Topic: Houston Memorial Hermann Memorial City Review Chapter 3 10-6-09

I am sorry you are having so much frustration. I do wish you would take this up with the doctors rather than putting it out here. If you can't get through on the phone, write them a letter or email. I've always had a reply from Dr. Garth on email - don't know if Dr. Robert does it.

They need to know when there is an issue with their staff.

Try Dr. Philip Leggett here in Houston.  That is who did my VSG and my surgery was scheduled within 1 week of my first visit.  I have never had to wait at all.   He is a very good surgeon.  His web site is drleggett.com.

Yea R.,

I wanted to reach out to you to apologize for any difficulties you had in getting through to our office.  We do close early on Fridays (4:30) as indicated on our website, but we do not roll our phones over until that time; however, we had an emergency on Friday which required us to close the office and leave early. I am so sorry that we were unable to connect with you Friday afternoon.

With respect to an email, I have not received one and want you to know that if I had, I absolutely would have gotten back with you immediately.  I return emails usually on the same day I receive them, if at all possible.  Do you know what name it would have come in under?  I've returned all emails I have received to date, so I'd like to search my inbox by your name to see if it can find your note.  I checked my junk folder, too ... but nothing.  Again, I am so sorry your experience in reaching someone was not all that it should have or could have been.

It is of utmost importance to all of us at The Davis Clinic that we provide exceptional customer service, and having had WLS in 2002 myself, I understand how important this decision is to you.  There is so much thought, research, and emotion that goes in to making this decision.  We do not take that lightly and want you to know that we're here to serve you, to help you improve your health, and to provide the resources and tools you need in order to achieve your weight loss goals.  So much rides on your decision and I feel badly that your experience in reaching us by phone on Friday did not meet up to your expectations.

To make sure there are no difficulties in communications moving forward, I wanted to make sure you have my correct email address: [email protected].  Please, if there is anything I can do to help facilitate things for you, let me know.  I am happy to be your personal concierge through this process (as well as any of our patients), and hope that you will give us another opportunity to prove to you just how important you are to us. 

You've made an amazing decision and we want you to know that we support you in your journey and we're here for you.  My office number is 713-464-6000.  I am here for you!  We are ALL here for you at The Davis Clinic!

Blessings,
Kimberly Taylor
The Davis Clinic
Lap RNY 7-8-02 

I do feel your pain!!!  My insurance would pay for either Robert or Garth.... I tried for 2 weeks to get answers to some questions and sign up for  a seminar.   I was told 5 diffrent times that I could not even sign up for a seminar until I completed the 3 month supervised diet and that I would not find out how much my 20% copay would be until I received my bill!!!!!!  I got so frustrated that I ended up going self pay to someone else.  I have met a lot of people since my surgery that LOVE them... but I'll never know that because I couldn't get past the staff!!!!!   I hope you have better luck then I did.

Paige,

I am sorry you had to move on.  They really need to hear that they have communication issues.  You my friend, are hard evidence that THOUSANDS of dollars walked away.  I would think just your surgery alone could have paid for about 3 months of 1 extra staff salary.  Thank you helping me prove my point!

Paige,

I am sorry that you had difficulties in getting in to the office.  Drs. Davis brought me and Jamie in to the practice in spring 2008 to fix the issues in the office and to right the ship.  We've had our work cut out for us and have come a long way. 

We've reorganized the entire patient experience process in an effort to remove obstacles and to make it as easy as possible for patients to receive education, significant and meaningful support, and to get insurance approval as soon as possible.  We've added email (what a concept!), live support group meetings specific for our patients, created a new website with robust information, videos, message boards, blogs (coming soon!), and have worked hard to put processes -- and the right staff -- in place in order to ensure that the experience you had does not occur.  We've moved from the Texas Medical Center to the Memorial Hermann Memorial City campus in order to accommodate our patients and to align ourselves with one of the best bariatric programs in the city. We've put our staff through customer service training and within the last three months, have implemented a customer satisfaction survey as well.  We're in the process of building a larger clinic, expanding our program to include non-surgical options, are about to launch a Back-On-Track program, and we're also going to have a bariatric workout facility built right next door to us that will include aquatherapy classes, bariatric yoga classes, one-on-one exercise sessions and more.  We have come a long way in just over a year, have an amazing staff now, and want the very best experience for every one of our patients.

I regret that Jamie and I came on board too late to make a difference to you and to your experience. In fact, I hate to hear it.  It makes me cringe. Drs.Davis recognized that changes had to occur, and they made a commitment to be the best, both in the OR and in the office.  We absolutely aren't perfect, so we will continue to strive for ways to improve our level of customer service as well as making sure we provide the best education, support, resources and tools for success as possible.  I hope you will accept my apology on behalf of Drs. Davis.

