medical assistant

nurse practitioner

x-ray technician

medical receptionist

certified medical assistant

American Family Care

I would start by stating that I have never left a review on a former employer before.   I have always believed you should never burn a bridge, but in this case I think any potential candidate for a Center Administrator position at AFC should be aware before jumping in with both feet. I worked at AFC from Oct 2023 - Dec 2024. In those 14 months I learned a lot about Urgent Care Clinics and their philosophies on patient volume, management style and employee priorities.  Also note I left on my own accord with 2 weeks notice, I was not fired, let go or asked to leave. 

What I was thankful for:

The providers! hands down they have a very difficult job and are constantly being asked to change schedules, work excruciatingly long hours over consecutive days and move between clinics with no warning.  They are worked like mules with no real sense of appreciation for their sacrifice.

The Staff, generally speaking,  are extremely kind, well trained, and supportive of the patients. They take good care the patients and do everything they can to help them out.  They start at well below market value, and when as the hiring manager you recommend a starting rate it typically falls on deaf ears and HR offers what their software tells them to. HR will negotiate some but very seldom will they move more than 50 cents to a dollar. 

Why I left: 

They don't really want someone to manage their clinic, what they really want is a glorified float nurse.  So you can be on call every day and cover any time someone is out. Regardless of weekend, nights or holiday. Then if you get OT hours (yes they pay the manager hourly rates) they ask you to schedule a day off during the week so they don't have to pay you OT. So much for paying you for the sacrifice you made to your schedule  to cover clinic hours. 

Working Holidays, they only close Christmas day,  and therefore, if a holiday falls on a weekday as the Center Administrator you are expected to work, unless you want to take PTO. Even the 1 day a year they close, which is Christmas, its unpaid so burn 8 PTO hours if you want to get paid for that day. As long as your ok working holidays, then this is a good job for you. 

No real independence to run your clinic, very micromanaged from the corporate offices, reminders non stop about approving/reviewing timesheets,  needing to send photographic proof that you hung up marketing materials,  constant reminders in the Spring and Fall to send staff home when it slows down.  

No input or control of providers in your clinic.  Although you are tasked with managing patient flow. You have no ability to schedule providers, or decide what hours they need to work each day. Do note that you will even get counseled if you send a sick provider home who has strep, as its not your role to do that.  

Bonuses are set and based on patient volume. Even when things are completely out of your control, such as loosing power to the clinic for days, or there is no provider available to see patients,  corporate will not adjust your daily/monthly volume numbers.  You are expected to somehow make those numbers up.  

Annual raises for staff, while I only went through one cycle in my role at AFC, I was told it was common for the process to happen this way. Managers were given a percentage to use as a guideline for their staff, i.e. 4% for the clinic. We could then recommend to HR what each staff member should get based on performance  on the annual review and scoring.  HR and Senior management reviews and will let the manager know what the raise was to be to communicate to the staff (in theory). However, what happens is the recommendation  list is giving to HR and Senior Management then never given back to the Clinics. The pay increases are adjusted by someone or some people at Corporate and shows up in the staffs paycheck. The manager has no idea what the actual increase was as it never gets communicated back .  So you cannot have a discussion with your staff until they come asking questions about why they received what they did. I wasn't able to honestly tell them what it was, because I had no idea what they actually got.  In almost every case the amount my staff received differed from what I recommended. Interesting way to do a review process. 

Finally,  the support functions are all in the corporate offices (Alabama)(no support outside corporate hours, even though clinics are open outside corporate hours) . IT, Purchasing, Maintenance, HR etc... Its very hard to reach folks and get a timely answer. For example, If your plumbing is jammed up like a clogged sink in your employee kitchen, you have to notify maintenance and then wait until they respond. Which is typically days, in the meantime things continue to go unfixed until they get around to it.  There is no ability to call in a repair person to work on the building locally. 

