Maiden Lane Medical Downtown — Local services in New York

I'm now not sure where the incompetence started, but it certainly never ended with Maiden Lane, and after HOURS on the phone with them today.

I was booked for a needed surgery MONTHS ago that was supposed to happen tomorrow. A surgery that if I don't have, I have a 70% chance of getting cancer.

The initial surgery coordinator (unsure if she's the same incompetent staff as the care coordinator, or if incompetence is just homogenous at the clinic) gave me a call WEEKS after my initial diagnosis, not days, weeks, that's only after I had to call to ask in concern about when I would have my surgery scheduled.

She then gave me misinformation about the surgery in general. She said it was a surgery that I could inmediately hop on a flight I had booked that day - which I found out by the doctor would be DANGEROUS because of possible complications by any surgery. She also told me the anesthesia would be LOCAL only, which to her mind is the equivalent as going under lol.

The doctor suggested a different date in August and I thought I was able to schedule it with whoever called me next to follow up.

This is now the week of surgery (for Fri). I called Maiden Lane on Tuesday out of concern that, again, I had received no follow up or pre-op instructions for Friday. They told me this coordinator usually does house calls on Weds afternoon, but they SENT HER A MESSAGE to make sure she calls me. Weds afternoon and evening come with zero calls.

Today, Thursday I call first thing in the morning to complain and ensure someone calls me. The person on the phone told me that they would send an urgent message to the coordinator but noted that it was "weird" that my appt for tomorrow was listed as a "post op follow up" and it didn't look like a procedure. 6 hours later I am still not receiving calls so now I've been on a back-and forth with Maiden Lane for almost 2 hours.

During these two hours, I was told the care coordinator couldn't be reached and she's working from home & she's the ONLY coordinator. I spoke to the office manager Amanda (after multiple calls and failed follow ups from Maiden Lane) who finally took call but then left me on hold and hung up on me. I then was told Amanda would call me back, but that there was NO WAY my surgery would happen tomorrow. 15 mins later I instead get an angry call from the surgery coordinator who started finger-pointing at ME for the miscommunication and then blaming Dr. Fleary saying she was the one that told her to book a post op..... for an op that the SURGERY COORDINATOR NEVER COORDINATED. Then suddenly after 10 minutes of finger pointing and taking exactly zero accountability she offers up "well do you wanna have the procedure tomorrow?" and then quickly books me for tomorrow at a different time rattles off all the pre op instructions and tells me she'll immediately send me an email with instructions and confirmation.

I call the main line AGAIN and they tell me that they see that the care coordinator has asked Amanda to call me and that she should in 5-10 minutes.

30 min later and I STILL hadn't received a confirmation for the surgery by email, instructions by email, or a call or any type of contact by Amanda.

I had to call 2 more times to get a hold of Amanda who then also proceeded to tell me the mistakes other people had made and took zero accountability for anything of what happened and who I had to ASK for an apology for all these troubles and me losing 2.5 hours of my workday to try to resolve issues that all stemmed from Maiden Lane. She then switches the line in the middle of me talking to the head of surgery who's a tiny bit more apologetic and rattles off all of the communication and miscommunications that happens and I FINALLY am able to get confirmation on my surgery (at a slightly different time) tomorrow.

Seriously, if you don't have to have to fight tooth and nail to advocate for your health, and providers that show accountability and empathy, go elsewhere. It's a matter of time before this place goes under for...

Short version: This practice did not provide timely medical care. I waited more than two months for gynecologist Dr. Blanton to get me a Nexplanon contraceptive implant before I gave up. Various employees of Maiden Lane Medical repeatedly told me to expect updates that didn’t come, wasting time that I could have spent getting care elsewhere; seemingly ignored a fax from my insurance provider with necessary explanatory info; wrongly claimed that my insurance didn’t cover a specific contraceptive (see: the fax with instructions); told me a Nexplanon was on its way when it wasn’t; and finally sent my prescription to a pharmacy (of their choosing) that did not even carry Nexplanon. In the exam room the one time I saw her, Dr. Blanton was really great, but unfortunately the administrative issues were far too stressful and onerous for me to keep coming here. MLM lost all of my trust.

2/26: office visit, consult for new Nexplanon (old expires 3/11).

3/8: insurance provider calls, says my pharmacy coverage won’t cover Nexplanon but medical coverage will; caller said they sent fax w/ this info to MLM that day, no action needed from me.

3/19: no updates. I send MLM in-app msg, mentioning the pharmacy vs. medical info from the fax, ask about status.

3/20: Dr. B responds in app: “I will have my office manager look into this and give you an update later this week.” No further updates that week.

