Dr. Joseph Larkin Ratchford, MD

Dr. Joseph Ratchford (father) one of the better GP I have ever seen, I have been a patient of his for decades when living in the area, an excellent Doctor with a caring bedside manner! His office staff is great too terrible & everything in between but overall provide adequate services. I had my annual physical visit with Dr. Joseph Ratchford (father) in January 2025 and scheduled a follow up visit with him for July. On the follow-up visit Dr. Ryan Ratchford (his son) walked into the exam room. He recently finished his residency & entered the practice. A bit of history, I received a diagnosis in 2018 of type 2 diabetes & require daily insulin injections to manage blood sugar levels effectively. This was the first (and only) time Dr. Ryan Ratchford (son) had seen me as a patient, 1. He stated I no longer need insulin and refused to refill the prescription. 2. Dr. Ryan Ratchford (son) failed to include a signature on a prescription for test strips to monitor blood sugar levels. Also,… this office sends prescriptions directly to my pharmacy, so I was unable to view the paperwork. 3. His staff failed to respond to multiple requests from my pharmacy to properly resend the test strip prescription. I called my pharmacy after approximately a week & was asked if I would reach out to the Doctor to assist having prescription resent, my pharmacy stated they were unable to fill prescription without a signature. I called Effingham Medical Partners, placed on hold & hung up after five minutes. I then reached out over the patient portal requesting a corrected prescription, received by the pharmacy within a day. I followed up on the patient portal stating, “where do I send the bill for my time spent correcting this?” Their response was to send me a registered letter stating I would no longer be a patient at this practice. This is a SHAMEFUL response and reflects poorly on the Doctors in this practice, the staff, and Effingham Medical Partners LLC!!"

Very disappointed in the customer service with the staff and doctor. I had important paperwork that needed to be completed for a disability service for a my child. Paperwork was faxed twice and they still claim they don’t have it but also tell me that the doctor doesn’t want to complete the form because we are new to his office. This was faxed in the fall, I personally visited the office in Dec 2019 and had it faxed again, and left 2 or 3 voicemails over the last 2 weeks. I finally call and ask if the lady ever returns calls and was allowed to speak to her. This is when she tells me that she doesn’t have the paperwork (this will be the third time it is sent) and the eye dr needs to complete the form. I precede to tell her that all of her doctors are completing forms and we are waiting on this office to do their part. Her response she is “the doctor doesn’t want to do it”! Are you kidding me!!!! So you don’t return my calls to tell me this or ask for additional documentation? And you… are really in the profession to help people? I think not!

My son used to go to Dr Ratchford when we paid cash and had better insurance. They will not take Georgia Peach Care for Kids. Does not bring in enough money as other insurance so he does not take. My son is not important enough. That extra dollar is more important. Sad affair