Group Health Cooperative – Northgate Medical Center

Umm… if you need disability then you will need YOUR doctors on your side. Not the «cut off» doctors that the SSA and WA DSHS send you too. Their doctors ARE PAID TO GIVE REPORTS THAT HURT YOUR CASE. So, having said that, I have been a GHC patient for many years. Unfortunately, for me, my health problems have gotten to the point where I cannot work. It’s unfortunate for me also, that Group Heath doctors won’t willingly cooperate with the filling out of PAPERWORK that is REQUIRED to determine if someone is eligible. My experience has been seeing numerous specialists and MD’s only to be told that” they don’t fill out paperwork”. What a crock of S**t!!! Then if you belly ache enough the doctor fills out the papers so the disability people still can’t decide, nevermind the 18 years worth of medical evidence I have already. So bottom line people– if you are disabled and expect to collect the benefits you are entitled to I do not recommend GHC as your doctor’s office. Nice people, they just don’t like disability.

This review is for Nutritionist at this clinic. This happened a while back, but I am finally getting around to review. I have super bad reflux and gastritis, so I take several stomach medications. I had to renew a prescription for nausea and my doctor was out of town. The guy filling in was more of a holistic type of Dr., and recommended that I also try some ginger root, and would I be willing to see a nutritionist? I said of course I am willing, and made an appointment after the referral went through. The Nutritionist at Northgate clinic I saw was extremely rude when I arrived, the first thing she asked was «why are you here?» with an aghast look on her face. After I explained why I scheduled the appointment, which was also outlined in my medical records and the referral, I asked her if she had the referral, her response was: «Well I usually only see cancer patients». The rest of the visit was awkward, we did not discuss nutrition, devise a plan for me, or anything remotely related to care. It was a very short cold visit. She gave me a faded list of foods to avoid for heartburn, which I could get off the internet and already knew. I left and never went back.

I want to start by saying that I am covered by Group Health insurance and they have been great for almost everything besides the experience I am about to write about. My primary care physician is at Virginia Mason and I only go to Group Health for my eye appointments, therefore I cannot speak to any experiences in the other departments.
My review is exclusively about my experience with Dr. Gelea Ice who is an optometrist at the Northgate office and not Group Health as a whole. This review is long overdue as this happened a little over a year ago, but it’s been on my mind and now that I am looking to book another routine eye appointment I am reminded about my experience with her.
She is a perfectly pleasant and warm individual and I felt very comfortable with her as an eye doctor when I met her. I told her that I wanted to start wearing contact lenses as my vision had gotten to the point where it was nearly impossible for me to go a day without wearing my glasses, or else I would get headaches. She seemed very professional and I trusted her word without questioning it. I did tell her that the contacts she had me put in were slightly uncomfortable (in a different way from the «new-​thing-​covering-​my-​eye-​holy-​shit» way), and she told me not to worry about it. She prescribed me a certain kind of contact and I was on my way.
Fast forward 3 months. I have gotten numerous corneal scratches and have become scared of wearing my contacts because of it, and when I did wear my contacts it was difficult for me to see long distances – something that Dr. Ice promised me the contacts would correct. I finally decided I needed to get my contacts checked out and make sure it’s not my eyes or something that is causing the issue. I ended up having to book an appointment at Roosevelt Vision (expensive, but highly recommend) to get them looked at. I went because I felt like a) I couldn’t see far enough in front of me to drive safely in my contacts anymore and b) I couldn’t get an appointment at Group Health (busy!).
After being checked out for less than 5 minutes, the optometrist at RV informed me that I have an ASTIGMATISM and that she could not believe that my eye doctor had prescribed me the type of contacts I had been wearing, as they are completely inappropriate for the shape of my eye. As soon as she put in the new contacts for astigmatism, I almost cried. I felt like I could really see for the first time and the uncomfortable feeling in my eyes was gone. The optometrist told me that there was no way my eye shape could have changed that drastically in 3 months and that Dr. Ice’s negligence in correctly diagnosing my vision issues caused my numerous corneal scratches that, if I had waited to get checked out, could have affected my vision permanently.
Please, by all means, go to Group Health for whatever issues you may be having. I have been to a few other optometrists at the Northgate location and they are wonderful. But do save yourself the possibility of being a victim of malpractice and avoid Dr. Ice. Misdiagnosing an extremely common vision problem to the point where I was physically injured? She’s lucky I didn’t pursue this further than posting a bad Unilocal review.

