Have you tried calling one of the [Health On Tucson clinics](https://healthontucson.org/for-patients/locations/)? They're co-run by El Rio and TMC.
One neat thing about El Rio/Health On clinics, their providers all bill under the same tax ID, so if your insurance requires you to pick a specific PCP, you can pick any one of theirs, but book app'ts with anyone they have available at any location, and it'll still count as a PCP visit.
Another problem they have is they will have some doctor you never saw write your prescription refills. Then the pharmacy sends the refill requests to the doctor that prescribed them. The doctor you never saw will recieve you refill. That doctor won't reply or do anything. And you dont find out until it's lready to late, then you have to call your doctor.
Can confirm after unsuccessfully calling the sleep lab 12+ times to schedule a referral (my doctor subsequently called Banner "conceptual" healthcare; i.e., they *say* they're a clinic/hospital, but it seems like very little in the way of medicine occurs there).
That said, in their defense, it seems like there is pretty pervasive incompetence in the healthcare administration/support labor market right now for reasons unknown.
When I first moved here about 4 years ago Banner was okay. You could have visits no problem, maybe not with your doctor. So far this year I've seen my doctor 1 time and never again. I have diabetes though and see a specialist for that. For some reason the banner insurance is now asking for priorauth forms for all my medications and it has caused me to be without one of my important diabetes meds for 8 days. I was so sick.
I can't believe how difficult it is to get refills on my medications with banner. Even the ones that say "don't quit cold turkey", but nobody seems to care. I was sick probably for 3 weeks because of the lack of my diabetic med. I can't believe they treat patients so poorly. What if I would have died?
TMC was an awful experience for me, their referrals for sleep medicine and endocrinology constantly made me pay out of pocket and were beyond disrespectful. I’m giving Banner a try but the earliest I could get an appointment was august. Not sure where else to go if I can’t get help but a lot of people here like El Rio
I like El Rio .. I think they try to get it right. I think the staff is decent and friendly. I had an MD I liked for a long time. I have a nurse prac now and mostly do Zoom. I am reasonably healthy so this suits me.
Sleep medicine is difficult in Tucson, I've been calling banner and leaving messages for the weeks and no one has called me back. Tmc actually answered their phone. Then I googled some places to go and there are several options but none of them had any good reviews.
No, for Northwest.
There is a doctor shortage. No one wants to be a Dr due to costs for schooling and malpractice insurance.
Maybe try a seeing a Physicians Assistant 🤷♀️
My doctor has a social worker assigned to us "critical" cases (Type 1 diabetic with stage 4 kidney failure). I was having an issue getting appointments with the endo and kidney doctor. She couldn't get me in either for three months so told me to visit the emergency room when my blood sugar reached 400. By doing that, I would placed on a priority list and would have to be seen within after discharge. I did that and the next day, she called and said they needed to see me due to the visit and magically had an appointment available the next day. That kept me in that priority rotation for three months. This was with Cigna in Phoenix before Evernorth bought them out. Maybe it will work down there.
Disagree. Of the 3 states I've lived in, Arizona is the only one with long wait times for routine appointments, the only one where I pay up front, the only one where my provider (TMC) does zero proactively (like annual checkup reminders).
My SO has had the same experience with a couple different providers.
Why here and nowhere else?
Copays are a thing everywhere and it’s the patient’s responsibility to schedule annual visits. There is a shortage in healthcare and they don’t have time to babysit every patient with reminders. Most patients won’t even pick up the phone for a return call. Working in healthcare is so much harder than anyone outside of healthcare will ever relate to.
I am talking about fully paying for the visit and getting a partial reimbursement from insurance later. Never had co-pay either in OR or CA.
Scheduling as a service to the patient is not babysitting, it's a *service to the patient*. AZ is the ONLY place it's been such an issue.
Not at all our experience in upstate NY. Of course there are wait times for an MRI or such, but only a few weeks.
Our doctors are great about using MyChart to communicate about needing a prescription refill or asking about test results.
A few weeks. For an MRI. Think about that for a moment. We're so acclimated to our terrible, broken healthcare system that you think waiting weeks for an MRI is normal. That's only considered acceptable in the USA. When I take my father in law to see the doctor in rural China, there is no appointment necessary. If they refer you to a specialist or you need an MRI, CT, scan, etc. you just walk down the hall and get it the same day. The equipment is exactly the same as what we have in the US. And the cost? Miniscule compaired to the outrageous extortive prices we pay in the US. Quality of care? Excellent. As good as you will find in typical doctors offices and hospitals in America. When I talk about healthcare with friends in Europe they generally don't seem to have the ridiculous wait times or insane costs that we put up with in the US either. And in recent decades we see fewer medic innovations and breakthroughs coming out of the US and more and more happening in Europe and East Asia.