My typical day was clocking in early, taking out all the supplies, turning on the machines and doing quality control tests and checking expiration dates.  Throughout the day as I would make phone calls to patients, pharmacies or answer calls, I was also drawing blood, collecting urine/fecal samples, throat and nasal swabs and running tests that were time sensitive to give to patients.  At times I would have to run extra quality control checks on machines or test kits or contact the outside labs about any pending results or machine problems.  We tried to have everyone out in under an hour.  It would get busy, very busy at times..  No matter how many patients I would have to go get samples from or pending tests on my counter, I was also having to check in patients, take their vitals, give shots, do physicals or other medical treatments/procedures. 95% of patients coming in would always get at least 1 lab test ordered.  I enjoyed the job very much, many of the doctors were funny and willing to teach or listen.  Some doctors were just pent-up, silent, and short-tempered and manipulative.  I worked at other clinic locations as well.  I didnt' like my area being out in the open right by the nursing station and hallway, imho it gave too much possiblity to contamination, lack of privacy, and crowded.  And I didnt like the habits of staff of expecting my full attention or getting on my case about little things, some I wasn't aware (regardless of any effort on my part) right there at my computer station even if I was on the phone with a patient or trying to fix problems with the computer/lab results. They had no sense of boundaries or timing.  It was very embarrassing. It was a very confusing place; you would be told to follow policy then few seconds later you were told not to but follow doctors orders.  That's all well and good if the doctor, management and corporate doesn't set you up then and hassle you about not following policy.  I found some of the staff's opinion that I wasn't busy enough with my own job that I should do theirs too and at times they would be rude or ugly about it.  I got along with some of my coworkers, they were helpful and supportive and a few I could trust my back. 

The most enjoyable part of the job was the challenge and diversity, getting to learn new things and interact with the patients. The hardest part was adjusting to the increased workflow at times with hardly any breaks or space.  It was also hard to not feel bullied or pushed around by the people being rude, ugly and snapping at you.  You expect that from sick, ill, injured patients not your coworkers who are supposed to be professional and your team mate.

overall its not a bad job and i love my coworkers. It has been a great learning expierence. i have enjoyed my time at afc but what  i do not like is how corporate does not care for or treat their employees the greatest. It could always be worse but they dont give them the pay, the benefits, the time off for holidays, or proper training that the employees deserve. they dont pay you extra to do more than one job. they dont close ever except one holiday. they dont even close for the fourth of july. they wont negotiate your pay when youre first hired. they tell you a set pay that they come up with and thats it. no negotiation. they will low-blow you with pay. i dont like companies who treat their hard working employees like this. its not right. these employees went to school and have degrees that require a certain amount of pay that none of them are recieving at afc. not even close to it. there is not a scheduled 30 minute lunch break you have to eat between patients or when you arent busy. we can tell patients they will be waiting several minutes other management doent like patients waiting longer than 1 minute even if we are eating. the company could be ran so much better than it is and be alot more organized. the corporate aspect is awful and they arent training their nedw hires properly and stuff like that. the people who work at the clinics are great i enjoy working with them.  one last thing you cant have your employees telling patients to " please refer us to your family and friends" these patients are sick and not feeling well the last thing they want to hear is a sales pitch. im sorry but i will not tell my patients that as they walk out of afc. the last thing they want is for me to sell them something and half of the patients have been to afc before multiple times and they still want us to say it. it makes us sound impersonable and like we dont care if they feel better we just want them to send us more patients to get more money. that how it sounds to the patients. i had a patient say that to me one time and i agree with that patient. but like i said it wasnt a bad job and it was a great learning expierence but i cant stand when corporate treat their hardworking employees like afc corporate has that i have witnessed so far.

