Summit Medcal Group- beyond awful

I've been with SMG for four years and have had uniformly good experiences.  (one minor caveat, transferring my parents' records was trickier than it needed to be)

 Thinking back to other places I've been, I can't come up with any group who have been better than this.  

When you read this thread, look at the complainers:  Have they come up with alternatives they like better?

I think there are just MOL'ers who like to complain, and some of them are spending a week or two hanging out on this thread.

I  don't doubt that some people have had bad experiences with SMG.  I hope they have done more than complain on MOL because I get the impression that SMG would be interested in addressing the issues.

Any organization, no matter how good, will have some service issues.  The  question is what percentage of customers are dissatisfied and to what extent does the organization try to make improvements.

I was prompted to do an on line survey of my experience yesterday.  did any or all of the unhappy people get that?

bub said:

I was prompted to do an on line survey of my experience yesterday.  did any or all of the unhappy people get that?

I'm pretty sure I get a survey (electronically) after every visit.    I keep telling them to get rid of the blaring TVs in the waiting rooms, but no one (anywhere) every pays attention to me on this one.

Pet peeve.  

BTW, there is a new-ish SMG Urgent Care place just past Rte 22 on Springfield Ave in Westfield.  It was large, spotless and there was no one in the waiting room yesterday.  Might be a good choice if urgent care is needed.

SMG in Short Hills is wonderful.  I would repeat what Sac said. I do have to wait quite a while but that's because the doctor takes his time with everyone. No one complains about the wait.

FC - that is pretty unfair to say those complaining are just complainers. 

"When you read this thread, look at the complainers:  Have they come up with alternatives they like better?
I think there are just MOL'ers who like to complain, and some of them are spending a week or two hanging out on this thread." I just saw this thread and added my experience with my kids pediatrician before and after joining SMG. From a patient perspective, it was much better before they joined. I would imagine from my docs perspective things are better at the back end otherwise they would not have joined up with SMG. I still like these doctors, they haven't changed, but everything else around has, and not always for the better from my experience. (And yes, I have let them know)

I was only at the Livingston urgent care once (or any other part of the SMG group). I was taken in minutes but I do have to say that it is a very weird place. I couldn't even figure out where to go to register. BTW, I went there because my primary care doctor refused to see me even though she does urgent care visits. I gave her a second chance and she blew that. I am switching to a new doctor recommended by my neurologist; appointment on May 2nd. So, now I have complained and shown that I am doing something about it.

FC_ said:

I've been with SMG for four years and have had uniformly good experiences.  (one minor caveat, transferring my parents' records was trickier than it needed to be)

 Thinking back to other places I've been, I can't come up with any group who have been better than this.  


When you read this thread, look at the complainers:  Have they come up with alternatives they like better?

I think there are just MOL'ers who like to complain, and some of them are spending a week or two hanging out on this thread.

Oh, Lord--so typical...

FYI, my family and I have been going to SMG for years.  My mother has been an employee there since the early 90's (late 80's?) and still works for them full time.

It is only recently, as they have been expanding, that we have noticed the decline in quality of their services.  

And yes, my recent bad experience was at the Berkeley Heights location.

With an operation that big you will always have mixed results. I had an awful experience (was given a prescription for a medical condition I didn't have) with a doctor the Short Hills office a couple years ago, complained and received multiple apologies from the head honchos to the doctor herself.  She was eventually let go.  

I then thought I found a new doctor within SMG had a couple pretty good visits until she went on maternity leave. While I was seeing a doctor who was filling in, she hinted that my doc wouldn't return from maternity leave, "because you know, having babies affects some people in tough ways they can't return to work..:" which I found totally out of line and inappropriate.  Sure enough, weeks later, I got an official letter that my doctor would not return from maternity leave and to schedule with the doctor who blabbed. No way!!  I've transferred over to the new Village Family Medicine in South Orange for primary care (Dr Doubek, Dr Snyder) and couldn't be happier.  

I still see a couple SMG specialists in Livingston- I haven't found waits too long and am happy with the care from those docs. 

I have mixed feelings about the Livingston urgent care.  I was taken back quickly, given a lot of attention, hooked up to an IV within minutes of arriving.  Rushed for tests and then ignored for over two hours.  It wasn't busy which I know because you can hear everything the nurses and docs are talking about in the quad.  And this was very weird, some of the conversations were not appropriate and allowed me to hear way too much personal info about patients in other rooms.  Eventually, someone comes in and says, "we are about to leave, you are fine."  Then the doc comes in and says, "you are ok, we have to close now, I don't know what's causing your troubles." No explanation or follow up proposed.  So I left, thinking I was just going crazy even though I felt terrible.  A few weeks later I was at a routine visit to one of my SMG specialists who was looking at my records and said, "have you seen specialists and gotten medicine for x,y,z.. in your urgent care records...all your numbers were very off - has that been resolved!!???" 

"Uh no, I was told I was ok."  So that was pretty disappointing.  

Overall, good experiences at SMG for 10+ years. But the one time it wasn't, I contacted the group's ombudsman, and found them to responsive to my complaint.  I was surprised (and pleased) that they even had one.

I find most of the doctors there to be very good.  Any issue I have had has been with the urgent care center in BH.   I actually wonder about most urgent care centers - especially those on commercial roads set up like a retail store.  At least in BH, there is a lot of support staff and equipment right there and if you are there during the daytime, they can get a hold of a lot of other doctors.  If something comes up after 8pm, it is pointless to go there though as they close at 10 pm and they want everyone out by then.  So at that point if it is something that needs to be treated right away it means going to St Barnabas or Overlook.  

Our family has been with SMG for decades. Our experiences have generally been very good. Have there been exceptions? Sure. It would be unrealistic to expect that every doctor in SMG--or anywhere else--will be equally top notch. With medical care, as with anything else, caveat emptor. One of the nice things about SMG is that if you don't like Doctor A, you can switch to Doctor B or C or D and all your records are readily accessible.

My son broke his finger about a year ago. On the way to the ER I suddenly thought to call the BH urgent care. They saw him immediately, got him to X-ray stat and then to a hand specialist. So glad I didn't have to deal with the ER and we were well taken care of. 

My experiences with SMG urgent care have actually been pretty good.  But that doesn't mean I'm going to dismiss people with a different experience as complainers.