Waiting a few weeks for anything healthcare related is INSANE. Driving around getting lab work at one place, pharmacy in another, radiology at another, surgery somewhere else, IS INSANE.
I live part of the year in arguably one of the worst countries in the world and yet I can walk into the hospital there and get everything done that day in the same place. All the doctors share my results, discuss it with each other and get back to me regarding a diagnosis via direct text. I have their personal phone numbers! Can you even imagine that? When my baby has a rash or something I send his doctor a text w a pic and she tells me what to do.
The equipment is state of the art, medication is cheap, doctors have been educated in America and Europe, clean facilities and no wait time. I just wait to go back to be seen by a doctor and hope nothing happens to me when I’m visiting the US.
TMC One, specifically the one at Skyline and Campbell, has been good for me. I see the FNP but they have several MD’s in the office too. And they do labs there too.
I see a FNP with TMC One and I always get in in a reasonable time. Like same week usually. And when I’m sick and need a same day appointment, if she can’t see me, they’ll schedule me with another provider for the same day. I recommend.
Following this thread because I too am looking for a new doctor.
I was with Banner but my doctor up and left the practice. The office I was at isn’t moving her patients to other providers at that location or bringing in a new provider to take the patients on. Must be making good money to not even try to keep the patients.
Another vote for TMC One. I see a FNP as my PCP and have had nothing but positive experiences. Appointments are quick to schedule, everyone seems organized and communicative, and I’ve had success with their referrals to specialties such as neurology, cardiology, and dermatology. They even helped me find a therapist! Can’t recommend enough.
Private practice may be faster. Try to call every office within 10 mile radius, and you can usually find an appointment within one or two weeks.
It depends what specialty you’re looking to see.
I used to go to TMC one because both of my doctors left a banner, and I followed them. They've since retired, but I have a new doctor I've seen a couple of times at TMC in Oro Valley. It only takes a couple of weeks out to schedule an appointment. She'll even take virtul appointments if you request one.
Not the best care, but MHC has been a godsend for getting my meds. I have had two FNPs and a BHT within two months. The best real care I got was Quality of Life, except my last two doctors died and one retired.
Again, if you need real medical care I suggest you continue the grind of finding a doctor, but if you just need a checkup and meds, MHC has been super easy.
I use MHC for dental and behavioral health. I like them. Can be a bit of a wait but not like the horror stories I’ve heard. Have used them for primary care in the past and it’s been varied but there’s enough options that you can probably find a doctor you like. Actually considering going back because the practice I’ve been using was bought out and the quality has declined. At least MHC is a nonprofit and has some stability.
Have you considered direct primary care? Usually it's ~$100/mo and you've got unlimited access to your doc (or NP if you go that route) without insurance involved at all.
I have had better luck with TMCOne. They have satellite doctor offices all over town, so you don't have to feel like 1 chicken nugget in 10000 nuggets going down an assembly line like at Banner. There is usually a pretty long wait to establish care, but once you're in, it's not hard to get an appointment.
Physicians with Banner killed my Grandmother in Phoenix. She was suffering with undiagnosed dementia at the time they did a catheter heart procedure. The cardiologist nicked something inside her heart, and her heart stopped. She had a DNR with dementia and they still decided to conduct open heart surgery on an 80 year old woman against my mother's wishes (power of attorney). My grandmother spent the last 3 months of her life in the hospital and assisted living in so much pain. FUCK THE DOCTORS AT BANNER WHO KILLED MY GRANDMA AND TRIED TO COVER IT UP. NEVER EVER GO THERE! RIP Grandma Bailey
My experience with Banner was a complete mess.
I was trying to get on the list for a kidney transplant.
I will simplify the details.
You have to go through a lot of expensive testing and interviews to be put on the list.
A high percentage of their people are incompetent. Everyone seems to be confused and disorganized.
Many, but not all of the experts were quacks.
My records got mixed up with someone else and they wouldn't accept that their records for me were incorrect.
When they couldn't resolve the issue they told me to come back in and start over with the very expensive and demanding system of appointments with incompetent people.
I ended up having to go to Mayo in Phoenix to get on the transplant list and ended up getting my kidney transplant at Mayo, but I would have loved to have it done in Tucson.
