TL;DR The office staff at Westfield Pediatrics really is as HORRENDOUS and UNCARING as many other reviewers on multiple reviewing platforms state. If you owe them any amount of money they will refuse to see your children! They may begrudgingly offer you a payment plan, but not until you've stressed multiple times that you cannot afford to pay out of pocket for their services! The doctors are caring, the business office is ran by unprofessional, heartless people!!
We had some hiccups in our insurance when my husband's job switched insurance providers at the start of the new year. The issue was made worse by his HR department's mishandling of information we submitted to insure our newborn. We had an uninsured infant and were stressed. The issue was worsened when we were contacted by the office staff stating that they would not see our daughter for her 2nd month checkup unless we self payed over one grand for the visit. I did not want my child to miss her shots, however that wasn't possible for us at the time. We told the office staff the issue was being handled, but the process was slow. They refused to work with us and used harsh, accusatory language during all of our dealings. One lady questioned, "Why isn't YOUR baby on YOUR insurance?" multiple times. As a mother of a new baby, dealing with crazy hormone imbalances on top of a sometimes debilitating anxiety disorder, this effected me deeply and soured my opinion of the entire practice. Perhaps I am sensitive, but I don't think expecting compassion and understanding during a stressful time from a pediatric office is too much.
Once it became clear the issue with her being made active on my husband's insurance plan might take a long time to resolve, I reached out to the nurse in order to ask questions about the importance of her receiving her shots on the schedule proved by the CDC, at which she responded in a similar fashion. Using scare tactics to get me to fork money over I did not have. Finally, she informed me that I could bring her to a free clinic and acted incredulous that I hadn't thought to do that already. I had no idea that this was an option and had they informed me of that when we were told they would not see her for her 2 month checkup then she would have gotten her shots much sooner. This made me feel as though they cared more for the balance I owed them than the safety and wellbeing of my child. Still I did not want to change pediatricians because the doctors are very thorough and I enjoyed them.
I reached out to the local free clinic and set up an appointment for her shots. I was alarmed by the fact that the clinic would not see her till the 5th of Feb (she would be over 3 months old at that point). About a week later we were informed by our insurance that our baby was officially active! We contacted the Westfield and set up an appointment and they said that everything was in the clear and that they would see her. The day prior to the appointment, they contacted us stating that they would need 605$ to see her at her appointment the very next day.
Once again we said there was absolutely no way we could pay that, especially not with a day's notice. They informed us that they could put us on a payment plan, but that they would need a "good faith payment" of 100$ to see her.
I agreed, because I wanted her to get her shots. But the sickening part is that they obviously KNOW that and at this point manipulating the situation to get me to pay them something.
Luckily I was able to find a new pediatrician before having to bring my child back there and give them more business. She will be going tomorrow to get her shots at the new place and frankly Westfield Pediatrics can go shove off. Also, we never had to pay a dime other than our copay because the insurance issue was cleared up, as we told them it would be multiple times.
I'd like to also add, if the business office reads this, thank you for making an extremely stressful time of my life tenfolds more stressful! I hope we get single payer and you lose your job. read more