Dr. Akash Kumar, MD

I am trans and had a negative experience with Dr Kumar. I'm copying a condensed version of the a letter I sent to A2 Psych in 2019. "During my intake session, Dr. Kumar used the first 10-15 min of the session to read my intake forms. While I found this unusual, I realized that the intake forms were quite comprehensive and I wrote a lot on mine. I explained in the first session that I am trans, and that I use the name Wesley. At our following sessions, Dr. Kumar would use the first 5-10 min of our session to silently read through my file. I found this unusual as well, but thought it might be a part of his more comprehensive care. At one of our first follow up sessions, after reading my file silently for a while, Dr. Kumar asked me how I was doing on a medication that I hadn't been prescribed. I was confused, and assumed I had gotten something mixed up. I told him I didn't remember being prescribed that medication, and he looked back at his file and realized he had been reading the… wrong patient's file. I tried to assume the best and I understand that mistakes happen, but this mistake indicated to me that Dr. Kumar did not know who I was, accidentally discussed another patient's health information with me, and used a large portion of our short session reading another patient's files. I have seen many psychiatrists and most of this behavior was unusual to me. Since I was a new patient of his at the time and I was seeking out different, more effective treatment, I wanted to be open to change and continued with treatment. At my last appointment with Dr. Kumar, he stepped out into the waiting room and called out [nickname of my legal name] to call me into the session. This was particularly demoralizing because it indicated to me that he did not remember the most basic thing about me, which is my name. Reaching out for mental health care is vulnerable and personal, and as open as I tried to remain for the doctor patient relationship, and for my own care, I felt guarded and misunderstood. After explaining that I am trans in my intake form, explaining myself openly during my intake session, and being forgiving of Dr. Kumar's mistake in our previous session, I didn't feel comfortable to discuss that he did not know, remember, or have a record of my name. I kept my head down during the session and tried to get through it. Although this does not have to do with Dr. Kumar directly, your strict attendance policies greatly impacted my experience. At one of our last sessions, I'd gotten severely injured the day before and couldn't walk. I had to call off of work for a week, and I do not own a car. I wasn't able to get a hold of crutches, so I had to borrow a friend's ski poles to support me walking and I borrowed a car the day of the appointment in order not to have to pay out of pocket. I was familiar with your attendance policies and knew that even in the case of emergencies, if an appointment was missed, I would have to pay out of pocket. From the beginning, the policy seemed inaccessible, but I was willing and able to take the risk in order to have an opportunity to receive what seemed like it would have been more comprehensive mental health care. The attendance policy in and of itself was concerning, but paired with the treatment I received, and the fact that your practice is not wheelchair accessible, it further indicated to me a lack of concern around accessibility and inclusion. My objective in sending you this information is for your future patients to receive more thoughtful, personalized care. If this is also in your best interest, I would suggest considering the needs of your trans patients, and reassessing the ways in which your practice is inaccessible, physically and financially. An easy way to accommodate your trans patients is to add an optional "Pronoun" and "Preferred Name" query on your intake form, and have the information easily accessible on patient documents for the health care providers who will need the information."

DO NOT GIVE THEM HIM BUSINESS. This place needs to be investigated! I could not NOT recommend them enough. For dealing with psychiatric patients, they are horrible and unprofessional. They take months to bill and then send you to collections if you don't pay in ONE week. They never answer their phone or emails. The owner Dr Kumar is very cold and unprofessional. Their office staff is trash. They over charged me and it took months to get a refund. They are greedy and should not be doing work in this field.

Very sharp man with keen insights. Open, friendly, very learned. Helpful and engaged.

When I was seeing Dr. Kumar, he was one of the most caring and kind behavior care doctors' I have ever been too. I moved here from another state and started to see him through the Henry Ford Behavior Health System. Coming from a very, very good doctor (to the point of maybe being a little spoiled with the staff and doctorin the other state), I was so impressed with Dr.Kumar.