Austin Regional Clinic

So, having just moved to the area, I asked my family who they recommend for a doctor. 6 members of my family are seen here and had great things to say. Awesome! right? Looked online, they take our insurance according tot heir website! Yay! (only one other clinic in the other does and a first patient apt is 3 months out). So call to make an apt and get «OH. I am sorry, we aren’t taking any new Tricare patients anymore.» Excuse me? My husband doesn’t pick and choose who he serves, he defends EVERYONE’s freedoms and liberties and is willing to die for it, but oh no… this clinic cant be bothered to serve the family of a deployed service member. Expected this nonsense when we lived in the PNW, but not in my great home state of Texas. In the meantime beware military families: The Buda/​Kyle area medical community is NOT open to taking Tricare, and if you find the one clinic that does, be prepared to die waiting for an appt. Guess we are expected to drive up to Fort Hood to be served. Shame.

Took my wife to the after hours clinic in my hometown Kyle. She seen Dr. Ted Smith. Normally I don’t say a word to the doc since it’s not about me. However, the doc made small talk about my favorite sports team since I was wearing a ball cap. Nevertheless, he proceeded to lecture my wife about healthy choices, and became very negative in a hurry. He stated that this was the reason he gave up family practice since none of his patients seem to listen. Really, asshole?! I tried to break the negatively with a positive comment he made during my last visit to me, but he said he could barely focus on the patient/​issue at hand and expressed an expletive with «damnit!’, when he clicked off my wife’s profile. He was clearly frustrated. My wife was asked her symptoms, she explained to him and he began questioning her almost to the point of insult. This was not our first visit to a doctor, or to have the ailment treated, almost as if she was making shit up. The doc continued his lectures of diet, exercise yada yada. The doc prescribed a few drugs and said I will have your primary care physician lecture you further about your salt intake. This dude definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed. My wife began to question some of the medication being prescribed. He was clearly not addressing her concerns. So I interjected by saying that one of the medicines being prescribed is garbage, it is made of Brazilian pit viper venom and is poisonous and asked if an alternative could be prescribed as I had reservations on this drug; I had terrible side effects. He said Well I am sticking with science and not changing my prescription since I’m focusing on the patient; and blew me off. Anyways, I think we are done with ARC altogether. Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention, Dr. Worrell misdiagnosed me with a heart attack. I went to see a cardiologist after this so called primary doctor couldn’t interpret an ekg correctly. Thankfully it was only a slight innocent murmur. The only positives with ARC is pediatric care is really good. Dr. Fournier is excellent and the only reason we even trusted ARC was Dr. Day of Austin, TX gave excellent care to all of four of our kids! The oldest is now 22!

I hit the big 5 – 0 last year, and things are changing in my physicality. I hadn’t seen a Dr. in a couple of years — since my beloved long-​time doctor retired in 2013. I decided that it was time to get myself established with a new PCP. I prefer to see female docs, and live in Wimberley, so thought that Dr. Gamble at the Kyle ARC might be a reasonable choice. I made an appointment for a well-​woman exam.
Didn’t have the same kind of trouble with the front desk staff that others have reported. They weren’t super-​warm and welcoming, but they weren’t rude either. They met my expectations okay, but Dr. Gamble certainly did not. I have seen some arrogant doctors before, but this one has a combination of trustafarian-​like smugness and absolute indifference to your health that I have never before seen in a medical professional. Being clearly impressed with one’s own hipness while being low in give-​a-​shit about the health of one’s patients does not equal professionalism in the medical field, by anyone’s standards. Anyway, she came in to the exam room, didn’t introduce herself (leaving me to guess after a while that she was actually the doctor and not another prelude to the doctor — as that was certainly not apparent from anything about her appearance or demeanor), and checked off the components of a standard well-​woman exam in probably 7 minutes flat. Didn’t ask me if I had any questions, and was on her way out when I had to stop her to address some standard concerns for a woman of my age — most of which she seemed to want to just shrug off. See Lisa’s review of her from 2012. I went home and went back to the internet to find another new doctor. Found one that I like very much at ADC on Slaughter. The extra twenty minutes drive is certainly worth it.
I thought I was all done with ARC when I walked out their front door that day, but my trouble with the administration of the clinic was yet to come. They sent me a bill for my copay, which they hadn’t charged me at my appointment because it was supposed to be my free annual well-​woman visit. I called to find out what the deal was. After several days, I received the news from them this morning that ARC administration insists on coding my visit as a more involved examination, since I had stopped the doctor to discuss a couple of concerns after she’d finished checking off her boxes. Alrighty then. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.

