Federico F. Peña Southwest Family Health Center — Local services in Denver

I usually drive 30 minutes to the East Side Clinic for my Depo shot because I like occasionally seeing my pediatrician. I’m typically in and out in under 30 minutes give or take with minimal FUSS. Sure, A few staff have tried to push the IUD on me and Lauren or whatever her name is can seem a little passive aggressive but I always leave relatively stress free. This time, I decided to try Federico F. Peña Southwest Family Health Center, Thinking it would be faster since it’s closer…Big mistake. Not only did the clinic take forever despite (I think) there being hardly anyone else on the side I was on, But the nurse or whoever she was—was extremely unprofessional and unnecessarily invasive. I’m young but very mature and deal with enough health anxieties as it is. I came in JUST for my Depo shot and to see how much weight I had loss but the nurse decided to overwhelm me with unsolicited information about my birth control saying things like “You should switch from Depo after a year” and “Your bones will become brittle so take calcium” THEN she told me I might struggle to get pregnant after stopping Depo unless I got pregnant right away. I am only 17 and I didn’t ask for ANY of this information. So when am I supposed to stop depo…In 20+ years??? I have to get off and have a baby IMMEDIATELY or I will NEVER have children?!? I’m not even on depo because I’m active, It took my cycle away and I am not ready to go through the withdrawal but now I can’t go through the withdrawal even if I wanted to because I have to worry about possibly become infertile/sterile!! I already have enough to worry about without someone stressing me out more with things I didn’t need to hear. At East Side Clinic, They just give me my shot, Hand me a calendar for my next one, And let me go. But here? It felt like an interrogation. The nurse even started prying into my personal life, Asking about my abusive mom, And talking about her own kid. It was just way too much. I already came in on the verge of tears, And she only made it worse. I later spoke with an urgent care nurse who reassured me that the information I was given wasn’t even entirely accurate. All in all, I left the clinic more stressed than when I arrived. If you’re just looking for a straightforward appointment, I wouldn’t...

The doctors and nurses are great here, along with the nice, new building.

My frustration is with the long waits and appointment scheduling.

I know it's not just this specific location's fault, as it is mostly the Denver Health systems as a whole, but scheduling is so, so difficult. Sometimes I'll call and be on hold for 15+minutes without actually every talking to anyone, the longest being 25 minutes. The only time I get a quick answer is if I call close to closing time, around 4:30. It's so hard to schedule that I tried the "MyChart" appointment schedule online that they suggested, and not only does it not tell you any available times, their 'response' to my scheduling request took a week, and it wasn't even this clinic but the hospital's scheduling line that called back. When I told them what I wanted to schedule, a simple RN visit for my baby's flu shot, they transferred my call back to the clinic to schedule it, where whoever I was on the phone with had no idea what I was talking about (even though the person on the main appointment line did), and put me on hold, again, only to tell me they're completely booked out until December.

I've also tried scheduling appointments ahead of time, and the receptionists will tell me that can't schedule a month ahead and to call and check in a week or two, but then other times I've had success scheduling farther out. So... that's confusing.

To top this off, every visit I am early 20 minutes like they ask, and yet it still takes a really long time to even see a nurse or a doctor. And this is at times when there is not a lot of people in the lobby, so I'm a little lost on why it takes such a long time.

I was such a huge fan of my baby's doctor, and of Denver Health when I was pregnant and for my delivery, but all this crazy red-tape nonsense is absurd and stressful.

I don't know if it's training of staff or the mess that is the Denver Health appointment system, but it's just a train wreck, that I'm not...

Update: I could not be happier with the actual services provided at this office but I have to change my initial 2019 5-star post to 1-star, (should be 0 star) based on the HORRIBLE customer service when it comes to BILLING DEPT. I have 3 bills, from three different visits, and 2 of the 3 have one billing code, which is correctly used rendering $0 charge based on my covered insurance services. The other bill has a different/wrong code used and caused me a charge. I have called their billing/customer service department every month since the initial bill in November of 2022 to correct. I have been told every time that I needed to speak to a supervisor, and that a supervisor would call me back and that my account was on hold until resolved. Denver Health sent my bill to collections 4 months in, even though every time I called they said the account was on hold, and still NO ONE would call me back. I finally today, 8 months later, sat on hold for an hour to speak to a supervisor. Maria told me my doctor wrote the visit up intentionally and that different codes should be used for the exact same line item, incurring me a cost when my insurance/premiums cover that service in full. I will not do business with a illogical company which is sad because the office itself and it's health providers are lovely. I won't live thru this experience and epic waste of my time in the event that this could easily happen again in the future. Denver Health - you have lost what would have been a live-long patient (which I clearly told Maria and she was ok with it.)

(previous post from 2019) In 15 years I've had three primary care doctors in three states and my doctor and this facility can't be topped. From the very friendly and helpful front desk gals, to the nurses who take you back...I can't say enough good stuff. I actually look forward to my annual physicals so I can catch...