University of Washington Medical Center

I’m really impressed with my friend’s doctor. Peter C. Neligan. This guy really went to bat for my friend with her health insurance company, who has been giving her a difficult time because they were claiming the surgery is cosmetic — it’s not! He’s really thorough, took a specialized MRI, asked a boatload of questions, took measurements, etc., etc., etc…
So, he’s a plastic surgeon, however he does lymph node bypass and liposuction to try to correct lipoedema (also spelled lipedema). I won’t even try to explain what that is, only to say, «Google it.» I’m sure there are more women running around with this condition than are aware!!! More health care professionals are becoming aware of this disease, but it’s still in its infancy. Dr. Neligan is the head (and probably only) qualified honcho in the Pacific Northwest who deals with this illness. Great doc!!!

I guess time will tell, as I’m seeing a new specialist here for a pretty tricky situation. First of all…45 minutes to find parking. Not exaggerating. I’m so glad I left early. It was very, very difficult to find parking. I don’t know what to do to solve that, but that isn’t good for people who need medical care to suffer that kind of inconvenience and stress.
Then, saw an intern (of course, this is a teaching clinic). Very nice intern. However, when I read her notes on-​line later, they weren’t accurate to the conversation that we had — just a little bit off. Details were skewed and my medications weren’t taken down accurately, even though I had written them out on my intake paperwork (which no one looked at).
Visit with the specialist seemed rather rushed, but I was able to slow her down and get her to answer most of my questions. Some of my symptoms were dismissed and waved off as «not being related» to this condition (although one can read on multiple medical sites and from other patients that these are, indeed, related symptoms!)
Was told I was being referred to another specialist, which I did need. Over a week later, when I checked with that next specialist, the referral had not been received. When I checked with this office, the referral had not been sent. I am several weeks out now, and still nothing. Sigh…
Wish I could give a better review. I really liked the doctor, but in the end, I’ve definitely had better treatment. I felt like I didn’t matter. It’s a weird space to be in when I grew up with doctors who were my neighbors and friends and I wasn’t just an anonymous number.

I was billed twice (in two separate bills) for a 20 minute skin cancer consultation and screening. $ 212 for the physician and $ 198 for the facilities. The second bill came seven months after service. I would be very wary of going there again unless I knew up front what the charges would be. (And how much!). The doctors were friendly but the bill was definitely an unpleasant surprise.

This is kind of a split the difference review. I have found most of the attending physicians I’ve dealt with as well as the tenured teaching medical faculty to be absolutely outstanding. If I were rating on the permanent professional doctors there my rating would be 5+. On the other side of the coin, the billing department of UW Medicine is abysmal at accuracy and customer service. Their billing department rates a –0 rating. They just can’t get it right. They can’t figure out how to bill insurance (so they send me bills for full payment, then insurance pays, then they issue a refund check to me for the portion insurance paid), they can’t figure out how to tell me my co-​pay, they can’t figure out how to apply my payments to my bill (I mean I sent them my payment with their remittance slip in their envelope and they applied it to a different bill, then sent the original bill to collections which negatively impacted my credit rating), and they can’t figure out how to be helpful on the phone when I call to tell them we have issues. Inpatient facilities are outdated and decrepit, though the new surgery pavilion is a nice facility. The registered nurses are great. The scheduling folks are clueless to the point that most of the specialty clinics withhold appointment times from the central schedulers so they can actually help patients with immediate needs, You essentially have to collect the direct numbers of the clinics you use when you’re there in person, because there’s no other way I know of to get in direct contact using web or UW Directory services. The medical students, interns, residents, fellows and post-​docs are all incredibly bright, but they’re trainees, most with a narrow focus on their future specialties. The problem with this is that it can be very difficult to find the doctor who is actually responsible for your well being, and that doctor may not exist if your case is complicated. By that I mean that the nephrologists only care about kidney function, pulmonologists only care about oxygenation and lung function, cardiologists focus on heart function, etc. and they’re all consulting on your case but no one is necessarily putting it all together in a coherent treatment plan and no one is paying attention to the psychosocial impact of your illness and hospitalization on you as it’s happening. As an inpatient here, you need a smart, knowledgeable, and persistent advocate who shows up every day for rounds and participates in your care, because you may be too out of it to follow everything that’s going on and what decisions are being made. All that said, though, when you have the attention of the permanent faculty and physicians, you’re getting first rate, evidence based medical care most of the time. The emergency room is a madhouse, and their ability to assess you rapidly and get you the care you need quickly is severely limited. To be fair, this particular problem is partly the result of Swedish, Virginia Mason, Overlake, Evergreen and all the other for profit medical centers in the region rejecting charity care cases and forwarding them to UWMC and Harborview. But it’s also the result of having a hoarde of medical students, residents, fellows and post-​docs doing the triage without sufficient or immediate oversight by an attending or permanent faculty member. Some of the specialty clinics, like allergy for example, may only have one board certified faculty member: they seem to exist at UWMC because they think they have to have one but it’s an afterthought. All of this said, I won’t go anywhere else. You have to work the system really hard, and it’s hard work, and if you’re really sick take someone with you to work the system or they’ll leave you on a chair for eight hours in the emergency room with a shattered elbow in excruciating pain while they wait for X-​ray, or for the on call orthopedist to answer the page, or the E.R. attending to validate the resident’s diagnosis, or whatever chronic inebriate with the delirium tremens to be tased by the campus police because he assaulted a nurse.

