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Business Profile

Hospital

The George Washington University Hospital

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

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Complaints

This profile includes complaints for The George Washington University Hospital's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

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    Customer Complaints Summary

    • 3 total complaints in the last 3 years.
    • 1 complaint closed in the last 12 months.

    If you've experienced an issue

    Submit a Complaint

    The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

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    Complaint status

    Complaint type

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:08/16/2024

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      ResolvedMore info

      Complaint statuses

      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I am my mother's Health Care Agent as listed on her Living Will. She is currently in ICU at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC. She came in through the Emergency Room on last Monday, August 5, 2024, and was admitted. She had to have an emergency surgery this past Sunday afternoon (August 11, 2024). She had to have another surgery on Monday, August 12, 2024; another one on Wednesday, August 14, 2024, another one on today, Friday, August 16, 2024, and will be having another one on this coming Monday, August 19, 2024.Since Wednesday, I have been calling the contact number listed on their website for their ****************** ************, which takes you to a never-ending phone tree loop (with no connection the Patient Portal enrollment team). My mother is currently in *** (as previously stated) and I am trying to sign her up for the patient portal so that I can provide her primary Gastroenterologist with updates on her status (since she is unable to communicate for herself at the moment), but their phone tree is making that impossible (as all of the phone numbers listed for their departments all ring into what seems to be one phone tree with the same options under each prompt).I just want to get her setup with a patient portal so her primary Gastroenterologist can be in the loop on the emergency care she had to receive and is under at George Washington University Hospital.

      Business Response

      Date: 08/27/2024

      Good afternoon, 

      We need the patient's full name and date of birth. 

      Business Response

      Date: 08/28/2024

      Good afternoon, 

      Thank you so much for reaching out. We sincerely apologize for the difficulties that you described. We appreciated learning that you were able to speak with our Manager of Admissions who was able to resolve your concerns. Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team at ************ or ************************************************. 

      Thank you, 

      Patient Experience Department

      The George Washington University Hospital 

      Customer Answer

      Date: 09/10/2024

      Someone reached out to me by phone but I never received the email they were sending nor did they provide a phone number for me to reach back out to them. At this point this can be resolved, as the hospital staff was unhelpful in providing assistance.
    • Initial Complaint

      Date:08/08/2023

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      ResolvedMore info

      Complaint statuses

      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      ******************************* ***-**-**** ********* I have become extremely frustrated with the billing department. On one hand, they are calling me trying to collect a debt and on the other I have a credit of $9,000+ in which the ** Crime Victims Compensation Program was supposed to cut me a check and GW Hospital received it (it was for $11,101) and the rest was supposed to be mailed to me (there is documentation and ***************************** confirmed this over the phone with the manager with **). Now, nobody will follow-up with me or return my calls. I need the funds to schedule surgeries and move forward with me recovering (with counseling, etc.) and the billing department refuses to update my account to show it is paid off and on top of that refuses to expedite the check to my address as promised. Please send me the funds owed that are credited on my account. Thank you!

      Business Response

      Date: 08/27/2023

      We received the request from the patient (********************) to request that the Billing Department process a refund from a DC Crime Victim's account payment towards the patient's account. The review was immediately escalated to the ****************** leadership and the request was made of the DC Crime Victim's representative ****************** by phone and email. ****************** received confirmation from ****************** that the refund should not be processed as a refund back to the patient. ********************** provided clarity to an email from the patient ******************** that appeared to be from ****************** advising the refund go to the patient. ********************** later confirmed the below via email. The ****************** closed the case with the communication from ****************** and resolved the refund as directed, and the patient was in contact with the ******************* throughout this process. Please advise any additional information necessary to closed the case, and the patient should request any additional information about his Crime Victim's account from ** Crime Victim's Office directly via ********************** (contact info below).

       

       

       

      Business Response

      Date: 08/27/2023

      We received the request from the patient (********************) to request that the Billing Department process a refund from a ** Crime Victim's account payment towards the patient's account. The review was immediately escalated to the Billing Department leadership and the request was made of the ** Crime Victim's representative ****************** by phone and email. Billing Department received confirmation from ****************** that the refund should not be processed as a refund back to the patient. ********************** provided clarity to an email from the patient ******************** that appeared to be from ****************** advising the refund go to the patient. ********************** later confirmed the below via email. The Billing Department closed the case with the communication from ****************** and resolved the refund as directed, and the patient was in contact with the ******************* throughout this process. Please advise any additional information necessary to closed the case, and the patient should request any additional information about his Crime Victim's account from ** ********************* directly via ********************** (contact info below).

      From: **************************** <*******************************************************; ********* Monday, August 14, 2023 1:52 PM
      To: ************************** <*******************************************************;;**************************** ********************************************** ******************************** <******************************************>;**************************** <**************************************>
      Subject: [EXTERNAL] RE: CVCP NOD: ***** #******

      Good day Sorry for the delay. NO refund should be submitted to the patient. All refunds would go back to CVCP. I just left a message with *************************. *************************** MSW Crime Victims Compensation Program Claims Examiner DC Superior
      ************************
      This Message Is From an External Sender
      This message came from outside your organization.
      DO NOT CLICK links or attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. REPORT any suspicious emails by clicking the "REPORT SUSPICIOUS" button.
          Report Suspicious    ?
      **********************
      Good day
      Sorry for the delay.
      NO refund should be submitted to the patient. All refunds would go back to CVCP.
      I just left a message with *************************.

