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Fee to meet with Pediatrician? What Pediatrician do you recommend?
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aisha314
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A couple questions.
I'm so late with picking a pediatrician, my baby is due next month.  I've decided on 3 pediatricians at the Children & Pediatricians & Assocaites at Foggy Bottom. I called this morning to make an appintment to meet witha couple of the doctors and the receptionist/nurse said that there's a $90 dollar fee to meet with them, is that correct? I just assumed it was a free consultation.
Also the doctors that I'm deciding on are Ellie Hamburger, Jennifer Kaplan and Judith Ratner. Does anyone have any feedback on them? Thanks |
Anonymous
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Some practices (esp the larger ones) have free open houses/info session. Others have you pay a fee to meet privately with the docs.
I don't know whether $90 is in line (my ped had a free open house). Good luck! |
Anonymous
| I don't have any feedback and I'm in NOVA, but all the pediatricians I called did not charge a fee to meet. |
Anonymous
| I know this goes against the grain, but I don't understand what the big deal is about visiting a pediatrician before you choose them. You can get a lot of the philosphical info over the phone - e.g., information about vaccination schedules, etc. When I was pregnant with #1, I was too busy to do pediatrician visits - I just went with a practice with a great reputation on DCUM and my neighborhood listserve and have been very happy. If it had turned out that after one or two visits I wasn't happy, I would have switched to another practice. It's not like my baby would have known the difference at that point. And since I sometimes see different doctors in the practice anyway (mostly scheduling issues), I don't know how much I would have gotten from visiting just one doctor. I guess I don't understand all the fuss about interviewing your pediatrician before you pick them. I've never interviewed any of my doctors before going in for the initial visit. Why are peds any different? Also, the practice of charging a fee for a consultation seems to be on the rise, and I can't say that I blame the peds. A visit takes up their time, and it's not like most of them are hurting for new patients. |
aisha314
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I've never interviewed any of my doctors either and my thinking was I'll just pick a pediatrician and if I don't like that person I'll just switch.
I think I was more thrown off by the fact that they charged you to meet with them. Taking a step back I can understand b/c I can only imagine how many people are trying to meet with them. |
Anonymous
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I've never heard anything about these "boutique" pediatric practices that makes me even a smidge tempted to switch from our two-doc practice at Washington Hospital Center. Rather, I hear stories about long waits, insane scheduling delays (three months for a well baby check???) doctors who don't remember their patients from one visit to the next, snotty staff, insurance hassles, etc etc.
If you're mostly interested in who you might meet in the waiting room, I guess the upscale practice is the way to go. If you just want some nice doc to check out your kid every few months (assuming your child is healthy) and get you in quickly for a sick visits, please don't feel pressured to get yourself "accepted" at one of these high-society practices. |
Anonymous
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Our ped met with us during his lunch hour when we were expecting. He spent about an hour with us. No charge. We knew based on that visit that he was super devoted to his patients and super easy to get access to. We were right.
We also met with another practice, and liked the person we met fine, but it was more of a logistical hassle - we had to go at night, after the office was closed, and didn't have a choice about what doctor we would meet with. We got the sense that appointments were similarly difficult to schedule. |
Anonymous
| I'm in MD and I've seen several practices in NW DC that charge $90. Out of principle, I refused to select them. We met with three (no charge) and picked one. We went to one open house at a large practice and knew we wanted something small, but I imagine you could get enough about a big practice off the website??? At least to philosophy, schedules, etc. |
Anonymous
| There was a rant two or three weeks back about a really bad experience meeting with a ped's office that charged $90. Might have been the same office. Mine charged $25 to meet, which I gladly paid. I interviewed three, one charged, one didn't for face to face and the third had an "open house". I actually went with the one that charged. |
Anonymous
| I met with two different peds one charged $20 and one charged $25. I was okay paying this and we used almost 45 min of their time. I think that it's okay to charge folks a small fee for time that they would be otherwise paid for. |
Anonymous
| How would you feel about it if the ped charged a fee which would then be credited to the charge for the first visit if you decided to go with that practice? Not sure that's feasible with insurance, but would it be better? |
Anonymous
| Don't you have some nearby friends with children that you trust? If not go to a park/playground this weekend and start meeting some. That's the best way to start learning about your options. Which parents should you get friendly with? The ones with nice children. |
Anonymous
| What is wrong w/ charging a fee since you are using their time? My ped met w/ prospective parents during his lunch hour and there was no charge but I don't think there is anything wrong w/ charging a fee. Now if they don't inform you about the fee until you get there or until after the visit, I would have an issue w/ that. |
Anonymous
| Anyone who HAS already interviewed and working with a group HAVE one they would reccomend? If so, why? |
Anonymous
If you do a search you'll find a few threads about them, and iirc the consensus was pretty divided. My experience with the practice was shitty to say the least. I switched to them because of new insurance and DS #2 didnt get his 2 month visit until he was 5 months, and DS#1 didnt get into see someone about a bad rash for a week. Before them we were at Brasch & Goldstein (i think they changed their name to Freindship Pediatrics) and now we're with Dr Idriss and his daughter Nadine. I didnt interview with Dr Goldstein except over the phone and with Dr Idriss I was so desperate that when they told me they could fit me in the next day I damn near cried. |