Axminster Medical Group – Member of Providence Medical Institute

Is asking for a prosthesis and mastectomy bra asking too much? I have been going to Intimate Image for 22 years and just love them. They have all of my records and I receive excellent and personal service for my needs. My Humana Providence Care Insurance does not contract with them anymore. They referred me to Hanger, in Encino. I called for information and was told I have to go to the Pasadena or Downy clinic. This is most inconvenient for me. I live in West Hills and do not drive the freeway. So I will probably go to Intimate Image and just pay out of pocket. I am very unhappy and upset that Humana can not help me on this.
I did speak to Carman in Customer Service and she was very sweet and helpful, but could not get the referral changed to Intimate Image. But thank you, Carman, for taking the time to try and help me.
A very disappointed and sad member.
Christine Orum

I’ve heard great things about providence medical; however axminster Westchester fails at most levels.
The physical went well and Dr. Shapiro was a nice man that listened and promptly did my routine physical without any issues. My appointment was made for a routine physical and I had simply asked to check up on my lypoma as a second opinion. Other that, not blood drawn, no instrumentations, very quick 20 min (most of it waiting) physical.
The real problem comes from their billing. Dr. Shapiro ended up charging me for an internal screening claiming my lypoma was the reasoning. My insurance was subsequently billed over $ 500 and the kick back to me was around $ 275.
I subsequently called my insurance only to be lead back to the hospital to ask them to change the charge code. The phone staff was very nice and understanding so they asked the Dr. To look into it. He drops it $ 50. Insane. I call back and tell them that he did not do anything beyond a physical. I complained once more eith the same argument and they dropped it down to $ 139. I complained again and the staff mentioned that part of the bill was because i was a new patient. The staff said they would send my case up to the board and have a decision be made. Their verdict: «to keep me as a happy customer, the axminster group would like to extend a 1 time bill adjustment to bring it down to $ 50.»
I subsequently paid this bill and he will never see my services again.
I hope him and his USC medical degree was worth the loss of ethics and morals.

They would sooner have you DIE than see a specialist for what ails you. I waited 3 weeks for my first referral to go through (which was marked «STAT» by the referring doctor). And now I’ve waited 2 weeks so far for my next referral. I sure hope I’m not dying in the meantime.

Their deliberate delays in approving specialist care is deplorable. I have had to routinely wait two weeks to get a specialist referral approved from my primary care doctor. Yesterday, after waiting two weeks, I called them and they claimed they did not have the request from the primary doctor — even though I physically watched him send it to their office. So now, I have to wait even longer. AVOID THIS MEDICAL GROUP. YOUR HEALTH DESERVES BETTER.

I have been trying to get set up with this medical group so that I can have Dr. Khorami as my primary care doctor. Given his good Unilocal reviews and specialty (I have a lot of stomach issues), he would have been a great fit… Unfortunately, getting set up with Axminster medical group has been such a headache that I’ve given up. I’m going to choose another doctor based not only on online reviews of the doctor, but also on online reviews of the medical group.
My experience with this medical group has been: The phone wait is often long. I tried several times but had to hang up after awhile due to work obligations. When I finally got through to them all they needed was some basic information about me like my name and date of birth and medical number– why isn’t there an online form for this?
Then they told me I would be in the system in 3 days, after which I could call my doctor to set up an appointment. I called my doctor the next week and was told they couldn’t find me in the system. So then I had to call Axminster medical group again… and again am put on hold indefinitely.
I have already wasted many hours on hold, and I’m not even a patient yet. I have decided to save myself future headaches and find a doctor in another medical group. I recommend you do the same!

