UCSF Health and Wellness Center

I was training for a half-​marathon when my knee pooped out. Worried that I had reinjured my ACL, I went to my doctor. He concluded that it was just an inflamed joint and prescribed physical therapy. I decided to go to the UCSF Health and Wellness Center because it’s so close to my apartment. I had four sessions with them over six weeks at $ 120 a pop.
If I were rating my therapist alone, this place would get 5 stars. Joy was great. In her initial evaluation, she helped me see that I have been favoring one of my legs over the other. As a result, one of my legs was stronger than the other. I also had basically no hamstrings, but my quads were pretty strong so my weight wasn’t being distributed evenly. Because my body was so uneven, it caused a lot of unnecessary strain on my joints.
She helped me develop a fitness program that included a wide variety of strength-​training exercises. The excercises became incrementally more difficult as the weeks went by. By the end of the last session, I was much more confident that I would eventually reach my goal of being able to jog for 30 minutes with no pain. I was also no longer worried whether I would be able to handle my backpacking trip at the end of the summer. My legs were stronger than ever, but we scheduled a phone appointment (since my insurance was all crazy) to do one last check-​in.
Which is where this place loses points. The UCSF PT staff is stretched so thin that they have a therapist doing all of the admin stuff (scheduling appointments, billing, etc.). While he is obviously a very skilled therapist, his admin skills leave something to be desired. During my time as a patient, he straight-​up forgot to put one of my appointments on the calendar and I showed up to an empty office. The next time I came in, he offered a half-​hearted explanation with no apology. He also failed to tell Joy what had happened, so she had to ask me why I didn’t come in.
Then there was the billing situation. I paid for everything up front because they don’t bill insurance, which I’m used to because that’s how my general practitioner works. The medical office is supposed to give you a letter or a form or something that you submit with your insurance claim. After 3 appointments had gone by and the front desk/​therapist dude hadn’t broached the topic, I finally remembered to ask him about the form. He printed me a letter that basically said that I had been there and had paid out of pocket. As he handed it to me, he said that usually insurance companies reject their first letter because it’s missing information, and to let him know when that happens so he could prepare a second draft. Not wanting to deal with a 6 week delay, I just called the insurance company myself and asked them what information they would need from him in order to process my claim. They mentioned some procedural «codes» that all medical practitioners are supposed to know about (but of course he didn’t) so I called him, explained the codes, and had him revise the letter. He was nice enough to email me a PDF of the letter, which was actually really convenient, but it didn’t earn him any points back since I had to do all of the legwork myself.
I submitted the letter with the claim. Cross your fingers for me, people.
My final gripe is about my phone appointment that I was supposed to have this morning. Last week, I called and left a message saying that I needed to switch my appointment from an office visit to a phone appointment. The therapist/​admin guy called me back saying that I could reach him in the office until 9 that morning and then he would be on his cell. I’m not even sure what it was that he felt we needed to discuss, but I called anyway. It was before 9, but he didn’t pick up at the office so then I called his cell. He answered, but he said that he was driving and asked me to call him again in an hour. When we finally spoke I had a sinking feeling that he would forget to put me on Joy’s calendar since he wasn’t at his desk. He probably wrote my appointment down on a napkin or something.
Needless to say, no one called me for my phone appointment this morning. I will obviously write an update if there was a legit reason for this. I left a message at the office but therapist/​admin didn’t pick up. Kind of frustrating.
Update: Joy just called (late…I’m guessing another calendar snafu?) and was very sweet so now I feel like an a-​hole writing a less-​than-​stellar review. If you wind up going here, ask for her. She’s worth it if you’re willing to jump through some serious scheduling and billing hoops.
Update ³⁄₁₀: I never got reimbursed (I stopped trying after a year). I am personally delighted by the Health Care Bill.