Villages ER - awful - Saga continues
 

This continues the thread I started called Villages Hospital ER - Awful which attracted quite a few replies and several thousand views.

I mentioned in my original post that I walked out of the Villages ER after 2 hours passed with no one as much as taking my wife's temperature. She was treated immediately at Leesburg.

I happened to be reviewing online what Leesburg submitted for insurance reimbursement when I noticed a claim submitted by none other than The Villages Hospital.

It turns out that The Villages Hospital submitted a claim for almost $3000!! For what? I notified my insurance company who contacted the hospital who said it was for Triaging my wife and associated paperwork - which they never did!

I again notified my insurance company that the hospital did absolutely nothing and they will again pursue it.

Even though this doesn't come out of my pocket, it irks me no end that The Villages Hospital ER is attempting to collect money for doing absolutely nothing.

To be continued....

Tbear

That is just one of the many ways medical providers make money.

This is fraud. In Florida, report it to the following:

Daniel S. Anderson
Director
Florida Department of Financial Services -
Fraud Division
200 E. Gaines Street, Larson Bldg.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0324
To report fraud: 1-800-378-0445

The Villages Hospital ER has to be the worst one in The state. Sent My wife home in Early October saying nothing was wrong and being sarcastic about it. Less that thirty six hours later in Leesburg Hospital for 16 Days. & of those in ICU.

Have never read much good about TV Hospital. We are new here and this is invaluable info to know when the need arises. My concern is that I understand the next nearest hospital being Leesburg, is part of the same Company. ?

Same
 

Leesburg and TVRH are under the same umbrella. You will find several Threads on the Village Hospital and most of the unfavorable comments are about the ER.

Two years ago I injured two fingers and went to TV Hospital ER. They saw me pretty quickly (I was bleeding on the waiting room floor), and gave me three stitches (by a PA) on one finger and I told them not to stitch the other finger, as it didn't look that bad to me, and the pain killer shot in a fingertip is painful in the extreme. They xrayed the fingers, told me there were tiny fractures in both, but there was no treatment required. The bill was over $4,000, which was all out of pocket since I had a high deductible insurance policy at the time. They charged me over $800 for the "fractured" fingertips, over and above the cost of the xray. I paid the bill, but wrote a letter to the hospital complaining about it. I got no satisfaction. But I'll never go back.

Went to the The Villages Hospital ER recently in the pre-dawn AM with an infected hand. I was the only person in the waiting room and sat for two hours. The entertainment was watching a gentleman sneak in when the security was not present, to use the men's room. He stared at me cautiously
for about five minutes before he entered and was in there for an hour before leaving through the ER entrance. I have no idea what he was doing, but my imagination does. Finally, after two hours I was escorted back to a room. After another hour and a half was not seen by either a nurse or doctor so I got up and left. They billed Medicare for the visit. When I called to protest they said I was " Triaged " ( blood pressure and temperature taken which took a minute or two ) and thus they were entitled to bill.

You might want to look towards Ocala which has 3 hospitals. These might work for some emergencies.

2 of my friends died there.

Two years ago one of my neighbors decided to take a motorcycle ride at 3am in the morning. Somewhere along CR462 just before US 301 he was knocked off his bike by a passing car. All he remembers is waking up in the hospital. Apparently he was found by the police about 6am on the side of the road. Even though he was in Wildwood, the ambulance company didn't take him to TV Hospital, but instead to Ocala Regional Medical Center.

There are two hospitals side-by-side to the east side of US 301 as you approach Ocala downtown. If your northbound on 301, Munroe Regional is on the left and Ocala Regional is on the right. Both buildings are highrise and you can see them from 301, if you turn at the blue hospital sign you can go to either one. My friend was there for a couple of weeks and said the care and service was great. I was surprised when I traveled to visit, taking 301 from the south end of TV it didn't take more than 30 minutes to get to the hospital.

http://www.insideflorida.com/images/...tal_medium.jpg

TVRH - Same Experience
 

Unfortunately I have had at least 4 visits to TVRH ER and 2 admissions in the recent past supporting an elderly parent. I have to agree that the wait time, attitude, and responsiveness of the hospital staff (not all but most) leaves a lot to be desired. Patient attentiveness isn't all that great either. Had my sister and I not been with our parent every single day I am sure the myriad of services that the patients require would not have been fulfilled. I know this because for the most part we performed most of them. Staff (again some but not all) tend to disappear when they know that family is sitting bedside to keep their loved one company. I am concerned that the health care of this country will continue to decline and we will all be in a world of trouble sooner rather than later. To say that the experiences were unpleasant are an understatement. I feel for those that have to use this facility and don't have anyone to be their watchful eye or spokesperson. The arrogance of the ER Administrator telling my sister and I of all the great improvements that he has made and how TVRH has the best wait time ratings was like a smack in the face. I have had enough conversations with others waiting in the ER to know that the majority of the residents/visitors feel exactly the same way. As the population in The Villages and surrounding area continues to grow so will the problems with the medical facilities. The upside (if there is any) is that I have certainly learned a lot about patient care, use of medical terminology, questions to ask, signs to watch out for and to be thankful for the good DR's, RN's, CNA's, nutritionists etc when they do come along.

