Chatterjee Ratul MD

I have gone to many doctors offices in my time and I must say my experience with this office has been so stressful and disorganized. I went to the doctor and was confirmed that they accept my insurance. I see the doctor for a regular office visit. I get a bill in the mail saying the office visit was not covered. I call my insurance and the doctor is actually NOT a provider for my insurance; despite the office girl telling me she confirmed they were providers over the phone while I was in the office (she lied). So I try to work with the office on their mistake and they do not work with me at all. I just paid the full bill and will not be going here again. If you do go to this office be prepared to pay even if they accept your insurance… and even if they bill wrong. Good luck!

I will be sending this review directly to Dr. Chatterjee since I don’t take these claims or my almost unspeakable experience with him/​his office lightly. I also plan to post on doctor review sites and am considering a direct complaint to regulators.
Here’s why: I recently had the flu. In an effort to shorten its duration, I asked my girlfriend to call Dr. Chatterjee’s office on my behalf, as I was very ill, to inquire about a Tamiflu prescription. This happened on the morning of Thursday, 1÷29÷15. The response from Melissa in the office was that there was no Tamiflu anywhere in Newport Beach, that it was in fact on back order EVERYWHERE! While that sounded a little surprising, I assumed they knew what they were talking about and also knew that getting Tamiflu any later than within the next 24 hours would be useless, since you need to take it within 48 hours of symptoms. But wait…
The next day, when my girlfriend was picking me up some over the counter medicine at the pharmacy — Coast Hills right on San Miguel in Newport, she inquired with the pharmacist and learned that they had plenty of Tamiflu themselves on hand, and that they were unaware of such a shortage that Dr. Chatterjee’s office claimed to be. So, my girlfriend called back the Doc’s office in the mid-​morning and left a message explaining that there was in fact Tamiflu available and would they please send in a prescription ASAP to my pharmacy. After no reply to the voicemail, I called them myself, from bed, very sick and pretty weak. Among the numerous unacceptable, unprofessional and HARMFUL responses I got from Melissa were: ‘well we checked with our pharmacies so we didn’t know there was any Tamiflu around’, ‘we can’t prescribe anything for you unless you come in because it’s been longer than 6 months since you last came in’, ‘what are your symptoms?’, after I explained the basic flu symptoms I was experiencing. I asked to speak to the doctor and was told that Melissa will give him my message at 2PM when he arrives and she would get back to me and see if he will talk to me. When I spoke again to Melissa after 2PM, she said that the doctor would prescribe a couple of things, including Neproxin (sp?) for my cold. I reiterated that I had the flu, not a cold, and needed Tamiflu prescribed promptly so it might still be effective. Melissa scolded me (the sick patient remember), telling me she was sure I said I had a cold prior, not a flu earlier. AS IF THAT MATTERED AT THAT POINT! Nonetheless, I bit my very sick tongue, so to speak, and listened to her rudely assert that she would ‘go back to the doctor AGAIN and explain what I said about it being the flu.’ Another hour or so later, after I had to phone back, Melissa explained the same thing — that I could get Neproxin, etc., but no Tamiflu w/​o coming in. So I had to deal with her all afternoon only to get the same illogical and rude reply twice. By the way, even if their policy was that I needed to have been seen within 6 months by the doctor to receive a prescription (which we know is likely just a built-​in $$ generator), I in fact had been in the office in August — LESS than 6 month prior — in fact.
So, fast forward. I asked at the least for the doctor to call me back. You guessed it., no call, no prescription, AND after I left a final call — voicemail at 5:30 that Friday the 30^th, where I canceled my upcoming appointment for 2÷2÷15, which was unrelated but just a regularly scheduled check-​up, and asked them to confirm my cancellation via phone or email (in order to avoid their fee since they don’t ever make an effort to confirm appointments via phone or text like most modern healthcare providers do in 2015), which I left, I never heard back.
You know I originally liked Dr. Chatterjee. He seemed to display a no-​nonsense, passionate approach to medical care, something that seemed refreshing initially vs. the usual mechanical approach we see too often. HOWEVER, I misread him. Truth is that he displays more of an arrogance and impatience for those who don’t fall in line. And you know, if his staff and therefore by extension, HE, were diligent, professional, courteous, and properly informed, I would have no issue with some curtness form time to time. I give a lot of slack to people who generally do right. However, when incompetent people are the gatekeepers, AND Dr. Chatterjee himself won’t even return a phone call to a sick patient, then enough is enough. Honestly, spare yourself a visit to this doctor. When you really need timely and qualified assistance, you are not at all likely to get it, based on my experience. Instead, the ‘treatment’ I received was clearly negligent, rude, misinformed and incompetent. Stay away!

In the past year, I have seen well over 40 – 50 doctors and specialists that take care of my parents and family’s medical needs. Compared to all of the other doctors, Dr. Chatterjee is the best and most competent doctor that I have met. He is well regarded among the medical community. I was particularly impressed by his experienced professionalism and excellent medical knowledge. His staff is very personable. Melissa is very competent and is more than capable of managing the back office. Coco is also very charming and is excellent at making sure that prescriptions and referrals are expeditiously handled with care. I would wholeheartedly recommend Dr. Chatterjee and staff to my friends and relatives.

Chatterjee’s PA (Matt) is very good, as is some of the other staff. The exception is Melissa in the front office. Trouble is, a lot runs through her and chances are good that you’ll be dealing with her, and she with you, a fair amount. She’s a bossy know-​it-​all who doesn’t know much. But Chatterjee will back her up because she is more important to him than you and whatever your problems may be. And Chatterjee makes mistakes, big ones, reportable ones. I’d avoid this doctor, there are better ones.

I find it interesting that when a Doctor first begins his practice, he is very attentive and caring about his patients. Then once he becomes more established and expands his practice you cannot even get an appointment with him. Regardless of how critical my illness, the Doctor’s first available appointment is (1) month out. Don’t get me wrong, I think the PA (Matt) does a descent job, but their management of their patient’s health leaves a lot to be desired. I don’t go to the doctor much, so I can’t say that I speak from experience, but I would think that at least the Doctor or the PA would call you with your lab and test results rather than the Nurse or Office Staff, who doesn’t have any history on what you came to see them about in the beginning. Very frustrating and I am changing Doctors!!!

Though I have yet to actually ever see the Doctor and always end up with Matt the P. A I have to say that I am content. I have lived in OC for 6 years or so and until recently have I found a doctor (or P. A) who I am satisfied with. Matt is knowledgeable and helpful. The staff are very friendly and helpful as well. In fact I phoned today wanting to get seen for i think I have a sinus infection and they got me in ASAP. COCO is very nice and she is very good when it comes to needles and I am a big wimp about needles unless it is for a tattoo. She was great when I needed a tetanus shot and great at venipuncture. They have two offices and both are clean. That’s another thing that I like about this office. They do in-​house lab work meaning drawing of the blood and collecting some samples. It’s easier than running around to a laboratory and waiting.
The only annoying thing here is that they don’t take any other form of payment other than cash for co-​pays. Ding on one star. I don’t always carry cash on me so I have to run to the bank to pull out cash. Tad annoying when you are in a hurry and realize that you haven’t any cash on you so you have to run to an ATM. You can’t even run your debit card :(Maybe I should tell them about the awesome system I use for when I do handmade shows or events in which I need to accept credit cards or debit cards. It’s called Square and they only take 2.5% so that’s better than some companies who take 5%.