TRI CITY REGIONAL CANCER
7350 W Deschutes Ave Bldg a, Kennewick, WA 99336, USA
Operator: TRI CITY REGIONAL CANCER
Facility info
CRITICAL STAFFING INCONSISTENCY Clinical staff (nurses, radiation techs, some doctors) generally earn strong praise for competence and compassion. Reception/administrative staff frequently criticized for lack of empathy, poor communication, and dismissive attitudes toward patients and families. OPERATIONAL ISSUES Appointment scheduling problems: cancellations without notice, long wait times (2+ months reported), poor follow-up communication Biopsy/test result handling: patients report delays and lack of clarity on what's needed or why they're waiting Pain management referrals: denied or delayed; patients directed to ER instead of therapeutic services Post-treatment support: limited physical therapy or counseling options for post-radiation symptoms; staff reluctant to provide referrals COMMUNICATION GAPS Patients not informed of missing documents or test requirements Reminder systems inadequate; staff shame patients for rescheduling Doctor-patient interactions: some report lack of honesty about prognosis; limited eye contact/engagement No proactive nurse navigator outreach reported FACILITY EXPERIENCE Staff attitude highly variable: some genuinely supportive; front desk/reception often described as cold, distant, lax, rude Staff occasionally reported working while symptomatic (COVID) Administrative decisions questioned (piano/waterfall purchases vs. patient services) FINANCIAL CONCERNS Insurance billing practices questioned Collections action against families after patient death despite promised donation coverage Lack of transparency on costs NOTABLE POSITIVES Chemo and radiation nursing staff consistently praised Some individual doctors and CMAs earn strong endorsements Community outreach (meeting space for charities, wig donations)
Driver reviews
I am very sad to say that I am not very impressed with the nurse navigator system. My aged mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and we never heard from the nurse navigators. She underwent a biopsy, diagnosis, surgery and post-op without any contact from the nurse navigators. Thankfully, her surgeon, Dr. Droesch, was great and his office team were very good to my mother. Also, I can definitely recommend Dr. Sherry Zhao, who is a radiation oncologist. My mother and I had a wonderful appointment with her. Dr. Zhao is kind and incredibly knowledgeable. The CMA working with Dr. Zhao, Lolly, was also wonderful - very sweet and helpful. I would give five stars to Dr. Droesch, Dr. Zhao and their assigned CMAs.
The doctors we've seen here have been very good, but the reception staff seems to lack people skills. I called to reschedule my aunt's appointment as I am her sole caregiver and work 50+ hours per week and they shamed me for rescheduling (with more than 24 hours notice mind you) and they guilted me saying another patient could have been scheduled. My aunt's diagnosis came 2 months after she lost her husband to brain cancer and 6 months ago we lost access to a caregiver only to be put on a separate wait list. Please train your staff to have compassion with folks. If you don't want people to reschedule/cancel so close to appointments, maybe send out the reminder texts sooner. People have lives to live outside of Dr. appointments and it was a very cold delivery to guilt someone in a circumstance you know nothing about.
My wife Terri phay had lung cancer she survived for 6 years with the help of chemo, I'd like to thank the people who gave her, the chemotherapy in the cancer center.my wife thought they were great, thank you all of you.
Dr. Chintapatla should not be an oncologist. He is not honest with his patients regarding their prognosis and fills them with false hope in order to be reimbursed by insurance. My father came with an aggressive form of cholangiocarcinoma and Dr. Chintapatla told him that he was looking at 12 months or less even if he had chemo. The problem with that is we knew by my father’s clinical signs he was looking at much, much less. Because of this false hope, my father underwent chemo, even when he had such hypotension that the staff had to push several bags of saline to bring his blood pressure up enough to be a candidate for chemo. But we (all family in healthcare) did not want to influence my father’s decision making process. My father trusted the “professionals”. We know the mind is powerful and we didn’t want to take his hope away. But if Dr. Chintapatla was simply honest about my father’s prognosis, then he would not have pursued the path laid out for him.<br>An oncologist should know that brain mets mean 3-4 months. An oncologist should know that when you sleep over 22 hours a day, you are looking at weeks. When the oncologist says you have 12 months or less, it fills the patient with the hope that they have maybe 10 months to live.<br>My father died exactly 2 weeks after his followup with Dr. Chintapatla. That’s certainly “less than 12 months”, but it’s not what the average person will expect.<br>When you are seeing an oncologist, you are expecting hard truth, not false hope. Shame on Dr. Chintapatla for providing the latter. He didn’t even have the courtesy to look at my father during his appointment. He never saw my father as a person - he saw a chart. He ordered chemo knowing that it would do more harm than good. Why?<br>The only reason there are two stars instead of one is because the nurses and radiation oncology staff are good at what they do. But as far as Dr. Chintapatla goes, he needs to change professions. He should not be an oncologist if this is how he p
My mother got breast cancer and was suggested to go here by her friend. This was an absolute mistake. We called them every day asking for updates and told them if they needed ANYTHING to let us know and we would get it to them. A month later they called us and said they were waiting for biopsy results that was the only thing that confirmed she had cancer at all. Her doctor had sent 3 times and they never once told us they needed it. So we hand delivered it the next day and they looked at us like we were a nuisance and told us it would take time to process at this point we were done sitting on our hands so we called Fred Hutch in Seattle and over the phone they immediately scheduled to see her that week. Then these jokers called a few days later trying to schedule texts without having seen her or even contacting us to inform us they wanted tests.<br>TLDR-if you have cancer and the cancer center is making you wait without giving you an explanation detailing EXACTLY what they are waiting on go somewhere else
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