Wills Eye Hospital

Reviews 6

MA

Mary Theresa Schmidt Taylor

I was treated there in the emergency room. Yes, I had to wait, but it was totally worth it to be able to see a specialist. The medical experience I had was excellent. And it was not as long a wait as my husband had in the eye emergency room in London, UK, where he, too, got excellent treatment. Also in comparison regarding the clinic itself (which I will experience shortly accompanying my sister), I have had many visits and treatments at NIH, which has a similar system. Yes, you see technicians and fellows first. (Fellows are usually brilliant board-certified experienced private practice physicians who competed for and won a fellowship at the institutes. They look young to me because I am in my 60s.) But the scheduling of all those tests and fellows may well have been done ahead of time by the expert, who looked at your chart in the morning and decided what tests you needed. You see him/her for a few minutes after theyve reviewed your test results. People from all over the world come to these institutes, if they are lucky. We are very fortunate to be in areas where these hospitals are handy (DC & Philly). I would suggest we give them a good rating and advocate for them to get more resources. These doctors see patients with many non-eye diseases simply because a thorough eye exam can reveal systemic things that other diagnostic tests cannot. They should be well-resourced, not sparingly resourced - with room to practice. Hopefully any hospital renovations will provide the room. Thats what happened at NIH.

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A Private User

Im an eye cancer patient. This place is like a factory running on fumes. They lack spaces *everything is cramped and people stumble over each other and treatment rooms are in very short supply and badly managed. Just getting an appointment is a pain. Unless you know someone there it can take months. Then when you get there you get mainly seen by rookie doctors and techs. The big guys will see you a couple of minutes at best and they usually let patients wait for hours. Count on being here all day and not because you are being tested all day. Some techs are very nice, some are very rushed (I do not envy them in the cramped space they work). The diagnosis was confusing and, while they noted urgency in one of my problems they did not get me to see an expert on that while they do have them there. Instead they sent me back home to look for an expert there. It seems that for them their day ends at 3 pm or 3.30 pm, which is usually the time when you cannot reach them by phone anymore afterwards. The rookie doctor tries to put contrast in my veins through my hand, a most painful unnecessary method, especially since my veins were fine to use. He also seemed quite unhappy and stressed. One of their photography experts is a gem, but he is the exception. Youre merely a number here not a human being with specific needs. I know they are considered the experts in their field of ocular oncology, but it looks like the focus on research has trumped the primary goal of taking care of patients first.

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JA

Jae

If I could give it less than one star, I would. It was the worst health care experience Ive ever had to go through. The first time, I thought the poor experience was just a fluke - every business has a bad day - but my next appointment was just as bad, if not worse, than my first. Both times, I arrived at my appointment about 15-20 minutes early so I could fill out sign in, fill out paperwork, etc. The first time, I was seen TWO HOURS after my scheduled appointment time and the second time, I waited OVER TWO HOURS and then just left. Both times, I went to the front desk to ask them when I would be seen and they said "Youll been seen when youre seen. There are people ahead of you." Yes, thank you, I know there are people ahead of me, but my appointment time was two hours ago and I would appreciate if the staff could acknowledge my two hour wait and apologize. But no. No apology, no reason as to why they were late. On my second appointment, I was told that there were eight people ahead of me (after I asked), I asked what times their appointment was for - and they were all the same appointment time as me. Why on earth would they schedule *NINE* people (including me) for the same appointment time when they only have HALF that amount of doctors? It isnt rocket science. 9 patients > 5 doctors. Gee, maybe they should reduce the amount of patients they schedule. And get people working at the front desk who are not contenders of Rudest Person Alive (theyre all winners there).

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CH

Chris Wenner

Went to the general eye care clinic. The receptionist dont greet you or explain to you as to what to do. I found a sign in board and sign in. We sat in the waiting room for 2 hours, I asked what was going on and they said we didnt sign in, I showed them the sign in board where we had signed in on line 2. They misplaced our paperwork so we had to sign in again, this time on line 9. So now there are 6 people ahead of us, because they didnt move us back to the position we should have been. Finally got to see the intern and she put plugs in my wifes eyes and prescribed Restasis for her dry eye. Then we had to wait another hour to see the attending physician. So we went to leave the parking deck and the bill was $24 as Wills only give you a $4 discount. So we went home and she started using the Restasis and a Restasis commercial came on it stated not to use Restasis in conjunction with eye plugs. When I called none of the Doctors knew that you werent suppose to use them together. Reason being is the Restasis ineffective when used together with eye plugs. Will never go back there, they are horrible. I dont understand how they got the ratings they have.

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KA

Karen May

This is for customer service only not the eye care received. When I recently called to make an appointment, the receptionist was very rude and not compassionate or caring about my situation. I have had an eye injury 2 years ago and have been to Wills over 10 times. I dont need an interrogation when I try to make an appt. I know what type of appt I need and how my course of treatment should be. She actually tried to bully me into making an appt for a laser procedure that I am not ready to proceed with because "it was in my chart" . Also told me that I didnt need a new eyeglass prescription since it expires in May. I had to explain that with my injury my sight is constantly changing and yes I do need a new eyeglass prescription. I shouldnt have to justify my reasons for scheduling a follow up appt. Also when you get there some of the staff is pretty rude as well. I do have to say the Drs. are wonderful but back office customer service is not professional and leaves much to be desired. Its a disgrace and I think Wills could do better with some training and revamp of their staff.

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C Ann

First I will say that I never have to wait a long time. BUT to be FORCED to pay a HUGE amount up FRONT before IM seen is WRONG. I do not have a co-pay. I should not be charged before Im seen. I should NOT be charged before services are rendered. Is that legal? The insurance woman charged me an Estimate" from a previous visit a year ago. I was forced to pay or NOT be seen. How about that? Last year I disputed the amount. I think its wrong to force this upfront. I have insurance and they pay. This is pretty sad that Wills does this...esp for folks who travel a long way there and need to make payments after the insurance pays my other part. As we all know insurance premiums and monthly payments are through the roof...I wont be going back there...and thats too bad..so no more $$$$ for them from me.

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