3/27: MLM office mgr calls me, says my insurance won’t cover Nexplanon. I call ins., they confirm Nexplanon is fully covered it when coded as medical rather than pharmacy (as in the 3/8 fax & my 3/19 app msg). I call back MLM, explain this. MLM says expect a follow-up call on Mon. 4/1.

4/1: no update.

4/3: I call MLM; office mgr says application was submitted to ins. on 3/28, they expect to hear back in 5-7 business days.

4/10: I call MLM; receptionist confirms that office mgr has not heard back, when office mgr has time she will call ins. for update. I send in-app msg asking for clarification on what is happening.

4/11: Dr. B responds in app saying she sent the Rx on 2/26, “these things take a while.”

4/12: MLM office mgr calls, says a Nexplanon has been ordered; “a week or maybe less” until it arrives.

4/22: I call MLM; recept. says no info in my chart, she’ll pass along my question about where the Nexplanon is to the office mgr.

4/25: I send in-app msg asking for updated arrival time or tracking #.

4/26: Dr. B in app says she’s get an answer. Hours later, text & in-app msg saying Rx has been sent to pharm, call this # for details. I call. Rep says that pharm does not carry Nexplanon. I send in-app msg & call MLM. Call drops as I’m confirming my contact info. I call back, recept. says “systems are down,” to call back later. I call other gynos instead, get an appt in 3 days.

4/27: I send in-app msg letting MLM know I’m seeing new dr, ask for an explanation of what happened.

4/29: Dr. B replies in app: “The prescription was sent the day we met. However since your insurance was not in network with the pharmacy that typically dispenses the device the presciption had to be sent to another one. We tried 3 or 4 different pharmacies with the same result. There is no way for us to know ahead of time what pharmacy is in network with your insurance until the prescription is sent and they communicate back to us.”

If main hold-up was finding an in-network pharm, why wasn’t this communicated during one of the prior 7 times I talked to MLM? I could have talked with my insurance if I’d known at the beginning. Literally as I was on the way to the appt w/ new dr, my pharm benefits provider called me. Told me exactly which pharmacy to use (CVS Caremark), and that if there was any flagging of it being out of network, this pharmacy can put in an override to get it covered, since it’s a primary distributer of Nexplanon. The call took two minutes.

EDIT to respond to MLM: No change in insurance during this time; that is a straight-up lie. No missed calls from MLM not...

Dishonest, cynical. If there is anything one should take away from my personal experience - beware of their billing practices, and you could save yourself an expensive nightmare.

Let's just say my experience started with a misleading estimate on costs (reception said $60 copay, my total bill ended up being $1800), to being misled by the doctor that a test was preventative (resulting in insurance coverage denial), to the doctor worming her way out of the issue and throwing me to the billing department (who is hostile), to everyone at the practice up to the owner of the business accusing me of harassment and libel (The harshest language I ever used was, i'm not willing to pay more for healthcare after the doctor deigned to answer a question without charging me for an additional 'telehealth' appointment, and expressing my chagrin at the shock bills I received- no vulgarity, no name-calling, just a few choice caps- but nonetheless resulted in my expulsion from their entire practice anyway).

Practical advice - if this is your first time at the clinic and the doctor nudged you in the direction of returning for an additional procedure, as occured during my visit when the doctor immediately recommended an additionally invasive procedure called 'LEEP' without first viewing my lab results. Her advisement induced sufficient fear for me to agree to what she explained to me was a preventative 'cotest' which ultimately ended up being billed as diagnostic anyway. Note to self: I would give it a few weeks to get a sense of their billing practices, which may lead you to reconsider resuming business with them (yes, cold hard for profit business, not care)

If you come from a country where access to world class healthcare in state of the art facilities could be had at government subsidized rates, the ethical and practical standards of billing (intransparent, no accountability, hostile billing department), healthcare (10 minute zip in and out, although you may spend up to an hour in the clinic due to puncutality issues, doctor charges you extra money to explain your lab tests) will be an absolute shock to you, as it was to me. The yawning gap between the cost (eyewatering) and outcome (felt paltry, barebones and stingy, unbefitting of what I would expect in a first world country- again. Personal opinion) was also a shock to me.

If you feel the urge to post a negative review on the clinic. Know that someone will be on your tails much quickly than you would expect. Despite the preponderance of negative reviews with even more biting language (e.gy 'buyer beware, 'go elsewhere'- no offense to other yelp reviewers, it's absolutely within your right), depending on your target or perhaps the number full sentences in your review, there is a chance you will soon forget your worries about whatever illness or ailment you came in for (in my case, precancerous lesions in my cervix), but rather learn quickly consequences of hurting the clinic's ego.

While $1800 will take a bite out of my already thinned out savings as we are expecting a child, it is an investment in what I hope to be a lesson for myself on how placing trust in any healthcare provider in New York is a...