that is absolutely true! @babs10 no argument there! However - one also has to learn to read between the lines on the reviews. Many times an aged doctor gets bad reviews when a daughter takes her mother for a visit and the dr. has no patience. The doctor is overwhelmed with patients and is only human - trying to serve everyone, with equal measure. So patients are demanding. Also, some get bad reviews because the office staff is rude. THEY don't receive enough training! I recently gave my beloved doctor a single star rating and put all the reasons why. I also put that she is a great doctor. It is her system that is totally screwed up at UC Health and that reflects on her ability to service my needs. The was the best thing I ever did. Things changed dramatically. I went back and gave her 4 starts. (she's a 10 star doctor.)
One of my best doctors got many bad reviews. (an arthritis hand surgeon doctor). People did not like his brusk manner. I signed up for a visit with him after much consideration. I started the appointment with something funny and he responded in kind. It was an excellent visit. He got right to the point: He could only take my hand OFF, but he couldn't put it back on! (it was funny). The point was he couldn't do anything as my hand is loaded with arthritis. He told me to stop yanking on the weeds and stressing my joints ripping open the mail. My hand got amazingly better. No surgery. Surgeons are especially in demand. I have an endrocrinologist I had to wait 8 months for. He is a piece of work. He told me point blank he doesn't want to deal with hormones. Just the bone medicine. Now I will go outside my system. I had to wait 3 years on a waiting list to get into a facility, then decided I wanted to stay with my PMC because I take low dose opioids and to switch means a new round of humiliations. She gives me all the testing I want, but she is exhausted and so I bring her the medical reports to make things easier. Now, the problem is the Doctors are all so YOUNG and INEXPERIENCED! I have to be really patient as a patient! I noticed this week I had a big chip on my shoulder but the young doctor saw right thru it and eased my concerns. I was SUPER honest with her. She responded. She did one thing I didn't approve of - provide a supplement for my vertigo. I researched it and it was not valuable. I told the nurse and my regular doctor I wouldn't be getting it. COVID really screwed things up for us all. I knew when the Affordable HCA (ACA) came on board (2013), there wouldn't be enough doctors to service the aging population. That was in fact the case - BEFORE COVID! Now we are sunk. There is a two-tier system in the process. Canada already has theirs in place. We call it "concierge medicine" in Southern California. It means you pay for a doctor on call so you don't have to wait. (think someone told me its $1500 or 2500 a year). It is the reality. I also know they are separating out the poor people's insurance coverage from the middle class at UC Health. So i never tell them I have Medi-cal (Medicaid) or they send me far away. We just have to work harder to get what we need.
On the positive side - I use telehealth video visits. So mostly I do not have to leave home for video visits! that is GREAT and my PCM and I both love it! My health care is about an hour away. So it saves energy. I also get refers to local radiology, lab tests, and anything I can get close by. Medicare is great for that. Go anywhere as long as its a medicare liscenced provider. So have everything outside of my PCM and SPECIALISTS done close to home. I lined up all the scanning, radiology, blood tests, etc. I can do close by who I like. Hope something in this helps you or others. best, Lori