Group Health Cooperative – Tacoma Medical Center

We have been (my wife and I) with Group Health for about eight years now. We have a Group Health option for insurance through my company. We have had great service from them over the years. I’ve had two really good docs, and my wife had a couple of so-​so physicians until she got the one she has now. We both have the same one now… a young ex-​military guy who is caring and responsive to our issues. My wife had breast cancer, mastectomy, chemo and radiation. We paid essentially nothing for the operation and chemo and only $ 25 for each radiation session. Maybe about $ 1000 in all. The chemo treatments cost over $ 30,000 alone. She had a fantastic surgeon who took a ongoing interest in all her concerns. The only negatives are that emergency room visits usually have a long wait time, and the appointment time allowed for regular visits are limited to about 20 minutes at most. I think each doc has a lot of patients assigned to them. They are short of oncologists it seems, but have allowed my wife to select a cancer specialist outside the system. I need foot surgery at some point is the future, and they seem to be willing to let me go to a specialist who has done more of these operations than the in-​system doctor that I initially saw.

Group Health is in the business of scamming money out of it’s members, rather than helping them with their health concerns.
I’ve been a Group Health member for years, and luckily have never been in need of serious medical attention during that time. I’ve paid this company thousands of dollars in insurance premiums, and yet each time I’ve actually tried to use my «benefits» Group Health responds by sending me a bill.
Most recently, I made an appointment with a primary care physician to have an area of concern checked out. Upon arrival at the Tacoma Medical Center, I was required to pay a $ 25 co-​pay at one of their automated kiosks before even talking to a human being (I actually had to track down a living body to ask where the doctor’s office was, since that information was not provided at the kiosk). I had (very wrongly, apparently) assumed that the $ 25 co-​pay charge was all that I would be charged for this visit– you know, since I’m a GH member that pays a lot of money out of every paycheck to have health care insurance coverage with this company.
The visit with the doctor lasted perhaps 10 minutes, during which time he examined my condition and basically said «make another appointment to come back later if it gets worse.» That’s it; no treatment or medical care provided. A few days later I received a bill from Group Health demanding $ 135 for that brief visit in addition to the $ 25 I had already paid. When I called their customer service department to straighten this out, they said ‘sorry; there’s nothing we can do’.
So, basically I learned the hard way that this health care insurance that I’ve been paying thousands of dollars for each year is completely worthless, because Group Health will just send me the full-​freight bill (and $ 160 for a 10 minute check up? REALLY? What a rip off!) any time I actually feel the need to go see a doctor.
Oh yeah: they also make members PAY FOR PARKING at this facility. How messed up is that?

What can I say, I have no complaints about Group Health. I know some people do but I’ve never gotten less than satisfactory service from them. My family care provider is amazing as are the docs at the speciality clinics. Since I have to get a CT scan once a year to make sure I’m still cancer free, I’m always a bit nervous but everyone there understands and treats you accordingly. Appreciate that I can email any of my doctors and normally get a response without 24 hours. I know some people say they have trouble getting what they want, you just have to ask.

So very disappointed in this urgent care clinic. Parking requires paying & I spent 3 hours in this place. There were only 2 people in the waiting room before me. It took 15 minutes for the gal to check me in at yhe front desk & then I wsited forever to get triaged. The nurse staff has terrible bedside manner & the dr wasn’t really thorough at all. Additionally, the pharmacy said 15 minutes & I was still waiting after 30 minutes. Everything about this place is slower than slow & that’s saying something considering I’m coming from CA where the population is 50 times worse & the clinics 100 times more packed. Shame on you Tacoma Medical Center.

We’ve been here for 3 hours and counting. .2 ladies (receptionists) just standing around. Maybe 4 people in the waiting room. 30 minutes ago as we entered the actual exam room we passed about 9 nurses, doctors, and other staff sitting on their assess — one had his feet up on a chair and reclining. There is no sense of urgency in this urgent care and when I came here 9 months ago it was the same story. «Group DEATH». Making I’ll and injured patients wait for care is a form of malpractice and someone should file a class action lawsuit against GHC. If my son didn’t have a possible concussion we would have left by now.

All the doctors I’ve had are great. Some nurses are eh but you’ll get that in any work place. I do like their healthcare system which is all tied together and shares data-​from pharmacy, to lab, to front desk, to billing, to dr

Group Health Federal Health Basic plan sucks. I just went to the doctor at the Puyallup clinic and was billed 437 and Group Health paid a grand total of $ 117! So I am stuck with the balance. If you are healthy, never go to the doctor for any reason, and don’t mind paying $ 400 a month for NOTHING, this is the plan for you!

Wow this place has been great– been here twice now. This time it only took a few minutes to get in, be triaged, throat swabbed and chatted with the super cool nurse Ginny!
The PA, Thomas Barale had a great, friendly personality and was honest and informative. He gave me a couple treatment options and explained pros and cons of each super quick. Super impressed that everyone seems to be in a good mood even though it’s Sunday. ²⁴⁄₇ urgent care very nice. I got here just before a rush of people so I suggest if you come in on a weekend try to get here before 9/9:30.