This review is for Dr. Max Shapiro and his office staff.
I cannot with good conscience refer to him as a doctor, that is laughable; so instead I will refer to him as Mr. Shapiro.
With full disclosure, I did not personally see Mr. Shapiro, my husband did; however, I have dealt with the aftermath and incompetence of the entire office.
1^st-​Mr. Shapiro is late. ALWAYS. He clearly lacks respect for other’s time. One example-​my husband had an appointment at 9:30 am, he was not seen until 10:15 am.
Other than just simply being rude, there is no excuse for a doctor to be 45 minutes late for an appointment. Its not the ER-​its an office, with appointments.
2^nd-​Mr. Shapiro stated my husband could see his previous urologist– that was a lie. It took numerous phone calls to his rude front office staff to get the real answer. Mr. Shapiro’s office is not contracted with my husband’s urologist. Fine– but tell me that up front and I would have saved us all time. This leads me to number 3.
3^rd-​As previously stated, the front office staff is rude. Incredibly rude. I called to have a few questions answered and one girl’s response was, «Well, you would have known better but you didn’t talk to me first.» Since I had no idea what her name was (I still don’t because she refused to tell me) there is no way to ensure I did not speak with her previously. Furthermore, she continued to insult my intelligence with her condescending tone and responses. Having worked in the medical field for ten plus years and facilitated numerous open enrollment opportunities for large corporations, I am confident that I know enough about health insurance to comprehend HMO policies. I probably understand health insurance policies better than she does.
4^th-​The front office entered the wrong insurance information when filling a claim for Quest Diagnostics. Leading to the claim being denied. I have since spent over an hour on he phone with Blue Cross and Quest Diagnostics in order to correct the problem.
5^th-​Back to Mr. Shapiro. Mr. Shapiro removed a cyst on my husband’s back. I could tell the next day there were not enough sutures in the incision area. My husband being stubborn did not want to schedule an additional appoint and waited for the follow up. Well, Mr. Shapiro and his nurse missed the problem, The sutures where removed and my husband was sent on his way. The next day the wound opened and my husband had a hole, yes a hole on his back. I had to schedule an appointment with another doctor because the original incision became infected and did not heal properly. I called Mr. Shapiro’s office after seeing another doctor and I was told by the front office staff that I was lying and had no idea what I was talking about.
Now my husband is left with a scar about a ½ inch in diameter on his back from a simple procedure.
Over all, if a doctor and his staff are going to be so rude and self absorbedI I expect them to operate at a level close to perfection.
This office is extremely pretentious and should be avoided at all cost.

Dr. Golden is my primary care physician at this medical group. The nurses and staff are almost always courteous and the wait time, if you are on time and have an appointment is fast. You don’t usually have to wait long if the doctor’s prior appointments are all on time. It really beats waiting at the County Hospital for a kid doctor just out of med school, where you have to wait in excess of 6 hours if the problem you have isn’t considered an emergency. I didn’t have medical insurance most of the year, so I guess I shouldn’t really complain all that much about wait time.
I finally got health insurance for folks that don’t make a lot of money. While it isn’t the best health insurance and I know they will find ways to underpay the doctors and decline expensive medical tests, Dr. Golden has been receptive and empathetic to my health care needs and has been willing to order tests that are necessary. While the appointments are really short, usually 20 minutes or less, I feel that if I have all of my questions written down or in my head, he will usually answer them. I have been having bad neck and shoulder problems due to a hard fall from a ladder that exacerbated my degenerative discs in my lower neck. Dr. Golden gave me an X-​ray on my first visit which I appreciated and was very proactive in trying to find out what was wrong with my neck. He recommended another month of physical therapy and if that doesn’t get better on my next visit in a month, then he will do a more in-​depth scan like an MRI to see if I have a disc bulging out of alignment or compression of a nerve. Hopefully, it won’t come to that, but we’ll see. Anyhow, I hope I will continue to get the same level of service from Dr. Golden and the Axminster Medical Group, now called Providence Medical Group of the Providence Little Mary Hospital chain which seems to be buying up all of the medical groups in the South Bay area. Hopefully, the excellent health care won’t change as they become part of a huge medical conglomerate.

At first, I didn’t really like this place. Hate that you have to pay parking to go to the doctors. They kept charging me a co-​pay when they didn’t have to.
Still haven’t been refunded by the way.
But in the last year I’ve visited this office 4+ times
This review is for Dr. Susannah Ehret only. She never rushes through any of my appointments. Yes, the wait for her can be a couple weeks but she is worth it! I come in with a post it full of questions and she answers each and every one of them. I’ve seen other doctor’s in this medical group and I like her the best!
Front staff are super street. Building does look sketchy and run down, hate that you have to pay for parking… which is CASH ONLY by the way.
Also– make sure to double check your bills.

Unbelievable, the disorganization and lack of communication that I have experienced while going through a medical condition has been terrible on so many levels. My prior medical group in the bay area set the bar for the medical profession. This has been a nightmare of a process. It’s difficult to speak with my doctor, Dr. Chalmers and her assistant Marilyn has to be the one person in the office that she be allowed to speak with patience. She treats patience as if there were a hindrance instead of human. She is more worried about being right than listening and assisting. Her customer service skills could use a lot of work. This is not a fair representation of quality medical care. They do have some nice doctors in the office, however, the process and procedure needs a lot of work.
I had some tests run during my last pap and one of the tests, they just didn’t preform. I never got an answer as to why they didnt preform it or even the option to take the test again. #SMH #terrible #myhmosucks #Marilyn #badnurse

This medical group in conjunction with Providence Care Network is a terrible group, Lots of hurdles and denials for prenatal care. I was told by the a doctor not expect the same quality of care as I had from larger group, because the medical group was no good. Be worried about bills and revoked approvals leading to more bills. Beware of doctors dropping out of the group mid care, and having to transfer.

