Howard M. Baim, MD SC

Dr Baim was great for me. I didn’t hear that well out of my left ear and he diagnosed me with otosclerosis (hardening of the stapes bone, which makes for a conductive hearing loss) he recommended me to a surgeon Dr. Michael Shinners and said that I would want someone who specializes in these. I went thru with surgery and I am now hearing normally out of my left ear. The office is in need of updating, but who cares? I want a Dr that does the job right… I would imagine he is close to retirement or just working because he likes to so whats the point of spending an arm and a leg on cosmetics? I did sense he truly cared which is hard to find amongst doctors in my opinion.

I’ll comment on the décor of Dr Baim’s office in due course. First, however, I will focus on what’s important: the level of care I have received, for 11 years now, as his patient.
I found Dr Baim in the worst possible way: after a snotty young doctor at a very large reputable Chicago hospital, who had very little time to listen to my symptoms, misdiagnosed my sinus infection as «just really bad allergies», sent me home with prescriptions, and basically a «Stop being a big baby!» spank on my way out the door. That was just before Memorial Day weekend.
By my birthday in July I was absolutely miserable, could barely pick up my head. I remarked that even my face hurt, which is when my mother said «you have an infection.» Well, no way was I going back to the first doctor. A good friend who’d had major sinus surgery recommended Dr. Baim, who saw me quickly — within less than a week. I left with a prescription for antibiotics and a decongestant, and saw him for a follow up a week after finishing the course of antibiotics.
Which is when things got interesting. Clearly, the drugs worked, I felt better, but I casually mentioned that in the process of moving I’d found black mold in the closet that shared a wall with my bathroom. He looked at me and said «you’re moving, right?» Because if I wasn’t, the mold had to go. I then saw him every three months for the first year, and every six months for the next, before being discharged as an «annual maintenance» patient.
During one of those visits, he mentioned that I seemed way less congested than usual, and asked «What happened in your house?» I thought for a minute and recalled that I’d euthanized my cat about 6 months before, and he smiled, and quipped «Yes, and NONE of my patients with cats and allergies is EVER allergic to the cats!» He does have a great sense of humor — you just have to recognize it as such. Of course I protested that I’d never tested positive for a cat allergy in my life, and he was ready with his answer: «Kitty litter. It’s damp, full of mold which you are allergic to, and you handle it and they track it all over your house.»
Well I’ll be…
Needless to say I’ve kept Dr. Baim as a specialist, even after finding a lovely internist to replace the crabby doctor above. This year my ophthalmologist discovered cataracts on my eyes, and asked me to call him for a medication change consult, and he immediately phoned back with a suggestion, and phoned in a new prescription. When my allergies flare up ahead of schedule, I get an appointment immediately. And I’ve never had a problem with his staff, so I assume he has addressed this issue.
Now, about the 1970s era Lincoln Park Office… Should he redecorate? Perhaps. But I have noticed aging furniture from past decades seems to be a theme among my health care practitioners: my dentist, my eye doctor, and yes, my internist (who practices at Northwestern) all have furniture fit for the Smithsonian. I initially thought «Wow, you’d think they could hire a decorator…» and sure they could do that, but if they don’t, until the furniture in the lobby interferes with the quality of my health care, so what?

This guy (and his office) is ridiculous. After being referred to him by my primary doctor for some thyroid issues, Dr. Baim sent me on a wild goose chase to find non-​existent cancer on my thyroid. After 3 ultrasounds and a biopsy were ordered within a month’s time, I experienced intense questions from a radiologist wondering why I was on his table for a biopsy when his multiple ultrasounds proved that there was no cause for a biopsy. I went back to Baim to go over the ‘results’ of all of these tests, and he said «Well, there appears to be no cause for surgery at this time», to which I replied «Good, I wasn’t interested in getting surgery». He then said, «Well, it’s good for you but bad for me haha». WHAT THE EFF. Are you for real? You were going to just yank my thyroid out for no reason so you could get paid?
Then I got a phantom bill in the mail from his office for 70.00 for AN APPOINTMENT I NEVER HAD. After calling the front desk there, the receptionist told me some crock about the batch running incorrectly. It was literally a made up appointment that I never attended and that my insurance was never billed for, even though the bill says it was. What even is that? I decided I needed to see an endocrinologist instead of getting advice from this nutbag, so I called to get my records sent over. THEY CHARGE YOU 26.00 PLUS 98 CENTS A PAGE TO OBTAIN YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS. Are you kidding me.
Please don’t put yourself through this.

