Optum Multi-Specialty - Katonah

After being Optum it was a disaster. It's been improving slowly. But like most doctors nowadays getting a short term appointment is nearly impossible. Just booking a skin doctor I have to wait a year and a half. That's just nuts.

Went to get labs after a physical and I had the best experience ever getting my blood drawn. Sam the technician was absolutely fantastic.absolutely no painting I didn't even feel the needle go in.he was funny and friendly, it's the little things like that make a difference.if you're one of those people that has trouble getting blood because your veins are small go here and ask for Sam.

Ok, so you guys used to be katonah medical group or at least you were in the 70s and my dad was a doctor there and your guys google rating is just barely better than the utility company so I figured you could use a few stars. I was most familiar with the obgyn dept because that's where dad was. There was Dr Merrill, pretty cool bearded guy who relocated to New Hampshire. Dr DiGiacinto who was the Jekyll and Hyde of the group. Dr Sperling, oldest and quietest of the group. Dr Gellis, youngest of the group drove a sports car and said "go for it" alot. Yep one of those four was my dad so I go free everything and everybody except paying customers got free prescriptions back in those days.
I'm just being honest when I say alot of prescription pill and cocaine abuse in those mentioned doctors but hey it was almost 1980 and may as well go for it. The pediatrician had one of those Felix the cat clocks with the eyes and tail that went back and forth. I was a little kid back then and i got to go behind the scenes and they often had donuts! I'm sure you guys have moved everything around but I feel like you probably still have donuts because donuts are a prerequisite for doctors just like cops but anyway my dad's office was on the second floor, corner office facing out towards the street, left hand side if looking at building from the street. I hope you guys can verify all this stuff cuz it's true and it was almost the 80s.ahhhhh yes, good times at Katonah medical group! Thank you for all the donuts!

STAY AWAY this place is a comedy of errors. Writing this while I'm on hold (32 minutes and counting now). Caremount is now Optum and it has gotten WAY worse. I'm not talking about the doctors, because they are mostly what you expect but it's the system and the overwhelmed staff. They are HORRIBLE with managing appointments. You can't get anyone on the phone and when you do they make errors! Example 1: Needed a PFT (lung volume test) which they said they scheduled for the Mount Kisco location. Got to the VERY overcrowded lab waiting room and NOPE, no record of an appointment. Can't fit you in, sorry you took a day off from work for nothing. So angry I cancelled the appt.with the lung doctor (Dr. Bures, Katonah location) and got a confirmation email it was canceled. BUT yesterday got a call confirming my appt for monday! This is bad because they will charge you $$ if you "miss" an appt.even though I canceled. I'm done with this place, STAY AWAY.

There is no excuse for how poorly their digital migration has been. The change from CareMount Medical to Optum's digital appointment scheduling, prescription refills, to the MAINTENANCE OF MEDICAL RECORDS has been nothing short of a nightmarish disaster. It has been almost a year since I first requested a copy of my health records, so I was excited to get an email alerting me to its availability. What I was not informed of was that while this "record" was, in fact "available, " it was also completely blank, and contained no information from ANY visit to any office in the Optum network. Absolute trash. I'm convinced they either lost my medical records, or sold them to highest bidder. Something this important should not be this technically remedial.

UPDATE: This entire establishment is a joke. It feels like the precursor to the future of medicine in America - privatized, and run poorly. Not to mention, it will only become more expensive to keep yourself alive, while insurance drains us dry as they simultaneously deny coverage for a majority of claims. "Thank you for choosing Optum. " Most of us don't have a choice.

Get your infrastructure in order, and MAYBE it will justify your arbitrary pricing system. Of all the industries to cut corners and to hire on the back of the bell curve, MEDICINE is maybe not the one to skimp out.

Slow and unhelpful. Placed on hold for over 40 minutes with option for a call back. There was no indication that anyone would be answering. Had to call back the main line to find out they are understaffed so long wait time is expected. They could not help, and I would need to call back and wait another 40+ minutes.

Early last week I arrived and the Katonah office of the now referred to as Optum medical care group to have my annual physical with Dr. Margaret Vaughn, who has been my general care doctor for nearly 20 years. While I have always found her and her staff friendly, I’m not quite sure I would claim that I believe they go exceptionally out of their way to provide healthcare service. Sadly, last Tuesday, not only did they not go out of their way, they didn’t even do the bare minimum. Essentially, I showed up for my annual physical while suffering from a severe cough that I just could not seem to shake for over a week. During this time, the coughing have been so severe that I would frequently wake myself up from a deep sleep in the middle of the night with a coughing fit. I had done home Covid tests and knew that they were negative and was suspicious that whatever I had needed antibiotics in order to correct. Dr. Vaughn had in front of her my entire medical history and was clearly aware that I was vaccinated for Covid, flu, and shingles. When I asked her to look at my throat, she flat out refused! She claimed she would either need PPE or to send me to an eye, ear and nose specialist in a Covid safe room at a different location. To say that I was shocked is a mild understatement. Essentially to my way of thinking a doctor who refuses to give full treatment to a sick person is the same as a fireman, claiming that they don’t want to go into a burning building because it’s scary. It’s the job that they’ve signed up for, and knew what they were getting into when they showed up at work. After refusing to look at my throat, Dr. Vaughn then suggested that she could send me home with a prescription for cough suppressant, and her only query was, did I want it with or without codeine. The decision of giving me codeine is not some thing I should be making - rather again, the doctor should assess this after having examined me properly and thinking that that might be a solution. Upon leaving her office, I confirmed with her nurse that my regular annual prescriptions for cholesterol and high blood pressure were being sent to my local pharmacist. Upon arriving at the pharmacist I discovered that while the cough suppressant was available neither of the other medications had been called in thereby requiring me to call the office and be on hold for 45 minutes in order to sort that problem out with a random person who was not even in the doctors office. Sadly, however the cough did not dissipate with prescription medication and I was forced three days later to go to an Emergency One facility, where a doctor who has never seen me before, and who did not have my medical records in front of him, but only could rely on my word examined my throat. He suggested that I had a severe sinus infection, which was causing postnasal drip, which was causing my severe cough. He then prescribed for me a 10 day regimen of Augmentin, and within the first day or two of following the prescription, my coughing began to slowly dissipate. Dr. Vaughn willingly chose not to do this for me, caused me additional days of severe coughing, sleep deprivation, and unnecessary pain. Obviously, I will never be returning to Dr. Vaughn’s office, and will be looking for a general practitioner, who is more willing, and certainly more capable of practicing medicine.