This rating is for the pharmacy and lab specifically; my doctor appointment clinic review will have to wait until I come back for a follow up.
After waiting a LONG time to see a doctor in the little room, I got a very thorough going over as far as hearing me out about my problem. One resident (very VERY thorough) and one doctor (consulting/​supervising the visit) checked me out. Took a while. They prescribed antibiotics (oh joy) and lab work (oh nooooo).
Coming from Los Angeles UCLA Med Center experience, I was ready for a huge hassle, long line, and incompetence. But to my shock, the record that my resident doctor typed in to her computer was transmitted instantly to their onsite pharmacy.
By the time I had booked a follow up appointment at the booking desk, I went to the attached pharmacy section (THAT was easy — about 50 feet away) and took a number from the machine to wait for a pharmacist. There were 10 windows, ALL staffed, whizzing away, going through numbers fairly quickly. It was faster than Target on a sale day, for heaven’s sake. I took a number from the lab machine as well, figuring one or the other would happen first. The pharmacy number came up in no less than four minutes. When the pharmacy window lady looked for my meds, they were LO AND BEHOLD, READY, and she asked for a pharmacist to go over verbally the usage. That took one minute. All told, the pharmacy part took no more than 10 mins. UNBELIEVABLE. I have never had such a fast pharmacy experience IN MY LIFE EVER!!! Bravo, guys!
Then no more than 3 minutes later, my number for the lab section was up, in I went. They took my blood, bang! Done. I was in and out of there in no time. CRAZY!!! I have never had this happen, in L.A., EVER. If this is standard, Washington folks are spoiled. This would have taken another hour in L.A.
Oh yes: and: FREE PARKING steps away from the door. You don’t get that in L.A. either. You guys are really lucky.

This was my first appointment with this vision clinic. I recently was added onto my husbands insurance and had vision added as I have been paying out of pocket for my contacts and eye exam for many years. I had a great first visit. I was treated very well by everyone in the office. Dr. Reeh was very informative and had a gentle tone when he was speaking to me. It was VERY affordable since I did have insurance. I didn’t love having my eyes dilated. I guess its been a while since I had that done. The doctor was very nice and offered me a pair of their disposable sun glasses as my husband and I had switched vehicles that morning and my sunglasses were in the car I usually drive! I will go back to have my eyes checked again (as long as I still have insurance)

Terrible. I can’t even begin to describe what an awful, frustrating experience I’ve had with group health. It’s a total cluster f*ck. my primary care physician is rude but she was the first doctor I could go see that was accepting new patients. I waited over an hour to get in to be treated like cattle, another 30 minutes for blood work, etc. then I get a bill. $ 500 for a wellness exam that is supposed to have a 0 co insurance? It took over two months for them to finally inform me that they hadn’t received the certificate of coverage that I had previously mailed in (also worrisome). I have called to make appointments and get there early only to find out that the department I needed to see was already closed, etc. ironically enough, my only almost positive experiences with this clinic and healthcare/​insurance provider has been in the injection room and labs… And I hate needles. If you have a choice, steer clear of these guys. Your blood pressure and cortisol levels will thank you.
Also, one star is the worst rating I can give and it doesn’t even come close to reflecting the rating I want to give them (double middle fingers and a flaming bag of dog doo on someone who is responsible for this sh*tshow’s door step)

They are quick, generally friendly and a good health care center.
Parking could be so much better. I always feel like I’m going to get hit by someone coming out of a lot far too quickly.

I’m a big Group Health fan. I recommend it to everyone, and I always gush how I get my lab results by email faster than my doctor can give them to me. Unfortunately, the part where the downtown clinic is only open during hours that I have to work and is unable to be the least bit flexible is really bumming me out.
I booked my appointment with the Saturday clinic on Friday, and I was shocked how fast I got in. When I arrived, I didn’t even have to wait more than two minutes to be put in a room and there was free parking. The greatness kind of ends there though.
The assistant who took my vitals seriously jammed the thermometer in my ear. Without warning! She was also unneccesarily rough when she took my blood pressure and she fought with me about what medicine I was taking. Yes, I know I was prescribed that medicine more recently than the one I am on, but I know which one I am taking. Luckily, that’s all she had to do. The pac came in shortly after, and was kind of crass. She introduced herself by first name only and was wearing street clothes. It felt like being examined by a friend rather than a professional, and it was just really weird. I also wasn’t given a print off after with my diagnosis or course of action or whatever else they put on those.
I’m probably going to avoid this clinic unless the hypochondriac in me forces me to go back.

