Mercy's Living Plus

Pros

• The care is described as quick, thorough, and compassionate from admission to discharge.
• Alli Ingels in Radiology is praised for knowledge and kindness.
• Dr Montgomery is praised for listening attentively and taking time with patients.
• Nurse Shawn is described as kind and caring.
• The X-ray technician is described as very patient and kind.
• The Oelwein emergency room is described as outstanding.
• The service is fast and friendly, with Nurse Sue helping the patient relax.
• Dr Montgomery personally calls the patient the next day to follow up and coordinate care.

Cons

• The office is described as completely incompetent, with insurance billing errors and lab bills sent to collections.
• New patients needing refills are not welcomed, and prescription refills are mishandled with delays and miscommunication.
• Pharmacy and prescription handling are repeatedly incorrect, including the wrong pharmacy and an improper supply duration (weekly instead of monthly).
• The facility is labeled as profit-driven and malpractice-prone.
• The ER experience is criticized for unsafe practices, including pressure for narcotics, poor hand hygiene, and inadequate care.
• Test results and radiology reports are not promptly forwarded to the provider, causing dangerous delays.
• A reviewer asserts they almost caused harm to a family member due to negligent discharge.

Review

The collection of experiences from Fayette County paints a broad and sometimes jarring portrait of the local healthcare landscape. On one end of the spectrum, some patients describe praise-worthy care: swift intake, thorough labs, and compassionate, attentive evaluations that begin from admission and carry through discharge. In these accounts, the medical teams are attentive, patient, and genuinely concerned about the well-being of their patients, with particular appreciation for thoughtful radiology staff and certain physicians who take time to listen and explain.

Yet for every story of compassionate treatment, there are troubling narratives about administration, billing, and communication that sour the overall experience. Several reviews accuse the system of bureaucratic chaos: labs billed to collections, insurance billing errors, and misdirected or missing paperwork that leaves patients paying out of pocket for services that should be covered. In these cases, patients report a sense of being caught in a revolving door of phone calls, portal messages, and unreturned inquiries, all while facing unexpected bills and unclear explanations about what was charged and why.

Clinical access and prescription management emerge as a particularly fraught area. One recurring gripe centers on new-patient refills and medication management. Some patients describe confrontations with physicians who are hesitant or unwilling to issue refills without additional tests or procedures, only to discover that the requested lab results never arrive or are not properly integrated into their records. Compounding this is a pattern of delays in follow-up communication, with patients reporting that lab results were not in the system, or that pharmacies and prescriptions were not correctly updated in patient portals. The net effect is frustration, lost time, and in some cases, prescriptions that do not align with patients' actual needs or travel constraints.

The frustration extends to the practicalities of medication fulfillment and pharmacy logistics. Several reviews describe a mismatch between the prescribed dispensation schedule and what's actually provided or available. What should be a straightforward three-month supply sometimes ends up as a week-to-week arrangement or a misdirected shipment to the wrong pharmacy, forcing patients to repeat the process and travel unnecessarily. For travelers or people far from the primary pharmacy, these missteps are especially burdensome, turning essential medications into time-consuming and costly errands rather than reliable, continuous care.

There are also vivid, mixed personal experiences about specific providers and staff. Positive voices highlight individuals who exemplify professional care: Alli Ingels in Radiology is praised for combining knowledge with kindness, while Dr. Montgomery in the emergency department is remembered by some patients as attentive and thorough, even delivering personalized follow-up by phone and coordinating with specialists to ensure ongoing access to care. In contrast, other accounts contain sharp criticisms of particular clinicians, with one caller describing a doctor as dismissive of urgent concerns, and another account labeling a clinician with strong negative language. Such divergent views speak to real differences in bedside manner, communication, and perceived empathy across different clinicians within the same system.

