How to Make a Complaint - Oceana Branch Health Clinic

[Tony]

After having multiple negative encounters and issues, I looked up Oceana Branch Health Clinic's reviews and found that other beneficiaries have had similar problems and more with that medical facility. I also found that there is no easy way to complain so I have set up this post to try and make it easier to file a complaint. 

If you have more information on how to file a complaint, please contact me or post in this thread.

• Oceana Branch Health Clinic Reviews 
  (Currently, the average is 2 stars out of a 5 stars system.)

 When talking to staff members on the phone, one tactic staff members may use is to tell the beneficiary that they have to come in and go to the pharmacy (or other department) after telling them about their issue, even when the specific request was that they deliver a message to their provider. I speak from first hand experience and in my opinion they are doing this to get the beneficiary off the phone. In all situations, it was a matter of leaving a message with the provider but on all occasions they said I needed to come in and go to the pharmacy which is false.

With the new Genesis/ Q-AnyWhere, many issues have to be fixed by your provider – not the pharmacy, nor the beneficiary. Not only is staff wasting your time, they are wasting their time as well when a person has to come in for no reason at all.

The way I handle the problem of staff telling me to come in, even though I know I don't have to come in (still ongoing issue,) is to call back at a later time or leave another voicemail. On two occasions I had an enveloped delivered to my provider which worked the best once the provider got the letter. To get Oceana Branch Clinic to answer my messages in Genesis, I call and leave a voicemail asking that they check my message in Genesis. 

Many beneficiaries are already aware of how hard it is to call medical, and of the full mailboxes.

Here are a few reviews some of which are related to encounters I have had:

 One Star
"Worst clinic in the military. Plan on waiting 4 to 8 hours for meds. Cannot schedule appointments online. Moreover, you will expire before you get a referral if you are seriously ill. Avoid this clinic like your life depends on it."

 One Star
"I have zero confidence in this facility and to top it off one of the two incredibly rude girls in medical records seems to think that she is above base command. The clinic has a mandatory mask policy in place and she wasn’t wearing one. I asked about it and she said it’s her department so she can do what she wants. If you are a military family switch from prime to select so you don’t have to deal with this clinic!!"

 One Star
"Nearly 2weeka so far and haven't had my prescription filled. notification. Can't speak to anyone"

 One Star
"Good luck contacting anyone to make and appointment. Oh, and by the way..... You can't leave a voice mail when promoted because the mail box is full and they never check their messages. Chears!"

How to Complain:

The Interactive Customer Evaluation lets you provide feedback for most departments within Oceana Medical. Unfortunately Oceana Branch Health Clinic, as an organization, is responsible for maintaining their own service providers comment cards. It's hard to imagine that if they are having that many issues with their medical facility, that they would actually maintain this system. However it's worth a try if you have had problems with that facility. If nothing happens you can send it via the information below which actually might be better.

If you open up one of the departments, you are taken to the "Rate" by default where you can provide feedback about that department within Oceana Medical. If you click on the "Rating" tab you will see how that departments rates overall (Good, OK, Poor.)

• Interactive Customer Evaluation - Service Providers at NAS Oceana

I added these two feedback links from their main Interactive Customer Evaluation page above:

• Oceana Branch Health Clinic Pharmacy
• Oceana Branch Health Clinic Primary Care

Here are some other options that may get some attention. Portsmouth is the parent command of Oceana Medical. You can also file a complaint with the East Coast Inspector General.

Portsmouth:
To share concerns, suggestions, or compliments, you can contact the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth Patient & Guest Relations at:

• (757) 953-2600 or
• email them at usn.hampton-roads.navhospporsva.list.nmcp-patientguestrelations@health.mil

East Coast IG:
You can also file a complaint with the Navy Medicine East Inspector General by:

• Calling (757) 953-5565, or
• Emailing NavyNMEIGHotline@mail.mil

 

 

[Tony]

An Example of How Unprofessional Pharmacy Staff can be:

After using Q-Anywhere to activate prescriptions, the pharmacy sent an unprofessional message stating that "Everything is to soon." That was August 8. Between Aug 8 and Aug 27, attempts to activate the prescriptions and get a message through to the provider failed. When I finally got through, I was told to go to the pharmacy. 

