Tahoe Forest Hospital, Truckee CA

I am a self pay/cash person who went to their clinic in Tahoe City. FULL payment is due at the time of service. I paid their extortion rate for a simple visit AT THE TIME OF SERVICE, and without objection. Now their billing department is calling me about my "balance due". The visit was completely worthless and I was prescribed a muscle relaxer which made my sciatica worse. I asked for an anti inflammatory which I have used in the past for my sciatica, but since I was on vacation, I could not see my regular Dr. Completely useless and now this "balance due" garbage. Thinking of charging back the original visit at this point because of the incompetence. The bummer is it's kind of the only game in town it seems, and they obviously know that, since their rating is pathetically low. Avoid this group at all costs if you're able.

I never leave reviews but this was Horrible service. I’ve been sitting in the parking lot for over an hour and was supposed to get a call back from a doctor. My incision in my knee is oozing and infected with no help. Do not recommend!

After getting a total hip replacement the nursing staff we're extremely rude one of them at night told me to stop drinking so much liquids because it was a hassle for her to get me up to use the bathroom, during the day the other nurse said that she had to be in my room every hour because of my medication prescribed and it was annoying to her. At that point I asked to just be discharged.

Absolutely horrendous. An abysmal experience. Never, EVER going here again. Primary care front desk staff and management are not trained whatsoever in customer service standards. See my review of Tahoe Forest Pharmacy for more details.

Also, they spent millions of dollars on the new primary care expansion and still they are short staffed and booked out for months to establish primary care. Shame on Tahoe Forest Hospital. They also hid my tweet on Twitter regarding this matter. Clearly they have something to hide.

Editing my review cause today the nurses and doctor Lane were so much better, there was a strung up female nurse at the start but litterally just stressed out from her lack of confidence perhaps and being busy, Dr. Lane seemed calm.

A big step forward since Sept. 8th when I did not appreciate the uncompassionate attitude of 2, generally speaking in the event of a life or death situation please fly me to a UC Davis/Sacramento/San Francisco/South Bay hospital, even Reno but I never went there yet, my insurance will pay for the helicopter or plane since I generally cost them very very little as I try holistic approaches first except emergencies and surgery. I want to live.thank you.

The male nurse at the emergency dept, on sept. 8th, brown curly hair darkly tanned or skinned, for ID purposes, seemed totally impaired by a very bad RX drug he likely has access to, he likely was because he was even worse the first time I was there, no one else was like that except the doctor but much less. He even boasted he was the supervising nurse in the ED. This was false one super kind female nurse declared to me as she even rolled her eyes about the male nurse attitude as if to say, dont pay attention to that crazy sob.

The hospital seemed good as a whole but the fact they would keep an older male nurse like that is suspicious.

Incompetent and over priced: they utilize a collecting agency with illegal practices. They cannot hold on to practitioners, so you are passed from person to person, with very little attention to your care.

Our son had a snowboarding accident/Emergency recently, Dr. Lane and his staff took excellent care of him. From start to finish we received top notch patient care and our son is on the fast track to being good as new

I am editing my review to remove the first name of the billing person and update the status.

Updated context: In follow-up discussions, the hospital has not disputed anything below, so while I initially added the first name of the person I spoke with for specificity and credibility, I see no need to keep it in the review at this point since they were just trying to do their job and don't make policy. To be clear, the higher-up I subsequently spoke with, while very cordial, was unwilling or unable to make any material change in the bill (Although I think I may have saved my insurer $40.). My disappointment and conclusions remain as they were:

1. The bill does not match the care (IMHO),
2.there was no attempt to communicate likely expenses going in (of which it appears ~80% were known at the start) given the admit code assigned to me, and
3. I was pushed, said no twice, to take medicine of questionable value prior to being seen by an MD, and an hour (?) or more after being admitted with no negative change in my condition.

Original Review (with a tweak that my wife gave me the epi-pen shot prior to arrival at the ER).

I love that I got a ~$9,083 bill for a short afternoon stay at the urgent care, where they just monitored my heart and blood oxygen after an allergic reaction and an Epi-Pen injection prior to arrival. Yes, they did give me a Benadryl IV and $257.50 of other medication they strongly recommended. I think the total time the doctor spent in the room was four minutes (?), and two PAs (?) at maybe, 10 minutes (?). What takes the cake is the $384 to stick a pulse ox monitor on my finger.

