Patient First

I had never been there before, but it wasn’t crowded when I went on a Sunday evening around 7:45−8pm. Soon as I sat down my name was called to go over forms, sign etc. About 2 minutes after that my name was called so the nurse could check my vitals. I then was in my room about 5 minutes or so when the doctor arrived. I explained the pain in my back, she checked it out, gave me some tips & a prescription and I was on my way. Everything went very smoothly

Facility was clean, well equipped and organized; staff was caring and professional. Positive experience.

I never write reviews, but this place deserves one. My 4 year old recently needed stitches in her scalp and the entire staff was wonderful to her. It could’ve been very traumatic for a young child, but instead she left feeling like a princess.
I went yesterday for a second opinion after my primary doc diagnosed me with a pulled muscle and brushed me off. Patient First treated me like a VIP. Thanks to their diligence and excellent care, that pulled muscle was rediagnosed as pneumonia.
This location is wonderful. I couldn’t be happier with the care I’ve received there.

Friendly & professional. Total time from entrance to exit was a little over 1 hour. You can get your prescriptions filled on site and save a trip to the pharmacy. Nice!

I went there for the first time this evening. My total time there around an hour. Everyone I dealt with from the time I checked in until I left was courteous and professional. No complaints here.

I personally love the ideas of these types of medical establishments. They are a quick (and supposedly cheaper) alternative to the ER or setting up a general practitioners appointment. Sadly, this place provides no benefit to Baltimore, an area already in finical struggle. I was at this Patient First 6 months ago for a school physical, which they technically preformed. As in they signed a piece of paper after spending 10 minutes with me. Well, 6 months later they are billing me for $ 400 for «services rendered.» Obviously, I call and it turns out that due to Patient Firsts billing code, my insurance will not cover it. I ask if they will correct their mistake and change it so my insurance will cover it. And I bet you can guess what they said? «No, we are unable to change the billing code.» Well, that is the short of a long saga that has now cost me a lot of time and money. Maybe this place practices good medicine, I don’t know, but I sure know the people of Baltimore cannot afford it.

Awful service. Second time here in a week for routine vaccinations and was here for 3 hrs first day and now an hour and half later. Still waiting. Better to wait to see your PCP than deal with the frustration of it all.

I had never been to a Patient First (or any other clinic of its type), but I was pleasantly surprised by my experience here. I came in for a clogged ear (due to swimming). The facility itself is beautiful, spacious. The electronic check-​in procedure was smooth, and all staff (from front desk, cashier, techs inside and PA) were all amiable and professional. I was in and out within 60 minutes, got a full standard basic checkup (bp, height/​weight etc.) plus they handled my ear perfect to a T. And since it was very close to my work, and I didn’t have to lose 3+ hours of my work commuting to my PCP, I am very happy I stopped by here. Its easy to spot when driving up & down Eastern Avenue /​Bayview Hospital.

The service is pretty fast. Getting to the back happens relatively quick so you aren’t waiting in the waiting room for too long. However once you are in the back it takes a long time to wait on the doctor. I am the only one in here and have been here for almost an hour. This is probably typical but when you are sick the time feels like forever. Very kind staff and Doctor. It’s convenient and a great spot for urgent matters!

This was an awful experience with Patient First, I would rather go to the hospital to get checked out. After I signed in, the billing rep called me over (she was the ONLY) nice one to me. Then, a nurse came out, called my name snd was looking at me with a sour look on her face. She didn’t say hi, ask me how I was, nothing. wasn’t pleasant at all. I waited for 45 minutes, because the rooms were all full, which was okay.
However, when I finally got to see the doctor, I tried to explain what was going on with my knee and my ankle. She then said she wasn’t going to do xrays, because they are only good for broken bones. She barely looked at my knee, even though it cracks evertime i move it, she did not check on that. She didn’t even touch my ankle, which may be arthritis or something (she didn’t tell me that). She then said the knee MAY be a ligament issue. I was asking questions about if standing on my feet all day at work makes it worse and she was so rude and says «I’m not going to blame your work for this». Which wasn’t what i asked her. She then starts to ask me why i waited so long and tried to make it seem like i was lying about my injury.
As the day went on and i talked to other people about my visit, i started to think she thought i was there lying to get pain medication, which i wasn’t. The doctor then told me that she thinks i have lyme disease. WHAT??? I thought it was a ligament issue? I have no signs or symptoms of lyme disease, so where that came from, i have no idea. They took blood, which has left me with a huge bruise on my forearm. She was the rudest doctor i have ever been to. This doctor’s name is Kathyrn Yamamoto at the Patient First Bayview on Eastern Avenue. I am actually calling United Healthcare insurance to let them know that my insurance is going to get a bill for a service i didn’t receive. I an also calling g the director of Patient First, doctor Yoon. I still didn’t get an actual diagnosis. So i still have no idea what the issue is and will have to go somewhere else. Thanks Patient First for wasting my time with your ignorant staff and non caring doctors. You should be ashamed of yourself for the way you treat people that are just looking for help.