The emotional weight of these reviews cannot be ignored. Some comments describe life-and-death moments and severe health concerns, including a grandmother who allegedly faced dangerous discharge decisions. Those who recount those experiences carry strong emotions about the level of care, the responsiveness of staff, and the overall safety of the hospital and clinic processes. Another recurring thread centers on urgent or emergency department experiences, where patients report both exemplary acts of care - from nurses to radiology techs who stayed late or went above and beyond - and serious concerns about initial assessments, hand hygiene, and the risk of inappropriate pain-management pressure or misaligned treatment plans. The tension between compassionate care and systemic missteps is palpable in these accounts.

Finally, the broader administrative and cultural critique runs through many reviews. There is a sense among some patients that the practice prioritizes profitability over patient-centered care, or that management is disconnected from the day-to-day realities faced by patients in the clinics and hospital. A few readers urge caution and suggest alternatives or rival facilities in Waterloo, reflecting a belief that improvements in communication, billing accuracy, and timely follow-up are essential to restoring trust. And there are also calls for accountability, with requests for direct engagement from owners or administrators to address specific grievances about service delivery and the handling of patient feedback.

Taken together, these voices illustrate a healthcare system in Fayette County that can deliver excellent, compassionate care in certain contexts and, in other contexts, can feel disjointed, disorganized, or frustrating. Patients who experience consistent, coordinated communication between radiology, pharmacy, and clinical teams tend to report the highest satisfaction, while those who encounter billing snafus, delayed test results, or mismatched prescriptions describe a very different reality. The best path forward seems to be a combination of attentive, patient-centered care from individual clinicians and a strengthened, transparent administrative backbone - one that ensures timely communication, accurate billing, and seamless coordination across departments so that the compassionate care patients deserve is also the care they receive in a reliable, dependable way.

Hospitals

• Mercy Hospital (0 miles)
• Covenant Clinic (0.1 miles)
• West Village Care Center (14.1 miles)
• East Towne Care Center (14.2 miles)
• Peoples Memorial Hospital (14.2 miles)
• Buchanan County Health Center (14.3 miles)
• Independence Dialysis (14.3 miles)

Physicians

• MercyOne Oelwein Family Medicine (0.1 miles)
• Covenant Clinic (8.3 miles)
• Covenant Clinic (12.8 miles)
• Covenant Clinic (14.3 miles)

Restaurants

• Ice Cream Junction (0.3 miles)
• McDonald's (0.5 miles)
• Subway (0.5 miles)
• Leo's Italian Restaurant (0.6 miles)
• First Garden (0.6 miles)
• Oelwein Cafe (0.6 miles)
• Valone's Family Restaurant (0.6 miles)

Places of Worship

• Zion Lutheran Church (0.3 miles)
• First Baptist Church (0.6 miles)
• Grace United Methodist Church (0.6 miles)
• Antioch Christian Church (0.7 miles)
• Church of Christ-Eastside (0.7 miles)
• Sacred Heart Catholic Church (0.7 miles)
• Sacred Heart Rectory (0.7 miles)

Parks

• Wings Park (0.5 miles)
• Oelwein City Parks Department (1.2 miles)
• Fontana Park (4.9 miles)
• Downing County Park (8.5 miles)
• Twin Bridges County Park (9.9 miles)
• Brush Creek Canyon State Park (13 miles)
• Veteran's Park (14.2 miles)

Pharmacies

• Oelwein Family Pharmacy (0.6 miles)
• Schuchmann's Pharmacy (0.6 miles)
• Between Times Christine Fisher Oelwein (0.7 miles)
• Scott Pharmacy (12.6 miles)
• Hartig Drug (14.3 miles)
• Ryan Pharmacy (14.3 miles)

Theaters

• The Grand Theatre (0.6 miles)

Transportation

• X-L Specialized Trailers (0.7 miles)
• U-Haul Neighborhood Dealer (0.9 miles)
• U-Haul Neighborhood Dealer (12.6 miles)
• Independence Municipal Airport (IIB) (15.3 miles)

Cafes

• Fayette Sweets Cafe (12.7 miles)
• Scotters Coffee (14.3 miles)
• R & R Cafe (14.3 miles)