What Hospital is Best? Worst? (Los Angeles, San Diego: health insurance, schools, university)

[zen_klown]

My neighbor had a doctor affiliated with Mercy. When she got ran off the road while running and she asked me to drive her to Mercy. When we got there they weren't going to treat her until they could contact her primary care doctor. He wasn't in his office and it took several hours for us to be able to track him down. Only after she got her primary care doctor to speak with Mercy did she recieve treatment. Once she finally got seen by a doctor, she seemed very pleased by the process. She ended up paying 10% of the bill.

I have Kaiser. At times I have spent a half hour or so waiting for x-rays or waiting to pick up a prescription, but when I actually need to see a doctor, they make that happen. When my dad had open heart surgery, he only paid the co-payment.

[headdr]

Not to get in the middle of the UCD hiring physician "debate" but I couldnt resist throwing in my 2 cents. I believe that nd is correct. Speaking from a Kaiser perspective, there are actually 3 entities with each one having different responsibilities. For example, its TPMG (The Permanente Medical Group) that hires physicians and allied health care professionals, while KHP (Kaiser Health Plan) "sells" the health plan. I suspect that residents, interns can be hired at UCD, because they receive stipends, which is different than a salary.

[WheninRoam]

Sutter is the absolute best in my opinion. I've recently had to switch over to Kaiser and miss Sutter so, so much. There is no comparison; everything from the facilities to the patient care, and doctor's bedside manner. Of course, there is bound to be a few bad apples (I can think of 3 doctors at Sutter Davis), but my solution is to not deal with them. Our family has an excellent group of doctors, and I dread the day when we move away as the service and hospitality is that great.

Also, last time I was in Davis, I noticed Sutter Davis is one of the top 200 hospitals in the nation!

[CaliforniaPatriot]

I had a really good experience with Mercy. I had something caught in my eye and couldn't get it out. It was late at night, and there was no way I could fall asleep with something scratching agaisnt my eye, so I drove over to the emergency room at Mercy. The wait was not bad (maybe 20 minutes) and everyone was very nice and professional, and the doctor there knew exactly what to do. I would highly recommend them.

[Mossy]

Originally Posted by WheninRoam

Sutter is the absolute best in my opinion. I've recently had to switch over to Kaiser and miss Sutter so, so much. There is no comparison; everything from the facilities to the patient care, and doctor's bedside manner. Of course, there is bound to be a few bad apples (I can think of 3 doctors at Sutter Davis), but my solution is to not deal with them. Our family has an excellent group of doctors, and I dread the day when we move away as the service and hospitality is that great.

Also, last time I was in Davis, I noticed Sutter Davis is one of the top 200 hospitals in the nation!

We just switched too. Can you give me some good names of a ped. doctor and family practice doctor? I just switched 3 days ago.

Thanks.

[WheninRoam]

Originally Posted by Mossy

We just switched too. Can you give me some good names of a ped. doctor and family practice doctor? I just switched 3 days ago.

Thanks.

Ahh! I'm so sorry! How did I not notice this before? I assume you have already chosen your doctors.

[Screw Sacramento]

I did some hospital rotations working at a few different hospitals in this area. Sutter General seemed to be the seediest overall, and I know they still have paper medical records (as opposed to computerized), which basically means that it's less organized and more prone to error. Also not updated in real time as with computerized records.

UC Davis medical center has both some good staff and bad staff, but their medical record system does seem top notch.

As a patient of Kaiser, I didn't have a good experience-poor service, no pharmacy benefits, no psych benefits, but I was serviced at Morse Avenue hospital, which is one of their oldest facilities. I have heard really good things about Kaiser Roseville (but then again, it's still Kaiser)

I have used Mercy on a few occassions (for nothing serious, just MRI's and a CAT Scan) and haven't had a problem.

Hope this helps

[nmnita]

Everyone can tell a story about good or bad hospitals. This is a subjective question at best. For me, the worst would certainly be Kaiser period. We have had Kaiser twice, once in Sac and once in D.C., but times a disaster or at best min satisfaction. Others have been a part of Kaiswe for years and wouldn't have anything else.

Nita

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Everyone can tell a story about good or bad hospitals. This is a subjective question at best. For me, the worst would certainly be Kaiser period. We have had Kaiser twice, once in Sac and once in D.C., but times a disaster or at best min satisfaction. Others have been a part of Kaiswe for years and wouldn't have anything else.

Nita

It's hard to say... Sutter has been in the news a lot getting bad press... whereas Kaiser seems to have a loyal following... I've never used either.

Anyone know what or why Sutter is having problems in Marin, Healdsburg and San Leandro?

I know local communities are fighting to keep Sutter from closing Hospitals and Kaiser is expanding

[shelato]

The other thing to think about is that different hospitals tend to be better in different areas. The best psych hospital in the region is the Sutter facility on Folsom Blvd. Several of the other health plans in the area (including Kaiser) contract out to Sierra Vista, which has been written up multiple times by the state regulators. So if you had a family history of psych problems I would sign up with Sutter and not Kaiser. The state designates certain hospitals as areas of specialization. The idea being that if the staff handle the problem on a regular basis they will get good at it. This is why Kaiser contracts with Mercy do its heart surgeries. When my neighbor had open heart surgery, Mercy billed Kaiser over a 100k for the procedure, but my neighbor got no special bill for open heart surgery at Mercy. Kaiser picked up the entire bill.

So if you thought the nature of your likely health problems were going to be more in the nature of open heart surgery, I think Kaiser is an excellent idea.