Houston Methodist Reviews 18

Houston Methodist has literally saved my life multiple times over the last year, having been diagnosed with liver disease and liver cancer. The main hospital in the Houston Medical Center has the abilities to do about every test or scan you can imagine onsite. The nurses as a whole are amazing. The transplant center is heads and tails above any other. I live closer to their acute care hospital in the West Medical Center, so my doctors downtown will schedule basic procedures, chemo infusions, and basic scans there for me. They do not over medicate, and they check in on you in person regularly. I can’t say enough good things about Houston Methodist.

Sadly, Houston Methodist Hospital, which once had an excellent reputation, has fallen on dark times. They treat patients horribly more often than not, both in the hospital and in the clinics. Their hardline approach to everything makes the patient feel like they’re in an adversarial relationship. My insurance has approved several tests and treatments verbally and staff refused to submit them, saying policy is they are offered only on a cash payment basis and they have “never heard of it being covered by insurance.” This after being informed insurance agreed to cover with prior authorization.
Treating the patient like their cash-in-hand is more important than the patient’s health and well-being is a sad state of affairs and Houston Methodist Hospital has some deep rot to root out. Starting with training their employees to stop treating patients like they are the enemy to be repelled and thwarted, eg refusing to acknowledge when insurance has approved a treatment or test, and simply requires prior authorization. It’s shameful, counterproductive, and will sink Houston Methodist if they don’t find a way to deal with it better.

Horrible management and system
Appointments canceled without notice blaming insurance and systems
they are overrated
they said they are ranked fifth
it is hard to believe or must be some manipulative criteria to place it 5th
they are not !

Dr. Taarea and his team are amazing, awesome, kind, helpful, thorough, knowledgeable, supportive. His office has a welcoming ambience. Dr, Taarea has been treating me for two different orthopedic conditions.
The Woodlands Orthopedics and Neurology offices ROCK! It feels so good being part of HMTW caring team.

RN of 30 yrs here. Have had a spinal injection scheduled for tomorrow, 2/18, for several weeks. Just called to confirm and was told it was the 19th, not 18th!!! Had to make MANY MANY arrangements for this, instructions to follow! She called back to say she was talking about follow up I'm MARCH! GOOD GOD! RUN! DO NOT USE HOUSTON METHODIST FOR ANYTHING!

For about three weeks from late December to mid-January of this year, I experienced the worst imaginable service, compassion, and competence from a variety of people on the Houston Methodist(HM) staff. The experience was disastrous. I have had a prostatectomy at Cleveland Clinic and various procedures at Mayo and these institutions are light-years ahead of HM in terms of customer service, empathy, and general competence. The staff is woefully under-trained. As a group, they are lacking in basic patient relationship skills. Their interface with the public through telephone services and messaging is prehistoric and very user-unfriendly.

During that period I tried diligently to make an appointment to repair two hernias, including pre and post-op consultations and attendant labs and other tests, as well as a PSMA PET CT scan. A PSMA PET scan is an imaging test that detects prostate cancer metastasis anywhere in the body. Despite carefully and repeatedly explaining my situation to anyone who would listen (and there were few of these), both appointments were impossible to arrange.

Regarding the hernias, I was finally able to arrange a consultation with Dr. Patrick Reardon for January 27, 2026. During this conversation, we also discussed having the hernia repair within a few days of this because I was traveling from Mexico. Although I emphasized my current location out of the country and my short time window in Houston, no mention was made of Dr. Reardon't inflexible rule that he would need to see me in person two weeks after the repair. Nor was any mention made of any other pre or post op requirements. But the most troubling incident was when a receptionist happened to mention in passing that Dr. Reardon would be away for two weeks, including on January 27, the day of our consultation. I have never received any notice from anybody on Dr. Reardon's staff that he could not make our appointment.

I then tried numerous times, every day, to contact his office, by email and phone, to reschedule. I could never speak to a human being. I got the same message repeatedly: the person you are trying to reach is helping someone else, please leave a message and they will get back to you soon. I left numerous messages and NEVER received a reply, by text, email or phone. I tried many numbers associated with this department and got busy signals for hours and hours. It was obvious phones were left off the hook to give the impression the line was occupied.

I was able to establish a MyChart account. They could have sent me a message that way, but they never did. This scenario was not limited to Dr. Reardon's staff. After I learned he would not be there for my consultation, I tried to set up an appointment with other doctors, but the result was always the same. Nobody answers the phone, nobody returns calls, nobody sends texts or emails. It's a disgrace.

Trying to set up my PSMA PET scan was no different. Half of the employees I spoke with never heard of the test and some even told me that HM did not offer it (they do). Others directed me to other departments and phone numbers, all of which turned out to be incorrect. I finally spoke with someone who directed me to Nuclear Medicine, the right place. I then sent my Doctor's order for this test, through MyChart. The order was rejected, even though my doctor is a well-recognized expert in the field of prostate cancer and is also a professor, author, and lecturer on the subject. It was rejected because they only accept orders from Texas doctors.

