UPMC St. Margaret

Clean, friendly, great patient care. Medical arts building has a wide variety of both primary care and specialists all under one roof.

I was diagnosed by a nearby urgent care facility with a left ankle fracture (an avulsion fracture, which is a fracture where the ligament tears off a piece of bone — I basically rolled over my foot while walking home) on May 28 and quickly got a needed appointment on May 29 with the orthopedist at St. Margaret). It was the only appointment available so soon, and I definitely needed help.
The fracture was evaluated, and I was fitted for a boot. I was given another appointment five weeks later and told to be as non-​active as possible, stay off of it even with the boot almost all the time, even when I called in I was told to not do any exercise until the next appointment! That turned out to be overprotective advice as I did two things — first, I made another appointment at the Kaufman building’s orthopedist where a great doctor told me that the injury on a scale of 0 to 10 was a 2. St. Margaret made no such evaluation.
The Kaufman building’s doctor (which I believe is considered UPMC Presbyterian or Montefiore) ordered immediate physical therapy, so the second thing done was to start a regimen of physical therapy at UPMC Sports Medicine and they more sensibly gave me latitude to strengthen the healing bone, and I was cleared for exercise by my third visit. Had I listened to Orthopedics at St. Margaret, none of this would have happened, and it would have taken several more weeks to heal.
I received the bill in the mail more recently. There was an $ 830 charge for «surgical services» at this appointment along with the dr.‘s visit charges. (I am only responsible for $ 52, so my then-​insurance company paid a great deal. But it is the principle of the thing.) When I called the hospital billing office, first I was told that it was for «closing the fracture.» It took several more calls to determine that this was an allowable charge for fitting the boot according to CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services). I am fine paying the bill, but it would be a nice gesture if UPMC office actually were to confirm that $ 830 was what the boot cost. Calling it «closing the fracture» appears fraudulent, and I thought it was. There is a lack of transparency.
I would say do not go to St. Margaret Orthopedics UNLESS you need to be seen immediately and no one else has any openings. It is very hard to get appointments for Orthopedics and the fact that St. Margaret had a vacancy and the fact that it’s not a teaching hospital should tell you something.

This is not a complaint about the hospital itself our the doctors. The doctors are great. My complaint is the nursing staff. And this is based on three experiences. They are rude. They act as if you are making them go out of their way and not like it’s their job. My mom need to use the rest room she hit the button and 20 minutes later still no one. So I went out to find someone and told the nurse who gave me attitude. You can claim all you want to the supervisor but nothing gets done. It’s almost getting to the point where they expect to be paid for doing nothing. It’s sad really.

I have came here before to the ER and to just get blood work done. I have to say that my blood work and other lab tests went by very smoothly and the nurse was great at talking my blood without leaving a bruise or really hurting me. However, my ER experience was a little less comfortable. I wasn’t a fan of my first nurse as he was a little rough with my veins. I had a pretty sizable bruise the remaining of the week. The doctor was nice and understanding and gave me fluids/​nausea meds through IV immediately. It was a bit of a wait after my first bag of fluids had been finished, but luckily I had my best friend and boyfriend there to keep me company. Overall I think the ER was a little slow, but it’s understandable if they were busy and understaffed.

Recently visited Friend, who had a hip replaced at St. Margaret’s. As a visitor, I would not normally add my two cents to review, but I must!
I was there for two hours and in that time there were some pretty amazing healthcare professionals popping in, inquiring on comfort levels, explaining how the surgery went from various viewpoints, giving detailed expectations of the healing process and generally reassuring Friend that nothing was amiss and the healing process was well underway.
I’ll say it was — every member of the staff seemed to be genuinely invested in Friend’s happy, calm and worry-​free recovery!
Other areas: Parking was easy and clearly marked. The facility is certainly not sprawling, but the hall markers were easy to follow.
Way to go, St. Margaret’s– Thanks for the great care. — I am now a fan!