I pulled a back muscle here and was helped pretty quickly and they worked out a way to lower the price since I lacked insurance. Oh and the doctor was hot! Too bad I had my girlfriend with me! I was hoping for a full physical ;-)

I don’t understand the discrepancy in care. The Patient First staff have always been wonderful with my son, but it’s a completely different story when I’m here on my own. I’ve been sitting here in a gown for over 45 minutes, coughing up a lung, waiting to be seen or offered a drink of water or anything, really. The triage nurse and the woman (not sure of her position) who brought me back were both incredibly rude, and I can hear the staff gossiping about, well, a number of things. Not at all professional!
I get it. I’m dressed in my weekend clothes, having just come from the farmer’s market, but I’m SICK. I still expect to be treated like the patients who come in here dressed in their best. I am a healthcare professional too, ya know?
Luckily, the amazing PAs more than make up for the rudeness and inefficiency of the rest of the staff.

I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised with this Patient First. Will definitely recommend!
I went in on a Monday morning for a nasty rash on my ankle (I know its gross, bit bare with me… I could post pics for you but I won’t do that to you)… It all started after camping the week before and it was getting worse looking so I had to come in.
When you get there you sign in on the touchscreen computer system, its weird that you don’t get greeted when coming in though. Anyway, the waiting room is pretty large, windows all around it and skylights, has TVs and bathroom. Nice atmosphere.
My first diagnosis was dermatitis, I was given a cream and sent on my way. The visit was $ 20, the cream was $ 10 and they filled the prescription very quickly there (this is a bonus about Patient First! You don’t have to go to a pharmacy!). My visit was also only 45 min from when I pulled into the parking lot! Awesome.
Well bad news, the next day the cream made it worse. I called and spoke to someone and they asked that I come back in. So second time there, first doc didn’t know what it was, second doc looked and said I must have gotten bitten by something… Which makes sense since I just went camping. They couldn’t prescribe me anything to help it so I had to wait it out. So this ended up being a free visit, thank goodness because that would have sucked to pay $ 20 again and got nothing out of it.
Anyway, a week later my rash subsided and I got a call from a nurse at Patient First asking how I was doing! I was shocked that they were so caring to call me and ask! I have never had an urgent care facility do that. Very nice!
Overall, yes, they misdiagnosed me at first, but I’m better and it didn’t break the bank and they called to show they cared. That’s all that matters to me!

They were surprisingly quick! I came in on a Saturday evening for a bad case of hives and some difficulty breathing. They weren’t the warmest, but I do appreciate their efficiency in getting me treated (it might have been that no one else was in the wait room at that time). They processed my insurance information — nice that they accept the Hopkins EHP insurance, and within moments, they sent me to the nurse to get my height/​weight, and shortly thereafter, I saw a PA. I thought that I’d have to wait a while, but surprisingly not. The longest I had to wait was AFTER they had administered Prednisone and wanted to see how I reacted to it.

I had recently moved to Charles Village and so being sick and in need of Patient First, this was my first visit to this location. I was a bit wary because I didn’t know what to expect and actually debated about driving up to my usual Patient First in White Marsh or Perry Hall, but I’m glad I didn’t.
I was in and out in a total of 1.5 hours which was a surprise. I usually expect to be waiting in the examination room for a long amount of time. This could have been a reflection of their ability to diagnose me quickly as well as the number of patients waiting to be seen on that given day, but still that is a good sign when you are not waiting for many, many hours on end. The employees were efficient and friendly which is always much appreciated.
When I went into the examination room, the tech took a strep swap (not fun) and despite the pain, she was very sympathetic to me which was nice. She said the doc would see me once the results were in which would be 10 – 15 minutes. I didn’t expect to see the doctor, but she came in to see me about 5 minutes later. She checked my throat, chest and asked me a few questions then she said she’d be back once again when my results were in. That was a nice surprise because I guess I expected the doctor to wait until the results were in before seeing me. She let me know right when the results were in (again that was surprisingly super fast) and then she sent me on my way. On top of that, she wrote me up a work note without even asking me first which is great. Everything was ready for me (prescription, paper work etc) when she came in to let me go which I know at other places that is not always the case. My previous experiences sometimes ended with the doctor diagnosing me and then leaving to write up my paperwork etc and not coming back for another 10 minutes or longer.
I will definitely come back if I ever need to.