If you want to know what is wrong with America's medical system, just look at Tahoe Forest Health System.

Yes, I called their billing line, and "[first name removed]" stated their estimate to me of ~$1,200 didn't include the room or the medicine (two variables known when they gave me the estimate at the end of the stay), so they were off by ~$1,700. Um.isn't the room kind of a requirement if you are admitted? And near as I can tell, the medicine appears to "only" total ~$500 (which is ridiculous by itself) and should have been included in the estimate since it had already been administered BEFORE the estimate was done. So how do we get from a $1,200 estimate to a $2,849 post-insurance bill? Yes, estimates by definition, estimates, but to be off by more than 100% and not include already known services? Seriously?

People who think about Tahoe Forest Health System should know:

1. Walking in the door and getting admitted apparently can cost $7,685 - regardless of the actual level of care provided.
2. Their estimate to you could be double what they tell you.
3. This is all before the actual doctor's bill.

I can pay the bill and will work with my insurance company, but what happens to the person who can't? Can you imagine if you actually need them to DO something?

If I could go it again, I certainly would not be going to Tahoe Forest Health for any care.

My daughter had a knee ski injury. The staff took very good care of her and kept me well informed.
Since she was skiing alone and unable to drive back to Reno, they coordinated her hotel checkout, packing, and Uber arrangements. They provided me with info on the town services for car towing, too.
They were very kind and efficient and put my mind at ease knowing I was too far away to help my daughter.
Much thanks to ER staff and case management!

Perfect example of medical price gouging. PICC line at a discounted self pay rate at TTFH was quoted $6500. Had the exact same procedure done at Northern NV Medical for $962! Insane.

There's much not to like, ranging from the low-end staff operating the emergency room check-in to the man-bun doctor who doesn't get that patients in the modern era ask questions and "doctor knows best" is no longer a given. A small town hospital sans hospitality and warmth. But, at least they provide necessary core medical services in the area and that's superior to nothing!

I was able to get appointments in 2 to 3 weeks. Now I have to book 8 to 10 weeks in advance. Desk staff run interference on the horrible “My Chart” website, so I can never get in actual contact with my doctor. Wait in line for 2-3 hours for a “walk-in” appointment! Since Tahoe Forest Hospital took over, my health care has drastically declined.

I was discriminated against by this hospital for years. I had a lump in my leg and Dr. Dodd refused to acknowledge it, along with Dr. Sutton-Pado. Dr. Dodd said he wouldn't fix the problem unless I had weight loss surgery that I didn't want, because I already had numerous stomach surgeries, and my body just can't take it. I had no choice but to take the classes because they wouldn't refer me out for a second opinion and I felt like I had no choice. I Well, I finished the classes and I ended up moving to Susanville. I saw doctors that couldn't believe the size of it. So, they sent me to UC Davis, and I had a 9cm Lipoma removed from my thigh. Now, I have permanent swelling, nerve damage and chronic pain in my leg. They could have removed it before it got that big. I'm overweight because I'm in pain and I can't properly exercise. Good doctors would have recognized that. You guys should have to reimburse MediCal at least for making me go through the gastric bypass program that I did not want to do if not all the other doctors I had to go to. What about me? I'm traumatized from how I was treated at your facility. The best care I had from your facility was from Susan Good at physical therapy. By the way, thanks for putting the screwed up mesh in my stomach! That really helps with weight loss.

Very kind and carrying excellent bedside mannerisms. In my opinion they treat their Patients very well.

Everyone was awesome. Jessica, Brian, Dr. Laine. Very friendly, fast, and good at what they do.

I took my kids to the hospital 5.12.2022 and they honestly have such amazing doctors! I was assisted by a nurse named Jessica super nice she was talking to my son about dinasours, super friendly made my kids feel good! After that Dra. Johnson came and checked on them also such a nice person! After nurse John came and took some tests and just amazingly nice! I love to see doctors like that! Super super amazing people who really care about their patients! Keep up the good work!