Planned Parenthood

Wow, so many bad reviews… but I have positive things to say about the Planned Parenthood Loop location! 5 star service!
They were open on Christmas Eve!
I was the first appointment of the day, but I arrived super early. They saw me 20 minutes earlier, because there was no one else in the place! It was awesome!
I received a Well Woman exam and everything went smoothly. I had other testing as well. I forget her name, but the nurse who saw me first (and asked all the questions) was very nice and personable. Nina, the Clinician who did my exam, was very nice and informative.
I will say, I did see some ladies who look like they’re not personable working here… but thankfully I didn’t have them. Perhaps this location needs their staff on all one friendly accord. Nevertheless, I will return to this location!

I started going to the loop location for about a year and had a good experience. This last visit, on the other hand, was the worst! My appointment was for 11:30AM for the depot shot and STI testing. When I walked up, there was a sign on the door that said they had a meeting til 11:30AM. I was the first person to arrive and waited patiently; however, there were four ladies that arrived after me that immediately jumped in line ahead of me once they opened the doors after the meeting. I suggest Planned Parenthood put numbers that people can take so that people can be properly seen in the order in which they arrive if you have a meeting in the future. These ladies were all seen before me.
After handing over my ID and insurance, I waited an hour and 15 minutes before I was even seen by the nurse. They kept allowing people who came in through the door after me to be seen before me. Chaquita was my nurse and she wasn’t friendly, barely made eye contact. She kept dropping things like her pen, a bandaid, etc. Then she bent over from her seat and had severe plumber’s crack. She didn’t seem personable or professional at all. She asked me if I faint after shots and I told her no. After she pricked my hand and gave me the shot, I felt dizzy and she immediately called in another nurse. That nurse was helpful and gave me water, a snack, and helped me to lie down. When the nurse left, Chaquita lectured me on the fact that she asked whether I faint ahead of time so she could prepare for that with an attitude. She didn’t show any empathy. Then, she only tested me for HIV. She told me that they don’t do chlamydia/​gonorrhea testing unless you are showing symptoms (itchiness, abnormal discharge, etc) because the Chicago Public Health office won’t allow them to do testing otherwise. I asked the lobby person if I can set up an appointment to get tested for that, she said I could. I don’t understand why I wasn’t tested for what I requested over the phone for my appointment. I don’t trust the competence of this staff at all.

PP offers some really critical care for a lot of patients, but this review is strictly based on the handling of service for this specific office!
Scheduled the appointment on Thursday after contacting my insurance company to make sure that they would not deny payment. They advised that they would not. I followed up by asking the representative at PP about whether my insurance would cover the cost and was advised that my insurance would be run prior to my visit, so if an issue arose, I would know AHEAD of time! She also advised that I would get a message to remind me about my appointment 24 hours ahead and that I would be good to go. I took the trip down town, filled out all of the paperwork to update my records, handed off my insurance and ID, even went so far as to provide a urine sample! 45 minutes after my scheduled appt, one of the staff called me to the front to apologize, but advised that they were in negotiations with my insurance and that I would not be able to use my insurance for the visit! WHAT? I traveled all the way downtown and waited only to have that happen? She blamed everyone, but Obama for the error, but it really came down to poor follow through on their part! That trip could have been avoided and Metra fare saved, but they failed to do the preliminary work that they claim they do in advance! Extremely disappointed in the customer service, although the services are necessary.

This was my first time at this location, but I’ve been to Planned Parenthoods in Michigan before and had fantastic experiences. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed and frustrated with my experience here today. First of all, my appointment was scheduled for right when they opened on a weekday, but I wasn’t called back until FORTY-​FIVE MINUTES after my scheduled appointment time (there were NO patients with appointments before mine). This was ridiculous, I purposely made my appointment for as early as possible so they wouldn’t be running behind. My time is valuable and I felt like they didn’t care whatsoever about that. Secondly, they performed two tests on the urine sample that I provided WITHOUT ASKING IF IT WAS OK. I do not have insurance, so I was paying out of pocket for my visit and I did not come prepared to pay for all those additional tests that I DID NOT WANT OR NEED. They seemed very understaffed for the number of patients in the waiting room. I ended up wasting two hours there when my entire simple appointment should’ve taken 45 minutes MAX (I did not have an exam, literally all I needed to do was provide a urine sample). My final complaint is about the music in their waiting room – the radio station they had turned on was continuously cutting out and turning into obnoxious static, but no staff members seemed to care. Almost two hours of listening to this extremely irritating noise caused me to leave with a headache. I have worked several customer service jobs before so I truly try my best not to complain when I’m being served, but this has honestly been such a terrible, horrible experience that I felt compelled to share. Please consider any other options you have before coming here, I know I won’t be back.

