UNMH (Hospital in Alburquerque) (Rio Rancho: insurance, home, taxes)
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I read another thread where the majority of people say they go to Lovelace or Presbyterian. I have had an absolutely HORRIBLE experience with UNMH, however Sandoval Regional Medical Center is much much better.
Has anyone else had bad experiences with UNMH? Is this why the majority of people go to Pres or Lovelace?
My friend went to UNMH after receiving a concussion. According to her, the facility and care were so-so. She had to wait for what seemed like an eternity to be released, after being reassured that she had recovered.
OK, well, there are differences between public and private hospitals in the US, in case you haven't heard. UNMH takes the uninsured patients that the private hospitals won't accept. Generally private hospitals will cost more, and so they can also provide extra care and attention that a public hospital like UNMH may not have the resources to do. So, if you have good insurance and can afford it, given a choice, go to a private hospital. UNMH has the only trauma center in the state, and it's level I, the highest level, and serves a lot of people in adjacent states. So it serves a vital purpose whether you had a good or bad experience there.
UNM Hospital is in the middle of building a new critical care tower. It's a $700 million project that is the largest medical investment and medical project ever constructed in the state.
I've had numerous problems with the scheduling portion of UNMH. From the schedulers not seeing that I already have appointments scheduled and calling to duplicate appointments, not even attempting to contact me for an appointment, and then making notes saying they did, navigating through a fatal car accident and calling them to say I may be late and having them only say "If you're late we're going to reschedule and the next appointment is months away", arguing with me with what the word vascular means, and finally having a disgruntled doctor call me to tell me how bad the hospital is being run, and she had no other subject matter to discuss.
They are rude, inconsiderate, unhelpful, and just plain incompetent. Of course you get one or two people in the scheduling area that are decent, but about 80%-90% of my experiences have been absolutely horrible. The doctor's are great (with the exception of the disgruntled doctor) and always apologize for the scheduling department, but the wait times of 12-18 MONTHS to get an appointment is not worth all the stress you have to deal with to make sure you get seen.
The comments above about the uninsured explain a lot of why the scheduling team acts the way they do, so during the next open enrollment, I think it'll be time to go to Rust Presbyterian.
Thank you once again to explain a little bit why this has been such a bad experience!
I went to the UNMH ER and they couldn't find my medical chart. I think this is what they tell people that they don't want to treat, because every time I've tried going there before there's always a few people they tell that to. My normal doctor is through UNM so there's no reason they couldn't find it. Not sure how urgent care found it if they couldn't. They just don't want to do their jobs.
I read another thread where the majority of people say they go to Lovelace or Presbyterian. I have had an absolutely HORRIBLE experience with UNMH, however Sandoval Regional Medical Center is much much better.
Has anyone else had bad experiences with UNMH? Is this why the majority of people go to Pres or Lovelace?
-Pat
I have had horrible experiences at Presbyterian, but the one in Rio Rancho is better, not as busy. My brother uses Lovelace and he thinks it's ok. I think it depends on why you go to the hospital whether you will be treated well or not. UNMH is a public hospital and will not turn anyone away, but that means the ER is always busy with drug addicts. But Pres is horrible, paperwork and vetting etc even in the ER, then even accident patients are put in the waiting room for hours or days.
I had to take my aunt 3 times, the first time to Kaseman and she has dementia and was very sick but she got tired of sitting in the waiting room so they let her walk out the door (all they did to verify she was mentally able to decide was "what is your name and Date of birth" - even the most demented elderly know those two things, if they had asked her who is president or what day is it, they would have known she can't decide). Anyway so the next day I took her down town and we were there for 4 hours before they gave her a few tests and then we waited in the waiting room for 5 more hours when I asked when will she see a doctor, they said it will be an hour or two. I took her home, she needed to be in bed. The next day someone told me to take her to Rusk in Rio Rancho and I called them, they said they weren't busy so we went (45 minute drive, worth it). It took 10 hours for the doctor to see her, However, she got to wait in a bed instead of a chair in the waiting room.
We have horrible health care in this country and the state of New Meixico is treated like some rural outback country. Doctors won't come here and the state does not give them incentives, in fact charges them taxes they don't have to pay in other states.
P.S. I got her off the Pres Medicare insurance and it is much better.
I've had numerous problems with the scheduling portion of UNMH. From the schedulers not seeing that I already have appointments scheduled and calling to duplicate appointments, not even attempting to contact me for an appointment, and then making notes saying they did, navigating through a fatal car accident and calling them to say I may be late and having them only say "If you're late we're going to reschedule and the next appointment is months away", arguing with me with what the word vascular means, and finally having a disgruntled doctor call me to tell me how bad the hospital is being run, and she had no other subject matter to discuss.
They are rude, inconsiderate, unhelpful, and just plain incompetent. Of course you get one or two people in the scheduling area that are decent, but about 80%-90% of my experiences have been absolutely horrible. The doctor's are great (with the exception of the disgruntled doctor) and always apologize for the scheduling department, but the wait times of 12-18 MONTHS to get an appointment is not worth all the stress you have to deal with to make sure you get seen.
The comments above about the uninsured explain a lot of why the scheduling team acts the way they do, so during the next open enrollment, I think it'll be time to go to Rust Presbyterian.
Thank you once again to explain a little bit why this has been such a bad experience!
-Pat
My daughter had to use UNM for my grandson for years and she told me there is a different number you call, instead of calling the scheduling number (a huge bunch of people who work from home and don't have all the information) you call what ever office directly that you need to discuss (change of appointment, scheduling, etc)
I went to the UNMH ER and they couldn't find my medical chart. I think this is what they tell people that they don't want to treat, because every time I've tried going there before there's always a few people they tell that to. My normal doctor is through UNM so there's no reason they couldn't find it. Not sure how urgent care found it if they couldn't. They just don't want to do their jobs.
I don't know if you mean you went to urgent care after UNMH turned you away, but if something can be taken care of at an urgent care clinic, they don't want you taking up space at the ER. A lot of people go to ERs when their problem can be handled at urgent care, and that takes time and staff away from people who need it in the ER. Even broken bones, if they don't break the skin, can be handled at urgent care.
Maybe saying they couldn't find your chart was a technique they use to get you to leave and use urgent care. It's really not their job to take care of everyone who comes through the door.
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