Recently, our doctor wanted me to take my dad to the ER for a blood transfusion. He said "go now!" and gave me a STAT order to give to the ER. While being triaged, the nurses said they had people that had been waiting 6 ½ hours and still hadn't been brought back to see a doctor. I asked if a STAT order made a difference - nope. When I mentioned the Villages' app showed a wait time of 0 minutes (and showed them the screen on my phone), they said those apps always lie. They said the time shown is usually until someone is triaged, not seen by a doctor. 4 ½ hours later, we were finally called back to a room. I guess we should consider ourselves luck we didn't have to wait 6 ½ hours! I just don't understand why the ER has to be this way.

This theme is constant and keeps getting worse. Management is uncaring and arrogant. It is time to start writing letters to the members of the Board of Directors.

Will writing letter to anyone really help? These tales re: TVRH are repeated and repeated and repeated. I know folks have written to management and there is no response. What do we have to do? Dr. Welby where are you?

Having been involved with EMS before moving to Florida I can tell you the ERs in General are HORRIBLE. Wait time is crazy and people wasting emergency ambulances because they think they get in quicker. We had a 7-11 next to the Hospital by us on Long Island and you'd see people in Hospital Gowns with IV poles walking in the door of the 7-11 because they needed food they'd been waiting so long. It's only gotten worse and will continue. ERs can't & won't refuse to see you or treat you. Our insurance & medical in the good ole USA is a disgrace. I really don't know how the Doctors & Nurses can work in an ER. You see all the walking wounded, the cold & tired and sometimes the most filthy disgusting people you could imagine come to the ER. The Hospitals in General are swamped with patients and it's only going to get worse.
As for TVRH I've had 4 procedures done in the Hospital and was treated fine. This last one I had to wait 2 months after my procedure to get into my rehab class they're so backed up.
I truly believe they're doing the best they can. If you don't like them don't go but remember this IF you call an Ambulance unless it's a trauma guess where your going. Be patient.

I agree. My husband has been to the ER 4 times. The first time was during "season" and that was miserable. Three other times he did have a wait but when the waiting room is full you have to expect that. Twice he was admitted and his care from start to finish was excellent.

I was at TVRH today for my rehab. As I walked by the ER there were about 15 people ER waiting room. What I thought was really strange thou on my way by the Urgent Care room there was only 1 person waiting. Guess it is the freebe rule. Urgent care can do almost all that the ER can and it's open 8-8. Might want to try them next time !

There are folks who use the ER as a clinic rather than using Urgent Care. This is an abuse! That said, everything is perception re: the ER....when you're in pain etc. you want care STAT. But that rarely happens. I've said it before...we've experienced TVRH (Leesburg too) ER and will say while there were waits our care was excellent.

Closure but no satisfaction
 

I began this thread with a promise for it to be continued. Well, after notifying my insurance company that Villages ER did nothing but put a wrist band on my wife and told her to sit in the waiting room, they paid the ER $552 which is the medicare allowance for the $2290 the ER charged them.

I guess from a corporate point of view, it likely costs the insurance company more than $552 do refute the claim but as one respondent in this thread suggested - this is fraudulent in nature by the hospital -

I had to chuckle at the recent article about the Villages hospital in the FEB POA bulletin entitled " The Villages Hospital: Working toward Extraordinary Care "

Do Mr. Pittman and Susan Williams really know how poor service is at their hospital? The article makes for great reading reminding me of my corporate days when consultants were hired to create well polished, top level, multi-phased plans to impress the board of directors and stock holders. I sincerely wish them well and hope they can improve things for the sake of all of us.

I'm tempted to point out this thread ( and the many others ) in this forum to them so their research can see what their customers are really saying...

Tbear

So, why don't you??
If you go to this site there are ways to email all of the management team.
Let us know what response you get.
Executive team | The Villages Regional Hospital | The Villages, Florida

What a mess
 

My father in law was having chest pain and went to TVRH. He was triaged and told to have a seat in the waiting room, it would be a while. He got up and told the nurse "I'd rather die at home." How sad is this??? When I lived "up North", I had a bout of severe chest pain. I went to our ECC and they took me right in. This is the way it should be with chest pain. I also noticed that nobody at TVRH ECC offers to get a wheelchair for those in need. I watched a man, who could barely walk, drag himself into the ECC at TVRH and not one person offered him assistance. Again, up North, the ECC staff would have gotten a wheelchair and assisted him. I cannot believe the lack of care here.

