I like Ramona Joseph, the only of many pregnancy care providers I've met, who acknowledged that SPD is not "normal pregnancy pains." There is ultrasound facility within their location and they have managed to have free slots whenever I needed one, no separate appointments. Props for the covered parking structure. The staff is also mostly receptive and responsive.
However, I think they can do better with their procedures.
1. They don't give you test results over the phone, even if they are normal. I am not sure of the logic of their policy, but if you're working, that means you have to take time off for no reason and pay for a visit even if there are no concerns. I have never been to a practice where they are unwilling to even mention IF there is a problem that needs further discussion with the doctor. For a normal pregnancy where you are meeting with a midwife at regular intervals, this is obviously not a problem but for my well visit, they wanted me to come back in only to tell me that everything was fine. In any case, NONE of the midwives really has the habit of thoroughly discussing blood work results - you have to keep questioning them, if at all you can figure out what questions to ask.
2. I have never, ever been talked to about insurance coverage and costs up front. Want an advanced test because you feel like it? Here is the referral. You are asking about that test? Heck, do it. I was bounced back and forth between them and a lab for a genetic test when I inquired about costs. I truly don't understand how they can be the first point of contact / referring doctor and not give cost estimates and how insurance may cover it. Billing department flat out said they have NO information on insurance or billing or any general info. After getting NO information and being assured by the harmony people that *most* insurances cover it, I was stuck with the whole bill because I didn't qualify and NONE of the involved entities could tell me whether or not I qualified or why.
3. I think the med assistants can be trained better. In four visits, I had new recruits twice. I had no issue with the extra time it took for the first to check me in, but my visit today was terrible. The new recruit was slow, inefficient and took a LOOOONG time to enter information on the ipad, but that wasn't even the issue. She was trying to gather information that I had already given on my first well visit as well as my first maternity visit. I was in the midst of miscarrying, and she was re-asking me questions like "do you experience irritability or bloating before a menstrual period?!!!" I was already pretty upset, and I was ready to show her what my non-PMS-irritability was like. She took 10 long minutes trying to find a phone number to the CVS nearest me (which she finally could not find). She kept asking for dates of miscarriage and last menstrual period and previous births and pap smears and ... when asked why this information wasn't available to her when I had already submitted all the information, she simply said "I am supposed to ask these questions." I realize now that I should have simply asked for someone else to help me or help her. Unfortunately for me, I had other things on my mind at the time.
4. The check in process is an attempt at being cool. I like being able to settle in while being individually attended to by a med assistant. I also love that you don't have to fill long forms - the med assistants ("concierge") ask you questions and you just answer them so they enter it. However, the ipads are a clumsy way to check in. To me, they seem to struggle to balance the ipad with one hand and enter info with the other. There is a lot of data entry happening, and a touch screen keypad is clumsy for the purpose. I had to correct the door number to my address twice (abcd entered as acbd, abdc, etc.) At least have a couple of dockable keypads for checking in new patients who have a boat-load of information to give.
5. All appointment scheduling is done by a central agency for Momdoc/Goodman&Partridge and this is a convoluted and error-prone process. I once called to advance an appointment to a couple of days earlier since I was going out of town rather suddenly. I was flatly told that I couldn't make an appointment earlier than the first trimester 4 week interval. Not an issue if you're talking in person to a PS there. Another time I rescheduled, they had no documentation of the schedule change though they managed to sneak me in. Forget about it if you need immediate help with timing (say, if you are on the way but 15 mins late).
Also, it'd be nice to have a sign somewhere by the road so people don't spend 20 mins scratching their heads and driving around trying to find the office. read more