Buyer beware: this is an “emergency department” disguised as an urgent care clinic. It is not an urgent care, and you won’t know it until you receive their bill. Vista charges astronomical rates and will work hard to order every possible test and service they can justify. They apparently put far more effort into maximizing profits than into patent care. Vista Medical Center is a perfect example of everything wrong about our broken health care system in America. My experience with Vista’s Emergency Department: I brought my daughter in for symptoms of a urinary tract infection. Vista was my only option because it was Sunday evening and all other urgent cares were closed. After google searching “urgent care near me”, Vista popped up as the only option open late. A few weeks later the bill shows up. $21,000. Yes $21,000 dollars for a roughly 1 hour visit to have a simple uncomplicated urinary tract infection treated with a course of antibiotics. Why so much? Because the doc ordered everything he thought he could get away with. Not enough to raise any concerns by my insurance plan, but just enough to make sure he could squeeze every penny he could out of his patient. I work in healthcare and know enough about standards of care and clinical guidelines to recognize unnecessary tests and services. Vista has apparently mastered the delicate art of charging just the right amount - get every penny possible from each patient without raising suspicions by insurance plans. Awful but lawful. Almost forgot… I didn’t mention the 3 additional bills I received for this visit: -the physician billed me for the 5 minutes he spent “examining” my daughter from the hallway as he questioned her through the door. He must charge extra for the eye rolling, impatience, and condescending tone. - a pathology group billed for the lab tests they performed, despite the fact that vista also billed for those same labs despite they fact that they outsourced them. How can they get away with charging twice for the same labs you ask? Oh well turns out Vista is only charging for the service of drawing the blood into a tube and sending them to the lab. Apparently they feel that they deserve about $300 per test, even though they only drew 2 bottles of blood to send out. - I received a bill from the radiologist who reviewed the ct scans ordered by Vista’s doc. $400. This is on top of the $14000 that Vista charges for using the ct scan machine. What burns me more than the obscenely high charge for imaging is that it wasn’t necessary according to any guidelines or clinical standards that we trust out physicians to follow. Based on the set of symptoms my daughter was experiencing, only a simple exam and urinalysis would have been sufficient to make a diagnosis and prescribe an antibiotic.
After taking my son to this ER on two different occasions I am more than sure I never want to go there again or at least avoid it if I can. Starting from the receptionist 2 different people who both occasions were very serious, no eye contact no nothing. To the Doctor who spoke to me from the hallway and asked questions in such a demanding way. He made it seem like my son’s illness was of no importance and told me I could sit there for 4 hours or go home because there would be no results that night. The nurse was the only okay one. But other than that the whole place just seems sketchy. Also the first time there they didn’t submit my insurance and I got billed for the visit. Avoid this place if you can!
The employees here have zero bedside manner. They don’t communicate well and leave you waiting and not knowing what’s going on. The doctor will barely come near you for fear of catching something. You can’t hear what he’s saying through all the masks. Find someplace else to seek treatment. This place is the pits.