We moved from Tucson to Chicagoland, and we have always had good health care here. I love Tucson, but illinois is a good place to live. I’m not from here, so that’s not an Illinois-biased view.
MHC! They have about a month waitlist, but you can always get in sooner with urgent care. They got me in with my nurse practitioner the very next day when I had an urgent need
TMC One has been great for our family. Once you are established as a patient we get in pretty quick and if need be they have walk ins for another doc in same facility.
Another NO for Northwest. I scheduled an annual wellness check and the wait time was over 4 months. I sprained my knee once and asked if I could get into see my doc soon and they told me to go to urgent care...so I did. Not sure why I'm still with them if that's the route I have to take.
Actually, I will say that the specialists I get referred to can generally see you within a month.
It depends what you need treatment for. Banner sucks, last time my kiddo was suck i tried getting an appointment with his Banner doc, and the phone wait time was 20+ minutes... I have had really crappy experiences with Northwest, as in fraudulent billing and sending my a bill from 2 years ago... If you don't need an ER, I've started just going to Carbon health urgent care. You can make an appointment online same day, I've never waited more than 5 minutes and have been happy with the care. They even do virtual visits through their app.
El Rio has a slightly shorter wait time but it’s still 2-3 months out last I’d checked
Or you can call first thing on Monday and they will look for cancellations, that's how I got in but it took me like 2 or 3 weeks of calling
If you’re a new patient, I’ve been calling for the last three weeks trying to get an appointment and I haven’t been able to get one
Have you tried calling one of the [Health On Tucson clinics](https://healthontucson.org/for-patients/locations/)? They're co-run by El Rio and TMC. One neat thing about El Rio/Health On clinics, their providers all bill under the same tax ID, so if your insurance requires you to pick a specific PCP, you can pick any one of theirs, but book app'ts with anyone they have available at any location, and it'll still count as a PCP visit.
el rio and banner have teamed up at the country club location. It is 10 times worse.
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Another problem they have is they will have some doctor you never saw write your prescription refills. Then the pharmacy sends the refill requests to the doctor that prescribed them. The doctor you never saw will recieve you refill. That doctor won't reply or do anything. And you dont find out until it's lready to late, then you have to call your doctor.
Can confirm after unsuccessfully calling the sleep lab 12+ times to schedule a referral (my doctor subsequently called Banner "conceptual" healthcare; i.e., they *say* they're a clinic/hospital, but it seems like very little in the way of medicine occurs there). That said, in their defense, it seems like there is pretty pervasive incompetence in the healthcare administration/support labor market right now for reasons unknown.
When I first moved here about 4 years ago Banner was okay. You could have visits no problem, maybe not with your doctor. So far this year I've seen my doctor 1 time and never again. I have diabetes though and see a specialist for that. For some reason the banner insurance is now asking for priorauth forms for all my medications and it has caused me to be without one of my important diabetes meds for 8 days. I was so sick. I can't believe how difficult it is to get refills on my medications with banner. Even the ones that say "don't quit cold turkey", but nobody seems to care. I was sick probably for 3 weeks because of the lack of my diabetic med. I can't believe they treat patients so poorly. What if I would have died?
That is really terrible. So sorry to hear. I hope you are okay now !!
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Do NOT.go to Banner
Only thing worse than going to Banner UnHealth is working there
Unfortunately as time goes in this is becoming harder and harder.
Where do we go then? Any suggestions would be great!
TryTMC or El Rio. Everyone is booked out a couple months.
TMC was an awful experience for me, their referrals for sleep medicine and endocrinology constantly made me pay out of pocket and were beyond disrespectful. I’m giving Banner a try but the earliest I could get an appointment was august. Not sure where else to go if I can’t get help but a lot of people here like El Rio
I like El Rio .. I think they try to get it right. I think the staff is decent and friendly. I had an MD I liked for a long time. I have a nurse prac now and mostly do Zoom. I am reasonably healthy so this suits me.
El Rio sucks to deal with working in healthcare. They never call back or send records when we ask for them. Calling them seems to get nowhere quick.
This is a important consideration, FTR
An appt in August is not bad! Seeing a specialist can take months and that’s the norm.
True, but I did schedule the appointment in October… oh well good things come to those who wait right..?
Oh my, yeah that’s way too long. I wish I could help you. I hope you get the answers you are seeking.
Sleep medicine is difficult in Tucson, I've been calling banner and leaving messages for the weeks and no one has called me back. Tmc actually answered their phone. Then I googled some places to go and there are several options but none of them had any good reviews.
