Mid-State Health Center Fails to Help
September 10, 2007This is a little off the topic of babies, but I had a rotten experience, and I need to rant a little. For those of you who don’t know, I live near Plymouth, NH. For five years I have used Dr. Rosen as my primary care physician. I have never actually met Dr. Rosen, I simply picked him out of a list of available doctors from my insurance company.
The office that Dr. Rosen works in has grown and changed its name to Mid-State Health Center. I don’t need their services very often, but occasionally I get a sinus infection, or some other mild ailment that requires the attention of an expert. At Mid-State Health I have never met with the same doctor twice. The don’t remember me from visit to visit, and even the support staff seems to change every time I go in there.
I visited Mid-State Health in May to talk about my allergies. I met with a doctor who spoke exactly 10 words in English. He brought in his laptop, checked off my symptoms, and then wrote me a prescription. We did not talk about how allergies affected me, or why I thought I had allergies and not a cold. He didn’t even explain to me why he had written two prescriptions (one for Allegra and one for Floanase). The nasal spray is still unopened in my medicine cabinet. I thought overall this visit was pretty terrible, and could have potentially turned out poorly, if this physician who didn’t speak English misunderstood something I said, or if I had an allergy to something, etc. I left there completely unsatisfied, thought at least my allergies would hopefully calm down with the prescription medication.
Today, I needed their help again. I somehow injured my thumb on my right hand over the weekend. It aches all the time, and I’ve lost strength in it - I can’t even pick up a glass of water, let alone my 22 lb. baby. So, I started calling Mid-State Health Center at 8:30 this morning. With each attempt, I was told that the receptionist was on the phone, and that I could leave a message - they wouldn’t even let me wait on hold! Finally I got through and made an appointment for 11:15. I just started a new job, where I am paid by the hour. So, I got there for my appointment, and waited for 25 minutes. I finally asked the receptionist how much longer I would need to wait. The receptionist located the assistant for my doctor for the day, and found out that I would have to wait for another hour, on top of the nearly 1/2 hour I had already waited. Panicked, I rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon, got my co-pay refunded, and left in tears.
I can hardly pick up my son, and I just needed someone to tell me what is wrong, and how I can fix it, and this place not only failed me, but also damaged my work schedule two days in a row. Mid-State Health Center is an overly large medical office with clearly too many patients and not enough time to give anyone the attention they deserve. As soon as I possibly can, I will be switching away from Mid-State Health Center, and I will strongly encourage anyone thinking of using them to find a different doctor!
I hate when doctor’s offices become too big to provide decent levels of care. I have already told you my mom’s story, which is why she is seeking another doctor also.
May I recommend Mary Gennaro, of Gennaro Family Practice to you again, as well as to anyone reading. She spends real time with you, plus there is a GREAT staff, from the office manager down to the nurses. You may have a wait, but only because when it is your turn, she spends time listening to you.
I used to work at MSHC…They have gotten so big that the doctors don’t have time for you. Your physician may be doing your physical in 15 to 30 mininutes. What kind of physical is that? The more patients the more money the company makes, forget about the patient.
The best care in the area are those private practices!
Hi Patti, I entirely agree - MSCH is a business, and the business doesn’t care about quality of care, just of quantity care. I called one of those private practices, but being a smaller one, they aren’t accepting new patients. Now I’m left trying to figure out what to do - suck it up and go back to the place I know will take me, even if they don’t actually take care of me, or do I keep trying and waiting for a spot to open up in a smaller practice? Neither option is all that appealing… Hopefully one of the private practices will have an opening soon!
Well, I found this website looking for a place to sing the praises of Mid-State, the commment about the office being a business and not caring about the quality of care is a load of …. I too was a patient of Dr. Rosen’s and had gone a way for a few years and then found myself needing an appointment when I had reestablished with the practice. Did I want to see Dr. Rosen? Well yeah, however, having researched the growth of his practice I found his practice had absolutely exploded with growth, most likely due to the fact that he is a fabulous doctor and that there is such a scarcity of primary care physicians entering the medical field. Certainly not Mid-State’s fault. It certainly wouldn’t be great medical care to continue to cram an already full schedule with new patients only to accomodate patients at the time of their phone call..I am thankful to him and the practice as I have reestablished and met a wonderful new doctor. Dr. Karanouh, wow, the word compassionate does not even begin to describe him. So you know I completely understand your disconcern, but you know, perhaps you should take concerns like this to the powers that be at Mid-State. Every office has quality concerns, and yes, growing pains. Lowering ourselves to discriminate against ethnicities and voicing vicious remarks about the medical field just because we are ignorant to these issues is certainly not going to help anyone. My advice to you would be to research your next doctor, don’t just pick him/her aimlessly from a list, you are sure to get yourself into trouble doing that. Good luck in your search.
Hi Donna,
Thank you for your thoughts. I’m glad that you have a positive experience with the Mid-State Health practice. Dr. Rosen has been my PCP on paper for almost six years now, and I have never met the man. I understand that he is busy, but there has never been any continuity in my care - I never see the same person twice, and I have no explanation for why. Any information about a quality concerns office is not easily found in the waiting area, at least not in the time I’ve spent sitting in it. If I knew where to find “the powers that be” at Mid-State Health, I would be more than happy to address my concerns with them. I’m not sure what comments I made were “ignorant about the medical field” - you yourself said it is a busy and growing practice, and my comments all surround concerns about this. I also think that my concerns about one particular medical professional’s inability to communicate with me in English is also a valid concern, and potentially a lawsuit waiting to happen. I’m not saying this doctor isn’t a perfectly competent medical professional, he just can’t communicate well, which is a dangerous thing in the medical field. I would love to find a doctor who is less over-burdened. Unfortunately, from the research that I have done, other medical offices in my area either are not taking new patients, or are experiencing the same sort of troubles as Mid-State - too many patients and not enough doctors or time. From what I can tell, I would receive the same service elsewhere, which doesn’t inspire me to change anytime soon, but rather make use of medical professionals as little as possible.