I’ve been to this location twice this month and each time I left feeling like part of a herd of cattle. I understand that they are a business and are there to make money at the end of the day. However, both visits felt so rushed and impersonal. They sped through explanations and answers to any questions I had and gave me a bunch of pamphlets to explain the rest. This truly surprised me since I’m used to more thorough and personal appointments at the Austin PP location. I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt because both visits were on busy Saturdays and they were only open for a few hours.
I was also annoyed because there was a price discrepancy when I went to pay for my visit. I scheduled my appointment over the phone and made it known that I had no insurance and would be paying out of pocket. The woman on the phone assured me a set price but when I went to pay I noticed the bill was $ 60 more than what I was told. The woman at the desk mentioned that this mix up happens often.
Had I not had previous wonderful experiences at the Austin location I would have probably written PP off all together.

I wish I could give them a negative star! These people have no clue of what they’re doing, I was told they were going to call me regarding my insurance the day before my appointment, no call received. I get to my appointment and 2 hours later I am still sitting here. They have a horrible attitude and they are rude when they explain things to you. People who got here after me were already seen. Being that I’m the only hispanic at the clinic at the moment I’m not sure if this is why they’re delaying my appointment. The tone they used with me was not used with the rest of the people. I asked to speak to a manager and I was ignored. There’s no communication among the receptionists, nobody seems to know what they’re doing, they don’t even acknowledge the fact that I have been sitting here for hours! My time is as valuable as their time, I’m a busy person and I do not appreciate the way they treat me. And I haven’t even been back yet!

I visited this PP for the first time yesterday to get a new prescription for my birth control (I take the pill, and my refills had run out), and was very impressed with my experience. Finding the clinic may be a bit confusing for this who haven’t visited – it’s inside the same building as Roosevelt University, on the sixth floor. The door was very clearly marked and easily visible the moment I left the elevator; the waiting room was clean (and nearly empty, since it was 12:30 on a Thursday afternoon) with a Top 40 radio station playing and plenty of seating.
The women in charge of checking people in were quite kind – it took me maybe ten minutes to fill out a short form, give my insurance, and sign in. The wait time was average, in my experience, but I had brought a book to read so I didn’t mind.
The nurse (I believe her name was Heather) who took my height/​weight and asked about my health history did so clearly and non-​judgmentally – I’m a tad on the larger side and rarely visit any sort of medical center due to some pretty negative weight-​related experiences in the past, but Heather was professional and allowed me to ask questions, as did the nurse practitioner who visited after her to renew my prescription. Both were knowledgeable and answered my questions fully, and encouraged me to call if I had any more questions.
With waiting, talking, paying my copay (I have Blue Cross MN, but I am currently under my mother’s plan and we have a PPO plan so I only pay a $ 25 copay for in network specialist visits, even out of state), and taking a pee test (I had also decided to get tested for STIs), I think I spent about 45 minutes at PP. My prescription was electronically sent to my nornal pick-​up location (which was great because by the time I got there it was ready and I didn’t have to present a script like I have in the past), and I was easily able to make another appointment for a «well-​woman» exam on my way out. Overall, my experience at PP was much better here than at the one I had previously visited, and I would definitely recommend it to others.

This was my first time at this location and they were great! Corinne helped me and she was the best made me feel so comfortable and was so responsive to all the questions I had. Great experience. couldn’t imagine going through it anywhere else.

It was my first time at this pp location. The people who helped was very nice and they took care if me right away. The lady who did my ultra sound was so sweet. The girl who took my bloodtest was so sweet i really like how she worked with me, she was the lady who took my payments too she has glasses i really like her overall everything went smooth and fast.

I moved to Wisconsin this August, but my new insurance doesn’t begin until November. Meanwhile, I’m stuck with Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois, who confirmed over the phone that only primary care in Illinois is covered. Unfortunately for me, my birth control prescription ended mid-​October, and, as I didn’t want a gap in contraception, I set an appointment for the Loop Center and bought a megabus ticket.
Now I had checked (and doublechecked) ahead of time to make sure that PP would take my BCBIL insurance, because I can’t afford to pay out of pocket. However, the woman at the front desk printed out a form detailing that my insurance would cover «80% of care after the deductible [$ 6,000]»…so, nothing, as I haven’t paid anything towards my deductible this year. She told me this may be due to the fact that PP was out of network. It says explicitly on their website that they accept BCBIL, and when I called to make the appointment I gave them my insurance information so they could verify coverage.
I was late getting my Depo shot, which means that I was experiencing mood swings. I was obviously becoming upset, because they kept telling me my insurance wasn’t going to cover it and I had to pay out of pocket, to which I continued replying, «I straight up don’t have the money.» And I came all the way from Wisconsin to be seen.
I tried informing the receptionists that the Affordable Care Act requires that Well Woman exams be covered. They didn’t seem to care. The document they handed me was literally non-​compliant with the law. They were trying to tell me I was responsible to pay for my annual exam/​birth control consultation when it is required by law to be covered by the insurance. They seemed never to have heard of ACA, and didn’t seem to care that I wouldn’t be able to be seen without the insurance coverage.
Now I am a huge proponent of PP’s fight for women’s health, subsidized contraception and family planning services and all that. But why is PP not ensuring that patients know what services are covered? Why in the name of feminism don’t receptionists know what services are co-​pay free under the new healthcare law? If you really want to help women, as you so fervently maintain, the first way to our hearts is lowering our out-​of-​pocket costs. Or at least knowing what insurance they accept in the first place.