Sent the following email to vista about my expeience at the lindhurst facility I was having issues swallowing that night have having been diagnosed earlier in the day at a urgent care with a salivary gland blockage and infection. I was told if I had ANY issues swallowing to go to the E.R So I did. Not a big big issue I understand but one that made me worried to get up at that time of the night and go to the E.R I arrived and there was no one at the desk, it was dark and no lights on behind the desk. Had the TV not been on in the waiting room I would of thought the office was closed. I stood for 3 to 5 minutes before calling out for someone. A gentleman came to the door from the back room , stood in the dark door frame silhouetted from the exam area and asked if he could help. No idea who he was. Told him my issue and said the girl would be out. Waited another minute when the girl came out. She must be one of your most talented young doctors being at most 24. Because she told me there was no one there to run the x ray machine and I should go to Waukegan E R. I honestly don't know who she was. She could of been a very very young doctor. She could of been a nurse. But my feeling was she was the desk administrator for the over night shift. So I left and went to North Western E.R in Grayslake where I was greet by someone behind a well lit desk. Immediately shown to the back for vitals from two nurses and had a doctor see me with in 15 minutes. I was given a liquid steroid which not only made my difficulty swallowing easier almost immediately but with in a few hours of going home also eleviated some of the pain from the infected area which I had been dealing with for 2 days. NO X RAY was ever taken. No x ray was even discussed only It was recommended if the issue came back to go to a hospital with an E.R. in case there was a need to be admitted. While driving home I realized that your Lindenhurst facility was so in the the wrong with how they treated me. I went there for medical assistance and was turned away by the girl at the desk. No doctor ever saw me. I would of understand that if a doctor saw me and made the choice I needed an X Ray to send me somewhere else because you have no tech on hand at 2am. by the way you are an E R facility how is it you have no one there to run the most basic clinical scan machine which is over 100 years old. You are basically providing the best health care pre 1895. But no doctor ever saw me unless the guy in the dark door way was your doctor. Then having gone to Northwestern and not even needed an x ray really made me question everything. The whole situation honestly made me think of some wild TV plot that something nefarious was going on in the back and the bank robber wanted to keep everyone out while the doctor sewed up his wounded partner. Why am I writing this? What do I want? Honestly I don't even expect a response to this. Because at this point there is nothing you can do. And of course there is not even a record of me being there since no one took my information. But it does make me question what if it was something more serious? Would I get to see a doctor? You are the closest ER facility to me so of course in need i would go to you first. I now need to question that option for me and my family. I just ask that you look into this so that going forward ANYONE walking into your office in Lindenhurst is seen by a doctor and let them make the choice as to what may or may not be needed. And I do think you should reconsider calling yourself an E.R. and call yourself a 24 hour urgent care if you don't have an X ray. But I'm sure there are legal terms that allows you to call that facility one. I mean I have gone to store front chiropractors that have immediate x ray machines.
I took my grandmother to the emergency room here for a fall and stitches a few days ago and I have to say, I am so impressed with the quality of care she received. From reception, to the nursing staff, radiology and physicians 2, everyone was professional, timely and thorough, patient and most importantly, really seemed to care about my grandmothers well-being. Thank you so much!!
Dr. Terrel B. Calvin was the worst "doctor" I've ever encountered in my 28 years of life. He was unprofessional, unkind, rude, mumble when he spoke. I don't recommend anybody to receive care from him. I'd give negative ratings if it was possible.
If i could give this place negative stars i would! I sat in the waiting area for over a hour when they said it was a 30 min wait. I asked what was going on they stated they were waiting on n beds i said understandable a half hour later I’m still waiting just to go back and it’s literally 5 beds open they asked for a strep test just to wait an hour for them to ask to ask for for a Covid test and have to wait another hour unbelievable
DO NOT EVER WASTE YOUR TIME!!! Drive the distance and go to north shore! Not only are these doctors nurses, medical staff etc are not experienced nor have nearly the knowledge they should have being health care professionals. They do not know what they are doing, pretty much like ever. And then on top of it trying to get any type of results to have someone else look at your stuff, is also OUT OF THE QUESTION! To get your own test results you call medical records and THEN possibly wait another 30 days. I seriously cannot stress enough DO NOT GO TO VISTA!
I come here quite often, and last night am 3/30/23 I went in for a general unwellness and asthma complications, they had only treated my asthma and just left my strong unwell feeling alone, i didn’t show a fever but I’ve been around long enough to know when I have a cold. If the cold is sitting in my back, head, or lungs. I’ve been at home all day still struggling to breathe and fighting this cold. Texted negative for COVID multiple times as well. Wish me luck everyone, I suppose this is the part where I suffer in silence. The workers and doctors in my experience have taken very good care of me at that ER I wonder if it’s changed :/
The last time I came in here I had accidentally overdosed on painkillers trying to fight off a nasty tooth ache. I'll give them 2 stars for giving me iodine and making me feel better. But the nurse seemed to think I ended up there on purpose. She asked what had happened before I left and I told her the truth. But before I could even finish my story and cuts me off with "well of you end up in here again "they will take you away" but despite her mistrust, vague threats of taking away my freedom I still paid alot for the less than great treatment. I wouldn't go back. For fear of being "taken away"
