Baystate Primary Care - Palmer - Palmer, Massachusetts

Jewell N.

Now 4 cancellations from this facility. Medical negligence! I am 73 years old and haven't seen a doctor in over a year. They said they called, I went to Susan Avery the practice manager to complain. I had to show her my phone and voice mail that I had received no messages of cancelation. She talked down to me as if I lied, I called every time I was left any kind of message. I finally said even a vet has emergency slots for this kind of thing. Only when I asked and complained did I get an appointment for tomorrow. I need my medications and you have to be seen. How can you be seen if they are constantly making excuses for their negligence. I had to call my blue cross and find another provider. Disgraceful, system broken. 6 months between visits, and they all make phenomenal money. Just awful. She said that I never returned calls, that is absolutely Not TRUE, be careful , complain, but that does not go anywhere, never got a message assuring me of resolution, Never got a call ever offering a resolution.

Elizabeth

I love my provider but dealing with this practice has become increasingly awful. Routine care is scheduled 7+ months out, then 1 week before your appointment they send you a LETTER in the mail telling you that your appointment has been canceled. Not even the courtesy of a phone call so you can reschedule right away. Then they try to stop refilling medications you have been on for decades because you are "overdue" for your physical - whose fault is that? Add in that they are rude on the phone and you will wait 90+ minutes for your appointment even if you arrive on time, and it is just a nightmare experience all around. I wish they would focus on patient care and not assembly line medicine!

Faith L.

This office is actually so terrible. I’ve been with Baystate since childhood. I had a psychiatrist through a separate practice and facility entirely who prescribed me my antidepressant/anti-anxiety medication. She left the practice after many years but informed me that my PCP would be able to fill my scripts for me. At that time Dr. Ortega took over filling my scripts. This went on fine for about a year, until recently I ran out and noticed CVS hadn’t acquired my refill due to not being able to reach my provider. I reached out to the office only to be told that they needed to see me for an appointment in order to fill my script as they’d not seen me since 2023. This would be fine if they hadn’t cancelled every appointment we’d previously made and rescheduled constantly throughout the time in which I wasn’t seen. The last time they cancelled I was sent a letter with no attempt to reschedule. I thought, “whatever”, and went on about my life. They informed me when I called the office recently that they would not be able to fill my script until I came in for an appointment, regardless on if I’d run out of my meds or not. Fine, I go to make an appointment, only to be told they don’t take my insurance (which I specifically called to ask if they took prior to accepting my new insurance, but they only take ONE specific plan and didn’t make that known) and I’d have to pay out of pocket. I ask if they can at least give me a week’s script in order for me to find a new provider in that time and not be without my meds, they told me that would be at Dr. Ortega’s discretion. She refused. This would not be such a big deal if I hadn’t been on these meds for well over 7 years, and never once had Dr. Ortega had anything to do (even remotely) with prescribing me these meds or determining my need to be on them. The office did not care at all about the importance of tapering off of a medication like this instead of stopping cold turkey to avoid adverse side effects, nor did they care about my absolute need to be on this medication. At no point during the three month supply I last had did they call, send a letter, or reach out to me via the patient portal (or CVS), to inform me of the fact that I would need to be seen to continue having my medication. I’ve now been off my antidepressants/anti-anxiety medication for a week, hard stop, with horrible side effects while I struggle to find a new provider and take care of myself. Shameful way to conduct business, careless, negligent, and harmful. Do better. No I will not reach out to your patient experience coordinators, they’ll probably tell me to schedule an appointment and pay out of pocket only to have that appointment cancelled.

Renee J.

I have a well documented paraesphogeal hernia and had an endoscopy to see if it has grown in size due to the fact I am having increased symptoms. “I informed” all medical staff that I met with that I knew I had one because when I last met with my surgeon 2 years ago I deferred surgery at that time. Dr Cobb did the procedure and said everything was fine and that there was no hernia or narrowing of my esophagus. I had a barium swallow before seeing him. I informed the girls doing the the barium swallow “several times” that I was there “to see if my hernia had increased in size” Their report did not confirm a hernia but did state that there was “narrowing of the distal esophagus “ However previous barium swallow clearly states I have a hernia. I called the office to discuss these discrepancies and they were rather rude with me - I then told them a hernia doesn’t just disappear!

I then obtained my records from my surgeons office so I could read his notes to see exactly what he wrote. My last 2 visits with him confirmed I had another hernia and that I had deferred surgery at this time which he agreed was okay to postpone at this time and we could redo a repeat endoscopy in the future to check the size and what the next step would be.

Greg

I called to check on my prescription that I need to keep myself from feeling deep depression. I was in the middle of informing the desk person VALERIE about this when she cut me off and said they can respond in 48 hours. I told her how serious it was and all it took was for my doctor to confirm it. She literally repeated the same thing like a robot and had no emotion what so ever. I asked for the supervisor and she said they weren’t available. Nobody has helped me and I do not have my medication today.

caleb F.

complaints should be forwarded to your insurance carrier and state. trying to workwith this office is awful. you feel harassed and you get very frustrated. out of 8 appointments 7 were canceled. trying to get missing paperwork forwarded to medical supply been a battle for 4 days. very unethical and negligent office.

Amanda K.

I love my Doctor at Baystate primary care! Dr. Abdelker is very attentive, and caring. The wait to be seen is not bad. I highly recommend Baystate primary care!

Joanne L.

My doctor quit and I was never notified. My appointments were just cancelled with no word to me. I could have found another doctor by now. But when I want to schedule a sick visit because I am dealing with a medical issue right now it turns out I have to go through months of wait to get a new patient appointment with someone else. I won’t be searching for another provider here. Also the phone assistance is less than eager to assist with scheduling or checking on appointments.