DISCLAIMER: This post is solely my opinion and is not intended to hurt anyone.
I have a herniated disc in my neck. I have had it since an accident in 2012. Sometimes, it acts up, and I can't MOVE.
A few months ago, I started seeing Dr. Baruch Katz at RYAN MEDICAL in Warren. He gave me a BCN referral for a chiropractor, Dr. Michael Brown (who is AMAZING). I followed up with Dr. Katz 7/20 and asked him to renew my referral because it expired 7/30. He said he would have his staff take care of it. They didn't.
I called a week later and re-requested the referral. They said they would take care of it. They didn't.
I called 2 weeks after that and asked again. They said they would take care of it. They didn't.
Then, my neck locked up. This Wednesday I was in so much pain I was crying at work and came home to have to take PERCOCET for the pain. Thursday was a little more manageable, and when I called Dr. Katz's office again at 10 min to 12pm, they were "closed for lunch." I called again this morning and they said they would do the referral right away so I could get into my chiropractor this afternoon. I was polite EVERY SINGLE TIME I CALLED and did not place blame or get even a little crappy about it. I honestly just said, "Please help me," when I called this morning, because I'm feeling pretty helpless.
It is AUGUST 31ST. A month after my referral expired. I got a call back today and was informed that Dr. Katz is NOT renewing my referral and that he said I can go ahead and find another PCP that will. That's it. No further explanation.
.....what?!?! Not ONLY are you a BLEEP for not renewing the referral, but you're awful for not just telling my to my face over a month ago that you weren't going to renew the referral when I asked at my appointment. Also, you AND your staff are crap because why would you wait a whole month to tell me you're just not going to renew it? No one could have picked up the phone any of the other times I asked to let me know it wasn't going to happen?
Why would you make me wait until I'm in straight up MISERY before letting me know that now I have to A) Go find another PCP and B) Establish care w/them before I can get a referral for what I need.
The ONLY THING that has helped my neck is a chrio, and trust me, I was skeptical at first, too. I'm sure it's just CRAZY to Dr. Katz that instead of taking OPIOIDS, I'd rather get chiro adjustments to avoid excruciating, debilitating pain in my neck. It's so messed up to me that he'd turn his back on an obvious solution to my problem when it is of no loss to him - it would not hurt him or his practice to approve the referral.
This was horrible patient care, from start to finish. I was already really upset that in early July I went to see Dr. Jeffrey Kraft there and he screwed me over by not listening to me when I told him I was wheezing when I breathed and so I ended up missing work and having full blown bronchitis because of his incompetence and disregard for my symptoms. Not to mention they don't wear gloves when they do throat cultures or draw blood...
So yeah, I wasn't nice to the chick that delivered the message to me about the referral (sorry!), though I do understand it's not her fault that her doctors are clearly slime balls. I WILL be posting reviews on any page that will let me about this practice so that people know it's not worth their time and could, in fact, be detrimental to their health.
EDIT: The classy thing to do would have been to admit you guys screwed up somewhere, and maybe apologize. Instead, you are implying that I don't know my benefits, when really, if you read my post you'd see that is not even the issue at hand. Insurance does not "control" whether or not Dr. Katz says, "Sure, apply for another referral." When I called BCN myself, they told me that a new referral had not even been applied for. This means you didn't even attempt to get the referral, not that you were told by BCN that you couldn't have it. I also still have 7 visits available this year, so again, you don't make sense. I have also done PT numerous times for my neck, which was already discussed with Dr. Katz, but thanks for pretending I had no idea that was an option. It's more than likely that he didn't note that part in my chart.
Honestly, this reply seems to be an attempt to fog over the reality of the situation and to possibly confuse someone who doesn't know the ins and outs of insurance the way that I do. If you assumed I was ignorant as to how all of this works, you were mistaken. It's sad that this is supposedly the owner/manager of the practice trying to make good on social media instead of actually prioritizing patient care. There is no real excuse for your practice's behavior, nor for your lack of a grasp on the reality of the complaint. Had I been told from day one that Dr. Katz was not willing to send me to a chiropractor (as I know Dr. Kraft is against them and refuses to refer), I would have never wasted my time. read more