My second most hated organization to do business with (Comcast is the worst). I like the doctors, nurses and other people but their billing system is a horror. You get multiple bills, bills from the doctor, bills for the facility, bills for the lab, bills for the other providers like anesthesiologist. The bills don’t all come at once, they come spread out over weeks so you are never quite sure when they are done. Then you have to pay them all separately and if something goes wrong deal with each group separately. I would gladly pay a premium if they would aggregate the multiple party bills into a single bill, payment and customer care organization. I make appointment and they get all the parties together for the care, why can’t billing be managed this way?

Horrible customer service experience when scheduling appointments. They take down your information, say they’ll it’s being reviewed and they’d call you back. Nobody ever calls you back. When you try reaching them, they say they have no record of you in the first place. Tons of time wasted.

My review is on the working here. I come here every now and then picking up patients and transporting them to someone else. The buildings are ridiculously big and sometimes confusing. The Front desk help is very friendly and very good at knowing which way to go if you are lost.
I have been to a few floors here and they are usually always friendly, kind, and actually caring towards the patients. A lot of the nurses joke around with the patients and have the patients smiling such a beautiful smile. It is good to know how caring they can be no matter how stressful the job.
Don’t get me wrong, some of them can be cocky and it is annoying. But that does come with the job of having to do with peoples lives in your hands. But that only happens every now and then when someone is really really stressed. Which is usually Met By an apology. (very rarely has that happened.)
The parking is ridiculously horrible. There needs to be away to park a lot better in the front of the building. Or they need to at least figure out how to monitor it a lot more closely. So far my experiences here have been good. I’ve heard many great things about UW and what they do. I hope they get even more workers you continue to do a good job from what I have seen and experienced so far. My rating is a four because I have luckily been blessed with being healthy so have not needed to use the actual hospital. Also because the parking is terrible. Other than that very good hospital.

Their billing is ridiculous high for pelvic ultrasound exam. And they didn’t tell you the cost before you do the exam. I trusted this facility and that’s why I chose it over overlake medical center even overlake offered me $ 270 instead of $ 652 in uw medicine. However, the final bill is $ 652 plus $ 511 (transvaginal ultrasound) without telling me there were two charges. More ridiculous is the pelvic ultrasound only took 3 to 4 minutes and then its transvaginal ultrasound which took about 10 minutes. All exam time is only 15 minutes around and cost $ 1000. If I knew that I would go to overlake medical center right away.

The doctors who are very good thought I might have a clot so I need an ultrasound. But the medical center decided not to staff one in the evening. Yes, a medical center doesn’t have an ultra sound available! So they shot me with a clot buster and had me come back in the morning. I did and it wasn’t a clot. Perfect. So, you were poorly staffed and then shot me up with a drug I didn’t need. Now to boot they incorrectly billed me and have to file a grievance to have them consider taking it off.
If you need a well– equipped hospital keep looking. But Shout out to Courtney and Hope and all the Dr.‘s They did the best they could with what they were given

Watch out for double billing — doctor and facility fees get charged separately and may not be covered under your insurance! Get a quote for anything prior to going for outpatient/​office visits.
For inpatient, watch out for roving doctors «drive by doctors» that may come to your room and try to see you (and bill you) — only work with your own doctor and nurses. Tell them to leave.