8 year old daughter broke her arm. This is the closest Group Health urgent care to us, and is easily 40 minutes away. Why won’t they contract with another hospital of Urgent care south of Tacoma?! We got there at 3pm on Wednesday, waited an hour to go to triage and 2 more to see a Dr. She was in terrible pain the whole time. Then we had to wait to get called back for x-​rays. There were only a few other people in the waiting room.

I know we all hear rumors and comments about GHC (especially the Tacoma location) but so far I am pleasantly surprised! The service I have received in urgent care as well as my doctor has been pretty good. The pharmacy can be somewhat slow but considering how many people are at GHC on a given day I can see why. You do have to pay for parking (which is a total rip-​off) but otherwise it is a good medical center.

This place is 24/​7, which is great. When I arrived just after 3AM, I was checked in & in a room in less than 10 minutes. They had me diagnosed & sent on my way with medication & paperwork in a little over an hour for my total visit. I’m not sure if I just got lucky with the time I went & it was a week day, but it’s the most amazing visit I’ve ever had at an urgent care clinic. Extremely friendly nurses & drs. It was only a 20 minute drive from my house, with no traffic (again it was pretty dang early in the morning) so I know I’ll be going back there if I have a need to.

It sucks when I transferred my files to group health because I felt like I wasn’t getting excellent care… Well silly me… I was thrilled to use the «my group» app & was able to email my doctor… But when I email and get a response it’s very short doesn’t seem to be very sincere, I know the doctors are busy & the nurses respond to the emails… But when it comes to feeling comfortable enough to feel like I’m getting the right care is slim to none! The nurse is rude and I feel like I’m bugging her when I’m asking questions. Isn’t that the point of the app to be able to communicate with your care provider… the customer service is horrible…
I think the only place I’ve had great customer service is at the pharmacy…
My doctor at group health is great it’s just the others that work the front desk & the nurse that makes me wonder if I made the right choice.
It’s not easy working Monday-​Friday 8 – 5. I tried to explain that in an email and her response was come during lunch! I told her I need to accumulate more hours thinking she would understand but nope lol
The pharmacy & lab would get 5 stars!

Could not ask for or get better care or service! Always ask «is there anything else I can do for you?» Wow

Mother went there, and I observed the activities. At first it was a bit chaotic as it seemed busy that day. Noisy area for having ill patients around as I would think they prefer quiet. After a few hours things settled down in the area. Doctors were kind, nurses were helpful, moved my mom to a quiet room, and the best was a test that they were able to get her that night. Thank you all!

We are self employed and have been buying high deductible, individual health for the past ten years. In December we changed from Regence to Group Health. Yesterday I received my first billing statement for my initial, routine, meet your new doctor, get acquainted office visit. With labs this routine visit cost almost $ 2000.
With other insurance programs you go to the doctor, have tests and all of this get submitted to the insurance company. The insurance company looks at the outrageous charges but will only allow the health care provider to charge the more reasonable negotiated contract rate. Not so at Group Health. Because they are the insurance company and health care provider they don’t negotiate a reasonable rate for their customers. Now we are stuck paying several hundred dollars per month for health insurance that we cannot afford to use for routine visits.

This is one Group Health location I avoid as much as possible– why you might ask? Parking sucks here! If you don’t want to pay for parking, good luck at finding a spot thats not ten buck two distance from here!
That being said, minus the parking issues, this is a very busy Group Health, in general you can expect to wait for urgent care as much as a hour depending on what is wrong with you, I actually once had went home instead of seeing the doctor because of how long the wait time was, and then in the morning had to return which the wait time wasn’t to long then (they ended up sending me to St. Joes)
So other then the parking issue and wait time at urgent care for most part pleased with the service here, but those two issues I cant see giving them more then 3 stars.

We really love Group Health.
Appointments can be made, cancelled, or rescheduled online, which eliminates waiting on hold. They always give courtesy call the day before to remind you of your appointment. The office staff, nurses, and doctors are all extremely courteous and professional.
I wish I didn’t have to pay for parking, but if that’s the worst thing I can say about my doctor I I think that’s a pretty good deal.

3-​Stars. Yea. I think that’s pretty good considering I have been a patient at «Group Death» for over 20 years now. We’ve had our ups and downs, but all in all, I am still alive. I don’t hate the guys. Considering what they have had to work with over the years they have done great.
Costwise I have seen this co-​op fly through the roof. (Our roof anyway). Our premiums have increased incredibly over the years to where NOW it is getting almost impossible for us to keep up with the costs. Our co-​pay started out at $ 5 twenty years ago, and back then I remember the yearly premium and over all cost of things was very reasonable. As the years have progressed, the co-​pay has gone up to $ 30, (double what it was just a couple years ago). Of course, co-​pay and deductible are going to vary in relation to employer and particular plan so I am not trying to quote anything prices in particular, just that for us, in the last 20 years the co-​pay has increased something like 600%. (assuming my math is correct). Enough that it is almost impossible for us to afford it. Yet, I haven’t seen anything else yet that is comparable. For us it’s either this, or nothing.
Some of the doctors are FANTASTIC… some not so. Again, this is just like anything else you may run into.
I will continue to go here as long as we can afford the premiums, or I’m not dead.

I’m not impressed. In my first visit with them have had negative experiences with the physician, nursing staff, the mail order pharmacy reps and billing. Figured at least one of these components would be decent… alas…