UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh: Child Neurology

"I called the office 4 times over a span of 3 weeks regarding a prior authorization that was never sent for a test my daughter needs. The answering machine stated we would receive a call back in 1-2 business days. The date of the test has come and gone and we still have not received a call back from the office. My daughter had to miss her test after waiting for 3 months."

"Let my 16 year old son lay in n agony for a week. One dr had nerve enough to make me leave room to ask him if any of this could be in his head…. Slapped a diagnosis that I still disagree with and given zero resources or help. They haven’t even called to check on him. Had to condition help 2x because they think they know your kid and you do not. They don’t care about your child especially if they have a anxiety diagnosis. 100% of everything will be put on this and don’t dare question them! They do what they want even if you aren’t on board and discharge weather your ready or not. Dr Cummings is not who I recommend nor childrens at all if they are teens. I feel when they are small swaddled babies they care way more! I’m disgusted with this hospital and this team! Children’s has phenomenal nurses and pcts but that’s about the extent of it. Oh gabapentin is there fave drug to throw at literally everything!!! In mass doses!"

"The care I've received here through the years has been great, but it seems that the practice overall is overpopulated with patients and lacking the staff to take care of their needs. I've run out of refills on my epilepsy medication (which keeps me alive and functioning) after having sent a request through my pharmacy a week ago for a refill. They have yet to respond to the pharmacy, so I've tried to call today as I'm completely out of necessary medication. Through multiple attempts to call the office during business hours, my call has proceeded to the voicemail system where they say they'll get back to me within one to three business days. I still have no clue how I'm going to obtain my medication. There's NEVER a reason that a patient should need to jump through hoops like this to obtain routine management of symptoms. This is unacceptable, negligent behavior and I'll luckily be transferring to an adult neurologist in the coming months."

"This was easily the worst medical experience in my 55 years on this planet. Our 11 yo son was diagnosed with Migraine in May of 2022 and an MRI was determined as the next course of action by Dr. Dana Cummings. As we checked out, we were given very little guidance on how to obtain an authorization which is apparently necessary for the MRI to happen. We we’re however instructed by the good doctor to contact his office manager Megan if we had any questions or concerns. I can say without exaggeration that my wife and I made no less than 20 phone calls to Childrens, our PHN, and insurance company, all while hoping that Megan would return our calls since the good doctor advised us that she was there to help us. It wasn’t until September 14, and after 3 calls that week did someone from Childrens contact us with an authorization number. At all costs we will avoid the Neurology Department at Childrens. This is clearly a failure on behalf of those in possession of and access to the necessary information in which we are entitled to and dependent on."

"Stuck suffering because of the receptionists refusing to do their jobs. Both my parents are too busy to take me to appointments (mom has 2 jobs and dad is in the army). when i was younger my aunts/uncles or grandparents would, back then we signed papers for them to take me and it was fine. Once I could drive we signed consent forms for me to be unaccompanied, and once i had an appointment here we did the same thing. we went through a whole process to make sure this wouldn't happen. then I got there and they told me to leave because i didn't have an adult with me. i told them multiple times about the consent form i was present for the signing of that i know is in my file. they said they couldn't find it, so i asked several times for them to call my mother and they just continuously told me no, didn't even say why? eventually when i didn't stop asking they just told me those forms don't exist and i have to be emancipated to be seen alone. eventually after trying to get them to contact my mom forever, look for my consent form, fax or email a new one since they couldn't find it, etc. i ended up just leaving with no appointment. after speaking with another doctor, he told me that they just didn't follow protocol. they *have to* have consent forms on file, if they can't confirm one or find yours they *have to* just get verbal consent via a phone call of who's listed in your chart, and that it sounds like they just didn't wanna do their jobs. so thank you, because now you're fully booked until after i will already leave for college and my winter break is about 2.5 weeks so that's no time to get an appointment, testing, results and treatment especially if you run the place like this. so i guess im suffering for the next year until summer break:) im sure the doctors are good but i can't even get to that part because the receptionists can't do their job."