The doctor is a bit creepy and a lot of bit rushed. The office might have been cute 30 years ago but now it just looks dingy and dark. His advice for me was to take Advil and he charged like 300.00 to tell me that.

Dr. Baim has been my doctor for many years. He is my father’s physician and has been my physician since i was a teenager (I’m in my 30’s now). He is very attentive and makes you feel at ease. There can be a wait time but only because he’s a popular doctor because he’s so good. I would recommend him (and I have) to anyone. He

First it was a dingy, dark little office but if the doctor had been able to take care of me, fine, but the doctor was unable to do anything to resolve the issue I visited him for.
So, I had forgotten about the whole thing until over 3 years later I received a bill. I find out (or am reminded, though I don’t recall) that it took 2 visits for the doctor to not resolve my issue for which I am being charged the full amount now (3 years later!) and they are unwilling to do anything to reduce the amount charged despite the 3 year delay in billing. (Ha! I initially accidentally typed «bilking» but the auto correct caught it and changed my Freudian slip to what I had intended – billing.)
To resolve the issue, I called the office and could hardly have a conversation with the person with whom I spoke since she kept speaking over and interrupting me. In my attempts to get her to stop and have an adult conversation she gave me the explanation «this is how I am».
I was able to get from her that it was supposedly the insurance company’s fault.
I doubt they are doing anything dishonest, but the rude way they are finally billing me for a 3 year old debt frustrated me immensely. For that, and the inability of the doctor to resolve my issue, I’m highly recommending you seek care elsewhere.

So I’m still not sure what to say about this…
The office itself is crummy, old, and just looks like it could use a heavy cleaning and some updating. The staff was kind of rude. Dr. Baim didn’t really hear me out either. Overall just kind of a meh experience.
Basically, I have been having sinus issues for quite a while now. I had been getting bronchitis from drainage to my lungs, sinus infections, and in addition, my ears need to pop every 5 minutes and one ear kind of has this tinnitus pulsing sound all the time or just sounds muffled.
I told Dr. Baim this and he made me get a hearing test. Really? I can hear just fine but I went anyway and was told what I already knew, I could hear. Yay. He hardly looked up my right nostrils because he said it was blocked so he recommended this steroid spray which hardly helped.
Basically, I’m just disappointed because $ 550, 1 rx, and 2 Dr appointments later, I’m EXACTLY where I started. I was supposed to go back two weeks after my hearing aid but I’m tired of wasting money on a wild goose chase.

After reading the varied reviews for this dr, I was curious how my first visit would go. Well, it was an extremely nice visit. While the office décor is dated, the office was clean and the staff was professional for the most part. One receptionist ignored me, however another emerged from an inner office and immediately helped me. The doctor was wonderful; he did not keep me waiting long before he examined me, and even after that he took his time getting my history and thoroughly discussing treatment options — versus rushing me out so that he could move on to other patients. The exam room was very clean and the furnishings were appropriate. I will definitely refer others to this doctor.

I wish I’d looked at Unilocal first. I was referred by my internist for a throat issue. Receptionist was immediately unfriendly, curt and made me feel like I was an inconvenience. The office was not busy.
The doctor’s examining room had dust so deep in places I could wipe it and leave a finger mark. Equipment and furniture were very old. I wanted to leave and failed to trust my instincts.
He was officious and distant, even unfriendly. We moved to a second, equally old and dusty examining room where there was a machine to probe my sinuses, which were fine. He wrote a prescription for blood tests and a throat test. I had to ask why the blood tests.
On my second visit to get the test results the office was still dirty and I diplomatically told him so. He acted surprised. I asked his receptionist for copies of the tests and she gave me a hard time, like I wanted something that was not mine. There were 2 of them and they got confrontational instead of helpful and the doctor did not help.
For these 2 visits my insurance company was billed $ 695 and my out of pocket was $ 168. The blood tests cost me $ 237 and the swallow test (Il Masonic hospital quoted $ 500 and forgot to tell me there was also a $ 550 MD bill for giving the test!) cost me $ 600 – all tests were negative.
I wrote a letter to him about my unsatisfying visits and copied my internist. Neither replied. This is health CARE?

