High Desert Medical Group

That's what the folks in the Antelope Valley call HDMG. The owner is a multimillionaire who flies around on a private jet firing anyone who complains. The quality of medical care is below LA County Medi-Cal. My vet is more competent at diagnosis and treatment. You want a Public Option? You'll get HDMG.

Posted 10/09/09 | Report Abuse

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I have been a patient at HDMG for 20 years. On 11-11-08, I was brought in with a severe migraine. At the window the office worker shoved a phone in my face and told me the billing office wanted to talk with me. I was to the point of passing out and told her I could not speak on the phone.

They proceeded to get an employee to come up to me in the middle of the waiting room and threaten me that I would be seen then but not to come back until my $300 bill was paid in full! Now I have been paying them for months and had higher balances and was very upset.

I called Member Services and filed a complaint. They DID NOTHING! Then I got a letter a few weeks later from the billing manager telling me that I was no longer welcome there. WTF?

Then I was put on a budget plan by HDMG for an amount I DID NOT agree to, and then got 3 collection letters! These people are so incompetent that they don't know which end is up.

I called yesterday and spoke with the same office manager to ask why I was getting collection letters when they agreed to payments and she refused to help me, got loud with me and was very rude to me and hung up on me. I then called member services and filed a 2nd complaint against this office manager.

Then today I get a letter from this manager that effective today myself AND my 2 children are not allowed back at HDMG for treatment. And I called member services to complain and was told that she or anyone there was not allowed to speak with me due to my threats. (I told them if I got 1 more collection letter they would see me in court). And I was also told if I came to the business to get my charts (which are my property) they would call the police.

These people have some nerve! Also their doctors don't know what they are doing, they break the HIPPA laws by treating their patients and talk about them within earshot of others, the rooms are not cleaned up after each patient. (I went into 1 room and I saw gauze and other items on the floor of the room).

Seems like the manager of this business thinks she can do whatever she wants and she will quickly learn she can't.

I would caution anyone not to go there. I used to have decent treatment there until last November.

People need to spread the work on this business. And they also turn away people with no insurance since they are privately owned. You would think any business that had people like this working for them they would be fired, but not this place.

HDMG SUCKS!

Posted 01/13/09 | Report Abuse

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As of two weeks ago High Desert Medical Group signed an exclusive contract with the orthopedic company Smith and Nephew.
If any high desert patient comes into the hostpital for an orthopedic procedure the surgeon is forced to use a Smith and Nephew product. There are different grades to their products depending on price and the surgeon has no choice but to use the implant predetermined by the medical group administration....

I dont know about you, but I dont want my surgeon being told what is best for me by an adminstrator with no medical background who is more worried about their bottomline than my well being!!

Posted 10/17/08 | Report Abuse

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Wow, it's unfortunate that so many of you have had such a bad experience with this medical group? I've been going to High Desert Medical Group for over 10 years with my four children and my experiences have always been pleasant. I believe there is a member services department...did you call and advise them of your poor care? Did you actually talk to the doctor and let him or her know what you needed? They can't read your mind. I find it odd that I could go to this medical group for this long and not have the "issues" that are being identified by other patients. Guess I've been lucky. Well, until my doctor becomes incompetent, or I try to work for them, I will keep being a faithful High Desert Medical Group patient.

Posted 09/26/08 | Report Abuse

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I believe if HDMG hired competent administrative people, we could have a better chance of receiving a better experience. Most of the staff are untrained, and don't care.
The Physicians are not state of the art and they have a habit of taking the low ground,"get you in and get you out". this is call a CASH COW.
I have on several occasions attempted to work for HDMG but of course my credentials are looked at with distane because I am degreed and have been in the Managed Care for more than 20 years.

Posted 08/07/08 | Report Abuse

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My husband went in on saturday in an emergency. Once seen atthe office as an office visit, he was looked at, consulted with a physician, he was given 2 precriptions that we were to fill at a pharmacy.The insurance company sent us a detailed explaination of benefits that had taken place. On it, it had stated that an office visit, 2 injections, and 2 in-facility prescriptions. The only correct item on there was the office visit.