So… I’ve been here a few times now and the staff is knowledgeable and helpful, but today I was in tune with some slight grievances. It seems the only person working who seems truly enthused about their job is the secretary at the front desk. The doctor (NOT the nurse) who came in to see me was quite aggressive and it took me aback. She was just very forceful and blunt in language and seemed overall edgy. She told me to wait in the front office to be called back for a final check… Whatever that is supposed to mean. So I go in the waiting area and I’m there and I’m waiting and waiting and waiting and finally I get tired of waiting for nothingness and I ask the nice secretary if I need to pick up a form or something if I still need to have my final check (???) and she said that the final check was for people picking up prescriptions or making payments… And I was doing neither. Dumb.
Not my favorite place in the world, but I’ve had good care thus far.

Don’t go if you’re looking to get answers about a lump on your testicle. While their website suggests that they do testicular cancer screenings I think they only mean they do that for healthy men who haven’t already found something on their testicle. All they will do is check your lymph nodes, inspect your package, and then hand you a list of referrals. If you have found a mass on your testicle go to a urologist.

Had an appointment here and it was a wonderful experience. Ladies at the front desk were helpful. The doctor took her time explaining to me all of my options and they gave me plenty of information to take home. The only complaint was that my appointment was at 9:15; I arrived at 8:45 and did not get out of there until 10:30. Even though they took forever I really appreciated the nurse practitioner really taking here time to have a discussion with me rather than running in and out.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. I don’t even know where to begin with how disgusted I am with the service I received here.
Let’s start with the day of the appointment. I made an appointment and arrived 15 minutes early to fill out paper work. It was at least 40 minutes AFTER my scheduled appointment time that I got called back into the room where I waited another 90 minutes in vain for a doctor to appear. Put together I waited over TWO HOURS to be seen. I continually asked for updates as to when I would be seen and was given various vague responses. Eventually after more than a TWO HOUR wait I had to get back to work because I don’t have an entire day to waste hoping that a doctor might actually come see me. I left without being seen by a doctor and while disgusted, thought the ordeal was over. I specifically asked the woman at the billing desk how much I owed and she told me that since I hadn’t seen a doctor I didn’t owe anything. That was, I thought, the one silver lining of this horrid experience.
Lo and behold I was incorrect because I received a bill in the mail saying I was past due on payment for services I never received!!! You read that right… Not only did this horrible establishment make me wait over two hours past my appointment time just to NOT be seen by a doctor, but they actually had the unmitigated gall to bill me for services I never received. I have never in my life dealt with this level of incompetence.
I live in a world where if I make an appointment, I expect it to be honored. I do NOT expect to be left hanging for over two hours with false promises that I will be seen shortly. Then after wasting two hours of my time and my having to leave without getting the medical care I needed because I have a job I can’t be away from for an entire day simply for a doctors appt, I’m still sent a bill! This establishment should be absolutely ashamed. I wouldn’t recommend coming here to anyone unless you enjoy wasting an entire day in a waiting room, don’t mind being treated like crap and then, just for good measure, charged for services never rendered. I thought this would be a quick alternative to my regular doctor’s office but I see now I was sadly mistaken. Save yourself the time, drama and money and go ANYWHERE but here… If I can save one person from the needless drama and headache of coming to this horrible horrible place then at least my experience here won’t have been entirely in vain. Save yourself and stay away!!!

Too bad. Had an 815 appointment for annual exam and BC, arrived on time, waited over and hour and a half to get called. REALLY? They open at 8am… how could they fall that far behind in 15 minutes?
Second, I don’t have insurance so I pay for services out of pocket. Have done this for at least two years. Check my records, it’s never been an issue. The receptionist was very rude in calling me up, after I already reviewed and signed the explanation if payment form, and made very judgmental comments with a nasty tone, insinuating that she didn’t think I would be able to pay for my services.
Also, since I’m complaining, music is way too loud in the waiting room. Makes it difficult to hear the receptionist mumble your name if she needs something.
I appreciate the convenience of this location but I will be looking for a new place for future services.

