Planned Parenthood

Staff was not knowledge about my insurance coverage. Despite going in for preventative care which is covered (I know because I called my insurance company while in the clinic) I was still charged.
The wait time was excellent, the staff was friendly. However my NP was not very good with a needle and I was left bruised, I probably could have done better job drawing my own blood.

Great experience everytime I’ve gone. Everyone who works there is super friendly, they do have a late policy like every other drs office I’ve been to. I was 25 min late once and they were able to put me into a later appt time that day. Overall I’m impressed. I would recommend for them to install another bathroom as I have found myself waiting in line a few times.

They had appointments available at short notice and discussed a range of options with me.

Good god, why didn’t I look at the Unilocal reviews before going. I went a week ago and I’m not ever going back. They were over an hour late to get my in for an appointment. when I realized I was going to be late for work, I asked to reschedule. Instead of just offering to reschedule, the response was, «Oh we’ll take you now!» They took over 40 minutes to complete what they needed to do. something that could have taken much less time. Long story short, I was 45 minutes late to work. And unless something catastrophic happens, I’m never late to work. I felt like they totally disrespected my time.
But the story doesn’t end here. I was waiting for test results and let’s just say all my waiting caused an anxiety attack of sorts. They need to have a much quicker process overall. I feel like I don’t even quite trust what they did because they seemed disorganized with how long they took.
I usually go to Brigham and Women’s and they are very quick and I trust them much more. At this point I’m scared to see if I get whopped with a bill, and even though they are a block from my apartment, I will not be going to them any more out of convenience, it’s not worth the stress involved.

One word: disgraceful! I concur with others who say the receptionist is rude. I had no idea if they handled STI/​STD testing until I looked on their website. Since I have a high deductible health insurance plan, I decided to call and ask the cost for the testing services. The best they could do is tell me it’s between $ 90 and 200 for one test. That’s a $ 110 dollar range! This is not how you serve a community. Surely a fixed price for a test can be given in 2015.

I am the roommate of Penny.
This is the hands down, worst experience of my life. Rude, stuck up receptionist. Yes, I was 5 minutes late, but don’t give me attitude about how I’m lucky you didn’t cancel the appointment on me.
The first lady I saw also gave me a lot of sass. I told her I might not able to pee for my urine sample, and she said «um, excuse me, you came here to give a urine sample. You should know when you came here.» Completely rude.
The second lady was incompetent. I work out 4x a week, with lower than 10% body fat. I have HUGE veins. I have never had trouble when I needed blood drawn. The nurse practitioner took 4 tries, let me repeat, 4 TRIES, to get blood drawn from my arms. Completely ridiculous.
On to the results. They gave me a false positive for Hepatitis C. I went to my own primary care doctor and got this sorted out. Also they told me it would take about 3 – 4 business days for the results for gonorrhea and chlamydia. It’s been over 2 weeks and no results.
AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE.

I have had nothing but bad experiences with this PP. Just total disorganization and complete incompetence all around. First off even though I made an appointment, I still had to wait over an hour. The reception was friendly and the nurses I first met with were friendly, but the nurse practitioner I dealt with had absolutely no clue what she was talking about medically and was spouting «facts» that were blatantly wrong. It was like talking to a robot on repeat just putting out memorized lines off a training sheet. Not only that but she acted incredibly rude and judgmental of my private life (living with a man I’m not married to, oh no).
More frustrating still, when my prescription ran out I had my pharmacy fax and call 3x and then I called to talk to someone and no one would return my calls. I ran out of bc even though I had been trying to get the prescription for the same medication refilled for weeks.
Not only that but if you are on a tight budget, tough luck. I was told my insurance was fine and they ran it, no problem right? Imagine my surprise when a couple months later I get a bill for close to $ 300 for a single bc consult. I can go to urgent care for less than that. I call them back and they inform me they thought they would accept that insurance, but actually they now can’t. If I had known that I would have gone somewhere else! In the end I did have to pay it.
In short AVOID AVOID AVOID.

While I’ve never had consistent health insurance and eschew anything doctor or medical related, Planned Parenthood has been my sole resource for annual exams and contraception for the last 20 years. They always take care of me, whether I’m able to pay full price or absolutely dead broke, and after visiting dozens of different offices in 6 different states over the years, I believe this PP location in Davis Square to be one of the best. The staff is consistently friendly, courteous, and incredibly knowledgeable about topics related to women’s health, birth control pros and cons, and the intricacies of insurance coverage. Last year, the front desk staff helped me find the most affordable way to cover my monthly prescription payments, taking time to call my insurance company and review my policy. This year, my entire appointment and precription cost me nothing, even though my coverage through Mass Health is still in ‘temporary’ status. After my 20 minute appointment, I walked out with a full year’s worth of birth control pills, with minimal effort on my part, and at no cost. So thankful for this organization, and for the kindness and efficiency of the staff at this Somerville center in particular.

