Joanna L Tierney

My long-time primary care provider retired recently so I found myself needing a new one. Dr Tierney is close to my home and work, so I called to schedule a new patient exam. Her staff were all friendly, helpful and professional. I completed all my medical history and then briefed the MA on my current needs and concerns. When Dr Tierney eventually arrived, she seemed a little frazzled but was professional and relatively kind--at first. However, as she looked over my chart she began to question the many prescription medications I take. Without going into too much detail, I am disabled and am on over a dozen medications. Dr Tierney challenged me on nearly everything, demanding to know why some of the dosages were prescribed and flat-out accusing me of not trying other lesser dosages and treatments. I left feeling treated like a criminal, an inconvenience and a waste of her time. I have *never in my life* had this kind of experience with a physician, and trust me when I say I've… seen many over the years, including a number of specialists that treat my disabilities. I honestly left Dr Tierney's office in stunned silence and as soon as I got to my car I broke down in sobs. I simply cannot understand why she was so abrupt, accusatory, condescending and just plain mean.

I went was going to my original doctor for a few years, and then they switched me to see her after my doctor left. Without giving me warning, she reduced my anti-anxiety medication by 50 % when 10% tapering is the safe decrease with anti-anxiety medication. I have bipolar and dropping that fast puts me in a manic or depressive cycle. my mood was stabalized before she reduced the dosage. Now, not so much. In fact she sent me a very threatening email that taking this medication while working was illegal and that she would take me off all of my medicine. I'm going to report her for her ruthless handling of my health. With someone that has severe Bipolar, medical situations like this can be literally life or death. SHe strikes me as someone who is heartless. No one should become a doctor that treats their patients with so much disregard, and puts their patients life"s in jeopardy because her vindictive agenda is more important to her than serving others.

I’ve seen my share of Doctors in my 66 years. 25 of those years I’ve worked in customer service. I am generous in my praise, patient and give everyone the benefit of the doubt. However, after leaving Tierney’s office today I have never been so incensed. After waiting well over an hour her assistant assessed my vitals. She verified the main reason I was there then asked if I’d like to discuss anything else with the doctor. She made note in the computer. After waiting another 20 minutes Tierney came in making no apologies for the long wait, but my appointment was rushed. When she’d covered info on my primary reason for my visit I brought up my other concerns. They were met with absolute indifference, abruptness and rudeness. If I can’t ask my primary care my general concerns do I have to see a specialist for each concern? Anyone who graduates from medical school should have common knowledge of my issues, for heaven’s sake. I could have gotten on the internet and found more information… than she was willing to give. She already had had one foot out the door after 10 minutes and her body language attested to that. She argued with me on points rather than taking time to answer. She acted incredibly put out. Keep in mind my first statement. a caring doctor I knew she was DONE and she literally stormed out the room. I don’t sit around waiting for responses like ‘thank you’ ‘goodbye’ ‘have a nice day’ or a smile, but aren’t those normal? There was NOTHING. My husband and I looked at each other and said, ‘We’ll, I Guess that’s our cue to leave now.” I’ve never been treated so badly. I promptly changed my primary care after 2 out of 3 disagreeable appointments with her. I don’t need a doctor with her arrogant, put out attitude.

I like this lady! She knows her stuff and listens to your concerns. She comes up with an answer to my needs or tells me how to find it.

My current Dr. retired and the scheduler's made at appt. with Dr. Tierney. Worst experience I have ever had with a so called health professional. Rude, very put off when asked any questions re: lab results, blood pressure, etc. I am sending my health records elsewhere. She said she was new to the practice. I would think she would treat people better if trying to build a patient base.

Used to be good. Now she comes in with an attitude and a chip on her shoulder. Her and her company are BOTH TO BLAME

One of my favorite doctors. She is always cognizant of my medical history, she listens attentively and is very knowledgeable of medications and their implications.

Dr. Tierney is terrible at being timely. My very first visit I waited 75 minutes to see the doctor. Subsequent visits were also very late. I do not appreciate burning up my PTO in a waiting room. Dr. Tierney has also used unethical practices with me. Healthcare providers are not supposed to look into anything except what is appropriate to provide care for you. Dr. Tierney violated this and used something that she should not have access to, to try and shame me when I could no longer wait for her and I canceled my appointment and left the office. She tries to shift any blame away from her behavior onto you and make it your fault. I am amazed she is in practice with the way she behaves.

The wait time is WAY WAY WAY too long. 2 hours I waited for a shot! The wait time just keeps increasing. They leave you in the hall and you just sit and sit and sit. Horrible experience. Grade F- on service.

I think Dr. Tierney, or Dr. Tyranny as I now refer to her, practices medicine true to her last name. Merriam-Webster defines tyranny as "cruel and unfair treatment by people with power over others". Dr. Tierney checks all the boxes these boxes. She is rude, unprofessional, unhelpful and extremely incompetent with billing/coding issues. Having lived in America, I have experienced a great variety of sub par healthcare but Dr. Tierney gets the trophy for "Worst Healthcare Provider". She has issues with remembering basic details about the appointment and then the patient gets stuck in an endless cycle of billing disputes. My appointment for an annual physical was delayed 40 minutes, then I was taken to a room to change into a gown. Once in the room, it took another 50 minutes for Dr. Tierney to come see me. She was not at all apologetic about the significant delays. I reiterated during my appointment that I was there for an annual physical exam and there were no specific issues that I… needed to be seen for. She nodded as if she understood. A few weeks later I got my first bill from the IHC lab and learned that she had incorrectly billed several lab tests as NOT preventative. Consequently, my insurance didn't cover the cost at 100% (due to inaccurate billing codes). I requested the lab to contact Dr. Tierney to fix these errors. Then a few weeks later I got another bill, where she had fixed some of the codes to preventative codes to allow for 100% coverage, but still had errors on other codes. I obviously didn't go into this physical exam and state that I am HIV+, but that's how she billed my HIV test. I submitted another request to remind her that this was a physical exam and that all codes needed to be billed under preventative, so that my insurance can pay for them. It is common knowledge that all these tests are covered at 100% under preventative care. Dr. Tierney's unhelpfulness and unwillingness to correct the necessary billing codes after repeated reminders by the patient constitutes to billing fraud. I would love to be a part of a class action law suit to sue IHC to allow such tyranny (healthcare fraud).