Mount Sinai-Union Square — Local services in New York

Physiatrist Dept : Dr. Lee & Ms. Mercedes the front desk person best part of visiting the physiatrist dept. Dr. Lee listens & even if he doesn’t agree he takes an approach that doesn’t make you feel dumb. Dr. Lee is a volunteer doctor & it shows. Oscar aka the manager is beyond unprofessional; he is dismissive, & rude. I came for a visit & I told him out of fairness that I already had a second option & the orthopedic surgeon disagreed with Mt. SINai & decided to send me for a Sports Hernia MRI that I had to beg Mt.SINai for. My question is when I spoke to Oscar before my visit why did Oscar ask for me to let him know when I arrive if he was going to be dismissive & rude. I’m well aware that Oscar is not a doctor but he is a disgrace to what it means to listen & make patients feel their concerns are heard. Mt. SINai is getting paid to care for patients they’re doing us a favor by doing their jobs. As a patient I feel like Mt. SINai is doing me a favor.

There’s a reason Mt Sinai has the word SIN in the word, it’s an absolute SIN to be treated by unprofessional, arrogant & incompetent medical & administrative (un)professionals. We know who the author of confusion is aka the same person that specializes in SIN. This establishment could care less about treating patients. It cost less to treat patients than it doesn’t to operate on patients. Bottom line is I want to be treated as a patient not a text book b/c text books can be wrong ; as humans we feel our pain & know our bodies. MEDICAL GASLIGHTING is real. If only Mt. SINai had doctors & administrators that actually listen to their patients they wouldn’t have to operate on healthy ppl that can actually heal. Seeing patients is not what keeps Mt. SINai in business ; surgeries is what keeps them in business.

Dear Mt. SINai Doctors & staff : the reason it’s called a “medical practice” is b/c doctors are “practicing medicine” not “perfecting medicine.” The arrogance, & ignoring the needs of patients must stop 🛑 so you all can actually help “not cause more harm” to those being treated. Mt. SINai treated me as if they’re paying for my MRI when I requested one to rule out other possibilities. I shouldn’t have had to have a second opinion just to get a MRI on the area that is causing me pain. What does it cost a doctor to be absolutely sure I’m not having a sport hernia or other muscular issue? Absolutely nothing. But if I do have a sports hernia (abductor/adductor m muscle) issue & it doesn’t heal properly it will cost me aka I would need a surgery that could of been avoided if someone would of simply listened.

This is an overall Mt. SINai issue aka Doctors not listening. Example Union Square OBGYN department is a joke. And worst part of all is as a patient you have no voice. If you speak up you will be transferred out which silences patients. The patient representative pretends she has your best interest at heart when the truth is her job is to protect the interest of the hospital. There is no such thing as a patient advocate : they are “hospital advocates.” The advocates at the hospital as well as Union square are a complete disgrace to advocacy. I mean think about it they’re hired & paid by Mt. SINai which means their loyalty is to Mt. SINai...

I had a lovely in-person initial visit with Dr. Seong, but apart from that I cannot recommend deciding to go to Mount Sinai for your PCP. There is no reason for a patient to have to call, and call, and call her doctors office for answers and help on multiple issues after 13 days of her messages going unanswered, only for both the provider and assistant to send messages after such time to express the necessity to make an appointment to discuss further care, and the messages can’t be replied to..and when you call the number to talk to them, there is no direct line to the office. Respectfully, make that make sense.

I understand how these things work from behind the scenes administratively from years of experience both in large hospitals and smaller practices, both private and public—this was negligent. I would be happy to go into further depth/elaborate further in a private message, but please use your discernment ESPECIALLY if you or a loved one is elderly or disabled and cannot advocate for themselves as thoroughly as I have with this office.

I have a lot of respect for everyone in the medical field, especially Patient Coordinators who are on the front lines on phones as I did that work for years and I told all those girls how lovely they were in accepting my grief with this situation for days on end, but something has gone awry in this particular office. Not even after the issue was escalated to management and I let them know that I would leave an honest review and precisely WHEN I would leave the review did they call me at an appropriate hour.

One might assume by this lack of communication is either that the Practice Manager is very busy or doesn’t care at all, or both, but either way there has been a lapse in communication. While I empathize, as a patient with plenty of documentation to record of the way this entire series of events played out, I feel convicted to speak out in hopes that this facility changes its practices.

This isn’t how you treat your patients; the fact that a hospital system has this kind of irresponsible communication with a patient with a grievance is incredibly concerning.

Timely communication is respectful, and I have been nothing but respectful to everyone involved that I’ve spoken to on the phone in spite of extenuating circumstances that go beyond my physical health. I deserve respect too, but I’ll give it to myself by speaking my truth here; there will be no sweeping this under the rug, the rug is being aired out.

I pray that Mount Sinai Union Square and Mount Sinai on a whole finds a way to communicate more effectively with their patients and not leave them on delivered for almost 2 weeks; suffice it to say, I will not be returning or ever recommending this...

Enter at your own risk. Just entering this facility incurs the minimum charge of $3,000.00. This is in addition to what the doctor and his staff will charge you. This will be the minimum you’re probably have to pay (because your insurance most likely won’t cover this.)

Hospital has a billing department for every single doctor and department. I’ve encountered over 30+ billing departments so reaching who actually bills you is a nightmare. (And you WILL have questions. Trust me you will). You will get separate bills from the facility (hospital), the doctor, his staff, the X-ray/Cat-scan/Sonogram machine "room”(how I get billed for a “room” I have no idea), the operators of said machines, and if you have to send samples to an external lab (blood or other specimens) you will get charged for those separate(You will pay for the technician as well as the results). Then because you walked into the hospital the hospital and it’s staff will bill you not only for the usage of the place BUT you will also get double billed by everything that was done to you in this place. As far as customer service goes they are horrible. I paid a bill back on March 2017 and the money was deducted from my account. 2 months later I get the same bill. I've called the number on the customer service line to find out what is going on and no one seems to be able to help me. They send me to a different office or billing department each time and each time with the same answer (not sure but you can try this other number). I assume their job is to frustrate you enough so you just pay and don’t ask any questions. I'm up to about 30 different #'s I've called and last I checked they took my money but no one has it in their system anywhere that I either exist or that I paid. Which is weird because I keep getting bills. Does that even make sense? They can’t find me but somehow they know where I live and know “how much I owe them” strange. Look, if I owe money I pay it. Tell me how much I owe and I'm good. What I don't like is getting billed month after month for thousands of dollars first for something I’ve already paid and then for random charges that I have no way of checking if they are real or if they’re bogus.

Final Point: If you think I'm being harsh then I'm ok with that. Maybe you had a good experience here. Judging from their review score I'm sure other people have had the same issues. I believe that when it comes to medicine, hospitals should be transparent. Tell me what I’m going to be charged upfront and not after. Stop taking advantage of people when they are at their most vulnerable. This hospital is untrustworthy and I’ll say it again… Enter at...