About two weeks ago, I called the St. Joe's office location to schedule an appointment with Dr. Michael Koriwchak. The appointment was scheduled for today at 8:00am. I left my house around 6am to ensure that I would arrive to my appointment on time. I pre-registered and completed my new patient forms online yesterday. I arrived to the office at about 7:55am. The door was locked. I waited in the building lobby outside of your suite with my husband. During that time there was an elderly couple there that informed us that your office doesn't typically open until 8:30am. I was confused and aggravated as to why I was scheduled at 8:00a.m. A young man unlocked the door at about 8:10am. I went to open the door, and it was locked again. At about 8:15am, I saw a patient walk in the door. My husband and I walked in at that time. I stood in line for a brief moment to wait to check in. The young man at the front desk was very nice and said, "Good Morning, Ma'am. How are you today?". I told him that I wasn't doing well because my appointment was at 8:00am. He asked which doctor I was scheduled with, and asked for my name. He then preceded to tell me that my appointment was at 10:00 (he may have said 10:30, I don't remember). I told him that I was scheduled for 8am, and he was confused and said that Dr. K doesn't start until 8:30. I told him that was what I was told when I scheduled the appointment. He said that in the event that a patient cancels, he will try to get me seen sooner. I told him that I don't anticipate having to wait for two hours for a scheduling error that someone at the office made. I went to one of the computers to complete the check in process and scan my drivers license and insurance card. At 8:50 am, I was called back by one of the medical assistants. When she called me back, she didn't have a chart or computer in front of her. She had a yellow legal pad. On the pad I saw my first initial and last name, and the same for a few other patients. She took my vitals and wrote it on the yellow legal pad. She then left the room to get a laptop. She came back and asked me who referred me to the office. I answered that about three times yesterday when I completed my forms online, and I saw my doctor's information on the computer upon check in. I told her that I was referred by Dr Amatu Rabbi for an abnormal enlarged lymph node gland, and she requested Dr K to do a biopsy. She told me the doctor would be right in.
At 9:30am, I was still waiting, without anyone coming in the room to tell me how much longer I would be waiting or anything. At that time, I told my husband that we needed to leave. As we were walking out of the exam room, the medical assistant and I believe two other ladies were in the back office area having a fun conversation. Someone asked us if we needed to check out. I responded, "No, we don't need to check out because we were never seen. We are leaving." My husband was walking behind me and said that as we were walking away he saw the doctor (recognized him from the website), and the medical assistant said to him, "your patient is leaving", to which he responded, " who, them?" He walked behind us the entire time as we were walking towards the lobby, and he NEVER said anything to us. He in fact, called a kid from the lobby back and said, "hey buddy, how you doing?".
Dr. Michael Koriwchak came highly recommended by my referring doctor, Dr. Amatu Rabbi and Dr. Silpa Reddy at Atlanta Cancer Care. Both my husband and I took time off of work and made arrangements to be at an appointment, I and wasn't even seen. We are extremely disappointed and will NEVER walk in to any of your practices. NO ONE at your office has the respect or courtesy to even apologize for anything, not even the doctor himself! I work in a very busy multi-office and multi-state medical practice, and I understand that mistakes can happen. If someone would have shown some respect, care or compassion, I would still be aggravated, however I wouldn't be so angry. Your practice, staff and doctors have absolutely no respect for patients or their time. To say that I'm upset, disappointed and disgusted with the way that I was treated is an understatement. read more