Internal Medicine Practice

To the Revdex.com,Thank you for bringing this patients complaints to my attentionAlthough I have been in practice since 1994, I still value every patient and want the best care for them and their experience with our office to be professional and satisfyingFor background information, I went to the University of [redacted] medical school from to and graduated with honors in Internal MedicineI then did my residency in Internal Medicine from through at the University of [redacted] and [redacted] Medical center in [redacted] , [redacted] with months of extra training in preventive medicine (weight loss and smoking cessationAfter finishing my residency I worked as a physician for the [redacted] Primary Care Group for years, from to and served as the clinical director the third yearI purchased my current office and practice from a retiring physician, Dr [redacted] in the summer of He had been in primary care for over yearsI have been in private practice from to presentwas board certified in Internal Medicine in and served on the attending medical staff at [redacted] Hospital from through taking care of my patients that required in patient hospital care and also followed through their care as an attending physician at the [redacted] nursing homeWith the advent of hospitalist doctors who specialize in hospital medicine, I stopped admitting patients at [redacted] hospital and utilize these specialists when my patients require hospitalizationI still see patients full time at my current practice and have practiced Internal Medicine with a weight loss and smoking cessation program.I am very disappointed to hear this patients complaints and take them very seriously, especially since rely on word of mouth referrals (we do not advertise in the phone book or use a website) and I have always prided myself on giving comprehensive, cost effective careBoth myself and my nurse, who has been with me for the past twelve years, routinely ask each patient if there are other symptoms or problems other than their primary reason that we can help them with and I never charge extra, always $for the office visitFor example many of my internal medicine patients when they come in sick will also ask me to treat their smoking addiction or many of my patients who come for our weight loss program will also use me as their primary care doctor with no extra charge, My office fee was originally $in 1994, raised to $in and raised to the current price of $in I feel badly that this patient feels we were too expensive and would gladly refund her moneyI likewise am surprised she felt her care was not up to current standardsThis is our first complaint and would like to have had the opportunity to speak to the patient and better yet, give her the care that she was expectingAgain, this is my 20th year in private practice and rely solely on good care and word of mouth referrals, The review of our practice various websites will validate my points.As far as her complaints about my staff I am also surprised since my nurse who has worked for me for years is very kind and friendly and I receive compliments about her by patients frequentlyHer niece, who is also very sweet and has the same hard working, loyal mentality is our receptionist and she has been with us for yearsThe other receptionist is my wife who was been with the practice since She also serves as the office manager and also takes great pride in patients receiving good and professional careThe only other worker was a former receptionist who retired last fall, she was years old and had been with the practice since the original doctorI talked to all of our front staff and they do not recall this patient or any negative encountersOne explariation may be that because of the unusually high number of reshedulings due to the snowstorms this winter, our Saturdays have been fully booked (four patients per hour)This patient may have come on a day where we also had "urgent sick cases" that had been snowed in and added to the scheduleWe usually leave time for this but again, there were many snow days and appointment cancellations plus we were closed for week for spring breakSince getting this letter of complaint we now have weekly staff meetings focusing on the professionalism of our officeWe have implemented a complaint box which my wife, who is the office manager, responds toIn addition, my receptionist will ask each patient before they pay if they had any complaints with their care or the office, we have also posted a notice to let the front desk know if you have waited more than minutes than your scheduled time and the situation will be addressed at that momentAgain, I appreciate the Revdex.com bringing this patients complaints to my attention and have implemented the above changesI am not certain what happened during this patients visit but am confident that if she returned and allowed us to make it up to her, she will see the good care and cost effective treatment that we have prided ourselves on for the past yearsAlternatively, the patient may choose to be refunded for any office visits she is unhappy with but it would be helpful if she would let us know the dates) of her visit and which staff members) were unprofessionalPlease contact me to let me know what the next step in resolving this matter will be.Siricerely,

To the Revdex.com,Thank you for bringing this patients complaints to my attention. Although I have been in practice since 1994, I still value every patient and want the best care for them and their experience with our office to be professional and satisfying. For background...