What TVRH calls triage is in no way shape or form or intent, triage.

From recent personal experience the so called male nurses that were pretending to do triage were a disgrace to the profession. One was eating his subway sandwich while typing in my information.

I had a severe hand injury and was bleeding and they never asked to see the wound.
They said they would have to put in an IV but that I would still have to sit in the waiting room. When I asked how long they sort a chuckled at each other. They said there were people out there that had been there for two hours or more. I said I did not care I was in pain and bleeding. They could not assure me I would see a doctor that night.

I asked them both for their names. Gave them my assessment of their incompetence and that that were an insult to nurses. They said I would have to sign a release. I told them I was about as likely to sign that release as they were at assuring me to see a doctor.

Then left.

Aquick search of Monroe and Ocala Regional netted me with info there was a hand surgeon on call at Ocala Regional Trauma Center. I walked in, signed in their computerized kiosk, and was in with their triage office in less than 5 minutes....real triage nurses doing nursing and caring for patients....I was admitted nad in surgery the next morning.

In the future there is little risk to one's health safety by going to Ocala Regional or Monroe Community.

Like some have a do not resusitate document....we have do not take to TVRH under any circumstances.

And yes I did write a detailed letter to the board of the hospital.....it has to be obvious to them they have a problem. It is also obvious by reading the posts over the years that nothing has ever been done.

Rather than calling this The Villages regional hospital ( in a disparaging way ) it should be referred to as Central Florida Health at The Villages. CFH is simply licensed to use the TV trademark.

I have had many occasions to need and take advantage of the Villages hospital ER over the years. Once for myself, several times for my husband, and a couple of times with a visiting friend. We have always received excellent care and are very grateful to the staff there for doing everything they could possibly do to help us. I would love to see more posts from those who had positive experiences, and there are many of us.

You are so right.

A few months after moving here I tore my achilles tendon over the weekend and drove myself to TVRH and hobbled in to the ER. After waiting 15 minutes I could see this place would not help me and learned it could be a 24 hour wait. Hobbled back out and went to an urgent care facility that did xrays, gave me a diagnosis and stabilized my foot until I could see an orthopedic surgeon on Monday.

Now that I know better, in retrospect, I should have gone to Ocala Regional who would have taken care of my problem right away as they are equipped to handle emergency and trauma cases. I have gone to Ocala a few times for other health care issues and would never again set foot in TVRH. Another excellent facility is Shands in Gainseville

I have taken my mother to the ER twice in the last six months. In both cases we were immediately triaged and taken back to a room. The care could not have been better. I do volunteer at the hospital and as part of my job interview patients about their care on the floor and I also ask if they came through the ER how that experience was. It is actually rare for me to hear horror stories. There are periods when the ER is full or in diversion in which some people are not immediately treated. I have volunteered for over a year and have seen a steady improvement in the ratings folks give the ER. The ratings on the floor are nearly all excellent - folks get good nursing care. I would not hesitate to go to the Villages ER if I didn't have need for a full trauma center. This post is not intended to disparage the negative encounters some folks have had, but to relay other experiences.

My wife and I are new Villagers. We thought it an advantage to be near TVRH - and now I'm quite concerned. Why wouldn't the Management poll all visitors / patients in regard to their treatment ? This sounds like the VA system. Absolutely no excuse for less than excellent service and patient treatment. If not, heads should roll ! Charles Gallup - Village of Santo Domingo

I went to TV ER with a wildly erratic heart rate and tightness in my chest. It took close to two hours before I was even triaged and given an EKG. The tech confirmed my heart rate was "all over the place" but wouldn't tell me more. Then we sat in the waiting room for another two-three hours. They had no answers as to how they prioritize the patients they see. In most hospitals if you come in with chest pain you are immediately seen. Someone said things would be even slower because they were changing shifts. We got disgusted and left.

You say your heart rate was all over the place and you should have been taken immediately yet then you say you got disgusted and left. Obviously this was not an emergency case even for you if you were okay to just leave. :shrug:

Since most of the problems occur in the ER, why not go to their Urgent Care or to any urgent care, If you need to be admitted, they can get it done?

Yes when I was there sick as a dog with food poisoning I sat and sat and finally when I went back I had to walk the long hallways with the orderly about 20 steps ahead of me. Finally I got his attention and asked for a chair.

My friend was taken to the ER the other night by ambulance. I followed in my car because her husband couldn't go for medical reasons. She laid there in such pain for about an hour before a doctor came in. When he did he said they were going to do a CAT scan. After the scan, he told her he thought she had Chronen's disease. When her GI doctor came in, he said, no, she doesn't have Chronen's disease. Also, was told that they only had two doctors in the ER in the evening. About 15 people were in the waiting room when we got there (I had to stay there until they finished getting her in bed). About 4:15 I saw a young man who had been in the waiting room when I got there just being released. What a joke that place is.

