Phoenix Children's Hospital - Thomas Campus - Phoenix, Arizona

kayla H.

Great experience! Nurses and Doctor Sarah were fantastic, kind and patient. They made my daughter feel safe and not worried at all. They informed me on everything going on and made the whole scary experience much smoother for us both.

Aubrey B.

This hospital is a criminal organization. PCH has ZERO accountability, and it shows. They believe that as the “premier children’s hospital” in the state they have a monopoly and the demand to do whatever and charge whatever they want without consequence. Unfortunately it’s probably true. Someone at the top is making BANK on CHILDREN AND FAMILY SUFFERING.

Our experience the last three years from scheduling to billing, and even the care, has been horrific and traumatic! I have taken my youngest son to many departments for medical attention (emergency room, GI, endocrinology, aerodigestive clinic, covid testing, blood work, etc.) Outpatient care is bad and inpatient care is worse!!

It’s always nearly impossible to schedule appointments. We usually had to wait months for care that didn’t qualify as emergency, but was very necessary. I can’t describe how much my son suffered while we waited. There were many mishaps and neglect throughout his care. It’s really hard to contact and communicate with doctors and get prescriptions in a timely manner.

Finally, the billing is absolutely criminal. It took us OVER A YEAR to get our bills resolved from our first hospitalization. We have to babysit the billing department at every single step. They would call me to bill me over the phone well BEFORE the appointment, and then charge me again for the same appointment/service in person (which is a lot to keep straight as the primary caregiver for a sick kid.) They even once “misplaced” a check sent for an $80,000 hospital bill.

We have taken this to the very top levels at PCH, with absolutely nothing to show for it. It’s clear that this hospital’s goal is to keep children sick and bankrupt families.

My middle son was recently diagnosed with childhood nephrotic syndrome (kidney disease). We got a referral from his pediatrician to PCH nephrology department. They informed us it would take them over TWO MONTHS to schedule my son with ACTIVE KIDNEY DISEASE.

Instead we took him to Banner Diamond Children’s Hospital in Tucson. In the time we would have waited for a consultation at PCH, Banner Diamond saw my son, started his treatment, and got him in remission!! Plus, the billing at Banner is vastly better, especially for self-pay or health share patients.

Banner, while not perfect, is a much better hospital than Phoenix Children’s Hospital. It was absolutely worth the drive to Tucson for prompt, attentive care and fair billing.

Most recently, my son was ordered an anesthetized brain MRI by his Phoenix Children’s Hospital pediatric endocrinologist. We are cash pay patients. We received the cash pay estimate for the MRI a month after we scheduled. It was estimated to cost FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS 🤯

Phoenix Children’s Hospital always charges the absolute most, and they refuse to work with cash paying patients. (We are still working with billing to receive a statement for our last procedure two months ago. I have called every other day and they always have an excuse for not getting us a statement indicating exactly how much we owe with a cash discount and due date. How hard can it be to tell your customers how much they owe you and when it’s due?! This has been true for every single bill the past three years. For this reason we weren’t excited to owe PCH another $15,000.)

I called everywhere throughout the valley and found Valleywise Health does pediatric anesthetized MRIs for less than $2,000.

I don’t know how PCH is still in business when they charge 10 TIMES more and consistently scam you in the billing department. It’s horrible to do this period, but absolutely evil to do to overwhelmed families with sick kids.

It’s clear to me that PCH is a business, not healthcare. (They truly take the care out of healthcare!) If you have the option to go anywhere else, take your business elsewhere!! It’s complicated, but we’ll slowly be working on completely transitioning to Banner Children’s.

Shawn H.

The guy who answered the phone at 6 o’clock in the morning was extremely helpful. The nurses inside the hospital were very kind. The signage is completely irresponsible and needs a lot of improvement. The place is huge, but very clean. The cafeteria was great.

Kelsey L.

This hospital had no plan for actual care of my 1 year old child. They moved so slowly that the original plan of action was no longer an option. They tortured my child for no reason. They had to try twice to put an IV in, which is fine, but then never even gave him any sort of fluids. We were told he would be held for days to be watched until he passed the foreign object for *days* without being allowed to eat or drink water the entire stay. For days!! And acted surprised he was dehydrated! Of course he was dehydrated, get hadn't had water in 9 hours per your request and they didn't give him the IV fluids to help him. They threatened use repeatedly to try to get us to stay inside of taking our son home and "watching and waiting" which was their medical advice and plan. They could not communicate what was really the benefit for staying and the risk for leaving without just citing the worst care scenarios.
If you have the option to go to a different hospital, I would serious consider it. You'll likely get better care anywhere else.

Anh A.

