Scripps Clinic Encinitas

Worst Ever! I have been trying for over a year to get billing questions answered only to be pushed off to someone else or not have my calls returned. They cut you off on the phone to send it to the collections department which sends me back to them because they are not allowed to discuss the bill. Scripps know this which is why they they never return your calls so it gets sent to collections in the first place. The Billing department is very rude and unprofessional! They use codes on the bill that are not explained at all and they don’t think you should know what you are being billed for.

I have nothing bad to say about this Office, the staff has always been friendly. I’ve been coming to this office for 10 yrs. I loved my OB-​GYN Dr. Duhamel she was amazing always made me feel welcome and comfortable. I see 2 Primary doctors that I love… I would definitely recommend Dr. Simone and Dr. Bement if you are looking for family medicine doctor.

Review on the Billing Department only. The billing department doesn’t deserve even one star. I have tried for days to contact them. You are put on hold for approximately 20 to 30 minutes and then disconnected when they can’t get to your call. Or, as in my case, when I got through after multiple attempts on multiple days the representative couldn’t answer my question so his solution was to put me on hold until I was once again disconnected. I contacted my physician’s office to ask how I should handle the situation. The person in his office said she would call billing and ask them to contact me. Great idea, but there was no call back. I also agree with the reviewer who said to be careful how your insurance is documented before incurring charges. Once it’s done, you have no chance of correcting or changing what was submitted.
On the other hand the physicians and their staff have been very kind and helpful.

The doctor is good, but the front desk and billing is totally confused and makes multiple mistakes. Be extremely careful how your insurance is documented and how they are going to present your claim BEFORE incurring charges for services. They screwed up the billing codes and would not correct them, continuing to bill us for covered portions of our doctor’s visit. We are still fighting it. They are arrogant and inflexible. I have to take them to small claims court now. Be careful if you have insurance, and especially if you have Medicare with supplemental coverage.

Bad customer service of nurses in Dr. Gordon Kim office.
The nurses in Dr. Gordon Kim office are not attended to patients. I requested a medical record transfer for my coming appointment with Dr. Kim. I made a trip to the office to fill out a form 12 days before the appt. When I call to check for the record two days before seeing the doctor, the nurse had not sent out the form yet. Instead of apology, she was rude and hanged up the phone.

I really have nothing bad to say about the care I receive here. My doctor is Dr. Ross Langley who is very nice & very busy! There’s been a number of times where I show up for my appts but he’s been called away for emergencies, but you can’t get upset about a baby needing to be delivered! The staff here is also very friendly and try to take care of your needs as much as they can. I love my Scripps clinics & doctors!

I have had two terrible experiences at Scripps Encinitas in which two of my babies died (For more information, we are creating a website/​video encouraging Scripps to improve their care, to inform patients of infants deaths and as a memorial to those who have died, expected by the end of ¹⁄₂₀₁₅).
1. On 11/​23/​2010, I experienced cramping and bleeding while about 19 weeks pregnant and was referred to the Scripps ER. I asked the doctor to check the baby’s heartbeat first. He told me that the best way to see if the baby was okay was via an internal exam, during which he broke my amniotic sac with a huge gush. I would later learn you should never do invasive internal exams on a threatened miscarriage, because if could break the amniotic sac ensuring an otherwise salvageable baby will at worst die of infection (as could the mom) and at best would have deformities and no kidneys due to Potter Syndrome (the baby was healthy, this is just what happens with no fluid and an open sac).
From the ER medical records, he told me I was «nearly fully dilated, nearly fully effaced» and that «there is no fetal activity… and no evidence of a viable pregnancy at this point» and that there was «fetal demise.» When I was examine by an obstetrician right after this, I learned that NOTHING the ER doc had said was true: the baby WAS NOT DEAD and my cervix was barely open (2 – 3 cm per the records, with 10 cm being fully dilated). With my amniotic sac opened I could no longer have a rescue cerclage, a stitch in the cervix which can save similar pregnancies.
2. After horrible years of grief in which my weight dwindled to anorexic levels and I damaged my teeth extensively by grinding them due to stress, I went through a difflicult IVF, and conceived with a donor egg. I was so happy… I wanted so much to have good come out of bad. I knew I needed care from a physician with expertise in complicated pregnancies, and Scripps online info listed one. I had my concerns about returning to Scripps, but thought the prior mistake was an isolated incident. Sadly it wasn’t, and the care I received at the Sripps OB/​Gyn clinic was equally bad, including:
— I called for an appointment, and when asked something like «what brought to our clinic» I said I was a high-​risk patient due to a previous second trimester loss, I was entering the second trimester and this MD has experience in complicated pregnancies. I got off the phone thinking I had an appointment with an MD, but would find that they had scheduled my first visit with that MD for over two months later, and to a nurse until then. She didn’t mention this, and I didn’t ask because I could not imagine anyone would do that to a baby. (FYI, I chose midwives for my first pregnancies and highly recommend them… just not for high-​risk patients).
–At the 1^st visit I stated that I thought I had could have cervical insufficiency. The nurse did nothing to address this, but I thought that I would see an RN for the first visit, and a physician next time.
— When I called later out of concern that my cervix was opening and asked for an MD appointment, I was told to wait until they run my message by a clinician. I waited the rest of the day… no one called. After calling to remind them, I was told blood work had been ordered. I responded that to my best of my knowledge blood work would not show if my cervix was opening.
— Scripps did work me in for measurement, and I was told it was normal. The nurse also said she could measure my cervix every 2 weeks. I was reassured. I should not have been. Scripps own perinatalogist later told me that he had CI patients with a normal cervix in the morning who opened enough to lose the pregnancy later that same day. The RN didn’t mention this large limitation, didn’t advise me of the early signs of a cervix opening, and didn’t offer or discuss any potential treatments for CI, including non-​invasive ones like progesterone. She did say I was safe to travel.
— About a week after the normal measurement, while on a business trip, I lived every pregnant woman’s literal nightmare, my amniotic sac was almost falling out of me at an age too young to survive (19 weeks). At a nearby hospital, the staff asked me why I had refused cerclage after losing my prior pregnancy the exact same way, and seemed astonished when I said I was never offered one. My husband rushed by plane to hold his baby once before her little heart stopped beating — but was too late. She also was perfectly healthy and could have lived, as do 80 to 90% of CI pregnancies do with treatment.
My life has been irreversibly changed for the worse due to my experiences at Scripps. After the second baby died, I called the clinic anonymously and asked if a high risk patient would be seen by a MD or a nurse. I was cheerfully told that they might see an RN the first visit, but of course would then be care

The doctors are great. The staff is great. The billing? A hot mess. Been going to this facility for almost 20years. I’ve seen lots of changes, but not in the billing department. Payments don’t get posted for WEEKS so you never know what you REALLY owe, and thus overpay and good luck getting that money back. They want to give you a credit on your account. Well, I can’t buy groceries with a credit on my account. I have no earthly idea why the billing department has been messed up for almost 20 years. And you have several bills coming from different places that ALL LOOK THE SAME so be sure and read the fine print, your account number, the zip code where the payment goes, etc etc etc. Ugh.

Just set up with a new primary care doc and was referred to Dr. Bannach at Scripps. I’ll review him separately (He’s great!) and just review the clinic here. When making the appointment, everything was super streamlined. The staff was friendly and made things very clear and easy, so when I arrived I just presented my insurance card and was in. Parking is ample and easy, the clinic is clean and cozy and does not have that medical/​chemical feel. The only complaint I could even have is that I waited an extra half hour before I was actually seen by the doctor — but then, has anyone ever had a medical doctor run consistently on time? So far I am a huge fan of Scripps!