I truly enjoyed working at AFC, my clinic manger went above and beyond and my coworkers were wonderful. The issues with corporate employees, especially regional supervisors, the treatment from these individuals is ridiculous, along with the hours and pay. They are inconsiderate, rude, and hostile.I have personally had major conflict ions with my college and work life which they refuse to work with. If an employee is bettering themselves through higher educations a majority of employers tend to work w their school schedule and take their eduction into consideration, however this isn’t the case here. Often times they seem to forget that employees have families and lives outside of work, it is always an issue if you need to attend to a child or family emergency while working. I have seen many issues with providers that are overlooked bc there are underlining issues which coporate refuses to address. You’re work is based off patient review which, often times are most related to the providers inadequate care, rather than the staffs, instead of addressing the issue w the provider these scores are applied to every worker in the clinic, now matter how well the clinic staff performs. The pay is terrible, it is a great job for college students who are just working through school, however not for individuals with families, they prefer to keep turn over rates low, but also it’s rare to make over 12-14$ an hour at afc. With the issue in lay, region supervisors will cut hours to 30/40 weeks, at 8/9 dollars an hour, their common pay rate, you make very little in the summer time, making it difficult for those with bills and families. Over all afc is good for college age individuals working for experience, for a short time, but after a year in the environment, it does become mentally exhausting between the drama, the negative attitude, and the ridiculous standards which they hold workers, who are paid very little too. There are wonderful people who work at the clinic level and there are wonderful people who are employeed at the coporate level, however; those who are directly over clinics within certain regions are NOT doing their best to ensure employee satisfaction, positive work environment, or making sure providers are giving patients quality care. There are many positive aspect toward the company, but they are  often ruined by those directly in charger of clinics.

The Owner is more worried about PROFIT over caring for PT's. No matter what symptom a pt may call about, we are directed to bring them into urgent care. Knowing there are things they have no business coming to urgent care for. Workers are treated like we are clueless from this owner as well. Always looking at cameras to see what we are doing.  When you have ZERO medical experience as a owner, you should take advice from those who do esp ones with 20 plus years of exp. The owner also fired the cleaners who came weekly to clean center. If this isn't against all rules and regulations of a healthcare facility I don't know what is, esp now with the COVID-19. As an employee we kept asking(manager)when we will get cleaners back, her response would be, I can't talk to him about that. He looks on the camera and will see you all talking and/or on your phone. MIND YOU, we see 65 plus pt's a day, with ZERO break, 12 plus hours.. thats right!! No appreciation and NO raises. Last Christmas he tried to be sneaky given bonus in some employees checks. Word got out, a story was made up, they did that to some because they never had a raise in 2 years. He quickly came with a gift card for others. Nothing is sacred there, everyone will know your business, thanks to the manager. She keeps asking employees that work there for dirt on each other. 
Well her only concern is for everyone to like her, yet she starts drama between her employees. She then turns around to play innocent to owner and makes up stories about employees. She also is mad when she may have to cover a shift due to call outs, which don't happen often. She doesn't know how to do the Tech job in the back, she can't draw labs, misses veins constantly, calls others for help. When an employee tries to reach out to owner to sit and tell him whats going on, she blocks that and he doesn't respond to us. The turn over rate is EXTREMELY high. The last 2 new people quit in less then 2 weeks of working, due to the manager. 
IF you decide to work there, and you are good with, long hours, ZERO appreciation from OWNER, A manager who is clueless on how to run an office, A manager who just likes to talk about herself and her own money, A manager who will cry to get people to work for her, A manager who makes or tells you that you need to come in sick with fevers, because there is no coverage, which is why the last new employee left in under 2 weeks, she came in with 102 fever and flu a positive, and you like to be used and abused, by all means AFC ASTON and HAVERTOWN is the place to be.

A typical day: begins with clocking in by 7:45a.m..  Prepping for patient arrival. Doors open at 8 a.m.. Triaging patients, escorting them to exam room. Checking EMR for doctors orders and then carrying out those orders for treatment (X-rays, shots, breathing treatments, etc.).  Eating lunch when possible. (Meal moment is what it's called). 

What I learned:  Cross-trained as a Medical Assistant, COC Drug Screening.  We did a lot of those for trucking companies and other potential employers.  DOT Physicals. 