While working at Boeing, I chose Group Health because I’d been with them as a child (my parents have been lifetime members) and because of the options at work and so on.
One poster referred to the common phrase «Group Death».
That was my experience. I could write a book and there’s just too much crap that happened along the way to even begin to document it all.
But let me just say that I’m not surprised that women have a good experience at Group Death, but if you are a man RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN.
I now have a badly arthritic knee and a chronically-​inflamed partially herniated disc that NEVER would have become anything more than passing problems, HAD Group Death given me the coverage and care I PAID FOR when I was with them.
Those facts have been verified numerous times over when I had both chronic problems looked at later when I was with different coverage.
I was told in both cases that HAD Group Death given me even the typical care the conditions would call for at the time they happened, neither condition would’ve have persisted or become chronic (and eventually as I age, debilitating.)
A knee surgeon who does work for the Seahawks told me my knee could’ve easily been rebuilt when I first tore it up, and HAD IT BEEN REBUILT THEN it never would’ve gotten to a state where the damage is chronic and irreversible (because of all the scarring, calcification, and secondary damage that leaving the knee unrepaired caused.)
Similar situation with my now-​chronic partially herniated disc and sciatica.
As a male, Group Death made it clear to me that I would never receive the care I needed, deserved, and PAID FOR, that the only reason I existed was to pump money into them so they could in turn spend it on all their PC programs, and that I was a second class citizen who would only get the scraps of care left over when Group Death had exhausted the resources I PAID FOR on one of their politically-​correct target demographics.
This general notion has been confirmed by several acquiantences in the medical profession, two of whom work at Group Death.
In one case the Dr was frank and blunt in stating that it’s true that Group Death discriminates against men, and that they view men as a nuisance and nothing more than deep pockets to pay for coverage plans for entire families, and that otherwise he routinely sees them being denied care and compassion they need, deserve, and pay for, only to have that same care lavished on women, children, and ethnic minorities who present with the same/​similar conditions.
I’d give Group Death zero stars, but Unilocal won’t allow that…

Fresh out of college in 1999, I picked my health provider based naively on monthly cost to me, and the assumption I wouldn’t really be using them that much. I lucked out, because ten years later, I have grown to really like GHC and love my doctor (Dr. Kato) at the Northgate clinic.
LOVE
— online prescription refill ordering with free shipping to my house within a couple of days
— I can email my doctor and her team anytime and hear back from them within a day
— Consulting Nurse service: When my hypochondriac tendencies prevail, I call them first to avoid getting an Elaine Benis-​esque comment in my medical file. They will either talk me down from my paranoid state or confirm my fears and send me in right away. They are also great to call for some faceless but honest advice about life’s more personal and embarrassing health concerns.
— Saturday hours at the clinic. 9 – 1, baby!
LIKE:
— ²⁴⁄₇ Urgent care at Capitol Hill campus. I have had a few scares in recent years and have never waited too long, and have always been treated with great care for a variety of concerns.
— GHC coverage has increased in cost over the years, but is still the most competitive option I have to choose from.
— Referrals to alternative and other care: Got referrals to an acupuncturist for lower back pain, to an LMP for a strained muscle and to a great therapist to address some post-​divorce stress syndrome
All in all, what many of my older coworkers call «Group Death» I find to be quite the opposite. GHC provides great healthcare, excellent options, and meets the needs of my lifestyle. Plus, they are very affordable.

Now, Group Health sort of gets a bad rap sometimes, but aside from the initial craziness of the sheer numbers of people they see every day, I think they do a fine job. I’ve been here several times in the past few months:
Visit #1– I thought I had lost the end of a q-​tip in my ear.
Visit #2– Regular Checkup. Plus 2 vaccinations and a foot x-​ray.
Visit #3– To determine the cause of my current under-​the-​weather-​ness.
Each time I’ve been seen by a different doctor. Not once, mind you, has one of them been my Official Assigned Doctor. Nevertheless, they have all been very kind, efficient, and knowledgeable. I mean, the first one didn’t even laugh at me about the whole q-​tip fiasco! (Turns out there had never been any cotton attached to it to begin with, and I just need to pay more attention.)