AMITA HealthReviews of amitahealth.org

Calling the call center to reach your doctor is like talking to a brick wall. I had to call twice in order to have my concerns to reach my doctor. Further more, my message to my doctor was misinformed and essential was told I can't be helped based on the doctors assumptions and won't take my messages anymore. Thankfully, I don't have a long record with this health group and will find a doctor in a smaller practice. Someone where I can talk to a person directly and not a call center everytime my doctor leaves a frickin message that isn't even what I asked in the first place.

I have no complaints about the hospital. Unfortunately Amita Health has the WORST billing service on the planet!!! I have two BCBS plans and they have yet to bill correctly yet!! My secondary ALWAYS denies claim because it is not billed with primary EOB (which is customary practice). I attempt to call them nobody answers. When I choose to get call back I have yet to get one in 7 months. When I emailed a cease and desist letter with instructions to rebill insurance properly and to not turn me over to collections ( my bill should be covered 100%) they sent form email states will be in contact with me soon. That was 3 weeks ago and the only thing I got was a bill from a collection agency!!! If someone from Amita Health St. Mary’s would contact me 815-375-5202. May end up in court since my cease and desist letter was ignored. I sure hate to change my doctor just because her billing service sucks so bad. PS I am a health care professional

All documented here is from my experience & of my opinions of recent hospitalization @ St Joseph's. I was patient @ Amita St Joseph's Hospital Chicago. In past I was there as patient when it was Presence Health. Now that it is Amita, the service has gone down the toilet! I had elective spine surgery on 3/2. Most of nursing staff was considerate & good, others horrible.... Good Personal: Nurses: Cat; Ana; PCT Carlo; Ana; Shantay; Escort: James; Doctors Dr. T (female) I will start with one issue @ a time: Dietary: I have # food allergies & almost each & every meal there was an issue with food choices. Either it had an ingredient in it I was allergic too or food never came up @ all. I spoke # times to dietitian: etc to no avail. ; dietary manager. I do speak English & have no issue communicating a problem. b) poor pain management; c) call bell rang @ times it took 20 minutes before bell answered via intercom system & then about another 20 min. before someone actually came. I was given laxative & by time someone arrived to assist I already had a defecation accident which is very humiliating/ embarrassing. I had on PCT respond to the call light for use of bed pan & he came in w/ bed pan & a chuck over pan. As he placed it under me, I realized he never removed the chuck so as he stated "bed dry" BUT I was wet! Another dietary personnel served my dinner & I could smell pepper in it. I informed him I could NOT eat it as pepper in in & I am allergic & he rudely responded that we are a hospital & we do NOT use peppers. False as when I tasted it, my mouth reacted immediately to the peppers. I had asked for Salad & was given Italian dressing w/ red peppers in it. Once again my allergies, I asked for a egg salad sandwich & was told they don't have any; same with tuna salad & was also told NO TOAST! How can ity be that a hospital dietary dept does NOT have egg salad or tuna salad! Again spoke w/ dietitian & I have grape allergy & what did I get as a desert: "GRAPES"!. I had severe right hip pain & was given a steroid shot in hip for relief, it did NOT work. I again complained & it was yet another 5 days before the physician came back to reassess my pain &* give another injection, again to no avail. I had a bed that the mattress was thin & felt as IF I was sleeping on bed boards. The bed was changed out BUT there was a lump right in the area where I had surgery hip pain. I informed the staff as on a scale of 1-10 in pain, I was @ a 12!!!!! Bed was finally changed out & was better. I was transferred from surgical floor on 10th floor to rehab unit on 7th floor. There was issue with my phone as I couldn't receive or make calls. I called the operator & she informed me to tell the nurse. Which I did & over 5 hrs later matter resolved as it was a 2 bedded room made to one bed & phone lines were crossed. I am a retired RN of 40+ years & PHONE issues should NOT fall under a nurses function to trouble shoot & take away from her nursing duties! That should be an IT issue or even a maintenance issue NOT nurses. I advocate for patients & as a retired RN, I will also advocate for nurses. Other issues: infection control: I was a Dir. of Nursing in long term care & any bed pans left on floor is an infection control issue. This was repeatedly done @ St Josephs. I also had a NURSE who had rhinitis (runny nose) & she would wipe her nose in her sweater sleeve.... Talk about spread of infection! I had called x2 & left message to speak to a patient advocate x2 to try & resolve issues internally & give hospital a chance to rectify issues, yet again to no avail NO one responded to my calls or concerns. I also did inform them IF not addressed I would take matters further to DOH & or JCAHO yet again no resolution. So here I am drafting this review & I have also wrote letter of complaint to JCAHO. I had chosen St Joseph's hospital as I was there before when it was Presence & was treated very nicely & cooperative. NOW as an Amita facility, in my opinion, I would NOT recommend this facility to anyone! Again these are all my opinions based on my experiences & occurrences.