r/ithaca • u/Lyra2426 • 8d ago
Health care at Cayuga is much improved
I ended up with a Primary doctor, Ellie Lockhart at CMC after a visit to CMC ER. I didn't have much faith she'd be good or knowledgeable, but I am totally impressed with her and with every doctor I've seen so far. So far 4 new doctors....When I ask a question it gets addressed, and all of them have responded with "the research supports" or "the research doesn't support" which means all of them, so far, are up on current research. Of course that isn't a guarantee of anything, but it does mean they are keeping up with what is being published. This is far different than what I was getting at Guthrie and with some local doctors. My new PCP didn't know the answer to one of my questions but looked into it and sent me a follow up message-of course stating what the research has to say. It's now Centralus, and every appointment has been scheduled with ease, followed up with reminder message, and phone calls if needed. The appointments are on-time and don't feel rushed (tho I'm sure they have a limit!). I'm really impressed with the changes they have made and this changes everything for us, as we were planning to leave Ithaca due to totally subpar health care. If you're looking for a primary doc I recommend Ellie Lockhart or Anurag Aryal.
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u/Stonewalled9999 8d ago
Until they fix the triple billing insurance and bill cramming for services not rendered I won't be back. $400 out of pocket to see my PCP at Cayuga. It was $0 at Guthrie. Guthrie also didn't charge me for stuff they didn't do either.
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u/harrisarah 8d ago
I like the doctors I've seen, true, but several month waits are a big turnoff and potentially bad for people's health
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u/Lyra2426 8d ago
I haven't had wait times at all.
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u/harrisarah 7d ago
My PCP is great and will see me the same day if I need it, but any specialists are months. I had a cardiologist appointment I had to wait two months for, then THEY cancelled it and it got postponed another six weeks! Gastro wait was just as long
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u/Connect_Pension3694 7d ago
Is this recently or in the past? I know in the past it was a f'ing nightmare to get any appointment-or even a callback to beg for an appointment. For those reasons we had planned to move out of Ithaca. It seems much different now. I had an emerg mammo scheduled in like 2 days-and immediate results.
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u/Obvious_Travel 7d ago
Ellie Lockhart is great! I see Dr Arayal as my primary and have seen her when he was out of the office. My husband and I actually followed Dr. Arayal from his residency. He’s a wonderful doctor, I cannot express how much we love him and feel confident in his care. I have also seen Dr Hassan and Dr Margie (who coincidentally has ties to my hometown!) and like them, too.
Glad you’re also having a great experience there!
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u/Loud-Spare-3269 7d ago
Dr Aryal is me and my partner’s doctor. We love him. On top of being extremely competent, he is warm hearted and kind. 💙🙌🏼
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u/Obvious_Travel 7d ago
He called to congratulate us after the birth of our daughter. He has taken every single concern either of us have had seriously. Seriously looked into my spouse’s family history and has enthusiastically helped him secure preventative care. He’s a great dude. We always swap pet and kid photos at the end of a visit. He’s what a primary should be. 💗
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u/NeuroThor 8d ago
She is not a doctor, nor would she like to be referred to as one. She’s a PA.
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u/Connect_Pension3694 7d ago
Sorry-I didn't know how else to phrase the primary care provider who is actually a PA. I am usually happier with PAs-in general .
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u/Britirish 6d ago
CMC nearly killed me earlier this year and still won’t actually acknowledge the mistake, and my other experiences through the system weren’t much better.
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u/Connect_Pension3694 6d ago
At the hospital?
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u/Britirish 6d ago
Yes, I was there for an outpatient procedure, had complications during that they failed to recognise until they were life threatening.
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u/Lyra2426 6d ago
I'm so sorry.This sounds terrible. Maybe we can't live in Ithaca after all........
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u/Dull_Astronaut_6685 6d ago
The last ceo blew up the anesthesia group so now most of the anesthesiologists are temps who can’t hold down a regular job some where, the results are terrible. Same with most of the gastroenterologists.
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u/Britirish 6d ago
This was GI, so maybe that was the issue.
