Professional Psychiatric Services

If I could give negative stars, I would. STAY AWAY FROM PPS. They only want your money. I had been a patient with PPS for over 5 years (on and off because of having children). Over the past year I have not missed one appointment every 4-6 weeks, I don't take my medication daily, so naturally I have gotten a little behind on my prescription. My provider wrote a prescription a month ago (coincidentally on her last day with the company) and I went to fill my prescription this week from that appointment. My pharmacy was out of stock on my medication (otherwise this would not be an issue) -- I called around and found a pharmacy who had the medication in stock, so I called PPS to transfer my RX. THEY SENT IN TWO WEEKS OF MEDICATION INSTEAD OF MY MONTHLY SCRIPT, stating that because I didn't have a 4 week followup appointment scheduled, they weren't able to give me four weeks of my medication. So, without the choice, they cancelled my CVS RX and shorted me 2 weeks. I spoke with management today asking how that's right... she basically said they did me a favor by calling me in 2 weeks of medication without seeing me. UMMMM WHAT? I took PTO for my appointment on 4/6, paid out of pocket, attended my appointment, and got a prescription from that appointment and I don't get my medication from that appointment????? Makes zero sense, I've been picking up my RX a month in arrears for 9 months now and their team has never once mentioned that we need to "get me back on schedule" and if I was given the option of keeping my RX at CVS and waiting until they had stock, or then calling me in a 2 week prescription instead to the other pharmacy, I would have chosen option A -- but they can't do anything to fix it. They won't refund my last office visit (since it was for nothing anyway), MONEY HUNGRY doctor running that place. If you want to be cheated out of your office visits and prescriptions, by all means, make an appointment -- or just save yourself the time and money and go elsewhere.

Ive had the displeasure of an appointment with the CEO, Dr. Mohamed Aziz only once. In that time he told me that a well researched peer reviewed symptom of antidepressant withdrawal was fictional, ridiculed me on the assumption I had heard about it in a podcast and in that moment instilled in me a distrust of PPS staff. At a later point one of the impressive nurse practitioners had earned my trust and opening up to her allowed me to advocate for my needs and get on a medication she had heard of but had yet to prescribe. That medication has been the difference between night and day for my mental health especially where my emotional regulation is concerned. It has made me a better friend, a better partner, and a better self. I never would have trusted Aziz with the research I had found recommending that medical route. It was a much smaller body of research and it was made clear to me that Aziz’s chronic phobia of bunk science causes a blanket rejection of anything newer than DSM IV, and DSM V if a patient is lucky. Beyond that the high turn over rate of amazing nurse practitioner’s was another red flag. That alarm bell is only amplified by Aziz’s penchant to hire young and attractive women. After the CEO personally ridiculed me in an appointment that was scheduled with him (without informing me) because he had forced a nurse practitioner who was changing jobs to drop all of her remaining appointments (presumably because he was afraid she’d “steal” his patients because her service was genuinely the only reason I remained at PPS) and after watching other patients struggle with issues that were always Azizs decisions the nail in the coffin was Aziz’s total resistance to telehealth. Aziz has continually created needless barrier to patients receiving telehealth. Its been impressed that he holds a “lift yourself up by your boot straps” mentality when it comes to patients that struggle with in person appointments. Working in the industry that Aziz has decided to start and maintain a business in, surprise surprise, requires working with all sorts of different combinations of mental health issues. Telehealth can benefit folks with autism, crippling anxiety, cptsd/ptsd and more, or something completely separate such as a patient not having consistent access to transportation, having transportation controlled by an abuser, having a schedule that is difficult to work with, etc etc. Amongst these issues there are often comorbidities making the struggle fold over itself in magnitude. Aziz has demonstrated a complete disregard for this entire demographic of patients and has pushed folks who struggled to make an appointment initially away, often damning people to months if not years without mental health assistance. For Aziz, despite his personal beliefs, which are unknown to me, it is very clear that this business is about prestige and income. His biography on his website reeks of the desire to be honored for his life’s work while he actively stands in the way of progress and healing. I havent even gotten into how Dr. Whitaker gave me a similar attitude about medical studies I brought to his attention and ask his opinion on. Professional Psychiatric Services is a business that succeeds in spite of its leadership, not because of it and I refuse to allow my insurance company to further fund Aziz’s harmful practices. Seeking help is a vulnerable thing and any patients first attempt at receiving help to be handled by Aziz disgusts me. If the world were more just I would call into question Aziz’s qualifications to continue practicing. Any hope I have for the medical industry going forward is inspired by the continuation of leaving the past of the medical field in the past just as we did in 1900, in 1910, in 1920 and every decade since. Dr. Aziz has decided to remain in the 1990, or the oughts at best and I am optimistic he will be left behind. Love for all of the non-senior staff, A prior patient

Regularly overcodes their services, doesn't always meet expectations.