Mark Hoffman, MD

I visited Dr. Hoffman today for an unsightly mark on my bald head. (It wasn’t malignant, thanks for asking!) Besides checking for cancer, I had heard that it could be frozen off.
I had only a short wait in the waiting room, and I was overjoyed that I didn’t have to provide insurance documents or update my information or health history. Since both Dr. Hoffman & my primary care physician are affiliated with Rush Medical Center, my electronic medical record is one and the same.
A nurse saw me first, took my blood pressure and asked me some basic questions (e.g., how long I’d had it). Then a resident came in & took a look for the primary assessment. He then got Dr. Hoffman to do confirm is diagnosis. I only waited about 5 minutes each time.
Dr. Hoffman was very clear in my options – to have it «frozen off» or to do nothing. The risks of removing it were that it might remain discolored, in a different way, it could take months to heal, and insurance wouldn’t reimburse the $ 200 fee (and a potential second treatment). A lot of docs might see this as an income opportunity; Dr. Hoffman didn’t try to sway me either way – only to give me all the options. He was not rushed at all (even though he works at Rush – sorry!).
I feel that I need to comment on the previous reviewer:
1. This is a busy practice with a lot of docs – I doubt they pay attention to what’s on TV in the waiting room, nor would I want them to. The clerks likely put on what they think people will like. It’s not fair to ding the doctor for this.
2. Unless the reviewer scheduled a full body scan in addition to his or her primary «most important single item» when he/​she made the appointment, one can’t expect the doc to take the time for it. With declining reimbursement, docs have to schedule their time very efficiently & get limited reimbursement from payors. If I’m at work and someone schedules a 15-​minute meeting with me and tells me at the beginning of the meeting that they want me to spend a half hour, it’s unlikely to happen (& I would find it to be rude, esp. if it would make me late for my next meeting). My day has already been scheduled. Tell me upfront if you need 30 minutes.
3. It’s too bad that that the reviewer didn’t know how university hospitals work – maybe the offices should be better about that. Always expect to see residents, and they’re no longer «students” – they are already MDs. The trade-​off of seeing them is that teaching hospitals tend to be the most-​advanced places for care («tertiary care»), and the physicians tend to be on the leading edge, doing research and teaching. Dr. Hoffman is an assistant professor at Rush.
4. Dr. Hoffman seemed so personable that it’s hard for me to imagine that he was so evil that day. If the reviewer had the same in-​going attitude presented here, I can see the physician wanting to get the hell out of there. Maybe the doc should have at least taken the time to diagnosis a hair up the reviewer’s ass.
Needless to say, I highly-​recommend Dr. Hoffman.

Rather than write a traditional review here I’ll just paste my letter to Dr. Mark Hoffman after a visit to his office and in () I’ll clarify the issues.
Dr. Hoffman:
I’m writing to express my disappointment with the level of care I received during my last visit and my experience in your waiting room.
I’ll start with the waiting room:
Can you please change the channel from Jerry Springer to anything else? Perhaps the fascinating Discovery Channel series Planet Earth or something? It’s tough to sit through 30+ minutes (Very Long Waiting times) of America’s lowest class of people screaming at each other on volume (Very loud TV with no controls). If you wouldn’t watch it yourself please don’t subject your patients to watching that kind of trash. It’s not healthy for anyone especially the children in the waiting room.
Onto my main disappointments: Obviously I was thrilled to hear my name called to a patient room even if I had to wait another 30 minutes to be seen (total wait time was more than an hour), so I could escape the screaming from the Jerry Springer Show. And then the door opened. It was a resident, who did not introduce himself as such, but should have. When he asked me why I came in I informed him about the single item that was the most important and then told him that I also came for a full-​body scan to search for anything that may be of concern.
When his response to that was, «the Doctor is too busy for that today,» I was offended and taken aback. Why then would I have made, and been granted, an appointment and taken time out of my day to be seen if the doctor is «too busy that today»?
I would expect that if you’re too busy, then you would have one of the five people behind the desk call me prior to my appointment and ask me to reschedule. It’s that simple.
When you came in and granted me more time than your resident suggested you’d have, I was pleased, but as my visit continued I was increasingly disturbed that you were using my body as an educational tool for the resident (who still never introduced himself as a student) rather than talking to me directly.
If my body is going to be used as an educational tool for residents I’d really appreciate a payment rather than having to pay myself. I understand the importance of new physician training but during the course of that training would it be too much to ask that you talk directly to me about my body and not directly to the resident the entire time?
When you noticed one issue on my body you pointed it out to your resident and didn’t take a second to explain to me what it was, or what actions I could take to alleviate it.
Furthermore, there were four occasions that you and/​or your resident left me in the waiting room with the door wide open without regard to my privacy. My pants were down, my shirt was off and there were several patients and employees walking down the hall. This was less offensive than the last time I came in your office and there were piles of scraped skin all over the patient bed where I was told to sit and wait.
On my most recent visit, I felt like a CPR training dummy for your resident. I expect a greater level of care than what I received that day.
I’m aware of the insane schedule doctors have to keep these days, but there must be a way to slow down when you’re with each patient (Doctor too zero time to talk to me or look in my eyes and address my concerns) so the appropriate level of care and thoughtfulness can be given to each patient.
I sincerely hope that this note will help inspire you to think about each human being who walks into your office as such, a human being, rather than a number.
Very sincerely,
A patient you will never see again.
Do not go here. It is terrible.
I always like to provide an answer when I leave a poor review for a place that gets it right. So here it is. Dr. Meyer Horn, MD. Amazing! No wait times, great bedside manner and no annoying billing you get from Northwestern Internists and Rush.
Instead, please visit Dr. Meyer Horn MD
Dermatology & Aesthetics of Wicker Park
1455 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 2^nd Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60 642
P: 773.276.1100