Institute for Child Development at Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital

They never answer when you call, and dont return to voice messages

I like the doctor here, but I’ve waited two months (since October 2024) for diagnosis/diagnostic reports or even updated chart notes to give to the child study team at school. I still have not received any reports or updated chart notes from the appointment in May 2023 either. Children with IEPs already have enough problems to deal with. This is absolutely ridiculous. I’m not getting any pertinent feedback on why they haven’t been updated or sent to me with 2 months and 18 months, respectively, to complete and enter them. I can definitely say, from one medical professional to another, this is not good or usual practice. I will be lodging a formal complaint.

Awful experience. The P.A made our 2 year old sit and wait for over an hour with 2 toys to entertain her while we answered her questionnaire and then did an evaluation after our child was fed up and acting out. When asked why not do eval before the questionnaire she got offended and doubled down on her reasoning.

Its so hard to get in contact nobody anwer

Great place to take a child with developmental concerns. The staff are professional, courteous, and knowledgeable. The doctor assigned to my son handled him quite well and provided her prognosis in a clear, lucid manner. I highly recommend this place to concerned parents. And I give the Institute two thumbs up.

I was finally able to get appointment after 1 year of being on waiting list and a bunch of paperwork. I recived a call from the hackensack billing department 2 days prior to visit date, that they have spoken with my insurance united health care and the insurance will pay for my sons visit. My Copayment will be 40$ And the rest will be covered by insurance. Today, 1 month after my appointment, i recived a bill of 1,485 $ for 1 hour evaluation. The visit was that the Dr and nurse just talking with my 4 year old son. No blood work or imaging or procedure was performed. For now i will never return to this office again or recommend to anyone. I have decide to call hackensack billing department, i will write a review after i recieve further information weather they will take any action or not to either have my insurance pay for it or decrease or wave this huge bill.

Honestly, they’ve become thieves. My son had been going there since 2015 and I had never had any issues. Post Covid, what they are now doing is contacting you prior to your appointment and letting you know the portion of your bill before hand. What they are NOT telling you is that at the Institute for Childhood Development, they bill for additional time outside of what they tell you and then included as part of the visit. For example, the portion not covered by insurance is $350 which you agree to. But then they are billing for an additional 45 minutes for a “prolonged visit” at an additional rate of $252. They NEVER make you aware of this beforehand, not even that there is a POSSIBILITY of additional charges. Even after speaking to the head of the department, who admitted that they will need to revamp their process of notifying patients beforehand, I have to say that I cannot recommend them in good conscience. We’ve now moved on to a private developmental pediatrician.

Hackensack UMC ICD charges $1500, even with insurance, for one hour of Eileen Dolan's time, no lab work, nothing else, just one hour of evaluation (her talking to your child). This is outrageous - they must be raking it in. It took about 6 months and mountains of paperwork to get an appointment and we weren't told this outrageous amount until the day we arrived. Needless to say ,we left when we were told how much it would cost. The staff here are rude and will not answer their phones or return voicemail. They were supposed to inform us 72 hours in advance of the cost, but due to their total disrespect towards their customers we weren't told the cost until the day we arrived. Hackensack UMC's goal seems to be making outrageous profits at the expense of children with disabilities.