Okay, I’m a fan! I’m fine with Dr. Baim’s no nonsense approach. I went in, waiting only 5 – 10 minutes in total (you know, the wait in the waiting room, then the wait in the exam room), then Dr. Baim came in, asked questions, looked in my ears and fixed me up! My ear was blocked, and had been for a while. He pulled so much wax out of there, I could’ve sold it to Madame Tussaud! I could hear again! Yay! Whole thing couldn’t have taken more than 10 minutes, but fabulous, fabulous!

Dr. Baim is definitely my style of doctor. His office is small and a bit old-​fashioned looking, but it feels comfortable and all of the equipment looked very clean and well taken care of. I think I waited about 10 minutes each time I’ve gone to see him, which I consider to be exceptionally punctual for a doctor.
When he walked into the room, he was definitely very to-​the-​point, as several reviewers have mentioned, but I didn’t get the sense that he was cold or uncaring at all, but rather that he simply cared much more about my health than he did about making small talk.

Dr. Baim is a no-​nonsense Dr. who is to the point but does not rush you at all. He performed my tonsillectomy and I had a great experience overall when dealing with him and the office staff. He is also very witty and seems to genuinely care about finding a solution to any problems you may have.

I went to this Doctor for a second opinion for some hearing loss I suffered. The first visit was fine, but the office staff seemed to be very unprofessional. When I made my follow-​up appointment, they wrote it down on a legal pad. This seemed very odd. I never received a call a day or two before to confirm my appointment. This is the first doctor or dentist I have been to that does not confirm appointments.
The day of my follow-​up appointment, I called to confirm the time and asked if I could come in earlier. The lady said that they were dead today and I could come in 1 hour earlier. When I arrived at the appointment time, the place was packed. I waited for 20 minutes and they had not called any patients. The lady next to me said she had an appointment 45 minutes prior to my time. Hearing this, I asked the front desk when they thought I would get in to see the doctor. They said probably in an hour. I told the front desk that I could not wait that long and I would have to reschedule. She said «Whatever» and I left. I will not be going back to Dr. Baim’s office. Judging the crowd in his waiting room, I doubt he even cares.

I visited Dr. Baim last December with mixed results.
I had a reoccurring ear ache for well over a month last winter, and after seeing two walk-​in clinic doctors and getting two batches of unsuccessful antibiotics (pills) I decided to see an ENT specialist. I was going in blind, as I had no referrals to any ENT’s and didn’t really know what to expect or whom to see.
Dr. Baim’s office was small and had several people waiting to be seen (granted, it was middle of winter, right before Christmas, probably a lot of sick people wanting to take care of things before going out of town, myself included). The receptionist lacked some professionalism with handling people/​calls, etc., just not very warm or patient, and Dr. Baim was about the same.
Once I finally got in the room to see him, he asked initial questions about my ear, then used a suction devise to clear out some buildup, was almost stern with that, wrote me a prescription (drops that did clear things up for the most part) and I was out. He was straight to the point, even now I can’t tell if he was just a very serious, no-​nonsense guy or if he was seriously lacking some people skills and basic compassion that you would absolutely expect a Dr. to have. (Is that too much to ask for?!)
I then ran into conflicts with that same receptionist regarding my bills/​records after my appt. and several months later, my earache returned. To the doctor’s credit, he did ask me to see him again after my initial treatment to see if it was healed, but I did not want to return to his office, so I did not. And probably will not again.