We love our patients and what we do.  Every person is important to us, every journey is unique, and we really do count it an honor to share in each journey with our patients.

Kimberly Taylor
The Davis Clinic
Lap RNY 7-8-02

My problems occured actually in April/May of 08.  Each time I would call they would forward me to the same woman... hence my frustration.  I'm glad that things may be better..... hopefully someone else won't have to pay $13,000 because of someone else's incompetence.

However, not only did they lose my business but I have 2 coworkers that have decided to go with other doctors as well due to the problems I had.

Yes, we have turned the staff over.  The bottleneck people have been removed.

Thanks all.  I am journaling my experiences to help others who are just starting this process.  There is quite a bit of quality information contained in these threads. And if it helps someone follow a smoother path or to a different doctor all the better. Potential patients and hospital personnel both read these boards and it has already elicited a response.

Just because businesses are not performing properly does not make it acceptable.  As consumers we should not accept poor performance as standard practice. That leads to a slippery slope of even worse performance.   My primary doctor has had nothing even close to this level of poor service.  They will change or clients will leave them, it happens all time.    Being short staffed is no excuse; there should be a system in place to handle issues like that.  That is management 101.  What if a restaurant's cook does not show for lunch on Sunday?  Does the restaurant close, lock the door, shut the phones off for lunch or the day until the world is perfect again?  Absolutely not and it happens nearly everyday in every restaurant.  Again it goes back to management. People are generally reasonable however,  if Monday was the only time they got voice mail that would be OK, but a TREND where day after day calls and emails were unanswered is a huge issue.  Expand and cross train staff or contract patients until you get a balance.  Again management 101.

I agree the Davis' are excellent as I have done tons of research, otherwise I would not be using this clinic.  I would have moved on to someone else 2 weeks ago or heck even 5 years ago.  Someone on this board who is on the fence about who to use however might find this information just enough for them to move one way or the other.  Power of the Internet at play.

Stephanie, at the Davis' seminar the other day we were provided information on pricing.  It varies slightly from hospital to hospital based on their fee structure.  A RNY has a DISCOUNTED cash of about $25,000 "turn key" with the Davis Clinic and Memorial Hermann-MC.  Lord only knows what is billed out to insurances all in, I am only guessing at 30-40K.

Lynn, yes I will be getting with the doctors and hospital administration.  I hope they will appreciate the feedback since they are making a huge push for this genre of surgery.  They should treat these messages as a sort of "secret shopper" report.

Kimberly, thank you for responding!  I am glad you guys are following your online mentions.  I am not looking for any special treatment and I am excited about the ramping up the process.  The hospital and your office organizations really have some room for improvement in my opinion and some others on OH.  I sincerely hope you get a chance to read my other messages on the subject, note this thread is chapter 3, as it is not just Friday's lack of service that compels me to write.   My email on Friday was sent to Tameki, as that is the email address that was given out at the seminar.  I am however, in no shape, form, or fashion interested in her getting any kind of "fire lit under her" she is awesome, but hers was the only email I had.  I even sent her a card thanking her for her late night away from her family for Wednesday's seminar.  I will forward what I sent in to your email address.  I know for a fact that the schedulers had received it because when I called on Monday I was told they had a copy of it, but had not acted on it.  

Look for another amazing chapter after tomorrow's appointments!

Kindest Regards,

Cocacolabeartx

 

If you want more info about pricing, send me a pm.  I have my statement of expenses and can give you the ballpark figures.  

After going through the process with The Davis Clinic, I have to say I appreciated the detailed checklist as it kept me on track and let me know what to expect.   Was it quick and easy?  No, it wasn't.   It took me one year to get from seminar to surgery date once I completed all the requirements and dealt with my insurance company for approval.  It was all worth it in the end.

I have several friends who used other doctors at Memorial Hermann and, Yes, they got in to see their doctors quicker and had a lot less requirements to complete as far as pre-op diets, medical tests, pre-surgery liquid diets, etc...    However, at the end of the day, the sum total of information, service and support I have received during and after my wls process has been superior to what my friends experienced with other doctors.    In fact, they call me all the time to ask me "what did Dr. Davis say about  . . . ?" 

Keep it all in perspective.  The sheer volume of calls the office gets in a day is probably off the charts.  They are busy because everyone wants to get in to see them.  Patients choose The Davis Clinic because of the reputation of the doctors and that's the most important thing when you are looking for a surgeon.