Management: the manager I worked with was not difficult.  Tried to accommodate when possible for family emergencies, appointments, and other time off when needed.

Co-workers: Mostly pleasant.  Complaining about the low pay and long hours.  Stating that they were looking for something with better hours and more pay. Medical Assistant and front office positions have had high turnover rates.  Those who left went to jobs with better pay and better hours. Some were just not good employees.

Hardest part of the job:  the low pay and long hours are the most difficult.  Some doctors are a lot slower than others.  I have had 13+ hour days.  Not because we were that busy, but because certain physicians are just SLOW.  When I was hired, I was told that if I cross-trained as an MA, that I would receive a raise.  I have yet to get it.  I was told that I was at the top tier of my pay level after I trained.  The raise  that I did get after one year was very disappointing. Consistent hard work and reliability are not rewarded.  Years of experience are not rewarded. Willingness to learn and execute new skills is not rewarded.  The doors are not allowed to be locked until 6:00 p.m. no matter how busy or backed up we are.  There have been instances where I got out at 9:00 p.m.  There is not time for extracurricular activities or family life. Wellnes for employees is seemingly not promoted. The only holiday that the facilities are officially closed is Christmas.  A lot of family time is lost.  But not for the Corporate people and managers.  Greed.

Most enjoyable:  are the majority of patient interactions, and knowing without a doubt that I have done my job well despite  whatever else may be occurring.

AFC is the WORST company I have EVER worked for. They would rather pay someone with zero experience or knowledge $10 an hour than hire someone with actual pertinent experience and pay them more. The working conditions are awful. There is constant drama, you are overworked and severely underpaid. When accepting the position, you are required to fill out a form stating that you are "interested" in cross-training. Later, this form will be used against you and you will be FORCED to cross-train and then worked like a slave. If they are short-staffed and if you are cross-trained, you are expected to singlehandedly fill every position needed for that day. The Destin office recently acquired a new manager after running for months without any manager. The new manager, although doing her best with what she is given, is very unorganized- this, in turn, causes a lot of stress throughout the clinic. She claims to be going to bat for you against corporate but will turn around and talk poorly about you to coworkers as well as talking poorly to you about your own coworkers. As an older woman, one would assume she would be mature and not feed into the drama throughout the clinic. As for the physicians, they truly are incredible. They do a marvelous job and truly care about giving the patients the best treatment they can. Corporates' policy is that you need to get ANY and ALL people through the doors. You take their money, even if you KNOW you cannot treat them, bring them back, assess them, and then tell them there is nothing we can do and send them on their way. Now, for those with insurance, this might not be an issue but there are people who come in that are "self-pay". After paying $175 and being told there is nothing we can do for you, they do not receive a refund. Ethically and morally speaking, this is wrong. $175 is a lot of money to some people, but AFC does not care. If you are considering working here, please take my advice and run the other way. Nothing good will come from working here except MINIMAL experience you could acquire working in a much more stable environment making far more money than you ever will here. As for something positive about working here, I have made an incredible friend in a fellow coworker and for that I am thankful.

Business manager micromanages everything. Micromanages the whole crew. Many good hard working employees quit because of it and no central administrator has stayed for so long. Questioning how you work, always wants to rush things. Just complete unorganized chaos. There is no such thing as work life balance. The pay does not equal hard work employees are going through. Work schedule is done weekly which makes it hard to plan stuff around. Workflow changes constantly. Business manager completely has no medical experience and always questions everything regarding a patient. Questions the providers of their treatment always asking to change charting codes. There is cameras everywhere, even the break room and business manager is always watching. No sense of privacy. Does not care about their patients and their own employees. It is always about money. Always cares about the patient's side but never their own employees. Two faced, saying they are thankful to have you as an employee, yet talks and complains about employees with other employees. Has favorites and gives raises to their favorites. Highly toxic. If an employee is sick, don't recommend being seen at your own workplace as you'll receive a big fat bill that your own employer won't waive and still wants you to work when you're really sick. Employees are working to death seeing 100 + patients a day. Under staffed all the time and there's only 1 provider on site with 2 back office and 2 front office however, it is most likely under staffed. Business manager demands to not physically leave the facility for 10 min break. If you want to clean (mop and sweep) the facility including the toilets while doing your scope of practice then this is the job for you. Insurance is free but, no 401K and the types of insurances suck and very cheap. Workplace hazard, covid testing is done outside, triaging patients on a very hot day like 90 degrees plus and working in the rain getting soaked. Does not care that there's a bee hive outside the clinic in which we walk through. Facility is not clean even though they hired a cleaning crew. There's always cockroaches moving around. Basically modern day slavery.

