Pain Treatment Center

The trigger point injection I was given made my pain worse so I had to go to an orthopedic surgeon who was very confused about the injection’s location. Insurance didn’t cover much of the visit or injection and I just received an additional bill six months later months after paying my balance.

Beware of this office. It is not a part of Hartford Healthcare but a private office that is just affiliated with HHC. It has all the signage and logos but it is really a private practice run as such. I have been a patient through multiple back surgeries and found out this week that I need to find other pain management care because of a medical staff storage in this office. They gave me pretty much a month to do this, which will be challenging because of the lack of pain management care in this area. HHC has no pain management care in the Hartford area, which is a total surprise to me. I got in touch with HHC and they also have no solution to this situation. This is a disappointment to me because I was receiving quality care from this office. I think Hartford Healthcare need to reassess its pain management care for its patient.

I’m a patient with a complex medical history that requires specialists. My appt started with the tech telling me my PCP was bad and not doing his job when I said my BP was a little high for me and told me I needed a new one. When Erica the PA came in, I relayed my concerns of the tech making a judgement on my PCP without even reviewing my chart. Erica asked me if I knew her qualifications? Her tune changed quickly when I informed her tech’s are trained to the level of a CNA and or EMT meaning she is not an RN, APRN, or a PA therefore, unqualified to make a judgement of my PCP. The appt went from bad to worse. I was questioned as to why I was there more like chastised after I was asked to come in to discuss a procedure upon filling out a pain survey. “What do you want us to do for you?” Why is there such a gap since we saw you last: when I attempted to explain I’ve had multiple surgeries and other complex issues involving my intestines, I was constantly cut off before I could finish my sentence. I asked for my chart to be reviewed and I was informed there wasn’t enough time and Dr. Knopp was too busy to read it either. Erica also went on to say when she was cutting me off when I was talking, she didn’t have time to listen to what I was saying. She’d ask me a question and cut me off as I was answering it. I felt like I was being treated like a criminal. It seems the good staff that used to be there is gone now. Avoid this place if you can.

The Pain Treatment Center was a vital part of my plan of care. The office can not handke the number of patients. Most times, you are waiting a considerable amount of time for your provider when scheduled for regular appointments . The management staff is absolutely rude and unprofessional and will support unprofessional conduct for their subordinates, including the aprn's. There is no need for me to bash this office. My review is from experience and is an accurate representation of care received but not by all the physicians or staff. The problem is that there are not many pain treatment offices/doctors that give epidural injection under light anesthesia as a part of their care I've found locally. Dr. Kost really needs to do more and be present to witness the level of unprofessional being displayed by management and "some"aprn's. This has been my personal experience and is my review of my experience. Doctors leave the practice very frequently, and I now see why most don't stay. They have had some good doctors in the past.

I had an appointment with Erica and she started off with “I don’t feel comfortable with writing you any Lyrica, Cymbalta, or Tramadol scripts due to my medical history of having oxy, and hydro codein. I then proceeded to tell her I wasn’t taking those meds anymore because I was all healed up from three surgeries and that when I was recovering from those surgeries I definitely didn’t take my lyrica cymbalta or Tramadol at the same time. She said that “we are not that type of pain facility and proceeded to give me a paper of other facilities way out of the Hartford region. I’m confused because I have been with this pain facility for years and never has any provider ever said this to me from here before. Erica Dr. kost has given me two Sprint procedures in which I came off alll oral pain meds for two months each time, I am not drug seeking! I am willing to try any other procedures but for you to just say hey I don’t feel comfortable writing you pain medication is an absolute insult to me! Especially last minute and while I’m in a flare up! She told me to go back to my regular PC . My regular PC is not a specialist. Thanks for taking the joy out of finally finding Dr kost and finally getting a diagnosis after living without one for over a decade. I will go back to my doctor and I’ll find another Specialist, one who has better people who feel comfortable keeping me out of pain while finding other ways to help their patients manage CRPS without oral pain meds. Sorry Dr Kost I really loved your treatment and your bedside manner but you gotta do better with your Assistant’s.

The most caring, considerate & amazing staff from the front desk to the doctor's and everyone in between. They listened to what I had to say and made me a part of my care plan. Procedures were explained until I understood what was happening. No question was ignored. Highly recommended them and though I'm hoping I do need there services, they're my first call if I do.

I wasn't happy with the way the I was treated by PA. Every one else was nice and friendly but the PA I saw wouldn't let me finish a thought, kept interrupting me. Kept saying.. 'What do they think we can do for you here?" I said 'my surgeon sent me for cronic pain management without narcotics; if you can't help me I can leave!" I also said, "You keep interrupting me and won't let me finish what I am saying!" She also accused me of badmouthing my Dr... which I wasn't! I was just saying what my Surgeon told me. Which was the doctor I saw was looking in wrong spot in his opinion. I did make a follow up appt for shots and am hoping she just had a bad day. Although, if treated that way again I won't go back. The rest of the staff was helpful, polite and kind..

What a shockingly poor disaster today, for my poor sister. Let me start by saying my sister loves her MD at this practice, and I am very grateful to the X-Ray professional and the other staff member who helped my sister. My sister had to go in for a pain procedure today, related to a previous injury. As I sat in the waiting room anxious for updates, the fire alarm suddenly started going off. Without a word to anyone in the waiting are, the front desk staff literally grabbed their coats off of their chairs and left, totally abandoning me, and a very kind woman who was confused about what to do. I also had no idea whether my sister was conscious or not, still in her procedure or in the recovery area, or how to help. I started yelling through the check-in area window until one person told me she would find my sister, and then she disappeared. So I started yelling again, until someone else finally appeared and told me my sister was awake, getting dressed (which was not supposed to happen that quickly), and was being led out into the hallway. The elevators were of course down, so they started to take my sister DOWN THE STAIRS of the 4th floor at the PAIN SURGICAL CENTER. As we got down one floor, and my sister was dizzy, we quickly learned a worker who was servicing pipes in the stairwell had set it off, and he was laughing about how everything was fine, and he gave the employees an extra break in the day. Rather than pause, the staff continued to take my sister down all of the flights of stairs. Don’t tell me about fire safety procedure, because I am confident that in my same situation you’d be having the same reaction, after learning this was a false and explainable alarm. In any case, we got my sister outside, and I do again thank the very nice staff who stayed with my sister as I got the car and got her out of there. BUT, she was in a lot of pain, and dizzy, and in pain in a larger area than seemed right, based on her injury and prior procedures for this same thing. She called the office, as we got her home, and the desk told her she would have someone call right away. Given what she had just been through, it is negligent and poor enough, that the doctors and everyone who scattered and abandoned my sister did not even have the decency to call and check on her. The office never called. Never checked on my sister, never returned her call, and never provided any other follow up. That is not only disgraceful, it’s dangerous. Shame on this practice. Seriously. You needed to do better than what we experienced today. And to the desk person who was going to “call us right back,” thank you for absolutely nothing. No doubt you were one of the front desk staff who raced out of the office at the beginning of all of this, leaving me standing there with no way to get to my sister. This would be a good time to get some much better protocols in place. What a mess.