UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center — Laguna Hills — Local services in Laguna Hills

I was spoken over, yelled at, and then hung up on by Melissa, the head nurse at the Laguna Hills location. The staff and management at this location is terrible. I had an appointment for a nurse visit to get my monthly B-12 shot. The week prior I received a text message asking me to confirm this appointment. I did. Then the day before I needed to change the time from 2pm to 3pm. So I called and changed it.

Less than an hour later I received a call from Melissa at the Laguna Hills location who told me I wasn’t able to come in at all for my B-12 shot the next day. The reason? My primary care physician (PCP) had left and I now needed to establish care with a new PCP, have the new doctor order labs, wait for the results, then get the new PCP to order monthly B-12 injections again.

But here’s the thing: A few months back while getting a routine B-12 shot, I was told that my PCP is leaving to go to Kaiser (the staff member should have never disclosed the name of the institute my PCP was leaving for). During this same appointment I asked the staff member if I needed an appointment to establish care with a new doctor since mine was leaving. She told me no, because I was already established in that group. Instead, I should wait until I need to be seen for a different reason, then schedule an appointment with a new PCP. I figured since that staff member works in that office she must know how things are done.

I tried explaining all of this to Melissa, the extremely rude nurse at UCI Laguna Hills, but she didn’t care. She kept telling me that I couldn’t come in even though the appointment was already confirmed. (I love how UCI waits until the day before my confirmed appointment to tell me it’s not going to happen.)

I also told Melissa that my ferritin is dropping rapidly again and I can’t keep getting more labs done all because a provider left. She could care less. She kept interrupting me, speaking over me, and telling me that she goes in every morning to “scrub the schedule,” and that I have no choice but to schedule a new appointment to establish care with a new provider.

I finally got fed up being interrupted, yelled at, and spoken over so I asked her if she was going to continue talking over me. She did, and got even nastier with her attitude, and then hung up me. I’m pretty sure that’s ILLEGAL (medical negligence) to hang up on a patient who’s just trying to get the care they need and find out why they’re being told completely different things by different staff members.

This is a classic example of how the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Despite me doing my due diligence and covering my own bases a few months ago by asking if I needed to make an appointment to get scheduled with a new doctor as soon as I was told my PCP is leaving, I’m still left high and dry at the last minute, I’m being told conflicting information so I don’t know who to believe, and now I can’t receive the care I need unless I first jump through a ton of hoops. I never should have been allowed to make the appointment in the first place if they were just going to take it away from me at the last minute.

This location is disorganized, their office policies and procedures don’t make any sense (why was I given the option to confirm my appointment if my appointment isn’t allowed to happen in the first place?) and their staff members are extremely rude and...

This is my only bad review. DO NOT COME HERE FOR BLOODWORK.

These guys forgot my A1C panel and still charged me for it anyways. But that’s not all! They also billed my insurance incorrectly TWICE. What was supposed to be routine preventative tests ended up with an out of pocket 191$ bill for me somehow. I’ve been with the same insurance for 7 years and this has never happened to me. My insurance claims the wrong codes were used and suggests UCI Health to use the same codes as last year but UCI Health is refusing! Probably because they want more $$$ as the bill is over 30% more than last year! I did get UCI Health to fix part of the bill but they refuse to budge on the last bit. They asked me to appeal with my insurance, which I do, but then the insurance replies that the provider billed it incorrectly. I have been in this endless loop for months.

You guys just lost a would-be lifetime customer over a blood test bill. Nice job!

For anyone in the same situation, I did some research online and found advice saying NOT to pay incorrect/unfair medical bills. They CANNOT win in court against you.

I’ll update this review if...

Update 5/18

I added one star to my review. After talking to BCBS and UCI Health Billing in a few occasions, claims were recoded and resubmitted. Insurance covers everything and I just responsible for a copay. All parties involved were very professional and super patient and understanding, which I appreciated. Since my insurance does cover my visits to UCI Services, I will continue to come here. A friend reminded me the importance to work with PCP who actual knows me and I like the new doc I am seeing. Something you may not get from say CVS or Telehealth services. I will keep my review at 4 star for now. I will update again at year end base on my experience of future visits and flu shots in Oct.

Again, word of caution if you don’t have insurance. Call to make an appointment and see if you can get a price quote first. My experience was that everyone I talked to are willing to answer and help so don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you have insurance, make sure you know what is covered and review your bills when you...