Car Gardner

Review of Jefferson Health Systems

I have been a patient at TJUH for well over 10 yrs...

I have been a patient at TJUH for well over 10 yrs., a satisfied patient. Doctors there are top notch and I love all of my docs dearly.

This low rating is not about the docs AT ALL, but about the fact that all afternoon today, I ve been calling Jefferson Family Medicine and NO ONE IS PICKING UP THE PHONE. Per their own instructions regarding a referral that I needed TODAY, I couldn t get through. I was kept on hold for 46 mins. (for so long that the outgoing messages played until there was nothing but static at the end), 26 mins, 15 mins. I called the President s office three times and was transferred from the President s office to scheduling and back to the main number where I ve been on hold for 34 minutes and counting.

No one from the Patient s Advocate Office is answering the phone either. Calling Jeff s main number means being transferred to a voicemail there.

Don t get me wrong, I m not usually a complainer, especially since I took complaints for a major city agency for 11 yrs., so when I complain, it s not a trifle thing.

It makes NO sense to me WHATSOEVER that NOBODY answers the phone at a major metropolitan hospital like Jefferson even so that the patient can comply with their policy.

It s 36 mins now and I am STILL ON HOLD. This is so very unprofessional. This is disrespectful. This speaks volumes about management specifically in Jefferson Family Medicine s office as well as the hospital s management generally. Where s the Quality Assurance component re patient engagement? You can t even send an email to them nor can you email the big whigs directly when you visit the site.

The next time I receive a request to be a donor, I will pass.

Thirty-eight mins on hold and counting. Why? Because they just don t care.

At 41 mins into waiting, someone actually picked up the phone and helped me. I literally (unexpectedly) broke down and cried during the call because I was so frustrated, so angry because it s not supposed to be this way. Yet my rating will remain the same because it s absolutely UNACCEPTABLE that I (and my specialist) had to wait all afternoon for someone to help me, a 1 minute resolution was what it took all along.

These are difficult times, especially in quarantine, working from home. Tempers are short. Frustration is long. People are on the edge. Something as simple as not answering the phone or being unreasonably and inexplicably on hold is a fuse lighter and a turn-off ...