This happens all over in most all hospitals. Our friend experience a similar situation in Leesburg last Wednesday.

No, as evidenced by these posts, as well as previous posts, The Village Hospital ER is uniquely horrible. I've personally experienced the tender mercies dispensed there more then once. Never again. Since both TVH and Leesburg are under the same management, it sounds as if Leesburg, based on this last post, is being dragged down to the same miserable level.

The Village Hospital ER is uniquely horrible.

You have no idea. Kings County ER in Brooklyn---we averaged about 5-6 gunshot wounds and 8-9 stabbings each night. There were 2 trauma OR's just off the ER that were in use 24/7. The waiting room consisted of church pews, 2 wide and 16 rows deep, yet people were sitting on the floor. The average wait if you didn't have a critical condition was 17 hours. The ER docs spoken very little English, and were usually busy studying for some FMG exam. As a 4th year medical student, I basically ran whatever section of the ER I was in. Sound bad?---Not really, since it was 10 times better than Methodist Hospital or Brooklyn-Cumberland
The main problem at TVRH ER is inefficiency. It would take a good ER director less than a month to straighten out the problems I saw there, including some personnel changes. The one time my wife was there, it was medium busy. She had to stay an hour or so on a stretcher in the hallway, but they started all the lab tests and CT scan. She was admitted and in her room in less than 5 hours. The nursing care on the floor was excellent, as was her hospitalist. Again, and I've said it before, TVRH has 37,000 ER visits each year---where would everyone go without it? And what would the other local hospital ERs look like with that additional load?
As far as all the anecdotal horror stories that get posted on this site go, I'm sure the people relating them believe that is what happened, but many of them make no medical sense whatsoever. And with all due respect, like Judge Judy says, "If it doesn't make sense, then it isn't true"

If TVH ER is really that terrible why do SO many people still use it? Guess because there are people with no insurance that go there because they have to be treated. So if you have insurance why not try the Urgent Cares or a Hospital outside of this group. See how that works out for you. Remember also IF you call an Ambulance you will be going to either TV or Leesburg unless it's a Trauma Alert. Myself I use Urgent Cares if at all possible. If I go to the ER I know it's going to be a long wait. As I said in earlier posts having ridden with EMS I know it's the same up North where I was.

I doubt that's the reason. ALL hospital ERs are required to see patients that show up, even if they don't have insurance. But in this 55+ community, I'm sure a majority of patients have Medicare, and those under 65 are very likely to be insured given the affluence of TV. There may be some people from Lady Lake/Summerville that use TVRH, but I'd bet the majority of patients are Villagers. So why so busy---just the age of the population, and the seasonal influx of an additional 40,000 in the winter. The other reason is simply staffing, which may or may not be adequate.

We have used TV hospital on several occasions and have had no real problems. The otherhalf has had two major surgeries there and I have had one. The surgical care was exceptional, the nursing staff went above and beyond to care for us. The wait in the ER is somewhat longer than one wants to sit and wait, but with a roomful of aging patients what can you expect.

If it is so bad there, people, go somewhere else! Drive half an hour to Ocala, drive half an hour to Leesburg or Waterman's, you have other choices. The fewer people who use this beautiful hospital, the less the wait time will be for those of us who appreciate having a hospital ten minutes from home. My local hospital used to be Beth Israel in Boston - have you ever seen a major hospital ER, it is bedlam, makes ours look like a walk in the park.

If, like me, you ever get a call at midnight saying your husband's diagnosis is cancer and he needs you ..... you will be damned glad you have a hospital ten minutes away where you can come and go 24/7!

My neighbor just mentioned to me that she went to Ocala Regional location on Hwy 441 here in the Villages Area. She said they are located below a billboard sign about their service. Within 10 minutes she was taken by staff to an examination room and the finger surgery she needed was address. I myself entered the ER with a neighbor because I was so seriously ill and I left after two hours. Initial information was taken. I returned to the ER by ambulance two days later and received excellent care for eight days. I understand the frustration and happy to know your wife found the care and healing she needed.

Think of the hospital here....it's slammed during "high season" and less so in the other months. Just how would you manage it if you were put in charge??? I've had 3 experiences in the ER and my other half one each--in TVRH and LRH. ALL went fine...though the waits were long. Have you ever counted the ambulances that come in the que?? While there the last time we observed a drug over-dose, a stroke and heart attack victim (one of each) and that's only what we actually observed. We're blessed to have so many options in our area to choose from but I'd just bet each one experiences the "awful" reports to OP and others like him report. I doubt in a large city hospital you'd be ushered right in and seen immediately neither. The hospital here serves more than villagers...we live in an area with several communities. Go anywhere in this area and the general population have grey hair...so add that to what the assessments of the hospital. It's still like a smaller town facility with the expectations and issues of a much larger community.