About Houston County Medical Center

This place sucks all the way around. All of the staff I have dealt with so far has been rude. I can hear them talking trash about other patients through the curtains and I have been completely forgotten about. I was placed in the recovery room after surgery, and I have been waiting for a room for 10 hours now. I understand that it’s full, but when I ask about the status updates I get snarled at.

Do not leave your loved ones alone if they are capable of signing their name and unable to make sound decisions. Billing will send someone to the room early on, either first day of admission or next morning bright and early. They are looking for $500 "estimated" owed expenses for future services rendered. This is before billing insurance mind you. They claim they always give the person the option to decline, but they did it to me when I was in there, and it was NOT presented as an option. I worked as supervisor on a hospital billing desk, so I understand a couple of things they don't expect people to understand just walking in off the street. Anyway, my 85 year old father was admitted with double-pneumonia (both lungs), and we left my 74 year old mother with severe dementia with him for the first night because she has a very hard time functioning without him present. Billing came in and had her sign over $500 from their bank account. I was hot, but they did absolutely nothing to correct it. This was at Christmas when money is tight. They have excellent insurance. When I spoke to a supervisor in billing, I was told they've been doing it this way for years and nobody has complained before. Maybe it was because it was presented as an "estimated" bill and those who were aware of the reality said they wouldn't pay and to bill them later. Everyone else who never understood, who paid up front, and never knew to follow up with accounting to find out the actual amount owed didn't know they had anything to complain about. Not that if they had followed up they'd have been told they overpaid, but I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt on this part. Not certain why I should. My advice to you is to know your rights. If someone attempts to collect money from you at the hospital before billing your insurance, you need to check with your insurance company to verify that you have to pay it. I'm not talking about your co-pay, which you must pay in accordance with the terms of your insurance. I'm talking about in addition to your co-pay. Ask the person in front of you trying to collect an "estimated" amount owed if it is optional. If they lie, you can do something about that. If it's optional, DO NOT PAY. Tell them to bill you after insurance. Here's the thing, they take the money from you, they bill the insurance, then afterward they are supposed to contact you back and refund the amount you overpaid. Have you ever met anyone who was told they overpaid on their hospital bill and are owed money? No? (It could happen, and if it does, you have found the exceptional billing department.) You assumed it was because it costs so much that you didn't overpay? Most people do, and this is how many hospitals creatively subsidize costs for people who cannot or will not pay most of their bill or even anything ever. My personal opinion is that the billing team at this hospital is highly creative. If you have extra money and WANT to subsidize healthcare for the poor, that's a noble thing you should choose to do. You should never, however, be tricked into doing it unaware. I've heard healthcare and welfare for the poor called "theft" by the rich. I don't think that's true, but I do think being tricked into paying more than you should for reasons that you're not told certainly is theft--though I certainly would never accuse this hospital of thievery. I'm just telling what my experience has been.

Worst experience EVER! Took my 11 month old at 4:45 am did not get any treatment until after 7am! Not only is she a baby but she was having an allergic reaction and had swollen eyes/mouth with severe hives all over her body! All they cared about was shift change and it was obvious!! Will definitely be filing a complaint and will NEVER go back there again!!

This place discriminates in their hiring process. I applied over a dozen times for several different positions that I qualified for and was treated very poorly by the last manager that interviewed me. They make it really hard for “certain” people to get on there. Apparently it all depends on who you know and not what you know or are qualified for. Very corrupt HR practice.

Worst hospital in middle Georgia. My father was taken to the Houston ER on Thursday due to severe abdominal pain. His right side is bulging out, but it is his left side that is hurting him. The poor staff kept him in the waiting room stating that they had no room for him. They kept saying that they would put him in a room, but did not try. My father was administered medication and an IV out in the waiting room. He told the staff that he could not sit due to the pain, so they told him that he needed to stand. Still telling him that they were going to get him a room, but no attempt made. My father had a CT scan done, and the nurse practitioner (or whatever he was, but wasn't a doctor) felt on my fathers stomach (STILL NOT IN A ROOM) to ask if he felt pain. My father said the pain was on his left side, but the guy only felt in the center of his stomach. My father was sent home with tylenol. They said nothing was wrong with him. He is still in agonizing pain. He cannot bend, and can barely move. Houston Medical should be ashamed of themselves. This is a piss poor excuse for a hospital. We will now be going completely out of our way to go to Navicent to actually get an answer for what is wrong. I had to change OB/GYN's after I had birth because Houston told me that I wasn't in labor after my water broke at 41 weeks. The nurse threw away my tests, and dug them back out of the trashcan after I pleaded with her to test the swab that she collected on me to prove that my water broke. I would never recommend this hospital to anyone.