Harvard University Health Services

I met with an NP, who was uncomfortable prescribing all three medications I have historically gotten from my PCP. I discovered this across two separate appointments.

She referred me to a psychiatrist for Trazadone, I waited a month and did a lot of work to get into the psychiatrist, who wrote me a script for 6 months..... I take it daily and now, 6 months later, am out of refills and have to go through the whole process again.

Waste of my time. Currently working to find a new PCP outside of HUHS system that will prescribe what I understood to be basic medications.

Can’t believe the service can be so bad with a healthcare provider associated with a famous university. My daughter goes to Harvard and unfortunately has sickness requiring visits to this place. In both visits the staff at the front desk were very rude and unprofessional. How does the management not remove such staff?

Today, a staff asked for my daughter’s temperature. She gave the temperature in Celsius, which is used in overwhelming number of countries in the world. The “nurse” responded by “I don’t know what you mean.”

I go to Stanford healthcare often, and the staff is incredibly caring and caring. Why is it so bad there in Harvard?! What’s wrong ?!

It's beyond me how this place has the name "Health Services". No matter what health issue you go with, you are guaranteed to leave with it untreated, plus hypertension. Be prepared to deal with rude staff members, subpar health care services and an awful phone support.

I’ve been to HUHS urgent care twice, and the urgent care receptionist lady is consistently the rudest human being I’ve ever interacted with. Extremely dismissive and disrespectful to everyone, for no good reason at all. If you hate your job, or yourself, perhaps try do something else?

just needed stuff from a first aid kit to deal with a fresh wasp sting and could barely walk. was turned away because I didn't have an appointment. It's really a shame as a student that I pay for these services but am treated so poorly.

HUHS Urgent care provided excellent care after I was in an accident. I was in shock, thinking I just had a bad bruise, but my partner insisted I get checked out. Dr. Farnan saw me, listened, and calmly shared that there is a rare but possible complication that she wanted to get some images to check for… sending me down for a same-day X-Ray. She also wanted me to see a specialist, and when I was only able to get an appointment two weeks out, she advocated on my behalf so that I was seen within 24 hours.

And thank goodness, because she was right. I did not have a bad bruise, rather the more complicated condition that I was then able to get care for at Beth Israel (with the specialist she recommended) and later physical therapy. I’m so grateful for her good and quick thinking. The urgent care scene can sometimes be a little busy or chaotic, but the people I’ve interacted with (from admin to medical assistant a and nurses to the doctors on call) have been thoughtful and quick to action. That’s not to dismiss anyone else’s experience, because medical care is so personal, but I did want to share my positive experience to add another account to these reviews.

The front desk staff at the reception is extremely rude, and is not sensitive at all when dealing with sick patients coming in at HUHS. Also, I have been misdiagnosed or given ineffective medication twice because of which my health conditions have spiraled. I ended up in the ER once.
The lab results at HUHS take forever to come because of which I haven’t been put on treatment in a timely manner. Some doctors at HUHS are good, but overall, HUHS sucks and my experience with it has been pretty bad, especially for the kind of money we pay to Harvard for health services.

Hands down the worst medical service I have been through. You have to call them to track every update of your case and their line is always busy. Their message system online is not working and there is no proper way that you could communicate with your primary doctor. The specialty service is even worse – wait when you find out that you'll only get an appointment 6 months ahead for your requested specialty department.

Booked a travel clinic appointment and was able to get immunizations completed on the same day.

The NP (Julianne Sullivan) and nurse (Angela Poock) who took care of me were extremely warm, knowledgeable and culturally competent.

I was surprised to read about all the negative reviews at HUHS and don’t intent to discredit those individuals’ experiences. I did, however, want to share that my experience was overwhelmingly positive, and I’m thankful for the team as I was in a logistically complicated and frustrating situation with travel coming up in a couple days.

For context, I’m a grad student with Harvard BCBS group plan. I also noticed that the immunization I had to pay for was much cheaper here than at other places I called.

I had covid and felt so sick during the final week. When I made a call and walked in, the nurse and doctor were so nice and they made me calm. Everything was really fast: They gave me mighty medicines and they helped me to get well contacted with the emergency room, just to make sure I can get some more detailed tests. They did a really good job 👏👍

I'm a PhD student. The service they provide is terrible and they don't care about students. I waited for a month for my appointment and they canceled the appointment the day before. I had to wait for another month to speak to a different therapist. For students under a lot of academic stress, the university doesn't provide timely and sufficient mental health resources. It's even more ridiculous considering that Harvard students have to pay $1304 per year for university health fee in addition to student health insurance.

My partner had an experience so awful that I cannot wait until I can switch my Health Insurance coverage. My partner is experiencing pain from a tooth that needs a root canal. He had received a filling earlier today and unfortunately, the dental student did not secure a prescription for pain medication due to thinking a filling would solve the issue. Since he was seen by a dental student and due to the day/time they were unable to have an overseeing dentist prescribe him pain medication. He decided to call HUHS to see whether his PCP or his staff could help him with medication until a root canal on Monday.

After speaking with someone on the phone, the person said they did not know what to do for him, but they said he could come down if he was close by and wanted to discuss it with a Nurse Practitioner. He went in person and ultimately nothing could be done because his PCP was not in. It would have been much preferred to hear that over the phone as opposed to walking (In pain) to the Smith Campus Center. That itself could have been a misunderstanding but how he was treated when arrived there is the real problem.

The front desk staff were rude and dismissive from the moment he started speaking to them. The man at the front desk denied he had coverage (rudely, cutting my partner off...) and questioned everything my partner said.

My partner presented his card and then said his PCP's name and that he had been there before, the man responded "Well that's impossible." Someone else then looked him up and found him, but as he was walking to see the NP they shouted out "No wait you don't have coverage!" To then check again and confirm he did. What is going on at HUHS that they can't even check someone in who has been there, and if the system was having issues then that is not their fault, but how they treated my partner is again the issue. The NP then told him that they did not have the authority to prescribe him anything. This, again, could have been said clearly and directly over the phone to not waste his or anyone's time but again would not be a huge issue if not for the interactions at the front desk.

My partner was in pain and thought he would receive at least basic level of human decency in his interactions with HUHS staff. He was treated like he was a criminal walking off the street demanding drugs. He has seen his PCP there. This is HIS healthcare provider. They were asking him whether he was a "summer school student"...do they really not know how to use their own system, and that itself is understandable because systems change/new staff/systems act wonky... but being rude and dismissive is not.

I have heard others' stories of bad experiences at HUHS (including my partner having previously been given wrong information in getting blood work done) and now it is just too much. If you are a staff member, then choose another insurance option. I had been a graduate student at Harvard before becoming an admin and thought it easier to stay. But I deeply regret that decision after what my partner experienced.