information, I went to the University of [redacted] medical school from 1984 to 1988 and graduated with honors in Internal Medicine. I then did my residency in Internal Medicine from 1988 through 1991 at the University of [redacted] and [redacted] Medical center in [redacted] with 6 months of extra training in preventive medicine (weight loss and smoking cessation. After finishing my residency I worked as a physician for the [redacted] Primary Care Group for 3 years, from 1991 to 1994 and served as the clinical director the third year. I purchased my current office and practice from a retiring physician, Dr. [redacted] in the summer of 1994. He had been in primary care for over 20 years. I have been in private practice from 1994 to present. was board certified in Internal Medicine in 1991 and served on the attending medical staff at [redacted] Hospital from 1994 through 2009 taking care of my patients that required in patient hospital care and also followed through their care as an attending physician at the [redacted] nursing home. With the advent of hospitalist doctors who specialize in hospital medicine, I stopped admitting patients at [redacted] hospital and utilize these specialists when my patients require hospitalization. I still see patients full time at my current practice and have practiced Internal Medicine with a weight loss and smoking cessation program.I am very disappointed to hear this patients complaints and take them very seriously, especially since rely on word of mouth referrals (we do not advertise in the phone book or use a website) and I have always prided myself on giving comprehensive, cost effective care. Both myself and my nurse, who has been with me for the past twelve years, routinely ask each patient if there are other symptoms or problems other than their primary reason that we can help them with and I never charge extra, always $75 for the office visit. For example many of my internal medicine patients when they come in sick will also ask me to treat their smoking addiction or many of my patients who come for our weight loss program will also use me as their primary care doctor with no extra charge, My office fee was originally $50 in 1994, raised to $60 in 2000 and raised to the current price of $75 in 2009. I feel badly that this patient feels we were too expensive and would gladly refund her money. I likewise am surprised she felt her care was not up to current standards. This is our first complaint and would like to have had the opportunity to speak to the patient and better yet, give her the care that she was expecting. Again, this is my 20th year in private practice and rely solely on good care and word of mouth referrals, The review of our practice various websites will validate my points.As far as her complaints about my staff I am also surprised since my nurse who has worked for me for 12 years is very kind and friendly and I receive compliments about her by patients frequently. Her niece, who is also very sweet and has the same hard working, loyal mentality is our receptionist and she has been with us for 5 years. The other receptionist is my wife who was been with the practice since 1994. She also serves as the office manager and also takes great pride in patients receiving good and professional care. The only other worker was a former receptionist who retired last fall, she was 80 years old and had been with the practice since the original doctor. I talked to all of our front staff and they do not recall this patient or any negative encounters. One explariation may be that because of the unusually high number of reshedulings due to the snowstorms this winter, our Saturdays have been fully booked (four patients per hour). This patient may have come on a day where we also had "urgent sick cases" that had been snowed in and added to the schedule. We usually leave time for this but again, there were many snow days and appointment cancellations plus we were closed for 1 week for spring break. Since getting this letter of complaint we now have weekly staff meetings focusing on the professionalism of our office. We have implemented a complaint box which my wife, who is the office manager, responds to. In addition, my receptionist will ask each patient before they pay if they had any complaints with their care or the office, we have also posted a notice to let the front desk know if you have waited more than 30 minutes than your scheduled time and the situation will be addressed at that moment.
Again, I appreciate the Revdex.com bringing this patients complaints to my attention and have implemented the above changes. I am not certain what happened during this patients visit but am confident that if she returned and allowed us to make it up to her, she will see the good care and cost effective treatment that we have prided ourselves on for the past 20 years. Alternatively, the patient may choose to be refunded for any office visits she is unhappy with but it would be helpful if she would let us know the dates) of her visit and which staff members) were unprofessional. Please contact me to let me know what the next step in resolving this matter will be.Siricerely,

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  Although, its fine, I have found another doctor to deal with from now on. Im glad that taking the proper steps for improvement are being put into action. No customer or patient should ever be treated horribly or taken for granted. If it were not for customer's, there would be no business. Thank you very much to the Revdex.com for the action taken to help.
Regards,
[redacted]