Canton Health Center — Local services in Canton Township

Dr. Suvarna Bhat and the staff at this center are unprofessional and incompetent. In 2012, Given my pertinent family history of Hashimoto's, thyroid cancer, and clinical presentation, Dr. Bhat did not order a complete thyroid panel. She did, however, run many tests for very rare autoimmune diseases for which I have no family medical history. Now, after some experience in the medical field, pre-med and biology education, working in a hospital (my mother is also a doctor) I realize how incompetent this medical professional is. She dismissed many of my claims and clinical presentations, yet still referred me to an endocrinologist and stated I had an enlarged thyroid with nodules that she could easily feel with palpation. When I went to the endocrinologist, she stated that Dr. Bhat was wrong, and that I, in fact, did not have a thyroid that could be termed "enlarged" by palpation. The Endo stated that I just had a long, thin neck, anatomically. My nodules were sub-centimeter and therefore, it is also unlikely she could have felt them.

I have since made an appointment this past Feb. to be seen in May. She rescheduled me THREE TIMES since then. Twice, because she was "sick", and once due to "scheduling error". Now the earliest I can get in is end of August. That is a full 7 months from the initial date I called in. If I want to switch PCPs, which, by the way, she has to "approve" ( I doubt she will), I won't be seen until November 28th. The staff on the phone was discourteous, had an attitude, was not clear or thorough in her speaking, and was rude when I tried to clarify. She did not acknowledge my frustrations, or make any attempt to right the situation. I am extremely displeased with this center and will be taking my business elsewhere. If I do come back positive for Hashimoto's disease, I will most likely have been living with this condition for a long time. Dr. Bhat will have therefore diminished my quality of life and health for YEARS. DO NOT GO HERE.

update: Oh my god. So, after my mom encourages me to seek a patient advocate regarding all the incompetence at U of M Canton Health Center, I call and the lady is super nice until I say the words "patient advocate". Then her tone immediately switches and she starts asking about "what I need to complain about". I told her I didn't call to complain but to seek resolution on being rescheduled 3x and having to wait (NOW) a total of 10 months from my original call date to see a PCP. I didn't mention the part about how she didn't run appropriate thyroid testing during prior visits, or how the previous receptionist said that my current PCP Dr. Suvarna Bhat needed to "approve my transfer" to another PCP at the facility. ( I am pretty sure I have the right to choose my own PCP, especially after malpractice inflicted by Dr. Bhat, see "patient abandonment") Long story short she put me on a dead silent hold for an hour which pretty much means she was just hoping I'd hang up and go away, lol, WHICH I DID. I am done trying to work with this place. If I could give them 0...

My wife and I have been going to UM Canton for 15 years and have had nothing but good experiences. The negative comments below surprise me but they seem centered around administrative matters for the most part as opposed to the quality of medical care received. Actually I cannot think of any medical facility that is any better administratively than mediocre. It is the weak link in the US system of delivering medical services, and I would give UM Canton only an average grade on their administrative side. But we don't go there for their administrative services but their medical services. And those medical services are excellent. Today I had an appointment that resulted in some tests being run with the test results being posted in my patient portal within two hours. You can't beat that turnaround time! And my prescription was waiting for me at CVS as well. Typical high quality medical care that we have come to experience at UM Canton these past 15 years.

A word to the wise, though, about the use of UMs Patient Portal. While one would think that communicating with your PCP through the Portal would be secure and restricted to just your PCP, this is not true. All messages sent to physicians through the Portal are first reviewed by someone else (e.g., A RN, PA, or other assistant) who may act on your request without even contacting your physician (or you) first. This includes forwarding your note to other UM personnel without your consent. Therefore, do not post anything on UMs Patient Portal that you would not post on your Facebook page as chances are that your Portal posting will get broader distribution than anything on your Facebook page.

UPDATE FOR 2019:

I have dropped my rating from 5 stars to 3 stars for a couple of reasons coming out my annual checkup last week. First, there must be some labor action going on with the nursing staff there as the RN that processed me made Nurse Ratched seem like Florence Nightingale. Spitting nails like she was shingling a roof. Second, way to many nonclinical questions are now required before anyone shows any interest in why you booked your appointment. For instance, they now want to know things like "Do you wear a bike helmet" and "Do you wear your seat belt" just to name two that come to mind. I do not see the clinical relevance for these questions but I sure can see the far left political hay that can be made with the responses. While it is an unfortunate fact that delivery of medical care in this country is now all snarled up in politics, I see no reason to drag politics into the exam room. Whatever political statement U of M Health Systems is trying to make with these enhanced questions, it has no place during the delivery of medical services to their patients. Keep your political agenda to yourself and do not foist it on your patients as that is not why we walk...

Honestly, the doctors I have seen here are wonderful and great. The secretary staff here though could honestly care less about the patients. I have not had one had conversation with a nurse who helped me get a form, referral, or answer from a doctor EVER and I’ve been going here for a decade. Very sad that they represent U of M who is supposedly the best in the medical industry. I will say your doctors (at least the ones I’ve dealt) have been nice and thorough with info but your nursing staff is just awful. At least the ones who take phone calls are. Consider giving them a new training course on how to be more courteous on the phone and not annoyed/impatient for someone who is politely asking for information. What set me over the top is my last encounter over the phone with one of the secretaries. I asked what the diagnosis codes were on the referral so I can relay the information to my insurance to get compensated, and after 15 minutes (I kid you not) of trying to obtain that information I finally got it after pulling teeth.I just kept hearing that’s not something I have access too, I can’t see your insurance blah blah blah. But honestly, if you don’t know how to find something, don’t just give up and tell me to call the insurance, why don’t you ask someone or do what I’m saying and pull up the referral that I flew from Orlando and took the week off work just to get so you can get your $25 copay. Oh, and by the way, I guess that wasn’t good enough because I went to my follow up appointment and the referral needs to be resent and it’ll take 24-48 hours. What in the world do you need to do? I’m sitting at the doctor’s office looking like an idiot, took off work AGAIN and you can’t expedite something for me? Oh it’s cool, probably got more important things to do. Can’t wait to move on from this place, this isn’t the U of M that I know, better off driving to CVS and getting medical advice from their pharmacist. So done with the medical industry in this country oh yeah and that was back in January, and here I am in almost August and it’s still not sorted. Thank you...