Putting aside the legitimacy of this policy, I have since learned that HM had several options to honor its policy while also helping me. For example, they could have scheduled me for a brief consultation with one of their urologists. But they saw a non-Texas doctor on an order and simply hit "Reject." Employees don't have the training to suggest a workaround. They don't try to be helpful. Another excellent Houston clinic was able to provide this scan using the exact same order that HM claimed was "illegal" or "impossible" to accept. By refusing to help me with this order, HM chose administrative convenience over patient care.

I eventually found other places in Houston that helped me without a lot of red-tape and where I could speak to real people. Doctors actually returned my calls. Wonderful, compassionate technicians and other staff listened to me patiently and tried hard to be helpful.

I strongly recommend you stay away from HM. You can find much better options in the Houston area.

Review is in regards to Methodist Willowbrook Hospital in Houston, Texas. Only giving 2 stars because of the condiition my 87 year old Mom was under when being DISCHARGED by Dr. Derek Woo today 12/7. She was admitted to hospital Wednesday, 12/3 after being in ER. I cannot say enough wonderful things about ER Nurse Practioner, Sonia Garza. She was amazing and Mom's vitals were actually better under her care then following day under Hosptal's Dr. Derek Woo's care. Mom had a severe UTI and although they got a handle on it, other then a Nurse helping her to get in a wheelchair 3 days ago, nobody has been in since with regards to working with her to obtain strength. Her knees were as swollen {due to Edema} as they were when admitted. I questioned why Dr. Woo had not prescribed a Diuretic. Nurse Nicole said we would need to contact Mom's PCP who was not involved with ER or Hospital visit! Why would Dr. Woo or the Cardiologist who were over her care since 12/3 not prescribe a Diuretic. Upon getting home, her legs were so weak it took an hour for her to get in bed! With regards to ER Nurse Practioner Sonia Garza and Nurse Alex Lara (North Building, 5th Floor), both should receive 10 stars!!

That's really zero stars. The day before Thanksgiving, I went to the HM ER around 2:00pm. I had excruciating pain in my lower back and abdomen, and my blood pressure was 234/124. I was taken to a room in the ER, and someone came to get me for a CT Scan of my abdomen. The person who came to transport me saw my blood pressure and questioned multiple times whether it was safe to take me back. The nurse’s aide told him it was fine, but the other man still seemed very uneasy about taking me back. I had a CT scan of the abdomen only, and returned to the room in the ER. A paramedic came to start my IV because the nurses were busy. A nurse quickly arrived and the two discussed the fact that I should have an EKG, but one had not been ordered. The nurse asked me if I had been drinking because the doctor had ordered a banana bag and B1. I told her that I don’t drink and she said it was strange that those things had been ordered. At 3:25, I received Fentanyl and Toradol for pain, but those medications did not help the pain. At 4:38pm I was given a steroid, Flexeril, and finally Clonidine for my blood pressure. I was told that they couldn’t find what was causing my pain so they were going to have to discharge me. I told the PA that my head hurt and my face was numb, and that I had previously had a stroke. She insisted that she would need to discharge me because they couldn’t find anything wrong. (MY BLOOD PRESSURE WAS 234/124!!!) At that point I should have been given a head CT, but that never happened and I was completely ignored. At 5:39 they gave me morphine for the pain, and my pain reduced significantly. At that point my blood pressure went to 169/76, and I was told that I had been discharged. I told her that something was wrong, but she completely ignored me. She prescribed enough Tylenol 3 and Flexeril for a couple of days which was not nearly enough to make it through the holiday weekend, and an NSAID that I can’t take. (No one bothered to get any medical history from me, or they would have known that.) I was incredibly upset and afraid because she absolutely refused to listen to my concerns. I asked if she could at least give me something in case my blood pressure spiked at home because she wasn’t addressing the blood pressure issue at all. I told her that I was having pain in my ribcage and she literally walked away. I should have had an EKG and a head CT. She was completely incompetent and negligent. When I went to the pharmacy, I learned that the prescriptions that she had prescribed could not be used together so I wasn’t able to take anything extra for my blood pressure. As soon as the morphine wore off, my blood pressure was back up and the pain medication she prescribed did nothing to help the pain. I might as well have not even gone to the hospital. I could have died with blood pressure that high. I ended up spending the next couple of days in severe pain, and I could barely speak or form a thought. I knew that I could not afford two ER visits, so I held off as long as I could, but finally went to Memorial Hermann with a blood pressure reading of 244/117. They immediately did an EKG, head CT, chest CT, abdomen CT etc., and I was admitted so they could control my blood pressure the correct way. I would never go to Houston Methodist again. I can already see that my insurance was charged over $20,000 for that medical malpractice.

The doctor made a joke about billing my insurance. Not much of an examination. My copays were paid by my supplemental insurance but I was sent bills and phone calls were made on numerous occasions. I had to file a complaint with the insurance to get the charge removed. Incompetent customer service representatives who claimed to not see the electronic payments.