I’ve been going to PP for my lady care since about 2003, and have always raved about them — until now. Admittedly, some of the things that are making me the most rage-​y have everything to do with the hotline operators, and nothing to do with the actual location. Timeline:
End of November (Boston location): I request a pill refill, which is denied because my Rx is expired. No one tells me this until I go to pick up my pill. Am told I need approval for an emergency pack. Leave empty-​handed; no one calls me to tell me whether that’s approved; and no one can tell me that over the phone. I end up with emergency pack after going in to get it.
¹²⁄₃₁ — I go in to Somerville for a birth control consult. NP tests my blood pressure zillions of times and can’t come to a conclusion, so she switches my pill and tells me to come back to check it again in a few weeks and will give me a full year’s prescription then. DOES NOT tell me that the new pill needs to be taken exactly at the same time every day or it’s ineffective. Also doesn’t tell me that there’s a fourth week of active pills that need to be taken. That’s a BIG FUCKING DEAL. I’m charged $ 60 for the consult and $ 30 for the pill.
End of January: Go BACK in to the office for the blood pressure check. Decide to stay on the new pill. Am charged ANOTHER $ 90 for another consult, despite the fact that they made me come back. Asked to have prescription called in to pharmacy to avoid all this bullshit.
²⁄₂₀ — Call PP to ensure prescription had been called in to the pharmacy, as I need a refill. It hasn’t. I request AGAIN to have it called in.
²⁄₂₁ — Go in to pharmacy to get refill. They don’t have it. Don’t have a record of the call. No record of me at all. Call PP. Get disconnected. EIGHT TIMES. At one point I actually hear someone answer and hang up. Eventually get Sarah (I think), who asks if I told the pharmacy to check their voicemail. NO SARAH, that’s not my job. It’s yours. She eventually figures out that AGAIN, no one has called in my prescription. In Sarah’s defense, she got an NP to call me back within about three minutes. I must have sounded really pissed.
²⁄₂₂ — I call the pharmacy, cause like hell I’m going down there again if there’s nothing there. And OH, there’s a prescription there for me, but it’s the generic, which I do not want, due to MA’s stupid generic law. Call back PP. Kelsey answers. I ask if the correct prescription can PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, be called in. She argues, and says it was. I explain that the NP must indicate «Brand Only» or «No Substitutions» in order for the pharmacy to not give me the generic AS REQUIRED BY LAW. She argues with me again. Sighs. Tells me she’ll have someone call me back. It’s been 30 minutes and no call. What a surprise.
In conclusion: four months of dealing with this, and still no way to extricate myself from the ridiculousness. PP, I’d love to support you but you’re making it awfully hard.
Update: Never received a call back, so I called back and spoke with Kelsey again, who mused, «I don’t know why your pharmacy is giving you such a hard time.» Insisted someone had already called in the request. Backtracked, said someone would call me back as soon as they were out of an appointment. Miraculously, this call came while I was still on the line with Kelsey. The clinician assured me that the change had just been called in, but the pharmacy had to order the brand because they didn’t have it in stock. They’d have it on Monday. I have to take my pill on Sunday, so I’m stuck with the generic and it’s weird additives till next month, which would not have happened if this had been resolved at ANY of the earlier times I tried to make that happen.
I did receive a call from Beth at the Somerville location, who was very sweet and apologetic about the situation and really wanted to help, so that was nice. Unfortunately, at that point I was already on the way to the pharmacy to pick up my substitution, so I can avoid making babies this month. Beth, you were great. Sorry I was a frustrated bitch. PP, hire more people like Beth and less like Kelsey.

Like all Americans, I feel it is my duty to populate the earth with little monsters that bleed red, white and blue.
SIKE.
This is place is awesome. Quick, friendly service and they keep the monsters at bay.

I teach sex ed in Lincoln, MA and came by this location to pick up a few pamphlets, etc. The folks here are REALLY nice and committed to providing safe and affordable STI testing, access to birth control/​contraceptives, etc. They make a point of being nonjudgmental and putting everyone at ease.

I really cannot say enough good things about this clinic. This was my first Planned Parenthood visit, which I used for a routine screening.
The staff was extremely friendly, supportive, and empathetic. Let’s face it, visits of this nature make everyone a little nervous. My experience was also timely, and they didn’t rush through my visit. They made sure I had no questions or concerns, even though I was their last patient if he day.
In addition to going back here for any women’s visits, I will be making a donation to support their cause. I’ve never been more pleased with my healthcare provider.

