Newport Children's Medical Group

This review is not about the doctors in this group but rather the business itself. We have been taking our kids to Newport Children's Medical Group since they acquired our retired doctor's practice. The doctors we have seen have always professional and very courteous. Over the years, I've had to pay attention to their charges and those that our insurance company (PPO) actually covers. Every little thing is charged and often they are things you can do without (ie. eye test - we see an optometrist for this already, hearing test, etc,..). Our doctors visits are usually annual physicals and if you don't know what your insurance company will cover, be sure to double check since you will not be forewarned that there may be an additional charge for these things. For example, pulse check on the finger $25. Our children are now entering their teen years and expressed changing to a different practice. To be honest, I don't like to ""machine"" this practice has become. It's a big practice and you sometimes feel like cattle being pushed through. Today, I received a call confirming my request to have our medical records forwarded to our new doctor. $50 office policy charge. Now, I understand copying the file of healthy child (13 pages) might take a little time and there is postage to think about,.. but isn't this a bit excessive? You decide. We are thrilled to have found a new small practice where we feel like the people in the office actually care and aren't charging extra for every little thing. more

I like to consider myself fair when it comes to these kinds of reviews, and any number of the things that happened during my visit I usually would overlook on their own, but all of them together made for one crappy experience. My appointment was right after their lunch break, and I got there no more than 5 minutes early. The doors were locked, I watched all the nurses enter the office with a perfunctory ""we'll open at 1:30"", and they made me, my 6 month old, and all the other parents and patients wait outside until exactly 1:30. No chairs, just in a hallway. Usually, fine, not a big deal - they have to eat, too, right? Until I looked down at my feet and noticed the FULL Bio Hazard Waste containers sitting on the ground there. Making your patients sit out in the hall with bins full of blood and urine while you relish the last 5 minutes of your lunch break is a little much. The office personell were not very personable. They make you use these silly electronic tablets to check in, which, even when not trying to juggle a squirmy 6-month old, aren't very user-friendly. Once I finally got back to the patient room, one of the nurses made an off-hand comment about my child's appearance, and it wasn't about how cute he was. The doctor I saw, DelMundo, was nice enough, but when I asked him about an alternative method of starting solids, he had NO clue what I was talking about. And it wasn't an out-there crazy idea, either. Even if he doesn't agree with different methods personally, I would expect him to at least be somewhat knowledgeable about them. I basically left feeling like an idiot. Overall - it was my first and last visit. Like I said previously, any one of the above things (and there were more than I've listed) I would usually overlook on their own, but all together it was pretty bad. I feel bad giving any business a bad review, but in this case, they need serious work over there. more

I was debating dropping them after the last couple of visits. We used DelMundo and while I have nothing personally against him he just seems too laid back and not as professional and detail orientated when you have questions and concerns about your child. One of his comments was ""don't worry about it Mama"" to my wife one time on a concern she had about our child.\r In addition they constantly ask you to fill out the same paperwork with their tablet even though we've done this many times. Today they asked me to sign a binding arbirtration form before we see the doctor. Never, ever do this! You will give up all your rights if they screw up on your child. They would not see my child otherwise. I walked out of the office and have gone back to our previous pediatrician although it means a bit of a longer drive. more

On the plus side, the doctors are pretty good and it's easy to get an appt. The problem is they sometimes perform unnecessary or inappropriate tests to pad the bill. I've even seen cases where they billed for things they didn't do at all. In most cases it's the insurance company that gets hit with the overcharges, but of course if you have a deductible you can be sure you're paying for it too! Especially if you've gone to them for preventative exams, routine annual exams, or immunizations, I advise you to check you bill. I bet they charged you a copay even though your insurance provides you an immunization benefit without copay. And while I've always found the doctors to be very pleasant, I agree with another reviewer that some of the office personal are quite rude. (I've only used the Huntington Beach office) more

The office is great!, has 2 waiting rooms, one for the sick and the other for not sick.\r \r Dr Fernandez was fantastic, she had a real conversation with my 6 year old daughter asking how she felt. My daughter was happy that the Dr. talked to her and not just her Dad.\r \r The clinic has a multicultural and polylingual Staff of Doctors and assistants.\r \r Great place to bring your Child, I'm sorry to hear about the insurance problem the prior reviewer had, I not insured, I pay cash when I take my daughter in, and we wouldn't take her anywhere else, no mater what it cost.\r \r Pros: Appointments available on Sundays: with real a Doctor!! Cons: NONE! more

Went to this office for a single visit and initially were pleased with the well vs sick child entrances and offering of separated immunizations. Office staff friendliness was fair. However, they failed to take down our address and because insurance won't pay on a claim without an address, they didn't get paid and sent us to collections a year later! We have never been in collections and are prompt with all our bills. Our insurance would have gladly paid the bill had they submitted with our basic information. We first learned of the oustanding balance when the collections office called. We very quickly called the billing office and their staff was extremely rude! They had no interest in the fact that it was their error and took no ownership or responsibility for it. I would have thought they would at least realize it was their mistake and found another avenue. The collections attorney was even more personable than the billing office staff. Have also spoken with the medical office. Although they were friendly on the phone, we will have to wait to see what resolves. In the meantime, we have been battling this for 2 weeks and finally went ahead and paid in full on the erroneous bill just to get rid of it. We had previously considered switching to this office permanently but after this experience we will not be switching and would warn others to approach very cautiously or look elsewhere for service. Pros: different entrances for well vs sick children Cons: billing dept difficult to work with and VERY rude more