      *************************** MSW
      Crime Victims Compensation Program
      Claims Examiner
      DC Superior Court- building A
      ****************************** room ***
      Washington ** 20001
      ************
      Fax.************
      ***********************

      From: ************************** <*******************************************************; ********* Thursday, August 10, 2023 10:38 AM
      To: **************************** <*******************************>;**************************** <*******************************************************;
      Cc: ******************************** <******************************************>;**************************** <**************************************>
      Subject: RE: CVCP NOD: ***** #******

      Sequoria and ******,

      Good morning.  Thank you both for your help so far as we want to finalize this item as soon as possible.  I am reaching out since we appear to have conflicting information for processing a refund for *******************************.

      ********, your email is 1st, with direction for refunding Crime Victims.  The email the patient originally provided to us with instruction to refund him directly did not match what you shared and is attached.

      ******, your email is 2nd, with information to provide the patient the refund.  Historically we've refunded the program and in reference your contact with our office, I was unable to find documentation of that communication.  Unsure if that was a call or an email/letter.

      Are we able to refund this patient directly?

      ******,

      I attempted to call your direct line, ************, to help clarify but its currently being labeled as a non-working number.

      Thanks.

      *************************
      Assistant Director - ***********************
      ************************************************************************************
      ***************, Inc.
      a subsidiary of Universal Health Services
      Office: ************| Mobile:************

      From: ************************** <*******************************************************; ********* Thursday, August 03, 2023 2:37 PM
      To: CVCP Complaints And Concerns <**********************************>
      Cc: ******************************** <******************************************>
      Subject: CVCP NOD: ***** #******

      I am from George Washington University Hospital and helping to review payments for this case.

      $11,103.00 was received as a Crime Victims payment.  The patient forwarded email correspondence (attached) from your organization starting any portion refunded/returned should go to directly to them.

      Wanted to confirm that is accurate before creating a refund.

      Thanks.

      *************************
      Assistant Director - ***********************
      ************************************************************************************
      UHS of Delaware, Inc.
      a subsidiary of Universal Health Services
      Office: ************| Mobile:************

      Customer Answer

      Date: 08/31/2023

      [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]

       Complaint: ********

      I am rejecting this response because:

      I just spoke with ****************** today and he told me his supervisor overrided this. He said he sent an e-mail to the director at the hospital for billing telling him it is OK to send me the money. Please have him check and process my check. Thank you! 

      Regards,

      *******************************

      Business Response

      Date: 09/05/2023

      At this time, we have not received any additional communiocation from ****************** or anyone on his behalf notifying the GW Hospital patient advocate at this email address of any changes to the previously communicated information from the *** Crime Victims department. 

      Customer Answer

      Date: 10/17/2023

      Since the check has been received, please tell them to tell both their business offices to stop calling me
    • Initial Complaint

      Date:05/08/2023

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      AnsweredMore info

      Complaint statuses

      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      On March 24, 2023, I had *** send George Washington a payment of $1,103.54 for a bill they said I needed to pay for a mammogram. They received the check (CK#********) in the amount of $1,103.54. They took the money and applied it to another bill they said I had in the amount of $471.11 my insurance was going to cover that bill but they decided to pay it. I talked to someone in the billing department on April 13, 2023, about my refund of $632.43, I was told they were going to mail me a check to my home within 24 hours. I then sent them a message through ******* asking what's their status. **************, replied I reviewed your account, there was a refund issued on April 10th of $632.43 the balance on your account is zero. I ask about the refund again on April 27, 2023, and ************** replied The refund is in review to process hasn't been processed yet. I ask why it needs to be reviewed. ************** replied on May 1, 2023, I sent a message to the refund department to have them review to see when the refund would be released. I ask them again about May 3 about the refund. SK replied, I do apologize for the long delay, I spoke to our credit department, here is her note to me, Can you discuss this with the patient and then let me know if all of it should go back to the *** account so she can then pay the hospital directly or should MFA keep a portion towards our bill and only refund partial back to the hospital so she can pay the hospital directly? We wouldn't be sending anything back to her. I replied back on the same day. I don't need them to pay a bill for me just send it back to ***. SK, replies I am not sure why it took them so long. It will get credit today or tomorrow at the latest. Once she tells me it's done. I will send you a message. As of May 8 no refund to me or ***. I didn't care where the funding was going I have outstanding bills I need to pay and I've been waiting almost a month for a refund.

      Business Response

      Date: 06/01/2023

      Thank you for sharing the concern about this patient's billing account status. We confirmed that at this time the patient's account concerns were with the outpatient clinic managed by the GW Medical Faculty Associates (MFA), and their billing team reviewed - confirmation provided to the patient today from that team that her account was reviewed on 5/9/23 and the refund was issued on  5/10/23. They also followed up with her today to provide that update. Her point of contact is ********************************* @ ********************* or ************.

      Please let us know what else is needed to close out this concern.

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