At least 95% of the techs working there do a fantastic job; know what they're doing, totally professional, usually kind too. Doctors and nurses are a mixed bag though. Some do a great job, but not all.

We had to go to the emergency room recently, and while waiting for a doctor overheard several complaining about "not having enough RVUs to make it interesting". For those who don't know, RVUs are Relative Value Units, and the more RVUs a treatment, service or procedure has, the higher the pay for whoever performs it.

Reviewing the record for our visit afterwards, we saw that the provider (Dr. Simonson - one of those overheard earlier complaining about the RVUs) left out half the reason for our ER visit, listed a test as having been performed when in fact it had to be stopped immediately after it started because the patient was excruciating pain (despite having been given morphine), she 'didn't have time' to update the patient's medical record by listing a previously prescribed medication which could be a contributing factor, yet wrote an unrequested & unnecessary 'excuse letter' for a weekend visit, she claimed Houston Methodist doesn't have a diagnostic lab, patient had to do a Google search for an antibiotic that would actually work when the one sent back choked the patient and came back up, she made an inappropriate follow up referral.

Houston Methodist used to be the best hospital in Houston, and it still has the best techs, but for actual medical services much of it has become or is becoming as sketchy as its competitors. Please don't go alone if you need emergency medical treatment, you probably won't get it if it doesn't provide enough RVUs. Speaking as someone who didn't.

the most wonderful hospital in houston - I only experienced the katy location off of IH10
clean, efficient, wonderful caring staff

Good place when you sadly need to go but their billings team needs to be severely disciplined for their billing overages and tendency to max out revenue for their shareholders and with little to no regard for the average humans who feel powerless in the face of these corporate juggernauts. When all people are looking for is to be cared for, the last thing you want to do is slap them with overages and charges their four generations down can't pay...so please y'all fear God and get reasonable for the sake of all things holy!!!.

They took me to get an MRI and I went into one of those side bays where you change into the gown while on the stretcher. I was told to put my items on a chair. I told the attendant I wanted to lock up my valuables and he said that wasn't necessary and he would take care of everything. Right.......
Followup to previous post about stolen property at this hospital. I filed a report on a Friday and was told they would follow up on Monday with a phone call. An idiot dispatcher named Gonzalez refused to provide any information with regards to my filed report. He stated that it was hospital policy that no assistance would be provided until I could remember the name of the officer I filed the report with. I repeated these calls several times, and each time Gonzalez was a jerk.
Next, I tried to reach the head of Seccurity at the hospital and he refused to take my calls. After 2 weeks of getting nowhere, they brought in the overall head of Security, not just the Woodlands, whose name is Amanda Burrows, and she was as worthless as all the rest. She also promised to contact me and never did. After 4 weeks of their BS, they won, and I have given up all hope of being able to deal with these incompetent people.
I suppose my $800 pendant which was stolen due to the negligence of the hospital staff will never be seen again. Instead of trying to help you, the Security Dept. only tries to get rid of you and make you go away. The whole lot of them are totally worthless, and in fact are antithetical to their supposed "job". Top to bottom, this is one terrible department, and they should be ashamed of their total incompeyence!!!

My complaint is with the Gynecological Oncologist Dr. A. Suri on the Houston Methodist team. It has been 36 days since my 85 year old Mother-in-law had major Vulvar cancer surgery and we still can't get Dr. Suri to get us a pathology report. He made major wounds in her thighs to take lymph nodes out after removing a lot of cancerous tissue and my Mother-in-law and Wife have talked to him and his office multiple times and he just says if I don't call you, everything is allright. He won't even release the pathological report to the Houston Methodist MyChart automated system they so heavily advertise.

I have had to use Houston Methodist several times in the past year and 1/2 and the billing has been WRONG every time. I've had my insurance company call them on multiple occasions pointing out where the mistakes have been made, yet I still get the incorrect bills.. When I call, I am constantly told "we'll send it to review" and nothing gets done.
I worry about patients who pay without investigating their bills first! I feel as though this is a money making practice for this Hospital system.

If you want to treat every symptom you have with a medication, this is the place for you! Each medication has side effects... but don't worry you will get another medication to treat those side effects until it's an unending story of a medicine cabinet filled with prescriptions.
There is no holistic medicine at Methodist... getting to the root of the problem: what is the underlying problem causing all these symptoms. You can't get the whole picture because they can ONLY listen to 2 complaints and after that, you need to make another appointment!
They are ruled by insurance companies and BIG PHARMA

After my family and I moved to the Houston area we were fortunate in connecting with the Houston Methodist medical system for a variety of medical. Our PCP dr. Makhoul, our neurologist dr. Qui, our cardiologist dr. Chang and all the respective receptionist and medical support staffs are exemplary! The testing staffs, the physical therapy staffs and emergency room are also very professional! At our time of life it is gratifying to have medical care that one is comfortable with!