Took 3 months to get a referral! Couldn’t believe the inefficiency of this company. I cannot stress it enough — DO NOT GO HERE! It is NOT WORTH the agony, stress, and time that you need to put into it to get anything done. This is an example of what healthcare should NOT be!

Three words: Don’t go here.
If you are thinking of selecting this location to receive your medical care, look elsewhere. Long story short, I tried to get a prescription refilled, it’s been three weeks, and I still haven’t been able to get it filled. (needed a prior authorization letter. .doctor went on vacation, but I was told, it would «get taken care of» even though she was on vacation.) I had stressed that I was out of the medication, a nd three weeks, later, I still don’t have the medication, nor has this issue been resolved. Staff does not follow up with patients. Before this issue, previous appointments had been cancelled or rescheduled, at the last minute. Very poor organization of this office. If it was possible to give less than a star, I would.
As a result, I am changing my primary care physician to someone one of my friends recommended, even if I have to drive farther. Too bad I have to wait till february before the change takes effect

Dr. O’Neil has always been top notch for our little baby daughter. Always takes time to answer our questions even before she was born. Highly recommend her.

Axminster Medical Group had the audacity to change my children’s primary medical coverage without even notifying me! Went to office to try to resolve this, but no one new who to contact. Company not prompt in returning phone calls. Everyone was doing «research.» Nevertheless my insurance company got to the bottom of this! Lost my business after 15+ years. Inexcusable!

I know other reviewers had bad experiences, but I went there about 4 times (I don’t go that much to the doctors), and everytime staff was nice to me and charged me just what my copay really was. Also after my blood test, I got all the results mailed to me — much better than UCLA, where once I couldn’t get results even after I called –they said the doctor left UCLA .
I take one star off for the waiting time –it takes quite a while from your actual appointment time to see the doctor.

This place doesn’t even come close to my previous medical group in Fullerton.
I moved to Westchester last May so I decided to look for a new doctor in the area. The first time was on June 8^th to establish care was fine. I paid my $ 40 copay and went in to answer some basic questions. I scheduled an appointment at the time to go in to get my yearly physical. We scheduled the physical for September.
I went in on the day of my physical 10 minutes early, checked in, and paid $ 40 for the copay. I waited for about 25 minutes until I got impatient and went to the front desk to ask what was taking so long. The lady at the front desk ‘forgot’ to check me in. That was pretty annoying but the rest of my physical was fine. They wanted me to come back 2 months later just to see a nurse for the 2^nd of 3 series of preventive shots. That appointment was at 9am this morning. Before I get into what happened this morning, let me tell you what happened in between the two appointment.
I found out from a co-​worker that for physicals, it was 100% covered and I didn’t have to pay a copay, so I called to get my $ 40 back. They finally sent it out on November 11^th.
So, this morning I go in for my shot and the front desk lady wanted to charge me $ 40 for a copay. In my head, I’m thinking «WTFreakkk! I’m not going through this again!!». But in real life, I told her that with my insurance plan, I’m not suppose to get charged a copay to see a nurse for a shot. She got really rude and unprofessional and told me that I didn’t have to pay now, but they’ll bill me and I can go have a seat. I told her never mind, that I didn’t want to see the nurse, and to not check me in. At least call my insurance plan and verify it like how most doctor offices will. I walked out of there and called the Axminister’s billing office and the patient advocacy department.
The two ladies that I spoke to in the billing department and the patient advocacy department were really sweet and helpful, but the front desk lady needs to take some classes in customer service. I have never been treated this way from a person working the front desk at a doctor’s office. I’m sure that I’m not the first patient that they lost because of her unprofessionalism.

This place is a Guardian Knot of red tape. It takes weeks to get anything done, and they waste tons of time and money trying ironically to save money by doing everything but treating you. I have a torn ligament in my wrist. I took 8 months to get properly diagnosed and two years to get properly treated. I’ve never seen such an inefficient company.

The staff was friendly and accommodating. They let my one year old daughter roam around the office and hallway while we waited for the doctor. My first test was inconclusive, so they ran another test right away and gave me results within 15 min. The office and examining rooms were clean. My only complaint is that I had to wait 30 min. before being seen by the doctor.