This is the WORST Planned Parenthood I have ever been to IN. MY. LIFE. Everything was fine for my consultation until I had to pay before continuing the appointment. I shell out all the cash I have, and the pay roll lady tells me I’m short and I need to go outside to sort it out. What??? Okay, so young, naïve, and afraid as it’s my first time at a woman doctor, I go outside and call my bank. Turns out there was no issue with my bank account and the lady just didn’t swipe my damn card right. So I go back in to tell her that there’s nothing wrong, and she refuses to listen to me and tells me that I need to sit in the waiting room and wait for my turn. I was shocked! I tried to dispute it and then the lady at the cashier called the manager. The cashier told the manager that I left the room to talk on the phone because I had «money issues» and that I wasn’t listening. When I tried to explain –MY-​self the manager cut me off and raised her voice telling me that I needed to obey the wishes of the cashier and sit back down! I HAD TO WAIT 3 HOURS BEFORE SOMEONE WOULD SEE ME TO FINISH MY CONSULTATION. I was shocked, embarrassed, appalled, and I felt terrible. I will never ever go to this office AGAIN! I went to the one on Milwakee and they’re great. These guys might be okay for a quick bc re-​fill but I wouldn’t go in for anything else.

Wam, bam, thank you ma’am…a quick and efficient PPH.
Need my annual and BC. Arrived on time, got my paperwork completed to quick get my name called. I was very surprised to see how many women we coming and leaving in a short amount of time. There was only a small miscommunication at the window, but I was allowed to be seen.
I saw the nurse, who was able to give me a very efficient annual and convo on BC. She was nice and quick with her job, but I never felt rush. I didn’t ever realize I was the last person for the night until I saw her start collecting the garage after my exam was over and I was of the room. The staff was nice and also efficient in their jobs. Prices were what I expected, as they take Blue Cross/​Blue Shield.
Great experience!

I have had a bit of a lengthy history with Planned Parenthood, this location in particular. They have been there for me when insurance didn’t cover birth control, when my former doctor, the religious zealot, felt it was against his ideals to give me a prescription… and other issues.
This day, I went in to get the Implanon in my arm. Thanks to the staff, I was in and out in under an hour, and pain free. My arm was bruised for a few days, but now it is practically unnoticeable. I received a follow-​up call to ensure I was doing well, and I have had no problems. The staff here, while not the best, do a pretty good job at making people comfortable and dealing with the whole large needle in the arm dynamic.
I’ve never come into contact with anyone who had a major attitude, the facility is always clean, their literature is always current and as long as you show up on time, and fill your end as a client, they will do their best as a medical provider.

Oh my god. I almost had a nervous breakdown trying to make an appointment here via phone.
I had to renew my birth control, so they told me to call the make the appointment because it would be faster than coming in person to make the appointment.
So I called. The menu on the phone LOOPS. What does this mean? I press «2» to make an appointment and it goes back to the main menu… it’s a never-​ending phone menu and it seriously almost ruined my day.
Turns out, although the phone menu loops, the phone in the office is ringing, so they might answer during the menu’s automated message (or they may not). They finally answered by the time I heard the message almost 20 times… I could probably recite it for you.
The second you get a pick up they say «Please hold someone is ahead of you» (which is untrue, they did this when I was actually in the office for the appointment, and they were just sitting at their desk, seeming to be helping no one).
They put me on hold for an ungodly 28 minutes (exactly), and by then I was so upset that I almost cried/​screamed/​cursed at the lady on the phone. It took my entire lunch break to make an appointment. I’m trying to eat, run around doing lunch-​time errands downtown, with a phone glued to my head because they can’t just open their schedule to pencil me in. It just seemed like they really didn’t care how long I waited or the importance of my appointment.
Maybe I’m overreacting, but this kind of stuff is just so annoying and can be so easily avoided.
Once you get into your appointment, the wait is usually 15 – 20 minutes, and the employees are nice (but still slow).
But I mean, their efficiency is so, so low. Unfortunately I have no choice but to stay with PP, but I recommend not making an appointment over the phone! Do it online in advanced.

I’ve been going to the Loop PP for almost 3 years now, as my insurance doesn’t believe that family planning and sexual health are something they should cover.
I’ve never actually come into contact with a cranky nurse, or a bitchy worker, but then again… I don’t go there to «chill» I show up, fill out my paperwork, and wait my turn. Just like everyone else.
I’ve actually had some great conversations with the nurses once I get called to the back. it makes getting those damn shots way easier.
I don’t think this particular location works on a sliding scale anymore. I know some of the other locations do though, but they have just started doing the Healthy Women pink slip. You just have to have a couple forms of ID and a birth certificate, and its Illinois way of helping you out as far as contraception, and if you want to have a baby (or not).
This place is not biased, and they are trying to make it so that its easier for people to have access to these services.