CHOP Specialty Care & Surgery Center, Exton

"I'm sorry that your coordinators have to do their job instead of sitting and gossiping. she had a nasty attitude, smacking her lips, yelling and then hung up. She refused to give her name. I told 2x what we needed an appointment for and she wants to go crazy. I also told her my child was a previous patient and she said I had to register as a new patient. If calls are truly recorded go back and listen to it. Happened today at 1155am"

"It took 6 plus months to get an allergy appt. We were told that our child should not take allergy medicine prior to the appt. Drive 1 hour each way for a consultation, no testing. Not sure what the point of the appt was, since looking at the child tells us nothing. This was a huge waste of time and money. I am thoroughly annoyed with CHOP and it is just another point against them."

"Recently took my daughter to get allergy tested and it was a nightmare. Please do not schedule any appointments with Dr. Fontana-Penn. She is one of the nastiest, most unprofessional CHOP doctors I have ever experienced. If you want a compassionate Dr, who is willing to answer your questions with eye rolls and huffs and puffs, she is NOT the dr for you!! I was asking questions and I guess she didn’t like that and she was rude. As a parent, I am ENTITLED to ask questions. It’s my RIGHT!! She asked me what my issue was when I started speaking to her how she spoke to me, and I explained to her that her demeanor and how she was speaking to me was my problem. I’m an extremely easy going person & want to be as knowledgeable as possible about my daughters allergy. She said she was just frustrated with herself for not understanding the question. And I said, and if that's the case, why are you taking it out on me and roll your eyes and she said she isn't rolling her eyes and I was like OK whatever regardless, your tone and manner is completely unnecessary. She needs to be reprimanded asap or CHOP is going to have major issues moving forward with losing patients and reporting her."

"I highly respect and love CHOP. With that being said I assumed my child would be seeing a physician that matched the core values of this state of the art and cutting edge medicine for children. Unfortunately, Dr Mary Fontana-Penn with Allergy was horrible. She doesn't listen, isn't compassionate, and refers the patient to the nurse to discuss the remainder of the appointment. Several minutes after returning to discuss my daughter's skin test results she got up from her chair and proceeded to exit the room before I finished my questions. I had to advocate for additional testing for my child who nearly died from anaphylaxis both in the office and via MyChop messaging when the labs were not inclusive of my childs allergies. Please do your research before seeing this physician."

"We took our son here for a follow-up appointment instead of center city. We met with Dr. Mary Elizabeth Fontana-Penn. I will not be taking my son here again and was very disappointed in how Dr. Fontana-Penn managed our visit and how the office staff treated patients. During the visit I asked the doctor a question about his adenoids as his speech therapist mentioned this could be a concern that does effect speech. Dr. Fontana-Penn said she'd have to do an x-ray to see if this was a concern to which I simply asked how much that would cost. She said she had no idea and I'd have to ask insurance. After I did the work of calling my insurance, being bounced between them and the office staff at CHOP, I had no answer and the CHOP office could not tell me what they bill for this service. I was shocked that the provider had no idea what they charge for services they provide and they placed the burden completely on the patient. It's important to note this was all being done while we were waiting for my sons skin test results so we weren't adding time to the visit for the Dr or office staff. What surprised me the most was when the Dr came back in after the skin test was done and I asked if we were doing the x-ray. Her response was "We're done here. You've taken up too much of our time." This was a shocking and insensitive response. It was abundantly clear that their time was more important than patient care. Rather than explaining things, advising that perhaps it wasn't fully necessary or discussing the options with me knowing they could not provide a cost (for reasons still unknown to me) she dismissed me and made her priorities very clear. I would highly recommend you seek medical care elsewhere. This was not the type of care and service I expected from CHOP."