Cheryl D Ackerman Md

Reviews 4

A

A Private User

The most unprofessional doctors office Ive ever been to - from the staff all the way through the doctor herself. I went to Dr. Ackerman because of her convenient location near my work and home, and probably tolerated the incompetence for too long simply because it was easy to get to. From unnecessary tests to long waits for appointments, and everything in between, something unprofessional happened each time I visited or called. Two egregious incidents come to mind - for a skin infection, Dr. Ackerman prescribed an antibiotic, but when I filled it at the pharmacy, they couldnt read the number of pills prescribed. The number looked like 80, but the pharmacist knew it couldnt be right. After calling the office (and waiting 15 minutes during regular business hours for an answer), the pharmacist finally spoke to a secretary, who then spoke to the doctor, who then confirmed that it should be 80 pills. The pharmacist looked at me in disbelief - 80 pills would have been enough antibiotics for over a month - but filled the prescription per her request. The pharmacist warned me to consult with the doctor again because there was no way I should take a months worth of antibiotics. At the follow-up appointment, I asked when I should stop taking the antibiotics, and Dr. Ackermans response was "whenever you think you should." I was dumbfounded - every doctor Ive ever been to has always given a very specific amount of time to take a medication, especially antibiotics. When I pressed her to really give me an answer, she stuck to "when you want to." I had to guess how long to take it, and needless to say, I have an almost full bottle of antibiotics just sitting in my medicine cabinet. For that same series of appointments, I started to get bills in the mail indicating that I had not paid for my visits. Since I have insurance, and had previously visited Dr. Ackerman several times before without a problem, I was surprised to see a bill sent directly to me for late payment. I called her office to confirm my insurance information, but was informed that the billing employee was not available at the time, and that I would receive a follow up call. The only thing I received was another bill. I called again - same thing. A third bill arrived - I called again, and insisted that I speak to their billing person, who again was unavailable. After securing a promise that my information would be taken down and given to the billing representative, still no call. Instead, I received a "final" bill from the office claiming that if I did not pay, my bill would be sent to collection. After yet another call with the same result, I decided that I would never again deal with Dr. Ackerman or her office. Havent heard anything from their office or a collection agency - Im assuming that if they even did contact an agency, they probably brushed Dr. Ackermans office off after simply asking, "Did you forget to bill his insurance?" The doctor and the office staff are incompetent - Im surprised that the practice is still operating. Dont waste your time there - there are lots of other dermatologists that have professional standards and a staff that knows how to run a medical office.

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RH

Rhonda Bombs

Terrible experience with this doctor, awful. I went to her 3x giving her the benefit of the doubt each time and with each time, I was still disappointed. First - her office is unclean (both the waiting room and her own office where she "looks" at you) - there were ants crawling on the water filter and the cups, and her office is very dusty. Second, her staff is very unhelpful and seems uninterested in anything but collecting your information and collecting your co-pay. Third, the wait is ridiculously long - Ive waited for over an hour in just the waiting room alone. But the most awful part of this doctor is the doctor herself. She has terrible bedside manners, is not compassionate, hardly takes a glance at you, doesnt listen to anything you say, doesnt ask any pertinent questions, and seems more interested in collecting your money and shoving you out so she can do something other than help patients. I have gone three times and this has been the case every single time - Ive gone in, waited long, seen her as she smiled and pretended to know who I was (asking me how I was without ever once using my name), waited while she looked at me with a magnifying glass and then turned away. She makes you feel very uncomfortable, rushed, and unimportant. And for the responses to the negative comments claiming that these complaints are untrue - is she really proposing that people are writing false complaints about their poor experience? Instead of refuting these legitimate grievances, she should clean her office and go back to school to develop some bedside manners. As far as her knowledge of her specialty is concerned, I couldnt tell you as an hour of waiting and 15 minutes of speaking to her isnt much to go on. Find another doctor and dont waste your time with her.

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A

A Private User

I also read these reviews but figured she couldnt be THAT bad, also couldnt find a derm that took my insurance that was also open late nights which I need. She is actually worse than you can even imagine. I went for a simple reason..had a rash on my hand that spread to the other. I thought it was ringworm so I wanted to get an antibiotic. She wound up taking a biosy which was extremely painful and said she would call in a few days with the results but I should also make an appt. to go back in two weeks. Well, she never called, so I just went to my appointment as scheduled. First, they couldnt find my chart, as well as 2 other patients charts. Patients waiting before me had been there for over an hour before being seen. Finally the Dr saw me and she said the results werent in even though they usually take a few days. She called lapcorp and had me wait some more because apparently lap corp couldnt find them either. She sent me home and said she would call with the results. Side note, this place is not convenient to get to for me. Also she doesnt listen to patients...i must have told her five times what my phone number was. And also to call my cell, obviously she called my house line. She also asks the same questions over and over and just forgets she asked already or forgot what you answered. I cant even explain how insane she is. Wouldnt you call a patient first to inform them that theyre results werent even in yet so they shouldnt make the trip in to the office? She is so scatterbrained it really scares me how she ever won any awards for dermatology.

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A

A Private User

So the last reviewer waited 70 minutes, well guess what. We waited ONE-HOUR-AND-FORTY-FIVE minutes... Also with an appointment! This doctor did not even make eye contact when you spoke. She was very insensitive and actually had my wife and I feeling a loss of words by her rudeness. She brushed off the skin condition, ignored the medical history, almost answered the phone while we were speaking, and even made faces and shrugged her shoulders when she was looking at my wifes legs. This office reminded me of an assembly-line with patients being pumped in and out just to make more $$$. If this woman would have spent just five minutes of quality, open eared, caring time, with any patient...more could be learned from us, leading to further "$ales", and probably more referral$...Just awful. PLUS, as if we wanted to be there any longer at this point, the assistant charged me just pennies for the copay, by accident... then tried getting our debt card pin number, to complete the transaction... then told us she would just have to bill us for the remaining ca$h. Ugh. And now were supposed to "follow-up" with them in 2 weeks if the medicine prescribed doesnt work within the next 2 days. Great. Makes sense, huh?

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