Physician Care Centers - Metro

Feb 23rd, 2024

Jan 27th, 2024

This is one of the most bizarre medical practices with which Ive ever had the displeasure of interacting. Everything about their business model seems optimized for maximizing insurance billing and minimizing patient face time. Below I list some of my primary issues: 1.) Information quarantine. At no time will you ever be allowed to speak to someone in one of PMAs medical offices. No receptionist. No nurse. No PA or Doctor. All communication (and I do mean ALL communication) goes through their call center. Yes. Call center. These poor frontline workers have access to appointment scheduling software and thats ALL. The only way to speak to someone in the office is to physically show up, and even then all patients are treated asits hard to explain. Hostile, maybe? I get the sense that this practice serves a lot of patients they view as problems. 2.) Prescriptions needing prior authorization are through THEIR pharmacy or no one. Lots of people have their pharmacy benefit provider through ExpressScripts or Avita Pharmacy or GoodRX, and those benefit managers secure lower costs for drugs for their customers. Well I sure hope you like expensive medications, because you cant use your benefits with PMA. You have to use THEIR pharmacy if you need prior authorization for your prescription because they wont give it otherwise. Im not saying they get kickbacks from the pharmacy they force you to use (which is inevitably more expensive) because I dont know, but if they did, this is exactly how it would be set up. 3.) Unnecessary follow-ups. I had three visits scheduled for me in a 30 day period when I began my new patient journey with PMA. I asked for a prescription. They had to do some follow up testing and get me back in a week. I asked for a sleep study. They had to see me in two weeks so that they could get me a referral. Could I not just get the referral? No. Again, this is a firm optimized to bill your insurance company and get you into the office as much as possible. If youre wondering why so much of what I perceive sounds like inside baseball to you, theres a reason for that. Im a health economist. I specialize in the study of health insurance markets. I know when a clinic is being shady and when its just bad customer service. My sense at PMA is that its a mixture of both. Under no circumstances should you use them.
Nov 2nd, 2023

You need to be very careful with this place. They are more about charging your insurance and getting more money than they are about your health and well-being. Take for instance if you have diabetes, an ongoing, continues issue, and you have found the proper medicines and dosages to keep it under control and you've been doing great for a year or more, they will not refill your prescriptions unless you come into the office and see one of their doctors. Not your doctor, just any doctor. That way they can charge your insurance another $200 to $400 dollars plus your co-pay. The visit will go basically like this. You show up on time, but they are behind schedule, so you wait an additional 30mins to an hour after your appointment time. You finally get pulled into a room and wait another 20 mins. A doctor comes in, sits down and asks why you are there. You tell them you need refills; they look at your chart and say, "Yep you got diabetes. You need these refills. Let me just check your breathing really quick. Okay sir/ma'am, that's it. Have a good day." and you're done. You see a strange doctor who knows nothing about you or your condition other than what is in a chart, just to get a refill and so they can charge you a co-pay and your insurance for a visit. So, you wasted roughly 1 to 2 hours for a 5 min visit that could have been as easy as clicking accept on a computer screen, just so they can get more money. They will do this even if you were in to see your regular doctor yesterday. There's even been a few instances, not one, but a few where prescriptions were supposed to be refilled or sent in after your visit, but they never got sent. You'll call back a day or 2 later and ask where your prescriptions are and they will say, "We don't see anything mentioned in the notes, you will have to come back in and see one of our doctors to get those filled." Like I said they don't care if you've been off your meds and your blood sugar has been sitting in the 300 or 500 range for the past 2 days. They don't care if you have been on the medication for the past 3 years. They need your money and if you don't give it to them, they withhold medical treatment and like I said this has happened more than once. It seems like a common practice to "lose" prescriptions or "misplace" doctor notes in order to get you back in there. I am so disappointed that Dr. Ng joined this group. I have never had such a hard time staying healthy until he joined. He is a great doctor who has always showed care and respect for his patients, but now it literally feels as though a terrorist organization has taken him capture and they are now using him and his great service as a doctor to fleece and rob his patients. So, if you got the time and the money to go in every time you need a refill every few weeks, this might be the place for you, because it seems like they'd be willing to do anything for the right price.
Sep 17th, 2023

I would not recommend this Dr. Stay away..not very good organization .DR.Porter was very rude and very inconsiderate...I went in to see the doctor on a schedule day and last time I had gone they got my visit mixed up with another location and wanted to charge me a late fee for a location I didnt go to? Then when I went in to see him for my blood wrk results I had a problem with my wrist or was hurting real bad I had no idea how it got that way but I was in pain..well when i asked Dr. porter if he could take a look at it..he said ..your here to discuss your blood work..you have to set up another appointment to see to come and see my hurting wrist that was in pain?...I said but I'm here sitting in front of you and he said no sir we have to set another appointment and he didnt even let me explain how I felt?...I then said well I need someone to see my problem and he refused to cause of that I was there for only bloodwork only? I got the feeling that my problem didnt mean anything to him and that they just wanted to collect from my insurance another visit ..but I was in front of him asking for help and he told me if I didnt like it? go see another doctor! ..I was very upset and said I probably go to an express med cause I couldn't get him to see my hurting pain?...as I was leaving..I needed my medical records and they told me after all I've been through I had to pay $50 to get my medical records..I was so hurt and not even helped and all they could do is set me up for another visit but why? when I'm already here in my so called Doctors office? And then I never yet had cancelled on my own or called them that I was opting out as a patient and still in pain now with no meds..I called to check on some meds and my status This Doctor cancelled me out himself cause he didnt like that I pointed out his way of running his group!.. he is a inconsiderate, money hungry doctor that squeezes your insurance visits into money instead of listening or caring for his patients needs..now I'mwithout meds and still hurting. .he didnt even know what I was hurting from and let me walk out like that after I said I needed a doctor to see my problem stay away from this Doctor..oh other people in waiting Room were complaining that they couldn't get there meds or reorder them cause they had to come see him from another location to re fill them on another doctor visit. ..This is the worse practice ever!!!
Sep 13th, 2023