Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Care Network

We love Dr. Heinert and all of the office staff at CHOP Newtown. We were able to get in quickly for our first visit after our baby was born and easily scheduled 2 other appointments we needed in his first 2 weeks. I like that they have you walk right back to the exam room if one is available which is often the case in our experience. I also like that they try to separate those who are there for sick visits and those who are there for well visits in the waiting area.

You wait half an hour in the lobby passing your set appointment time with your child, the nurse comes, measure few basics and park you in a room, then you stay another half an hour to see the doc with your exhausted kid. How cool that. Dear Chop mgt, you guys need to do a better job staffing this place. Respect customers time and be reasonable for what you charge to my insurance.

I would never recommend chop. I’ll say they work really hard on being very polite. The portal is also great it the main reason we stay. So the portal itself actually earned the star. I don’t even trust their specialist I have to see a private pay endocrinologist because it’s impossible to deal with doctors that are overwhelmed with patients and have to follow chop system. The Newtown office has way too many patients they can’t even take their own standing 6 month old patient till April that’s almost three months to wait ?? Why take on new patients if you can’t handle the ones you already have? The goal in this business model is to get everyone in and out as fast as possible vaccinate and medicate and out the door on to the next. The doctors have maybe 10 minutes with you and nobody actually cares about healthcare. I’m sure they’ll respond now with an available appointment. But most parents don’t want to have to go through all this to just get the bare minimum.

We've been going here for years as the specialists for both of my sons are here. However, today, I brought my younger son there due to him having a fever for several days. Check-in was normal, we had to wait, which is fine, it's a popular place. Once back, we got one swab done for COVID. Doctor comes in, says we should've gotten two and proceeds to do the other one for the flu. COVID was negative, flu was positive, and he has an ear infection, resulting in two prescriptions being called in to our pharmacy. Then, once home, I go to the app, it says flu was negative. My wife calls, they have to call us back. They confirm, it was entered wrong. I go to the pharmacy to pick-up the prescription, only one was there, so they called CHOP Newtown. They called one prescription into one pharmacy, and one to another pharmacy. I'm not one for reviews, but the communication, professionalism, and consideration for peoples' time has been dwindling here for quite some time. To close, double-check your exit paperwork, and app to verify everything is consistent, accurate, and representative of your visit or follow-up details.

We’ve been going to CHOP Newton since my almost 9yo was couple month old, and now younger daughter is also a patient right there, and I have never been happier. Stuff is always very friendly, I am easily getting same day appointments if needed, weekend’s appointments or referrals to specialists if any concerns occur, I always getting calls back for any of my questions either asked thru phone calls or thru their patient portal. There had been several doctors seeing my daughters and all of them are absolutely great!

I don't understand all the negative reviews. I've been with this practice seven years and they've been wonderful. This past week I called for a sick appointment when they open at 8, got scheduled for 9:30 and we were out by 10:30. Sometimes the wait for the doctor is a little long but that can be true anywhere, and they're worth the wait. I've even had nurses call to follow up on how my child is doing. You do have to book routine appointments pretty far out but that can be credited to the success of the office. I book them all at once and if anything it gives time to plan off for work and school. I would definitely recommend.

This practice is great as long as you don’t need to see a doctor. The front desk is cordial and the doctors have a great bedside manner - the one time a year that you see them at your child’s well visit because they are never available if your child is sick. On 3 occasions in the last 9 months I have attempted to schedule sick visits for my 2 boys without success. The front desk tells you there is no availability and to call back in the morning because they won’t schedule a sick visit for the next day for some reason. Each time I called back the next morning when the office opens at 8 am just to sit on hold for 15 minutes and then to be there are no sick visits again. I ended up having to take the boys to urgent care every time. If you request to speak to a nurse, the nurse will try to talk you out of being seen provably because she knows that there is no availability anyway. Well visit scheduling isn’t much better. You have to schedule at least 3 months out and even then your appointment gets moved on a whim and rescheduled weeks later. I finally left the practice after calling in late May for my son’s early August well visit. The staff told me there is no availability until mid September. If you can’t see my child when they are sick or with 2.5 months notice, why should we stay as a patient of this practice? The one star in the review is for the promptness in which I received the paperwork asking to release my children’s medical records to their new pediatrician.