At the pharmacy, I was told that the reason I got that message was because a prescription was ordered too early. The pharmacist did something and later I received a text from Q-Anywhere saying that my medication was ready for pickup (except one prescription that was ordered too soon.)

Oceana Branch Clinic Pharmacy should have notified the provider of this error.

So one prescription and a cryptic message ("Everything is to soon") is what caused me to once again have to come in unnecessarily. Instead of that cryptic message, it should have stated what I got today - “You have prescriptions ready to pick up.” They then could have informed me that one medication was ordered too soon, and that I would have to wait until x date to activate that one, not the unprofessional childish message that "Everything is to soon." The reality however, is that the prescriptions were ordered too early which is beyond my control – the provider should have been notified. That should have been a discussion between pharmacy and provider. 

So as it stands, I had to go in one day to figure out what was going on. Then I will have to go in and pick up the meds. I will then have to activate (again) a med, a prescription that I was already told to activate by my provider. Then I will have to go in for a third time to pick it up. Am I upset? Yes. 

[Tony]

I found this "See How We're Doing" regarding NBHC Oceana from Health.mil. Not sure how useful it may be but I'll continue to gather any relevant information I can.

See How We're Doing > NBHC OCEANA

 

[Tony]

Some Suggestions that Could Help Fix the Many Problems at Oceana Medical:

• Instruct staff not to be so rude
• Instruct staff to answer the phones
• Instruct staff not to let the mailboxes get full.
• Instruct staff to try and fix the issue over the phone when possible instead of having the beneficiary come in unnecessarily. What that might do is lessen the load of beneficiaries coming in unnecessarily, saving both staff and beneficiaries time. In Navy parlance – help reduce man-hours expended or really, stop shooting yourself in the foot.
• Instruct pharmacy staff to notify the provider of issues when applicable (such as when a prescription is ordered too early,) and not the beneficiary who then has to relay it to the provider.
• Instruct pharmacy staff not to text unprofessional messages as a response in Q-Anywhere (such as "Everything is to soon.") Instead, provide details and/or contact the provider as needed. A little more detailed information at the beginning may reduce the amount of man-hours expended on staff's part later on.
• Provide training to staff on Q-Anywhere and Genesis.
• Admin, providers, and pharmacy staff need to communicate better with each other.

On the Technical/ Info Side:

• The software should alert the provider if they order too soon.
• When there are issues in Q-Anywhere, it should alert the provider that there was an issue with the activation that the provider ordered. 
• Genesis should have a notification feature for both the provider and beneficiary when a message has been sent.
• If possible, add an FAQ to the clinic's web page answering some of the most asked questions when beneficiaries call in. This may help reduces calls to the clinic.
• Fix broken links on your applicable pages and update the information. That may also reduce the phone calls to Oceana medical.
• Place a set of straightforward instructions on how to make a formal complaint highly visible in the clinic.
• Provide feedback that will help make Genesis and Q-Anywhere more efficient which will benefit staff.

Please note that the goal of some of these suggestions are to reduce the number of phone calls and visits to N.A.S. Oceana Branch Clinic. Part of the goal of Genesis and Q-AnyWhere was to make things more efficient. Many beneficiaries are aware of the staff shortage so this is the perfect opportunity to try and do something about it.

[Tony]

As I've found out, there are some who are hesitant to publicly complain about the poor services at NAS Ocean Branch Clinic. As a note, you can create an account here that does not identify you, or you can send me an email if you want me to post it. Just make sure it's the truth, and nothing but the truth, and I'll post your complaint.

[Tony]

NAS Oceana Pharmacy phone mailbox is full. Where is the leadership?

10/20/2023 - 1:54 PM

[Tony]

Strange coincidence that while talking to a pharmacist at a commercial location near NAS Oceana, she mentioned that for reasons unknown, DoD pharmacies have stopped taking their telephone calls regarding beneficiary's prescription.

I didn't quite understand it all but she said it mainly impacts elderly retired and that this has caused beneficiaries to have to pay higher rates for their prescriptions.

I told her that people are having a hard time contacting NAS Oceana as well.