Being first time parents come with so many fears, let alone being a parent to a child that has a rare medical diagnosis. Dr. Ben Padilla has been a crucial part of our son’s life since he was 2 days old. He has continued to help us navigate this difficult season of our lives with the most personalized care. A solid provider like him is so special! We trust him and all his treatment plans for our son. We are SO grateful for him. Dr. Padilla is intelligent, kind, so amazing at what he does, and one of a kind provider. He has advocated for our son every step of the way in an honest and educating way. We will forever be grateful that our son has a surgeon that truly cares about his work and his patients.

Mike M.

I wish I could give them 5 stars. Their doctors and majority of top notch. You have some nurses that are less caring but overall if you are here long enough you know who will be the best for your family.

Where we have seen opportunities while here for improvement is with the secretaries as you enter the floor and their support services throughout.

I personally do not like having to wait to be admitted to the floor when you have someone talking about how their day has been and discussing what they are going to do that evening and not pay any attention to the patient families that are waiting to get back to see their loved ones.

Maintenance has a lot to be desired for as great as the building is. Multiple days of elevators down across the campus. You see light fixtures being held up with tape. Outlets missing covers in ICU. Painting in rooms that appears hasn’t been touched in a long time.

Housekeeping at times will just come in a room without knocking g and it is cursory at best the cleaning they are doing. We have been here now for 6 weeks and I do not think I have seen a housekeeper one time completely clean the room.

Kitchen staff some are great and some are as rude as can be they need to be reminded they are here for the patient families and not the other way around. Also food at times has been undercooked.

I guess the adage of renters versus owners can come into play here. I have heard that most of their support services are outsourced. Staff in these departments do not have a vested interest as much as the staff that is actually employed by the hospital.

Again I can’t say enough about the Drs and nurses. But the support staff needs to be looked at hard.

Lashay W.

I took my 3 year old here for joint pains, fever and headache. I was here 6 hours. I had to ask for X-rays to be done because they weren’t even going to do that. I was told she had growing pains, they gave her Tylenol and we were sent home. Fast forward today her symptoms have gotten worse. I took her to the arrowhead location and it was confirmed she has some type of inflammation in her body. We were admitted and have been here 3 days so obviously something is wrong. I really felt like the doctors at the Thomas campus did not hear me and brushed me off to thinking it wasn’t serious. I know my child. Something is wrong

T A. J. H.

In December we took our son to the Arrowhead campus ER because he was really sick with a virus. They were very thorough with his exam. They then wanted to keep him overnight for some fluids, and then the hospital stay turned into “let’s figure out why he’s so tiny” mind you he was 6 years old, almost 7 (Jan was his 7th birthday) and he was barely 38lbs and really short for his age. They ran so many tests but all came back normal, but during one of the nights of our 5 day hospital stay he was in tachycardia all night so they gave him two rounds of Bolus, to try and slow his heart rate down. Didn’t work. So the next morning they asked if they could do an echocardiogram on his heart and make sure everything was okay. Within 30 minutes of them being finished they came back to tell us our son had been born with an extremely rare heart defect, called Cor Triatriatum, which can cause failure to thrive. Also a long list of other issues, including the “exercise induced asthma” all his pediatricians would say he had. They were quick with getting us scheduled and prepped for his surgery to repair his heart. Fast forward to February 18th when he had his open heart surgery, I was EXTREMELY nervous and terrified because my babies life was in their hands. They said they’ll text me with updates throughout the surgery, but instead the nurse with them was so kind and knew I would appreciate them calling me instead and she called me once he was asleep, said he fell asleep laughing, which is amazing because my boy wasn’t scared at all and felt comfortable with everyone there, which is rare since he’s a shy boy for the most part. She called once they started, when he was put on bypass, again when he was off bypass, and again when they were stitching him up. His surgeon, Dr. Mohamad Alaeddine came out after the surgery to let us know he did great, and everything went well, and shook our hands. Later while my son was in the ICU we had an amazing nurse, who talked us through everything, I wish for the life of me I could remember her name, but I met so many people that week that I can’t remember. But she honestly was a heaven sent. My son had to eventually have a blood transfusion after surgery which went well as well, and they were quick to notice he needed it. Without hesitation she ordered blood for my baby boy. All our nurses were great, caring and just all around amazing. Also, a HUGE shout out to Reba, the child life specialist who took so much time out to spend with my son, and he absolutely LOVED HER so much. He connected so much with her and enjoyed every moment with her. He’s a tad sad he won’t be able to see her everyday anymore but she will always have a special place in his special heart. Thank you so much to PCH, Dr. Alaeddine, and all the staff who took such great care of us. We truly appreciate all of you, and thank you so much for saving my son’s life and giving him a second chance at a normal life. WE LOVE PCH! (Also we went to both campuses)