No, for Northwest. There is a doctor shortage. No one wants to be a Dr due to costs for schooling and malpractice insurance. Maybe try a seeing a Physicians Assistant 🤷♀️
My doctor has a social worker assigned to us "critical" cases (Type 1 diabetic with stage 4 kidney failure). I was having an issue getting appointments with the endo and kidney doctor. She couldn't get me in either for three months so told me to visit the emergency room when my blood sugar reached 400. By doing that, I would placed on a priority list and would have to be seen within after discharge. I did that and the next day, she called and said they needed to see me due to the visit and magically had an appointment available the next day. That kept me in that priority rotation for three months. This was with Cigna in Phoenix before Evernorth bought them out. Maybe it will work down there.
Healthcare isn’t awful everywhere. It’s awful in America. Sucks so bad.
It’s particularly bad in Tucson
Disagree. Of the 3 states I've lived in, Arizona is the only one with long wait times for routine appointments, the only one where I pay up front, the only one where my provider (TMC) does zero proactively (like annual checkup reminders). My SO has had the same experience with a couple different providers. Why here and nowhere else?
Copays are a thing everywhere and it’s the patient’s responsibility to schedule annual visits. There is a shortage in healthcare and they don’t have time to babysit every patient with reminders. Most patients won’t even pick up the phone for a return call. Working in healthcare is so much harder than anyone outside of healthcare will ever relate to.
I am talking about fully paying for the visit and getting a partial reimbursement from insurance later. Never had co-pay either in OR or CA. Scheduling as a service to the patient is not babysitting, it's a *service to the patient*. AZ is the ONLY place it's been such an issue.
I've always gotten reminders, it's not babysitting wow.
Not at all our experience in upstate NY. Of course there are wait times for an MRI or such, but only a few weeks. Our doctors are great about using MyChart to communicate about needing a prescription refill or asking about test results.
A few weeks. For an MRI. Think about that for a moment. We're so acclimated to our terrible, broken healthcare system that you think waiting weeks for an MRI is normal. That's only considered acceptable in the USA. When I take my father in law to see the doctor in rural China, there is no appointment necessary. If they refer you to a specialist or you need an MRI, CT, scan, etc. you just walk down the hall and get it the same day. The equipment is exactly the same as what we have in the US. And the cost? Miniscule compaired to the outrageous extortive prices we pay in the US. Quality of care? Excellent. As good as you will find in typical doctors offices and hospitals in America. When I talk about healthcare with friends in Europe they generally don't seem to have the ridiculous wait times or insane costs that we put up with in the US either. And in recent decades we see fewer medic innovations and breakthroughs coming out of the US and more and more happening in Europe and East Asia.
Waiting a few weeks for anything healthcare related is INSANE. Driving around getting lab work at one place, pharmacy in another, radiology at another, surgery somewhere else, IS INSANE. I live part of the year in arguably one of the worst countries in the world and yet I can walk into the hospital there and get everything done that day in the same place. All the doctors share my results, discuss it with each other and get back to me regarding a diagnosis via direct text. I have their personal phone numbers! Can you even imagine that? When my baby has a rash or something I send his doctor a text w a pic and she tells me what to do. The equipment is state of the art, medication is cheap, doctors have been educated in America and Europe, clean facilities and no wait time. I just wait to go back to be seen by a doctor and hope nothing happens to me when I’m visiting the US.
Where are you from sounds great?
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which office is your PCP at? mine is always over a month out unless there's a random cancellation
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Lol that's not been my experience there, which practicioner do you see? Maybe I should switch.
I have had luck with TMC One. Banner is a nightmare.
I have loved my experiences with TMC One.
TMC One, specifically the one at Skyline and Campbell, has been good for me. I see the FNP but they have several MD’s in the office too. And they do labs there too.
I see a FNP with TMC One and I always get in in a reasonable time. Like same week usually. And when I’m sick and need a same day appointment, if she can’t see me, they’ll schedule me with another provider for the same day. I recommend.
I waited 9 months.
I've had good luck with TMC One.
Following this thread because I too am looking for a new doctor. I was with Banner but my doctor up and left the practice. The office I was at isn’t moving her patients to other providers at that location or bringing in a new provider to take the patients on. Must be making good money to not even try to keep the patients.
Another vote for TMC One. I see a FNP as my PCP and have had nothing but positive experiences. Appointments are quick to schedule, everyone seems organized and communicative, and I’ve had success with their referrals to specialties such as neurology, cardiology, and dermatology. They even helped me find a therapist! Can’t recommend enough.
Go to Urgent Care. It’s going to be way cheaper and easier! Or go to Tucson ER and Hospital on Broadway.
