University of Utah Health Diabetes & Endocrinology Center

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CLOSED NOW - Opens at 9:00am

you can expect to be told that your health problems are not their concern and any failures or lapses in judgment that may have occurred with your diabetes care is not their problem and they don't want you wasting their time by talking about it with them; they will tell you that your insurance won't accept this or that and as a result they will refuse to even attempt or try to get what you need approved because they are expert in your insurance companies claim policies; they will ask you if you have diabetic supplies and medicines that you have but no longer need (because they changed your regime) to bring all those meds and supplies into to them so that their staff can dispense those meds and supplies (e.g. insulin vials, etc.) to their poor and indigent friends, family, relatives, neighbors and community at large - how crass is that?; they are so very quick and prone to affirm that you are not qualified to obtain that which you know you need and to stick to such assertions over time so that there is no sense of headway or progress, causing much discouragement; they will criticize your current med regime but are unwilling to make changes that make sense; they are reluctant to provide holistic care for a diabetic, meaning there is no proactive effort on their part to manage your blood pressure, lipid profile, kidneys, liver, neuropathy - that normally come with having diabetes, wherein what they will do is only offer meds specific to glucose control and that's it; after four appointments the only thing I could get out of them is a lot of negative criticism about the meds I have, how I take them, the incompetence of my other and prior doctors and two scripts for insulin, that's it - no other meds besides insulin vials were prescribed, even though I have equally serious issues with BP, Lipids, Neuropathy, etc. The irony is, you can express your own frustration that what you have been counseled to do in the past wasn't helping you or otherwise not working well, and they will in one breath criticize you and your doctors and in the next breath exclaim that they can care less about your care outside of their clinic - these contradictions are deafening. The bottom line, this place has too many doctors and staff and it is not your choice whom you’ll get to see (unless you make a strong, compelling & concerted effort) – and as some (maybe even most) of their people are just awful to work with – you need to be very careful when considering starting care at this clinic - for your own sakes and well-being…

The Utah Diabetes Center is a large facility and clinic with numerous doctors and specialists relative to Endocrinology/Diabetes care (for both type 1 & 2). This center is a part of the University of Utah Hospital & Clinics aka University Health Care Network. For some insurance plans, this clinic is the ONLY place you can go for diabetes care when your particular need would require a "specialist", e.g. an insulin pump, a continuous blood glucose monitor (CGM), diabetes education counseling and dietician services and so forth. Primary Care Physicians, General Practitioners, Family Practice Physicians, Internal Medicine MDs, etc. are unwilling to address anything to do with specialized diabetes equipment that require calibration or more sensitive care and follow up beyond the standard 30 day prescription of pills or insulin. Also, non-endocrinologists are reluctant to provide care if you've had any history of hypo or hyperglycemic events (very low/low or very high/high blood sugar levels). The bottom line, is that many patients will find themselves in a monopoly-type situation where this Utah Diabetes Center is the only game in town so to speak, you have to go here whether you like it or not (Healthy U members is a classic example of this). So what this monopolized situation translates to is poor patient care, a sense of arrogance and total control on part of the staff and health care Practitioners, a sense of empowerment that goes beyond reason, obstructionist policies, practices and attitudes, options expressed in terms of ultimatums, unwillingness to attempt to obtain insurance approval for services or equipment you know you would benefit from, a rather bureaucratic/red-tape tinged series of perquisites in order to "qualify" for those things you know you really need and it goes on and on and on. In my experience, I have seen ridiculous contradictory statements made; lofty claims of skills and abilities from Practitioners and staff that they clearly don't possess; rush to judgments on what is "best for you" without taking the time to seriously weigh the options, facts, history and patient needs; proclamations on what's possible and what's not without properly evaluating and researching data, facts, information and the experience of others in the field; too many assertions made as fact rather than stated more accurately as just opinion; asking for data and information from the patient that requires considerable effort on the part of the patient and then that labor and effort is for naught because the Utah Diabetes Center either lost or just threw away the material you sent them ("by mistake" of course); faxing information in and you get fax machine confirmation that the fax was received but the Center does not put those faxes in your chart or record and then they claim you never faxed it and this happens six times in a row (i.e. not an isolated incident); this center makes threats about "firing you" as their patient if you miss two appointments in a 12 month period (and by "missing' they mean you must call at least a full 24 hours in advance to reschedule or you are considered a missed appointment, meaning if you call 20 hours before you appointment to reschedule, you missed the 24 hour window, and thus you have that appointment counted against you as a missed appointment, and if you do that twice, you're out for good, even if your insurance doesn't allow you to go anywhere else to see a diabetes specialist - how's that for caring and compassionate staff?); But if you are rescheduled at the last minute (well within the 24 hour period that they espouse) by their staff, you just have to accept that or be rescheduled literally months in advance - beyond the original appointment date and there's nothing you can do about that (i.e. a hypocritical double standard);