What can I say…
I’d rather go to Evergreen in Kirkland.
I’d rather go to Overlake in Bellevue.
I’d rather go to Swedish in Seattle.
I’ve had waaaaaay too many physicians at UW and have ALWAYS had to utilize the services of another hospital after UW blew it for one reason or the other. If, and when, I can refrain from UW, I do.

I had a medical problem due to a medication I had been on for a while. I was soooo sick, and had made one trip very late at night to another Seattle ER a few days before.
Then just a week later, I had to go to the UWMC ER at mid day on the advice of my Primary Care doctor. I was soooo sick. I wasn’t in any real physical danger, but imagine just feeling your absolute worst! I had forgotten to bring my I.D. with me and the woman checking me in was kind and understanding about that… and said ‘no problem’!
Everyone there was amazing, from the nurses, to the medical student who stayed by me for awhile to reassure me, to the attending M.D.‘s, …and a social worker;…they were all wonderful!
Yes, I did get the help I needed and though I realize that my medical issue wasn’t a true emergency… they still treated me with great care, concern, and professionalism!

My review is for a first visit to their Emergency Room.
I called ahead first and asked what the wait time would be to visit the ER. I had symptoms that had persisted for several hours and was at the point of needing medical attention. I live in the area and did not feel like driving downtown. They said I could be seen upon my arrival.
I came in and was placed in a room right away. I was seen very quickly. I thought the staff were quite nice and helpful. However, this is a teaching hospital so most of the nurses/​student doctors are all very young and do not have much experience.
My main issue is this: A nurse came in and took out my IV. She threw it in the regular trash. My bloody IV was sitting on top of the full garbage; airborne and in plain sight. One more nurse came in right before I was leaving and I pointed it out to her. She looked at it, looked at me, shrugged and went back to her desk. I purposefully took my time to see if anyone would come back in and properly dispose. No one came.
I find the improper disposal of biohazard materials disconcerting. Was this an isolated incident? Why did the nurse not put some gloves on and throw it away? Or, why did she not alert someone? Are the students and staff not being properly trained on proper waste disposal methods? I am hope that someone in Administration sees this and takes action as this is a very serious issue.

I came to the ER, and they were quick to take care of me. I was there no more then an hour in and out.

I cannot speak to the facility from a patient perspective, but from a student perspective, this institution is wonderful! The attendings who work with the medical school really care for the patients at this hospital and make sure that the care of the patient comes first.

