I was referred to Dr Abdollah Assad by my insurance. My case manager had reached out to the Dr for adolescent ADHD testing (because most places in town are booked out for 3-5 months at the current time).
I called around lunch time and Dr Assad answered the phone. I explained the need for adolescent ADHD evaluation, he interrupted me and said "You need medication today?" and I explained further that I am looking to have it evaluated, not immediately jumping to meds - but okay? He said "Lets do this at 3pm today. Come on it, let's do it at 3pm? You can be here at 3pm today? Yeah?" in a very intense manner. Based on his urgency, I honestly assumed he had a last minute opening or something, but when we arrived at 2:30pm, we learned that this is really just a walk-in clinic for individuals needing immediate psychiatric care & a med clinic.
The waiting room had at least 5 individuals waiting for care when we arrived. The receptionist was angry that the doctor had told us to come in, demanding that she doesn't have time to check insurance and said i need to schedule an appointment. So i explained that the doctor told us to come in, asking why he wouldn't have just scheduled our appt. Since my case manager through my insurance had already spoken to the doctor about our need, i thought maybe he just hadn't told her. She left us sitting in the waiting room for 20-30 minutes while the doctor saw a new patient every 5 minutes. In & out, it was a rotating door. With the exception of a new patient, he got about 10 minutes. There was no HIPAA or confidentiality. There is a sliding glass door between the waiting room & the doctor's office. He literally had patients walking in at the same moment others were walking out.
After about 30 minutes, the desk lady finally said she would call the insurance and verify it so that we could see about this testing. She was announcing personal information loudly on speakerphone while checking in other patients, checking out patients, and then after awhile, she said the insurance wasn't able to help either. She told me I needed an appt to do the testing, and they needed more notice. So I asked her to schedule an appt, to which she said she needs the doctor to approve that. The same doctor that told me to come in at 3. She asked me if i wanted to see the doctor, so I said SURE. He stood in his glass door staring at me, but never acknowledge me or invited us in to indicate he was ready. I explained to him that I'd just spoken to him, and he'd asked me to come in for a 3 o'clock appointment. I explained the situation that had just occurred with the front desk telling me i need an appointment, to which he agreed that I need an appointment. (Then why tell me to come in????) He then lectured me about how long it takes to get tested in this town and told me I was very lucky that he invited me to come in at 3pm. He then told me that because they couldn't verify insurance, he would be willing to still see us (after the 5 people waiting in the lobby, because it's a walk in clinic) and prescribe her the necessary medication - but that we would need to scrap the insurance and pay cash. He told me that he's the only psychiatrist in town that will diagnose a child in less than several months and again offered that I pay cash.
This clinic is probably saving a lot of lives by offering medication to people without the means to seek proper psychiatric care. But when I asked what the process was for diagnosing adolescent ADHD, I was advised that the doctor just asks a few questions and would send us on our way with meds. This is not a provider that can provide proper diagnostic evaluation of adolescents. read more