Summer 2007 — Ear buzzing, hearing loss, painful to loud sounds, high and low pitched sounds. Dr. Baim looks in — sees nothing, but refers me to get a Catscan and hearing tests. Totally legit. Thousands of dollars worth of referrals and testing later — they tell me what I already knew: I have hearing loss. No answers though. But based on this, the experience wasn’t too bad — I would give them 3 stars.
However, they get one star now. 2 years later, I have experienced the same hearing problems ongoing, and now accompanied by random vertigo. I decided to go to someone at University of Chicago that specializes with the ear only and vertigo. I called Dr. Baim’s office to get a copy of my medical records. At first on the phone they couldn’t find my file (even under my maiden name). Then when they did, they said I have a $ 80 overdue balance… from 2 years ago. I asked why they didn’t call me, and they said «We don’t call people anymore.» What? So, you don’t really want your money then? Anyway, I squared up my address, they are to send me the bill, and asked about getting my records. She said she needed it in writing and calculated a $ 30 fee for me to get my records (which is norm I guess, but sucks). But I need them, so whatever.
I get the bill in the mail — drop the $ 80 check in with the stub, and a handwritten letter with another check for the $ 30 — IN THE SAME ENVELOPE. It is now the day before my appointment, and I still have no records. When I called, she said she received my overdue balance, but not my records request. What? But, it was in the same envelope. She said no, she didn’t get it. Double checked a few times, put me on hold for long periods, and acted like it was no big deal.
So, that means they lost my check. Wow. Not very competent. I had to check my banking records to make sure and then do a stop payment — called her back with my credit card and she is trying to fax them to me now. Now the fax is coming up error. When I called back again to see what the hours are for me to come by and pick them up, I told her that I was dissappointed that she threw it away, and it was inconvenient for me. She responded «I never said I threw it away, we don’t know what happened.» I said either way it was lost, and the experience has been very frustrating. She then told me that she can’t see herself opening an envelope and not taking out all the contents, so I must have forgotten to put the check in there. Whoa — I then told her she should never tell a customer that, bad customer service and it got a little more heated — not too bad, but finger pointing. I asked to speak with Dr. Baim, and he was not available. He is supposed to call me back to discuss. We’ll see. Either way, I am now squeaking in to their office at 8am tomorrow morning, in hopes that I can get the records and make my 9am appt.
Dr. Baim, you may be a nice guy and ordered the right tests, but you really need to get someone in your office that knows what they are doing, and is professional toward customers. You know, there are a lot of people looking for jobs right now…

I was having major sinus issues. I thought it might have developed allergies but the test results showed I didn’t have any. So I went to Dr. Baim. I am glad I did! He found that I had polyps in my sinus cavities. I had surgery to have them removed and I feel sooooo much better now. Not only that, but my experience with Dr. Baim was great. He was so nice and explained every procedure. He made the whole process comfortable. I highly recommend Dr. Baim!

One of the best docs I’ve seen in a long time! I usually don’t have good things to say about specialists. I have an amazing general doctor, Dr. Tenhundfeld, and usually when I see a specialist they are usually not very friendly, and don’t spend a lot of time with you.
Dr. Baim was completely the opposite. On my first visit to him he was telling me jokes, and was very friendly. He spent a lot of time with me, and even went the extra steps to make me feel completely comfortable. I had come in for my vocal chords, because I was having problems singing, and he was great. He made me feel a lot better about having the scope done to look at my vocal chords, and he did an amazing job.
I will continue to come to him as my ENT for a great long time. Anyone looking for an ENT should look this direction!

I have horrible, inflammed tonsils and am still putting off getting them taken out. However, for a few weeks, my throat was awful. I went to other doctors and nothing was helping. Dr. Baim ordered a test for Mono, and bingo, he figured it out! He is great at finding the root problem. I highly recommend him. He spent a lot of time with me, making sure he diagnosed me correctly!

This ENT doctor rocks. I visited Dr. Baim yesterday to get treatment for my ear infection, and I had a pleasant experience. The front desk lady was nice and the doctor was assertive and attentive. He took a look in both my ears, my throat and my nose and immediately knew what was wrong with me. He gave me my prescription and out of the door I went. My visit with him was short and sweet without me feeling rushed at all. He’s great.