University of Washington Medical Center

Piss poor. Inattentive, incompetent lack of care with a bad attitude. Go somewhere else.

When using Faculty dental service, they asked for money up front, even though I had some insurance. The total amount was put on Visa. When Insurance paid some of it, I was entitled to a refund. After a week I asked where is my refund as it was not posted on my credit card, the reply was we send a check. Two weeks passed, still no refund. Under banking laws what the U of W is doing is illegal. It is called float. When I pointed this out, the employee said I just follow the rules. The posting by Alexis E is exactly on point, I wish I had read it before using U of W service.
The dental department also layering charges to get the maximum bang for your buck, My advice, find some other place for both medical & dental.

I would strongly warn anyone against visiting a UW facility for their medical needs, unless perhaps they are on the University’s medical plan to begin with (I have no idea how their student/​faculty coverage works.) If you are on normal insurance though, do NOT make the mistake of thinking things will be covered, even if they tell you your insurance is accepted, and even if the doctor your appointment is with is supposedly in-​network.
Here’s how I ended up paying $ 600 for a 20 minute appointment:
— UW Physicians billed $ 165 for the appointment
— UW Physicians billed $ 151 for one skin biopsy
— UW Physicians billed $ 136 for the doctor doing the lab test
— UW Medical Center billed $ 249 for «Lab Test: Tissue»
— UW Medical Center billed $ 206 for «Biopsy: Skin»
— My «LifeWise network discount» (i.e. where they say, «You can’t charge that much for that service!») brought the total I had to pay out of pocket down from $ 907 to $ 608
For the record, when paying out-​of-​pocket for a skin biopsy most people report paying between $ 200-​$ 500. By splitting up physician billing and facility billing, UW medical can very effectively scam people into paying 2−3x more than they’d be charged at any other facility.
Furthermore, when initially calling to schedule the dermatology appointment my PCP referred me for, the scheduler insisted on getting me in earlier with another doctor because what I was getting checked could’ve potentially been cancerous. All well and good, but it turns out the doctor was «visiting» so when billed to my insurance, wasn’t covered even though billing submitted through his own practice elsewhere would’ve been. So what could’ve been a small copay turned into $ 165 appointment.
Lastly, that wasn’t even the doctor who did my appointment or my biopsy! I can only assume the doctor I saw was doing her medical internship because she wasn’t very experienced (also, her English was difficult to understand at times.) When the doctor I was being charged to see did come in, he was there for about 2 minutes and in that time, gave me the whole, «better safe than sorry» spiel, convincing me to do a biopsy, even though now I don’t think it was necessary. Another ten minutes later I was out the door, and billing told me not to worry about the co-​pay, they’d just send a bill for it. And send bills they did.
Oh, and it took the intern (who wasn’t the doctor I was billed to see) over a week to call to tell me it wasn’t cancerous, but atypical and I should have it removed. No explanation as to what that means, just a 30 second message telling me to come see another great UW doctor and spend hundreds if not thousands more for a minor, potentially unnecessary surgery. I’ll take my business elsewhere, thanks.

My review is based on my personal experience with the Diabetes care center. They only take patients based on referrals. A little bit over a month ago, when I first contacted them, I was asked to fax in the referral and my lab reports, which I did. Thereafter, they said they were going to contact me with next steps/​appointment info, but I never heard back. I’ve called back once or twice every week since then, and every time I was told I’ll hear back soon… but no response. A week ago, I decided I had had enough and will stay on the line till I get a response. The person who manages the reviews is Trina, and she finally said that they didn’t have my papers at all, and if I could send them again. So… a month later, I fax the papers in again, having been given an assurance that she will absolutely give me an answer one way or another in the next two working days. It’s been 4 days since, and I have, again, not heard back.
Obviously, at this point, I’ll just go find another doctor. But thought it was important to share my experience here. If they can’t even keep track of my papers, and can’t get back to me on an appointment over 6 weeks, perhaps its only a good thing that I am not trusting them with more.