So, you tell me, is this an insurance claim fraud case and possible crime? I have since called the insurance co.-they said they only paid what was filed by the doctors office. I spoken to the billing dept from the doctors office, admitted a mistake had been made, a correction will be filed, and any money will be reimbursed back to the insurance company.
I know we are all too busy these days to check every detail of mail we receive, but if everyone checks these detailed billed to our insurance company, it helps them out on any fraud or mistakes that may have been done, then consequently, maybe our insurance cost would not be as high as it is today. Thanks for reading .

Posted 05/23/08 | Report Abuse

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I am forced to use this medical group thanks to my crappy HMO. To be honest, I'm better off NOT using the "insurance." I have had a bladder infection and mild kidney infection for TEN months. My doctor that was assigned to me will NOT give me a proper antibiotic. Once she did, but when I went to have it filled, the pharmacist said the prescription wasn't possible because it was an invalid form and dosage that didn't exist. I spent days trying to contact the doctor, but she never replied with a valid prescription. I finally went back in to the doctor, and because I'd had the infection so long, she sent me to a specialist instead of just giving me an antibiotic. I waited two months to see the urologist. The day of my appointment, he wasn't even in the office because he'd left for some reason. I waited for hours, along with everyone else and when the specialist finally came back, he spent less than 60 seconds in the room with me and I couldn't even get a word in about my symptoms. He ordered a bunch of unneeded tests and I STILL have not gotten a prescription!!!!! I have had chronic pain for just over ten months and no "doctor" will do the common sense thing and give me an antibiotic. I'm sick of it and highly concerned about the irreversible damage that is occurring to my kidneys. I have wasted a lot of money on co payments, not to mention time and suffering. Instead of wasting my resources and hurting my health with High Desert Medical Group, I am going to give up and pay out of pocket for a competent doctor who will just give me the antibiotic I have needed since last year. I'm sure I will have to spend quite a bit of money to purchase the antibiotic without insurance, but I don't care. I just want to save my kidneys before I become incontinent or even worse, they are damaged so bad I need a transplant.

Posted 07/16/07 | Report Abuse

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In order to be seen you have a all day wait, then once they see you they will then tend to your vitals but then leave you waiting for two to three hours in the room, then come back after that. And some of their doctors don't speak in a professional manner, and really some of them don't know what they are talking about. I also have had minor surgery at this hospital they don't do a very good job of the surgery, very poor work, I was left with some of the problem and had to treat it myself as I did not want to return to this clinic to have this problem worked on again since I have tended to the problem myself it has almost cleared up on it's own, I also would not recommend their pharmacy, they take on average of two to three hours to fill your prescription.

Posted 02/07/07 | Report Abuse

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This place obviously takes in more business than it can handle as my wait time was also prohibitive for the check-up I was requesting. I spent 3 + hours in a dingy cluttered waiting area. I was less than impressed with the multitude of obvious Government aide "freebies" patients who brought their entire clans into the area, it just looked more like a zoo than a medical office. Steer clear if you can, I thankfully I can

Posted 02/06/06 | Report Abuse

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I don't care how busy it is there is no reason why we should have had to wait 3 hours to get physicals once we were being seen. It took 45 min to get paperwork done then into the office. From there the nurses checked the kids and asked the doctor to come in and take a look. Then we just had to get the immunization shots... we waited, and waited, and waited some more. By the time the nurse got there my son was completely freaked out about getting a shot and fought as best as he could. Once the shots were given the nurse wanted us to wait another 20 minutes to make sure the kids were ok. The kids had been asking to go home for the last 2 hours (they were really patient and I don't blame them for getting bored) there was no way we were going to do that. So we left.I don't recommend this to anyone who doesn't have half a day to wait around for the nurses to get to them.

Posted 05/09/05 | Report Abuse

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