If I didn't like the dermatologist and their diagnostics, this rating would be a lot lower. I like…read moreDr. Delmont quite a bit, she's attentive and thorough. What I strongly dislike is their ability to return phone calls, check for labs, and overall follow through.
I have been trying to get back on my psoriasis medication, and when I have to get labs down outside their office, I have to call and make sure they received the labs, otherwise I feel it's weeks before they go noticed.
They had signed me up for the prescription assistance program through Cosentyx which is great, except they didn't give me all the information I needed on the Copay card. After leaving 2-3 voicemails, they finally called back and I was told to call another number and they'd give me everything I needed.
Once I got that straightened out, the pharmacy went to fill the medication and discovered that the dermatologist only submitted the pre-auth for the maintenance doses, not the loading dose (2 pens vs. 8 pens, resp.). I got this call on Monday morning. The pharmacy said they would contact the dermatologist, and send over the forms to try and help speed it up and they would call me back as soon as they heard from the derm. Wednesday came, and nothing. I was suffering one of the worst psoriasis flairs I've ever had, and everything was painful. So I called the dermatologist. I asked for my nurse by name, and was sent to the nurse triage line. No call back. I called twice on Thursday, asking for my nurse, again by name. Sent to the nurse triage line. The second time I called on Thursday, I told her I've called twice already and no one is returning my calls, and I needed to speak to someone about a prior auth that was done wrong. She proceeds to tell me that the nurse I've been requesting is out for the day. I said, ok well I called yesterday and still no call back. She then tells me that she's been out all week. I said, "is no one else taking care of her patients, surely the 'nurse triage line' is open to all nursing staff." She said that message are reviewed and call backs are done at the end of the day, and she immediately sent me back to the line..again..only this time she disconnected the call. When I called back, SECONDS LATER, I said "Hi I was just disconnected upon transfer" - she said "who is this, what are we doing".
So I left my second message of the day - and still no call back on Thursday. I called back, highly irritated, Friday morning and asked to speak to Dr. Delmont directly. The same receptionist that I'd been speaking to all week. She said "she's not here today". And so I told her I'd called 3-4 times this week, with no call back, and I needed to speak to someone about my medication because I was told the office sent in the wrong prior auth. She said she would take down my name and number, and someone would look into it and call me.
Around 12:45 I got a call - but I wasn't in a position where I could answer my phone. The nurse that left a message said she couldn't figure out why it mattered on the prior auth because the insurance company doesn't know until after whether it's a loading dose or maintenance dose but she submitted it and if we hadn't heard back from them by Tuesday to call. So I called the pharmacy to verify the prior-auth they said it was still rejecting. Understanding that it takes time, I called the insurance company to see if there was anything I could do to speed it up - I was MISERABLE and in tears. Wearing clothes hurts. Sweating hurts worse. My hair is falling out.
The insurance company said that unless they submitted it as urgent, it could take up to 15 days to be approved, and they couldn't see whether it was marked for urgent or not. So I called the dermatologist back - after all this it was about 2pm at that time - - - - and they had closed for the day. So I left ANOTHER, extremely heated, voicemail - - and here we are Tuesday and no call back yet. Not even to apologize for the lack of call backs in the previous week. Not even to update any status.
I have called the pharmacy and they called insurance and pushed the auth the rest of the way through - I just feel like this office just left me hanging. This is the second time this has happened when trying to start new medications. I know I'm not the only patient, and I know they're busy. But when the same patient is calling every day, and is extremely frustrated, at least have the decency to call back and at least check in.