times you see a PA. Went in yesterday because one of girls has been complaining about a stomach ach for a while, last time we were there the PA said its a virus and it will go a way in a month or two, well it never did. So we went back and basically waited for an hour, as others came and were seen with in 10-15 minutes. As we were the last ones in the waiting room and they apologized as they had FORGOT we were there, and added that the other reason for the delay was an emergency had come in, but the emergency must have arrived before we got there, as no emergencies (as we can tell) came in while we were waiting. We were then told we would not be able to see a doctor (as it was 4:45pm) and only PAs were now available, so we left and went to urgent care.
Now there is no discount in seeing a PA over a Doctor, you pay the same price, which gets to my next issue with these guys.
This practice appears to like to up-charge on their office visits. Now my Ins Co pays the bills, but my employer instituted a new plan where the bills are sent to me for review/records. Well just like I look at the bill at a restaurant for correctness, I looked at the doctor bill, guess what, it appeared to have an error, and guess whose favor it was in? So I called and asked the Greenwood about it, their first response was, "Why was I calling, as your Ins Co is paying it". The error was the level of the office visit that was required. They charged a level 4 office visit (2nd highest), for a visit that involved a strep test and stomach ach. Per the Web, a Level 4 is considered a serious issue that requires 30-45 min eval by a DOCTOR. Both of my girls were seen together for 10 min total by a PA. So I got 2 bills for level 4 visits plus an extra $100 for one girl as it was her first visit there, and required a health eval. I guess that involved the doctor reviewing documents we filled out. I guess that, but have yet to see this doctor on subsequent visits, or get a call from the doctor saying welcome. I complained to my insurance company about the bill, and after a number of discussions they contacted Greenwood. I am sure this issue was not the reason for being forgotten about in the waiting room.
So if you want to be up-charged on office visits and only see PAs then you should come here.
For the record we recently moved from another state, so had to change doctors. The previous pediatrician was a sole provider with one nurse, and a part time doctor for back up. We saw him on 90% of our visits; the back up doctor would fill in when he had emergencies at the Hospital. He was a hard working doctor who would work 5+ days a week, be at the two local hospitals at 6am to make rounds to visit any of his patients that were in the hospital, and then be at is office at 8am to see all visitors, whether they had an appointment or not. We verified with him that he never charged a level 4 office visit to us in 10 years. A strep test is a level 2 to him, as the guidelines on the Web indicate. He will call you at home to follow up. He would respond to calls at 2am, from a concerned mother of a 2 month old. He was what a pediatrician was suppose to be, not these 3 day a week guys who hire PA's to perform all their work so they can go golfing. And our old practice wass not some family doctor in the middle of Iowa, the office was 15 miles from Manhattan.
I bet not a single doctor at Greenwood works 5 full days a week. I guess there are a lot of people that strive to get paid as much as they can for as few hours as possible. Why work 40hrs for $20hr, when you can work 1hr for $800. But then don't call your self a Doctor, call your self a Businessman. What I'm curious about is why there is not a discount when you only see a PA. But that would be bad business for Greenwood Partners, Its great to charge the Ins Co $150 for an office visit when you only used a $28hr PA instead of a $100Hr doctor, good for the bottom line, but is it for the patient? They may say that if they didn't do this, and Doctors were involved in all visits, then it would cost $200, but then why was my former pediatrician able to charge $100, (for a level 3 visit)? but then he didn't play a lot of golf, he was busy calling patients & visiting them at the hospital. I guess he was just a bad businessman
In ref to the other comment on this site , yes its nice to that a Mom/Doctor can work 2 days a week, and be a Mom, but part-time doctors should not be primaries; they should be back-ups, it a disservice to the patient.
Yes we are looking for a new pediatrician, a sole or co-practice, not this Up-charging and see a PA 90% of the time practice read more