Very poor office communication and management. I called to the Newtown office today, spoke with someone about my son’s symptoms and was scheduled a same day sick visit to come into the Newtown office. Later on, they called me back and canceled the appointment because they said my son is the patient of the Doylestown office and their system does not allow him to come to the Newtown office without being the Newtown office’s patient. I have always called the Newtown office number and logged into the Newtown web portal since my son was born which was almost 7 years ago. They registered my son as the Doylestown office’s patient because I scheduled my son’s upcoming yearly well visit at the Doylestown location. When I log into the MyCHOP web portal to schedule appointments, it asks me which location 2 options are Newtown and Doylestown or any location. And more than 90% of the well visit’s availability is in the Doylestown location. I always thought that the two locations were the same office. I have no issue that my son is placed as the Doylestown office patient. What I don’t think is right is that in the past/before today, they never told me my son is Doylestown office patient and I was supposed to call the Doylestown office number for sick visit. And they canceled my son’s sick visit appointment, which in fact they scheduled this morning, and told me to go to an urgent care. This is unprofessional and irresponsible.

It’s unfortunate to say I need to look for a new pediatrician. I used to love this practice but my experiences the past year+ have been terrible. Waiting for 20 minutes plus anytime you call to talk to the nurse or front desk, never being able to get a sick appointment and being told to drive 45 minutes to chop urgent care, waiting months for a well visit and even not being competent enough to remove sutures which resulted in another trip to the ER. So unfortunate…they took on too many patients to offer proper care which is disgrace given the position it puts parents in.

The system is broken. On Wednesday, January 25, 2023, my son was lethargic and then vomited during a high school sporting event. The athletic trainer recommended we take him the the ER to be evaluated for a concussion. I followed his instructions and took my son to the ER that same evening after the event. After the ER visit, I tried to make an appointment online with his CHOP Newtown pediatrician group online. No sick appointments or well visit times were available online for CHOP Newtown. I was able to secure an appointment with a concussion specialist at a different CHOP office, yet I still needed my son to be seen by his pediatrician to rule out other medical conditions other than a possible concussion. My wife called the CHOP Newtown office on Friday and the answering machine stated that the office was closed and to call back on Saturday, after 9am. Today, Saturday, January 28, 2023 at 9am, I again tried to make an appointment online with no success. I also called the Newtown office and was on hold for 30+ minutes on the phone with no human answering the phone. I gave my wife the phone while on hold and actually drove to the Newtown office, which is 10 minutes from my home. When I arrived at the office, there was not one patient or parent in the waiting room and there was only one woman behind the front desk answering phones. I was told by the woman that "there were 150 people on hold" and she was doing her best to answer calls. I informed her that I needed to make an appointment with my son's pediatrician and possibly request routine bloodwork to rule out other issues/illnesses, including infection and/or mono. The lady at the front desk said someone will get back to me and that she could not make an appointment in person at the office. I know this lady at the front desk was doing her best, but it was very obvious that this office is extremely understaffed and overwhelmed. The front desk at Newtown CHOP and the CHOP Online scheduling system is broken and it is extremely detrimental to patient care. Later this Saturday morning the same woman at the front desk that I spoke to picked up my wife's phone call. The CHOP Newtown receptionist stated that someone will give us a call back. At the time of this review, we are still waiting for a call back. CHOP Newtown needs to fully staff this office to serve the community and its children properly. My son has a separate appointment with a concussion specialist at a different CHOP office, yet we can't even get into his pediatrician to rule out other possible non-concussion related issues. Unfortunately, he is in concussion protocol without even being examined for other non-concussion related causes. CHOP Newtown needs to fix its online system and hire more front desk staff to adequately care for its pediatric patients.