UI Health — Local services in West Chicago Township

TRANSGENDER PATIENTS, BEWARE!

Especially given our current political climate and the heightened hostility towards transgender people, it is pertinent to note that, at best, UI Health has no idea what they are doing with regards to trans healthcare and, at worst, is actively malicious towards what are perhaps their most vulnerable patients.

I was booted off Medicare shortly after a consultation (with a separate provider) for gender-affirming surgery. I was instructed by my new insurance company to obtain a prior authorization from my primary care provider (now UI Health). To this end, I was very particular with my words during my initial visit. Yet, I left the clinic with a Referral Letter (i.e- not a prior authorization) and a $400 medical bill. When I reached out to my PCP to correct the issue, I was told (by a separate doctor, whom I had not contacted) that the prior authorization needed to be obtained from the first provider.

Thus ensued a months-long wild goose chase between the two clinics and my insurance company as I scrambled to figure out what I needed and from where. If only I had called the Customer Care line sooner, I would have spared myself what I would come to learn was a massive waste of my time. The receptionist on the other end, in more or less words, informed me that none of my providers did their job; that it was their responsibility—not mine, not my past providers—to ensure that my treatments were being covered. Months of my time that could have brought me closer to gender-affirming care were spent effectively sending letters and voicemails to a brick wall; judging by the receptionist's exasperated tone, I was hardly the first to fall victim to the ignorance of UI Health's providers. Not soon after, I would fall victim to this ignorance yet again.

I called the Customer Care line with regards to referrals my new PCP (still a member of UI Health and perhaps one of the few saving graces in my care, though that’s beside the point) had made for my mental health and gender-affirming surgical care. As my receptionist, Justin, read off the latter referral, he sneered and remarked, “THAT’S what they’re calling it these days…” before sending me off to contact the respective departments myself. What he possibly could have meant by that, I wasn’t sure, though I knew it couldn’t have been good. “That’s what they’re calling it”... as opposed to what? Mutilation? Mental illness? The countless number of slanders made against transgender healthcare that a medical provider, of all people, should not be buying into? When I called to file a complaint, I was handed over to Michelle, who offered a stock response of “We’re sorry, we’ll be sure to let our management team know” before hanging up.

I should not have to explain how grossly inadequate this was, and yet here we are. I’ve talked around enough with other UI Health patients to know that my hostile experiences are not one-off incidents; if this is to be understood as a persistent pattern of behavior, then it’s far too likely that the “management team” in question either does not know about it by choice, or does not care. As of writing this, we are seven days into a candidacy that has already disenfranchised transgender people enough to send passport application offices into a tailspin in an attempt to reverse totally legal and legitimate name and sex marker changes. The last thing transgender people need is...

Avoid the E.R at all costs! So I had a bad reaction with milk of magnesium and whatever i ate earlier in the day yesterday. I woke up bloated and completely dehydrated. I was going to begin prep for a colonoscopy that I am no longer having because of the magnesium reaction. I threw up somewhere around 30 times from 9am to 12 and by the last time I could no longer walk I called 911. The ambulance came. A short caucasian women and a tall black Male brought me in. The short lady was nice and caring the tall gentlemen was rude and very bothered my how much pain I was in. But not the end of world. I arrived to U of I and a brunette with short hair a little on the heavy set side was doing my check in. And it was such a bad experience. She was rude and so sarcastic. Mocking me . And talking as if I was a 3 year old extremely sarcastic. She made me feel so much worse. The only thing ppl were concerned about was my insurance. I'm a union electrician so I have very good insurance. I never received a room or nothing They treated me in the hallway up against the nurses desk. One doctor was nice and everyone else was so in there own world. I heard people screaming in pain and everyone at the nurses desk was just chatting about social events. Nothing work related! Everyone is laughing flirting having a good ol time! I was so nauseated and the only person in my view was a women security guard and she was eating the whole time. The food made me so much more nauseated. She had flaming hot cheetos then honey barbecue wings and then a bag of cookies. The smell of wings made me throw up again. Overall I'm very thankful the doctor targeted the stomach pain and stopped the nausea but it took 2 hours for them to give me medicine while I laid there moaning and groaning in the middle of the hall. Completely unprofessional. The conversations at the nurses desk were so personal and private. Almost as if they could care less about the ppl. They were laughing and making jokes about a man screaming in pain! Saying hes being dramatic. I will never go here again!!!! Go anywhere else. I had better treatment at county hospitals!! The one star is for the women who gave me the fluids and nausea medicine. But even her, when I asked for more ice chips because of the dehydration she would joke and say "were gonna start charging you for them" I can take a joke but u see me at a 10/10 in pain it's so wierd you think I would wanna joke at the moment. I'm a high voltage electrician. We build hospitals from ground up all over chicago. It's a shame how you can be treated in return. I was stuck in the hallway with the speaker over my head and it was a constant loud static the whole time. Worst experience...

If I could give a 0 review, I would. My experience with Ui Health started May 13th, 2024 when my father was admitted for a stroke. The team of nurses on his case were awful and disrespectful. My family has asked numerous times to see the doctor on his case but were given the baby interns and NP's assigned. No one and I mean no one was honest about his prognosis. While in their care he has developed at UTI and a swollen arm because of fluids being pushed repeatedly in his arm that doesn't function. I have worked in the healthcare field and am very familiar with staff being overworked but that's not what is happening. My father is now worse than he was when he was admitted. They kept disregarding his surgery for a carotid artery stent because of other severity patients ( which is fine). When it was time for them to do the surgery, they stated they would only have to flush his airways instead of placing a stent. The procedure was done on May 20th, 2024. He was in recovery afterwards and later that day, we receive a call stating he might have had another stroke and so they were going to go back into surgery to place the stent in his carotid artery. When he was placed into recovery again after his surgery, he was having difficulty swallowing and they noticed that he was shaking, so they placed EEG's on his head. They monitored him for 24 hours and noticed no seizure activity. He has been in thr hospital for over a month and the doctor assigned to his case who is calling the shots, STILL hasn't spoken to us. Now they want to kick him out of the hospitsl because "medically" he is okay but neurologically he is not. Every time we came to visit he was so drowsy and not opening his eyes or responsive. He was just not well BUT was told he was alert and moving a ton before or after we'd leave. Now no acute rehab facilities was to admit hin because he needs 1-2 hours of PT instead of the rigorious 2-3 hours of PT. When looking at his mychart, the PT stated his activity level being managable for 3 hours for 5x a week. If this was true, WHY was rejected from Shirly Ryan, Wise, and Illinois Masonic!!! Now they just want to drop him off anywhere so they don't have to deal with him anymore. I didn't expect to write a long story about this but PLEASE if anyone else has stories on how UI Health stroke patients,...