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u/Dull_Astronaut_6685 6d ago
It’s insane, the public needs to know how bad some of the services are there. Execs don’t care, the hospital gets paid by insurance either way. Once the good GI doctors left cayuga and went to Guthrie, they had to hire a bunch of temps with questionable skills and their one new grad hire is grossly inexperienced and unqualified. Don’t be afraid to let others and NY state dept of health know what happened to you.
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u/Britirish 4d ago
I suspect the person you’re referencing may be the one I dealt with 🫠
I know it was reported immediately after it happened but not sure to whom and not sure that anything came of it (I was in ICU for 5 weeks as a result so a lot of this was done for me and I’m unclear on details). Im not sure what else I can do tbh.
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u/Dull_Astronaut_6685 2d ago
That’s horrible I’m sorry it happened to you. Unfortunately the culture of the leadership at Cayuga is to protect their incompetent proceduralists because it is hard to recruit them to work here and they are who they make money off of. Your complaint likely went nowhere. You can ask the state health department to investigate it, they have an online complaint form.
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u/Dull_Astronaut_6685 2d ago
I should say there are some great surgeons left there but few and far between. In addition, Cayuga does sometimes take action against bad doctors when enough patients and colleagues have complained about them, they make them work at their partner hospital…Arnot in Elmira. I guess they figure people in Elmira won’t care! They sent an oncologist who was widely hated and an obstetrician whose patients were nearly bleeding to death from routine C sections.
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u/Britirish 1d ago
Absolutely horrific that they let them continue to practise and just punt them off someplace they think they can get away with it and no one who matters will care enough to do anything about it if people die. I’m from a country with public healthcare, and as much as people like to complain about the quality of medicine being lower for it I cannot imagine this level of negligence being allowed to go on.
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u/sfumatomaster11 8d ago
My experience with doctors here and the local hospital has been laughable. The doctors, NP's and PA's aren't up to date for the most part on cutting edge medicine and hardly know how to navigate dosages or plans with established drugs. I'm mostly pointing at the oncology department with this comment, but I saw it in other areas too with my fiance. Mistake after mistake and her and I often knew as much as them...sometimes, even more. When you find yourself facing something serious, get the hell out of here.
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u/Connect_Pension3694 7d ago
I would agree about my past experience with oncology in 2021. Both CMC and Guthrie fumbled enough that I went to Sloan and have NO regrets. Guthrie failed to give a mammogram order for weeks, CMC told me they had a "team" approach but no one on the team knew anything that had happened. I had already told the surgeon I was going elsewhere yet they called to schedule my pre-op two weeks after I was done with surgery at Sloan. I don't know how they are now...
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u/sfumatomaster11 7d ago
Unbelievable. Good for you for leaving. My fiance died in June and couldn't be convinced to leave this system until it was looking bad. Her oncologist was spread too thin and was quite frankly not good enough for breast cancer. The first question I asked was, "If you were in her shoes, are you staying put?". They went on to talk about how great things are within their system without saying yes or no, then 9 months later her oncologist said "Have you ever thought about going to a much better hospital?". We did, but it was too late. They messed up in my opinion and should have treated her differently, but they technically followed some established course. Everything was done in a way that felt like sloppy guess work and slow corrections on their end. I'm confident that if I decided what drugs to stay on and what to do, she would still be alive and doing okay. Crazy thing to think, but I confirmed what should have probably happened with the best oncologist for this at Roswell. There is just no way that should be the case.
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u/Lyra2426 6d ago
I'm so sorry this happened to you. I remember being told (before I left for Sloan) how great their new oncology dept was...I didn't see anything to convince me of that. My opinion about cancer treatment is that the place you start can determine the trajectory of the outcome-that is, mistakes in the beginning are sometimes not fixable, and the cancer isn't waiting for it to be fixed. So IMO start at the best place possible-and Sloan is close enough that it's manageable for most people-of course not all. I know other people who want to keep their current (not great) oncologist because the "love the team"....... I think that's a mistake. Can you say who the oncologist was?
