Duke Neurology South Durham

Went to this office for treatment for migraines. I did not have a good experience with the office staff and nurses here. I need prior authorization for a treatment and despite being labeled as urgent it took weeks to get information on this prior auth. The office staff is not in communication with each other and it takes many days to get in touch with someone. After several weeks I was finally told the prior authorization was declined and nobody relayed information to my Dr. so I went months with no further treatment. This lack of care coordination is something I haven’t experienced at any other Duke clinic so this is an office specific problem not a Duke problem.

I see the neurology department here. I was changing care when I came to Dr. Shahs door and was in a very bad state emotionally and physically. They couldn't tell me everything I wanted to know but they changed my life for the better one step at a time. Dr. Shah, her pa lengel, and the whole team in the pt/ot/pool dept at Lenox baker made me a functional person again. I owe them so much gratitude.

Another horrible experience, I waited 6 months for my appointment for them to cancel it with no explanation. I was hung up on three times for asking to speak to a supervisor. They were only able to reschedule my appointment in another 8 Months. I will have waited 14 months to even see a doctor.

Very disappointed in the care recieved from this office. I want to preface this review by stating that I was assigned a doctor when I called the scheduling line for an appointment, I did not get to choose my provider. Dr. Hartsell does not respond to patient messages through the MyChart portal. I've only been a patient of his since January and already this has happened on three separate occasions. After the second time, he actually addressed his lack of follow through at my appointment, apologized, and promised he would do better next time. I took him at his word. He ended up wanting to consult a colleague for advice on my prescription/condition and how it might impact my fertility and promised he would reach out to me on the portal within a week of my appointment. 7.5 weeks later, still no update. I have followed up several times in the portal to no avail and even spoke to a nurse who promised she would follow-up with him personally the next day and make sure he reached out to me. It's been two weeks since that conversation. I continue to be disappointed in this office, and especially with Dr. Hartsell. Now, I have reached out to express my disappointment and therefore my desire to switch providers, and am being told it's against clinic policy for me to change providers within the same office. Quite unfair that I am stuck with a provider who I am unsatisfied with and who will not communicate with me; or left to switch my care to another office. Do not go here if you want your providers to communicate with you when you have questions about your care, or even have a choice on which provider you see. You cannot even express disappointment because you are stuck with that provider who doesn't seem to care about you and your health. I understand that providers are busy and might not get back to you right away, but seven weeks is an unacceptable amount of time to completely ignore your patient when they are waiting for an answer on which medication to start, if at all, when trying to plan for a family. I would expect the office to prefer to switch me to another provider than lose a patient over unsatisfactory care.

I can not attest to the negative experiences by others and also do not know who handled my original appt, but I had a wonderful experience visiting this office. Dr. Lee was amazing and all three of the front desk associates collaborated together to get me scheduled for two follow up appts and an MRI, they went above and beyond while I waited and accomplished it all in a matter of minutes. Great office, great teamwork, great care.