Dr. Teresa Cvengros, MD

I had been a patient with Dr. Teresa Cvengros for 3 years up until 02/24/2025. It started out almost stellar in terms of the primary care provided but really went downhill 6 months ago. I wanted to discharge myself from the Physician-Patient relationship far sooner in those 6 months, and was fortunate to find one that suits my specialized needs at Howard Brown Health. HER NURSES ARE STRAIGHT UP TERRIBLE. She used to have an AMAZING NURSE/Physician’s Assistant by the name of Edgar. His phlebotomy skills were unmatched. He left no bruising on my arm, he could find the vein within seconds to minutes, draw the blood, and I’d be on my way. He was so personable and so nice and I looked forward to having him do my vitals and my testing. And then he was gone…. Six months ago, I went in. There was a nurse that saw me with curly hair and a no nonsense attitude. She did just fine with the initial examination and vitals and all that, but when it came time to draw blood, she had issues finding veins where other nurses had no problem after using enough due diligence. After looking at and sticking a needle in my left arm, closing blinds because the sun was blocking out my veins apparently, and not even taking any look at my right arm, she wanted to draw blood in my hand, which I’m not used to and just did not want, even if it’s a normal second option. I did not want this because she said she had to do it to someone before this, and she had not even looked at my right arm. I rejected the hand option and she IMMEDIATELY checked my right arm for 4 seconds before saying, “okay, you’re going to Quest” all passive aggressively. I’ve never had to go to quest. I was livid and did let my frustration show. Dr. Cvengros, to her credit, did do my blood work after, finding my vein in my arm after only 5-10 seconds. But that’s just my point…no nurses have had such difficulty with my arm that they had to go to my hand. Had the nurse just done their full due diligence, I have utmost confidence and faith that they would’ve found it (I trust them and know they know what they’re doing so long as they actually try). I had contemplating finding a new Dr., but her appointments were easy Saturdays and I figured this nurse would be short lived. Guess what? Next appointment, no nurse to be found. Just her scrambling to do everyone’s vitals, running behind on appointments for an hour or more, and being on her own with maybe her front desk assistant. All her nurses or that nurse specifically called out that day. Either way, that nurse hadn’t been seen since, and she was garbage at her job. So the last and final appointment, on January 18th, 2025, had a new nurse. She was decent enough at her job, but had a cold demeanor. She could find my vein fine, but was rough and cold in her approach to her job. So she jammed the blood test needle into my arm just fishing for the vein, but she definitely found it! Only with the added effect of leaving my arm bruised for a week or two. I was just glad she could do her job. Another horrible aspect of this place is they want to double bill/charge you. It’s the Chicago medical special. Charge you/your insurance for your appointment with co pay and then charge you/bill you for a telemedicine to “review the results”. Doesn’t matter if there are any concerning results or if it’s all normal. It is standard PROCEDURE at this practice to bill you for a telemedicine results review. And if you refuse/only want to do the one appointment and look at the results on MyQuest? They eventually retaliate against you by discharging you as a patient themselves. I got my letter in the mail, dated February 20th, detailing this because I told them I didn’t want to do a telemedicine right away and would schedule in advance because in that instance I did need to go over the results to get a prescription I needed for them. Yep. You heard it right. They lock prescriptions and treatments behind the second telemedicine appointment, despite them knowing you need treatment. Keep in mind most doctors offices only follow up on results by phone, especially if they’re normal results. They don’t charge insurance and you by proxy via copay just to tell you whether your results are good or not. What this place is doing is extorting their patients as well as insurance by billing extra “telemedicines” that are really just phone calls. It may be totally fine or legal within local or state regulations for telemedicine appointments to do it (I’m not entirely sure but I would imagine or hope they do enough due diligence themselves with these practices), but it is a slimy way to handle patients regardless.

I went in for a check-up which involved some blood work. I did not have an issue with the quality of care, but rather the way I was billed for services. I have never been charged for follow up phone calls to hear my bloodwork results, but this office charged me $102 for a two minute phone call. There is no alternative way to get your results, so you could very easily be stuck with bills for services you didn't feel you received. I would not recommend this office.

Saved my life. I went in for a pulled muscle. A lot of symptoms didn't add up, but instead of just assuming she took the better-safe-than-sorry route which I am forever grateful for. I went in for an ultrasound and it turned out I had a blood clot in my calf (healthy, non-smoking 24 year old at the time btw...). Caught it early, got me on blood thinners, and changed birth control method (was the cause of clot), and I'm all better now. I ended up moving to a new city, but she's a great doctor.