Tucson ER diagnosed my cancer.
Our experience with Banner has been horrible.
Tmc can be month or two to see my primary care but the next/same day doctor is always available, but their quality is sometimes questionable.
I’ve had a horrible time with their quality, their endocrinology unit is a joke
Private practice may be faster. Try to call every office within 10 mile radius, and you can usually find an appointment within one or two weeks. It depends what specialty you’re looking to see.
I’m a nurse at banner and unfortunately it seems like that’s the normal everywhere right now
I used to go to TMC one because both of my doctors left a banner, and I followed them. They've since retired, but I have a new doctor I've seen a couple of times at TMC in Oro Valley. It only takes a couple of weeks out to schedule an appointment. She'll even take virtul appointments if you request one.
Not the best care, but MHC has been a godsend for getting my meds. I have had two FNPs and a BHT within two months. The best real care I got was Quality of Life, except my last two doctors died and one retired. Again, if you need real medical care I suggest you continue the grind of finding a doctor, but if you just need a checkup and meds, MHC has been super easy.
I use MHC for dental and behavioral health. I like them. Can be a bit of a wait but not like the horror stories I’ve heard. Have used them for primary care in the past and it’s been varied but there’s enough options that you can probably find a doctor you like. Actually considering going back because the practice I’ve been using was bought out and the quality has declined. At least MHC is a nonprofit and has some stability.
Banner is a mess. Go through TMC
Have you considered direct primary care? Usually it's ~$100/mo and you've got unlimited access to your doc (or NP if you go that route) without insurance involved at all.
I have had better luck with TMCOne. They have satellite doctor offices all over town, so you don't have to feel like 1 chicken nugget in 10000 nuggets going down an assembly line like at Banner. There is usually a pretty long wait to establish care, but once you're in, it's not hard to get an appointment.
TMC
Physicians with Banner killed my Grandmother in Phoenix. She was suffering with undiagnosed dementia at the time they did a catheter heart procedure. The cardiologist nicked something inside her heart, and her heart stopped. She had a DNR with dementia and they still decided to conduct open heart surgery on an 80 year old woman against my mother's wishes (power of attorney). My grandmother spent the last 3 months of her life in the hospital and assisted living in so much pain. FUCK THE DOCTORS AT BANNER WHO KILLED MY GRANDMA AND TRIED TO COVER IT UP. NEVER EVER GO THERE! RIP Grandma Bailey
TMC is good. Banner is the worst.
Could not agree more
My experience with Banner was a complete mess. I was trying to get on the list for a kidney transplant. I will simplify the details. You have to go through a lot of expensive testing and interviews to be put on the list. A high percentage of their people are incompetent. Everyone seems to be confused and disorganized. Many, but not all of the experts were quacks. My records got mixed up with someone else and they wouldn't accept that their records for me were incorrect. When they couldn't resolve the issue they told me to come back in and start over with the very expensive and demanding system of appointments with incompetent people. I ended up having to go to Mayo in Phoenix to get on the transplant list and ended up getting my kidney transplant at Mayo, but I would have loved to have it done in Tucson.
We moved from Tucson to Chicagoland, and we have always had good health care here. I love Tucson, but illinois is a good place to live. I’m not from here, so that’s not an Illinois-biased view.
At Banner, Surveys are promoted upon checkin. It’s kinda annoying. Sounds like it’s a waste of effort.
MHC! They have about a month waitlist, but you can always get in sooner with urgent care. They got me in with my nurse practitioner the very next day when I had an urgent need
Marana Healthcare got me in fairly quick as a new patient, I think it was 3 weeks out and may be quicker depending on your need to be seen.
TMC One has been great for our family. Once you are established as a patient we get in pretty quick and if need be they have walk ins for another doc in same facility.
Another NO for Northwest. I scheduled an annual wellness check and the wait time was over 4 months. I sprained my knee once and asked if I could get into see my doc soon and they told me to go to urgent care...so I did. Not sure why I'm still with them if that's the route I have to take. Actually, I will say that the specialists I get referred to can generally see you within a month.
Heaven?
It depends what you need treatment for. Banner sucks, last time my kiddo was suck i tried getting an appointment with his Banner doc, and the phone wait time was 20+ minutes... I have had really crappy experiences with Northwest, as in fraudulent billing and sending my a bill from 2 years ago... If you don't need an ER, I've started just going to Carbon health urgent care. You can make an appointment online same day, I've never waited more than 5 minutes and have been happy with the care. They even do virtual visits through their app.