I had more than a decade of treatment at West Hills when they were just starting out. When my insurance was ""top of the line"" I was treated like gold. After a decade I lost good insurance and had to go on OHP. The lovely gal behind the desk whom is extremely rude and degrading told me on my appointment day that I could no longer be a patient. My entire family was seen by this clinic. I said,""excuse me"" after thousands upon thousands of dollars spent and an endless amount of referrals rendered I asked to speak with a doc. I was in the middle of a serious health care crisis and was in shock. He came up and I explained the situation and he okayed my visit. I was at odds with this clinic until my insurance reached an acceptable standard. Insurance determines your treatment from the office staff. The docs were great and compassionate regardless. They built a new beautiful office across the street and that was when the billing department became extremely hard to work with. Over the years I carried a small balance and always made payments. When the new office opened it was pay up or do not come back! Cut and dry with no compassion for any financial hardship. A payment for a balance that my insurance did not cover was due before you could see the doc when you showed up for your appt. If you could not make the payment in full, no service until it was paid off. Very chilling after such a long relationship with extensive healthcare. The new office brought better clientele and us longterm established patients once again were treated poorly. I stayed with them because they did have a wonderful doc that you could not beat. Long story short...shorter...the way some of the docs praticed medicine was ok let's hear your symptoms and a prescription was written whether it be narcotics, benzos or an antibiotic. These serious very addicting drugs came with no discussion of addiction/dependency. Longterm dependent drugs were issued and then after being on them for several months they decided that I was not their calibur of patient. They dismissed me without discussion after repeated attempts and wrote one last prescription for these very addicting drugs with no referral, no offer of treatment if need be, no tapering down for several months and most importantly.....0 compassion. I was ill for several weeks even with tapering instructions and went to a new doc and he looked at my prescription list and was to say the least....astounded and said that this was a prescription for death. He took the time and effort to taper my meds and treat the withdrawl effects out of the compassion and responsibility that every doctor should have. In the longrun this was the best thing that could have happened for my health. I am now off the dependent meds and they have been replaced or removed with a healthier longterm solution in mind. Question what your doc gives you. Ask questions and do not make the mistake of taking anything they throw your way or want to experiment on you. You could end up in a world of hurt with no direction, ill from withdrawls and a difficult time finding another doctor who is willing to see you through. Thank the good Lord, I got lucky. One last comment I promise, is that if you need records for anything, your bill will be ""paid in full"" or the records just simply do not get forwarded. In all fairness their procedures could be much different now because it has been quite some time since this occured. The docs I spoke of are not by any means the entire staff but do your homework. Go to the State of Oregon Licensing Board and check out complaints and notices.
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