Central Avenue Pediatrics

South Bronx with a Scarsdale address. This place is a factory that no one will know who you are and you will never be seen by the same care provider. Forget about seeing a doctor. So disappointed with this place!!! They don’t pick up the phone. It’s hard to get information. They don’t adhere to their schedule. For example: I showed up at 4:50 and the door was locked. Yet their schedule says that they are open till 5. Service is rude and the care provider does not read the child’s medical history so be prepared to tell them. If you have no place to go then use their services. But if you want to be treated with respect stay away from this assembly line of fast food (medical) careless providers who are only interested in your money. Be aware of their billing practices. From the moment you enter till you leave this place you will be reminded of South Bronx Medicare clinics. I’m out!!!

I like Dr. Merer, although not really a people person she knows her stuff. Dr. cole I also like very much. Not much of an opinion on the other doctors. I definitely agree that the waiting room needs a face lift.
I also ALWAYS have a billing issue!

First, Dr. Cole and Dr. Merrer are the daughters of Dr. Schiffer (for those that indicated they weren’t part of the family — they are). They are all really nice doctors and I’ve always been pretty confident that we were getting good care. I will agree that the waiting area is tired and outdated and feels dingy. It could really use an update and better lighting. The «well» room is uninviting with nothing for anyone to do. There are no magazines in this doctors office (maybe they tried and people walk off with them) and very few toys for kids to play with while waiting. They could probably get a local business like buy buy baby or babies r us (right next to them) to sponsor a corner with immovable items. Of course that would mean someone would need to clean/​disinfectant daily.
I too had billing issues. They were charging me $ 8 for every throat culture they did for my daughters. For a year, every time we went, even if my kids didn’t have a sore throat, they did a culture. It got to the point where I had to tell them NO. They almost insisted saying strep was «going around (which I don’t doubt)» and it could be the underlying problem. But underlying problem EVERY time I bring them in for ANYTHING, even though NO ONE has a sore throat?! I finally started saying NO. The dad is the WORST at doing cultures and my daughters didn’t want to step foot into the office! Anyway, they were charging me $ 8 claiming that the insurance company stopped paying for the cultures. So on average of twice a month for two kids for 10 months I paid $ 16 for co-​pays. Then, I finally opened something from the insurance company that indicated they had been paying for it ALL ALONG! When I told them they said «oh, sorry» but MOST other companies stopped paying that. REALLY?! How unprofessional and SHADY to take co-​payments for almost a YEAR for TWO kids that you weren’t entitled to and then NEVER once try to figure out what they owed US. Nope. Just «oh, sorry…»
The ONLY reason I still go there is because they are open 365 days a year and my kids seemed to always be sick on a weekend. Now that they are getting older, that is rarely the case and we can always go to urgent care, so we’re searching for a new dr.

I think the Doctors are all great, as are the PAs, especially Mary, and their nurses. Their billing practices, however, are very, very unsavory!
With my insurance, there is no co-​pay for well visits and it seems that they use any excuse to charge a co-​pay. For example, at two different appointments in March and April of 2014 they told me my daughter had eczema and referred me to a dermatologist. They never treated the eczema or prescribed anything at the appointments and then proceeded to give her the required immunizations. As most of us parents are aware they don’t give immunizations during sick visits. Subsequent to those appointments I received a bill for co-​pays billed under the guise of Acute Laryngitis. I’m guessing they used a more severe illness so they could collect more money from the insurance as well as collect my co-​pay. So basically they want to charge me and my insurance for referring me to a dermatologist who diagnosed my daughter with another form of dermatitis that was not eczema!
Recently I am being billed a higher co-​pay for a sick visit for what they call a Brochospasm Evaluation/​testing that was never performed during the 10 minutes that the doctor examined my daughter!
While I love the doctors I will be switching to a different pediatrician’s office where they are honest when it comes to their billing! I would never deny payment for services that were actually rendered for my daughter but this being overbilled for nonsense is preposterous and I won’t stand for it any longer. My daughter deserves care from a more reputable practice with honest individuals and doctors and not friendly crooks!
I know most of us parents are so busy that we don’t really look at our explanation of benefits after each appointment but if you are receiving services from this office you should really take a look!

Still 1 star.
We switched pediatricians and it happens to be that the current one is very concerned about my 4 month old daughter’s GERD. We have been expressing concerns for such a long time and it seems like this place was (IS) only in it for the money.
New problem is that I’ve called them various times to get my daughter’s vaccination records and upon having the current pediatrician attempt to collect this information, they have yet to respond. Unprofessional to the core!!!
I was never happy going here. There was always disappointment after disappointment. I am so happy that it is finally over.

Your kids deserve better than this.
A few years ago, our son came into this world. Upon release from the hospital, we needed a pediatrician to see him and this place was linked to the hospital, so we took their recommendation. We called and made an appointment for 10:00am a few days later.
We get there a good 10 minutes before our appointment time, when we discovered their doors were locked. Mind you, we had a newborn with us and it was in March and kind of brisk outside. There was a handwritten note in the window claiming they were «full». So we knocked and buzzed the bell until we got someone on a speaker who was dismissive and nasty and who wouldn’t let us get much of a word out. Thanks to the power of cell phones, we were able to call and tell them we were outside for our 10am appointment. They were saying they were overbooked with people (apparently, they make appointments, BUT ALSO take walk-​ins — NOT a good system at all). We argued and they let us in and had us wait in the large waiting area. A good pediatric office will at least have a partition that separates the sick kids from the not so sick kids (and newborns)…but no, not this place. We’re in one large, boring, and what looked like, a make shift room… with sick and healthy kids running around and all. Needless to say, we were already very unimpressed, but we were kind of desperate to have our son checked out for the first time and it was doubtful we’d be able to find another place on such short notice that wasn’t a toilet like this place.
Finally we were seen by this doctor Schiffer, who had a great reputation from some we spoke to. He was a bit older, but I prefer quality, so I didn’t mind. I mean, apparently he was this «great» pediatrician, so age meant nothing. He did the usual check-​up, but apparently couldn’t find my son’s records that the hospital DID send them — so he proceeded to take notes on the outside of a manilla folder. I’m not making this up… he took my son’s name and made notes on the outside of a manilla folder. He also uttered the word «delicious» when referring to our son enough times, that we were a little concerned. We get it — he’s a cute baby, but when the word «delicious» is said about 10 times in a matter of minutes, it’s a little much and a rational cause for concern.
Finally out of there, we head over to the reception area with 2 of the nastiest old lady receptionists I’ve ever encountered. They were rude to us, didn’t appear to have a clue as to what they were doing and proceeded to write our names, numbers, and information on the same manilla folder the doctor used. Yeah, real professional of them. Have they not have any proper forms? Bad enough they LOST our information from the hospital affiliated with them, but now this. We momentarily made another appointment (though we were already done with this place) and inquired on why they even bother to make appointments in the first place, when they have walk-​ins and obviously don’t honor the appointment system. They just shrugged off the answer and gave us a generic «it was a busy day”-type response. When we left, we felt like we just escaped from the cruelest prison we could imagine.
This place is literally a toilet. No organization. Dirty. Unprofessional. They take appointments, but apparently walk-​ins take precedence. Your kids are better off NOT even going to the pediatrician if this place is your only option. The two places we’ve been to since are miles better than this place could ever hope to be. Avoid.