There would be nothing that could ever make me step foot in a Patient First again. If my spleen fell out and all the local ERs were closed and I lived across the street, I would still never come to this place again. They practice terribly shady billing techniques then charge you and your insurance for sub-​par service. I will be investigating whether it is insurance fraud when a patient is seen for less than 5 minutes, by a PA, no less, the patient is given a joke of an «examination» and then the PA does not give the patient the requested MRI prescription and walks away empty handed from the clinic.
Somehow this adds up to over $ 150 worth of service? My insurance paid only $ 60 of the bill (can’t blame them! I saw very little value in this visit as well!) I was then sent a bill for the remaining portion. I called PF customer service after receiving this bill and explained to them my situation and how I didn’t feel it was fair to be charged anything else considering I wasn’t given any treatment nor an MRI Rx. The woman I spoke with on the phone at PF even agreed with me, that the charge seemed erroneous and said it would be sent up the chain to be evaluated. I waited over a month and then received a letter denying my request. So I called again and asked to speak with management. I was told to leave a message, which I did, yet no one ever returned my phone call. That was in February. Just yesterday (April 8) I received a call from a collection agency asking for the $ 70 bill plus a $ 40 service charge!?! I immediately called to PF and was put in touch with the person who denied my claim. She refused to adjust the claim even though I spent over an hour on the phone with her explaining the situation. Finally after an hour, she beat me down, I was willing to pay the $ 90 to make her go away. Guess what? Still had to pay half of the service charge.
PF, In the grand scheme of things they should have seen the bigger picture. #1: You got $ 60 from my insurance. Lucky you. #2: You upset a very vocal member of the community who is married to a Baltimore doctor. And people like me talk about bad experiences 7x more than we talk about good experiences. We have lots of friends and know plenty of people in medicine. All for $ 90?

As much as i am a fan of my GP, getting an appointment for a pressing matter can be a bit difficult. That’s where Patient First fills in and they do an admirable job, for myself and have for several members of my family. I haven’t really had any long waits, at the most 10 mins. The time in the procedure area varies, usually dependent on what i was in for. When it is busy expect to be waiting longer, but the wait isn’t anything like it would be in an emergency room.
As for the level of service, you’ll get no complaints here. Staff and Doctors i have dealt with have been friendly and courteous. Doctors have been thorough and willing to answer questions.
In the end, would have no problem with going back to Patient First for any non-​emergency medical issues when i can’t get an appointment right away with my GP.

Haiku:
Speedy, efficient,
and effective. Really great!
It is organized,
well planned, and nice staff.
Insurance is a real MUST!
It deserves 6 stars.

I stopped in here for treatment a few weeks ago.
I can sum up my experiences here with three words.
Fast, efficient, competent.
Have your insurance ready and no outstanding balance.
Just saying.

I can’t give this place a «wow, I’m a fan!» rating, because hey — who is really a fan of going to a clinic when you’re ill? Still, this place did its job, which I’m okay with.
Without going into specifics, I had a medical emergency that needed urgent care, and my primary care doctor was booked up until November (which is the same excuse I got three months ago, but no matter). I looked around on my insurance provider’s website and pulled up this place, so I said fine, let’s go down there, I can’t wait anymore.
I was seen VERY quickly — probably no more than 15 minutes’ wait, if that. I was seen by Dr. Mazhari, who diagnosed the problem, handed me prescriptions for two very strong antibiotics, and sent me on my way. Total time spent probably wasn’t even an hour.
It’s true that they’re not warm and fuzzy as far as bedside manner, but as far as I’m concerned, I don’t want that. I just want to be treated and get out. This place is perfect for that.
If you don’t have health insurance, this place will screw you to death. Be prepared to spend upwards of 500+ for treatment.
Served its purpose fine for me.