I would like discuss some of the concerns some patients have.
1) how many primary care physicians still take care of their patients when they are admitted to the hospital? Answer, very few, and being one of the few physicians I have to say, when patients are at their most ill, or perhaps on their literal death bed in the hospital, there is comfort with both patient and family that their doctor who has known them for so many years is there at their side and taking care of them in their last hours. Don't believe me? There are many family's of patients who would love to speak to you out there, if you are truly interested I will be happy to share their info as they always appreciate the extra time given to them in the hospital setting.
2) how many primary care physicians are open 7 days a week? That's right, not feeing well on Sunday afternoon, want your physical on a Saturday, or how about late office hours so you can be seen after work and not take off from work? Yes we are open every day and often until 8pm.
3) front desk issues? Yes! Of course! EVERY office on planet earth has front desk issues! We try and work on them, fire and re hire, it is a perpetual issue always trying to be improved upon.
4) hmm billing and insurance issues? In case you haven't noticed, medical insurance companies may be one of the worst things ever created to deal with.. ever! Sometimes they cover things, sometimes they don't? Sometimes the doctor gets paid, sometimes we don't. In fact many times we don't which we accept as part of the medical world. However when a patient comes in with a $5,000 deductible and doesn't know what that means, ( it means even if you come in for a sore throat, that visit is not covered until the $5,000 has been paid out to the physician first) so that 150$ charge for the sore throat, or that holter monitor for your palpitations, will be the patients complete responsibility every time until they have paid $5,000..got it?
5) wait times? Let me share a secret. No wait times at 8, 9, and often even 10am but yes in the middle of the day or early evening, there will be wait times. Physicians who work in both and office and hospital setting can get backed up given the fact that he hospital never closes, the patients there are very sick, and often other specialists are calling the physician to coordinate care, nursing staff calls the physician for questions, family members of dying patients call the physician wanting answers to questions. All of these phone calls, jumping from a patient room back to a computer to place urgent orders are all part of a physician who takes care of patients in the office and hospital setting. If you are a patient who has had expedited care through the er, or required surgery where your surgeon was waiting for you in the er when you arrived, it is possible the person who has a cough in the room might wait a little longer while the physician is trying to assist in the saving of a life in the hospital.
This is not just a regular outpatient clinic, we take care of patients from head to toe. If someone comes in for allergies but the doctor notices an enlarged thyroid coincidentally then yes a sonogram will be ordered (trust me it's NOT for the money as a physician will net about 10$ for this test$) it's about YOU the patient! For whatever reason there is a high incidence of thyroid cancer on Long Island! Without exaggerations we diagnose on average 1 case of thyroid CANCER every week! With in house cardiologist we have prevented thousands of heart attack's of asymptomatic patients. So much more can be said, but not necessary. I know how well we take care of patients, particularly patients who have been seeing us for 35 years, whose children and grandchildren now see us.
Having gone out of my way innumerable times to tend to patients concerns, and since much of it seems unappreciated based on some of these reviews, I thought a rebuttal was warranted.
I understand some of the concerns of patients here, but others are not so accurate. If you have any othconcern feel free to email me Dr.Jaredhertz@gmail read more