*Review is for the UWMCER*
I cut my finger pretty deep so I needed to have it looked at. I didnt want to come to the ER but I had to… Ugh!
Im going to write the CliffsNotes version of this.
–1^st time visiting an ER since I was a kid.
–Came here early evening, park in the parking garage, follow the signs to where you need to go. Signage isnt very clear though.
–Say hi to the security guard that sits up front, he will direct you to the actual check-​in area of the ER
–Register with lady, go sit in the waiting room. Only 2 people in there.
–They called my name in 10 minutes of watching tv, get Triage’d by 2 nurses.
–They take you to your ER room, you sit and wait… like 20 – 30 minutes.
–Say hi to some volunteer student that is saying hi to all the patients to get experiece if he wants to work at an ER later on in his college career. Dood was actually real nice & friendly.
–Nurse comes in, checks you out again from what the Triage people did. Leaves room and doesnt come back for a while.
–Doctor and the Attending Physician come in to ask you the same info the triage, the nurse asked you. This is your time to tell them why you are here… AGAIN.
–at least 60 minutes pass from the nurse, attending physician coming in & out of the room.
–After about 2.5 hours they finally address my cut.
–AP was nice to talk to, but she kept on getting interrupted so she had to stop what she was doing and leave me. I get it, its an ER but it seemed pretty quiet in there and I didnt see a whole lot of patients.
–it only took about 20 minutes to get me all cleaned & patched up
–Insurance lady needs my insurance card, personal info during when Im getting attended to.
–I give her all my particulars… she doesnt come back for 30 minutes, I actually forgot she had my stuff.
–AP is done with me, nurse comes back to recap the visit
–Insurance lady comes in and makes me sign stuff
–Get the ok to start gathering my stuff
–Cant discharge because I havent signed the discharge sheet
–wait 10 minutes, nurse is no where, cant discharge until she brings me discharge sheet.
–10 more minutes… Peek my head out the door, still cant discharge
–5 more minutes… I go to the desk to ask if I can leave. No, I havent signed the discharge.
–Some other nurse comes in to finally discharge me.
–3 hours & 20 minutes later, I finally am able to leave.
I dont plan on going to an ER unless I really really have to. I went there for a cut, if they actually attended to me, I would’ve been in & out in probably 45 minutes. I had a similar feeling like when you go get your car serviced, and they try to find other things wrong. Insurance lady is nice but I really dont know how they calculate what I owed, I questioned her a lot on how she came up with her math, she couldnt answer it and just said «this is what you owe». She wouldnt show me a breakdown. But I signed anyways. I saw 8 different ER staff during my visit, plus 1 volunteer student=9 people. Do I really need to see that many different staff? When leaving I ask about parking validation… she says parking is «validated». I give the guy my «validated» ticket… I owe $ 5. Whatever… I want to go home.

In July I sprained my ankle playing basketball, I went home to elevate and ice it, and took some ibuprofen. The next day I determined that this was a fairly severe injury so I scheduled and appointment at Hall Health. I got in, got x-​rayed, and got an appointment for Physical Therapy. I finally got the Bill… $ 991. My insurance company says I only owe $ 601 for PT and $ 137 for X-​rays… I know its «only $ 250», but as a Grad Student who is already in 60K+ debt and making minimum wage I wish they would have told me PT was going to cost so much. They made it seem like it wouldn’t be so expensive and acted really surprised when I canceled further PT because I can’t afford to pay.
My suggestion, if you do not need EMERGENCY care just ice and elevate and save yourself $ 1,000.
My main qualms–
1. I am getting billed multiple times from separate facilities using different billing methods… Very unhelpful.
2. The UW Medicine bills are horrid. At the very least can you please Itemize my charges?
3. I called to arrange a payment plan and I am still getting mail saying I owe the full amount in 2 weeks…

UW took great care of my friend during his stay here. I came to visit him, and it was more like a 3 star hotel than a hospital.
My interactions with the nurses, doctor and other staff was excellent. They actually listened to me when asking questions. My friend reported the same. They showed that they really care about their patients.
The campus is huge. I got lost on one of my visits. I’d recommend getting specific directions to where you’re headed.
The parking garage attached to the hospital had parking and it was free when I was there on a Saturday and left on a weeknight. That was a nice surprise.
The hallways are decorated well with art and in soothing colors.

I will never go back. This is the closest emergency room to where I will and I will go entirely out of my way to go to Swedish or some other hospital. My appendix was flaring up and I was in immense pain; my fiancé took me to the ER at 3am. I could not even sit up straight when being admitted to the ER and giving information/​triage due to pain. I was not given painkillers because they needed to «watch my behavior» even though I was saying I had level 8 pain. Nobody stayed in the room or listened to my updates on pain levels. It was not until 16 hours later — no food or water — just two litres of CT contrast fluid, that I was admitted to the OR.
I had to stay overnight after a surgery, and give days later I was admitted to the ER again because they had not stitched me up correctly. They said I had caught a massive strep infection when I had stayed overnight, and that they had to rush the surgeons into my ER room (no time to prep for OR) to open/​drain the incision.
Worst experience of my life. Surgeon told me I was a couple hours from going septic and most likely dying. Will never, ever return. Shape up, UW.

UWMC is a good enough place to work. The benefits are good, at least.
The worst part is getting around all the confusing buildings and hallways and figuring out what connects where. If you just ask someone if you get lost they will help you.
I’ve only ever seen one doctor here, and the recommendation was for a bunch of procedures which I did not get.