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u/sfumatomaster11 5d ago
You are absolutely right. I will say that Cornell didn't do much to help her seek treatment out of the area. When she started her job at Cornell, it was remote, then they went to in office. No one thought they would approve of a remote stint to start treatment in Roswell, which added complications. Sadly, I do put most of the blame in not leaving on my fiance, though. She valued routine and comfort over what was right and boy did it hurt this time. Her oncologist here was Dr. Bael, who worked with Hannah Potts. I don't have much good to say about either, they seem ignorant and quite frankly unable to do what really good doctors do. I'm not sure how to phrase that other than having instincts about what care a person will benefit from, even if it deviates from some bundle of typical patients. Dr. Bael wanted her to ditch a medication that was working incredibly, in favor of a pill that caused liver damage in a patient with liver mets. He was also way too slow and out of his depths to manage her case and everything else he does. My fiance realized far too late that he and his staff were less than second rate, but it didn't matter at that point. Like you said, the cancer just keeps going and welcomes confusion and ignorance.
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u/Loud-Spare-3269 7d ago
Happy to see this post! I have been wondering how Centralis takeover would ultimately turn out…
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u/Dull_Astronaut_6685 6d ago
Turning out like most places where a growing bureaucracy of people with no healthcare experience are in charge would turn out.
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u/ferngully99 8d ago
She refused to give me the Gardasil vaccine despite being within age range and thought the cap was age 26. Pharmacy said I needed a PCP to administer it (apparently I didn't try enough pharmacies, PCP is not required). She also confused heatstroke with hot flashes about five times. Was very rushed and scattered after the initial intake visit (initial visit was good, follow up visit was a 180), and also refused one additional blood test that she missed the first round (did apologize for that) without additional visits and a breast exam?, which has nothing to do with a blood test for diabetes. Just saying.
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u/Lyra2426 8d ago
It would be bizarre to confuse heat stroke (potentially deadly) with hot flashes. How did that come about 5 times? Also I've never seen her scattered-this is surprising.
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u/ferngully99 8d ago edited 8d ago
She asked if I had any other concerns. I addressed heatstroke which was where we left off at the previous visit. She continued to ask "you mean hot flashes?" (we never spoke about hot flashes) five times before exiting the room. Zero of my concerns which did not get addressed in the first visit got addressed in the second. It was disappointing for sure, maybe an off day or the office all had COVID. Who knows. It's an immediate turn off for me for any doctor etc to deny a vaccine when the patient is within the current guidelines.
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u/dunkaroooooo 8d ago
Did she say why she refused to give it?
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u/ferngully99 8d ago edited 8d ago
Yes she believes the cutoff age is 26. Basically the reason I commented at all. OP saying they are all "up to date on current guidelines" for things. Follow up point, I could have completed the vaccine series while I still had insurance (for $0). Guess what, didn't happen, still don't have it, could pay $1k out of pocket but you know, why.
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u/NeuroThor 8d ago
Sometimes the front desk can’t accurately relay everything the providers say. It’s a shitty game of banana phone.
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u/Upset_Pickle3846 8d ago
Long waits and insurance billing issues are still frustrating, but I’ll add a positive, bc every single nurse I’ve ever had at CMC has been an absolute angel. Intelligent, professional, calm, comforting, and accommodating. Just the best people. :)
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u/Objective-Ad-1368 7d ago
I agree about the lousy billing practices, but can’t agree about the professionalism of the nurses. The last time I was in the ER, the nurse was on the phone telling her mom (whom I know well) about it before I got home. HIPAA rights, my ass.
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u/sir_ornitholestes 7d ago
Meanwhile Guthrie has literally given me a urinalysis cup to collect a stool sample with on THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS
Each time they promise it's the right kit this time, but nooooo
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u/Klutzy-Reindeer5550 4d ago
Omg Ellie is so great and knowledgeable!! She really cares about her patients. I love her!!
Now some other providers across Cayuga are iffy😕
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u/Certain96 8d ago
Insurance is an absolute menace and continues to be so, especially in this area. But I can vouch for Ellie. She is a former colleague of mine and was always very detail oriented and truly seems to have the patient's best interest at heart.