This place sucks. They were 30 minutes late seeing me for an appointment, and evidently are incapable of writing a correct prescription. I’ve gotten three calls from the mail order company I’m using to fill the script because PP hasn’t gotten back to them with information they need– despite my calling PP and them claiming they took care of it.
Don’t bother. The «convenience» PP claims to offer is laughable.

PP has been life saver in a sticky situation.
Ever realized your refills just ran out on the same day that you need to start another pack and your doctor can’t see you for another week? Planned Parenthood to the rescue.
If you’ve been before, then no need to wait for an appointment. Just ask them for a quick pack. Wait times can be a while if you’re going for the first time, so make an appointment.

First of all, they DON’T take walk-​ins, even though they say they do. I tried and they made me make an appointment, so I had to come back later that day.
WITH an appointment, I waited 1 HOUR AND 45 MINUTES to get seen.
And they charged me $ 120 for the appt and 2 packs of birth control.
I will never come back.

Planned Parenthood, oh yee who does not accept my insurance, how can it be that in the last month, the price of my birth control nearly tripled? From $ 24 each to $ 62 (of which I need to purchase four times per month), I am now forced to fill prescriptions at the patience-​testing CVS pharmacy where they will take my insurance and proceed to charge me an arm and a leg, the cost of which will still be lower than what Planned Parenthood is now charging me.

Planned Parenthood is full of a) awesome people; b) cheap contraceptives; and c) sexual health information galore. I used physicians and CVS for (b) for the longest and am literally saving $ 25 a month just by going to PP. Not only that, but I think it’s probably one of the first times I’ve gone to a doctor’s office of some sort and been like, you know what, I’m down to be real and ask some questions. (This also could have to do with getting older, but you know.)
Also a big positive: rapid HIV tests. As someone who’s worked and been involved in the LGBTQ community forevs, I’m dragging people out to get these every 6 months regardless, and PP is definitely the place to go for it.
Finally, they seem really cool about discretion. PP — Davis is nestled between two buildings and partially behind Chipotle and Starbuxxx, the receptionists aren’t yelling your business all up to the world, and they even have an option for when they call that they’ll give a code name.
Ladies and gents, PP — Davis is highly recommended from this girl.

While downing soy lattes at Starbucks or Diesel, why not run across the way and stock up on Plan B (for half the price you’d get it for at CVS!) at PLAN? Now that’s almost like having a plan A! Or, perhaps better yet, stock up on actual all-​the-​time birth control and have an even more A-​like plan A! If you have any bizarre gynecological/​endocrinological conditions, PLAN isn’t necessarily going to be able to help you out with those, but if you just need simple birth control whether temporarily or longer-​course, and whether of the Plan A or B type, you’re pretty much set.
(Also, If you want Plan B, no matter how many packs, they’ll give it to you no questions asked, long as you have ID proving you’re legally the right age.)

I have always been a fan of the concept of Planned Parenthood. But after my first visit, I love it even more!
I tried to make an appointment online at the Boston location, but they were all full up. They let me know that the Somerville location is best for walk-​ins on Saturdays. So off I went to Davis (very easy to get to on the T). I had to wait about 45 minutes but no complaints, they have a decent selection of magazines and I had to fill out some paperwork.
The woman who first went over my info was incredibly nice. She asked me some routine questions, took my weight and BP and asked me if I had any questions before seeing the Nurse Practitioner.
The NP was wonderful. She was such a sweetheart and she took the time to explain a lot of stuff to me. Turns out, some new research has shown that due to some other medical conditions, I may not have been on the safest method of b/​c for the last few years. She went over everything in great detail, answered all my questions, and sent me home with some literature to best understand everything.
And THANK YOU Planned Parenthood for making b/​c so accessible. I went home with a 3 month supply, so I only need to stop in every few months. The receptionist was also very honest about costs of everything. We talked about prices using my insurance vs. buying out of pocket. Very informative.
They made me feel very comfortable talking about a subject that can so often be very uncomfortable. This smaller location also offers STI testing and the Plan B pills (for about $ 20 less than at CVS!!). I highly recommend it. And if you need services that they don’t offer, they can hook you up with an appointment at the Boston location.

I work right next door to these folks, and my sex life has just bumped up a peg, so you can imagine how much time I must spend here. Everyone who works here is friendly, chill, and knowledgeable, and the overall ambiance feels very calm and not at all about-​to-​get-​bombed. Their testing was easy and thorough, they treated my boyfriend with the same loving kindness as if he had a vagina, their free condoms are plentiful, and their Plan B, as I was later informed, costs only about $ 25. Fucking CVS.
They take the word «express» seriously, and it’s great. Ask for Jennifer, the office manager. She’s a doll.