4:30 pm yesterday: I went with extreme and acute pain due to a lupus flare up.
while I wait to be rescheduled with another rheumatologist, the doctor kindly prescribed prednisone and, though I was asking for a stronger pain killer, was comfortable with prescribing Tylenol three.
The pharmacy (Walgreens) is completely deplete Tylenol three in the entire region, And notified ARC last night.
After two calls this morning, I connected with the nurse who said they would send an alternative prescription, one that would not be much weaker than Tylenol three
I understand if they got backed up, but I still remain without prescription, and in extreme pain, because they forgot to send in the alternative prescription.
Upon calling them now two hours later, everyone is out to lunch, and no notes were made about any conversations or correspondence this morning.
Arg

Great staff and wonderful patient physicians. Dr Fournier is wonderful with my little guy and never seems to be in a hurry. She is friendly and answered all of my questions without making me feel dumb even if the question was silly. Highly recommend her!

So I have been going here since they opened. I went to Dr. Smith until he left and now I go to Dr. Ramirez. The doctors are really good and the staff is friendly. Now they have MyChart and you can look up everything about your visit with them.

Went to see Dr. Ramirez for an ED f/​u for my daughter. Very nice facility and the staff is very nice. Dr. Ramirez is very caring and attentive. He ordered a CT for her and diagnosed her. (something that was not done in the ED the night before). He is THE BEST!!! We love you Dr. Raul Ramirez.

My experience there has been great! I see Dr Raul Ramirez, and he’s always been attentive, easy to talk to and HE LISTENS. I never get that I’m-in-a-hurry-to-get-to-my-next-patient feeling, he spends plenty of time with me, and I can ask all kinds of questions and get answers. His nurse is great, the entire place is great. If I have a 9 am appointment I get checked in, seen by nurse and Dr, blood drawn and am back at work by 9:30. He’s thorough but doesnt try to micro-​manage my life with his beliefs like my previous dr.

Our experience at ARC has been wonderful! We absolutely love Dr. Robert Esparza… he has been a wonderful pediatrician for our child. Very thorough and kind and will answer all questions asked. His nurse Christine is also very nice!

Saw Dr. Gamble for intense pain in my back and abdomen. They sent me for a CT scan, told me everything was normal, and wrote me a prescription for pain meds. Didn’t offer a single piece of advice or attempt to investigate any further. I won’t even bother picking up the pain medication since that’s not really a solution for anything. Glad I spent hundreds of dollars to have half my body radiated for nothing. Must be nice to have a job where you get paid six figures to spend 15 minutes with a client and then forget about them.

I am so glad there is a place 5 minutes from my home where my whole family can be seen ASAP.
The front desk/​phone people are not so friendly. They don’t smile or look up from their computers to acknowledge you. Everytime I’ve walked in there, you stand forever before they annoyingly say «next!» Instead of a kind, «ill be right with you». Perhaps some customer service training is needed.
I saw Dr Ted Smith and he was so kind! His nurse was thorough, sweet and even went above and beyond as she had to fix a front desk error with me filling out paperwork (go figure). Dr Smith was very accommodating and had great bed side manner. He was quick yet thorough and genuinely seemed to care about why I was there and made sure he helped me as well as made me feel comfortable. I strongly recommend Dr Smith and will continue to use him for future medical needs. :-)