You really have to kiss butt or be in a click to work there. Supervisors talk about fellow employees and constantly putting others down. This goes on at all of the clinics. You have to work through your lunch breaks, that is if you get one. You have to be there by 730am and can't leave untl last patient leaves and you close at 6pm so you can be there as late as 7 or 8 pm. The hard work you put in is not appreciated or acknowledged. They say they are all about the patients when really it is all about the money. Went 3 years without a raise only criticized for not seeing a certain amount of patients a day.  You usually have 1 doctor, who is worked to death, for all the patients and they want the patients in and out within a certain amount of time. They are not really willing to work with single parents or parents in general. They say they don't discriminate but if you are overweight they won't hire you and if you have tattoos you better be able to cover them or you are not hired either. Schedules are changed without you being notified so you have to constantly check it everyday. Regardless to what position you are hired in for you have to learn everything. You only get 7 days of training when you start, if you are lucky. Each clinic does things differently and in their own way. No consistency at all and alot of the medical assistants, lab techs/phlebotomist did not go to school to do this, they got 7 days of training to do what took most 9+ months to learn and paid the same or more than the ones who went to school. You are told not to discuss your salary or it is automatic termination, but everyone discusses them. You can be moved from one clinic to another to cover without being asked if it was ok or an inconvenience.  You get paid mileage for it but it only adds up to a tank of gas. Saying anything to a supervisor or higher management does not do any good.  It will go through one ear and out the other and you're labeled a trouble maker or causing a hostile work environment. 

Ups and downs like everywhere but more downs then ups. A good place to gather experience and build a tough skin. They always lowball staff pay to try and get someone in for a position to maintain low operational cost. They hire with the expectation of cross training into other positions so that they can use you with little increases in pay. Will definitely take advantage and run you into the ground if allowed. Micromanaging is beyond the worst thing. Open 7 days a week staff at bare minimal or as close as possible. Still want to maintain maximum number of patients with staff regardless of experiences or capabilites. Seem to be OK with individuals who are minimally trained expect managerial staff to cover positions as needed which if your at a clinic with "low" patient volume means if you know how to work any and all positions just plan on working the clinic or at least being told to. The entire operation of the company seems to be about profit margins instead of patient care. Expect staff to want to stay at a place where they actively look for reasons to let people go during the slow season, promises 70 hrs for full time unless your not needed or unwilling to travel beyond the primary clinic you are at, numerous individuals leave due to inability to maintain lifestyle due to substandard pay, you work in a medical setting but can make more as a cashier or stocker at a local target or Walmart. billing issues constantly being brought in due to billing coding or sending bills to patients prior to insurance. Everyone at the top of the chain is either out of touch or worse doesn't care about the operation or the staff and by proxy patients seeing how there are hundreds of complaints monthly regarding billing or anything else. Want to see max patients possible in less than an hour with base or less then base staffing. Only care about the numbers and cost to profit. Give out minimal bonuses to staff while providers and I'm sure corporate individuals receive substantial or exorbitant bonuses.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Medical assistant 42 salaries reported	$20.31 per hour
Nurse practitioner 45 salaries reported	$80.46 per hour
X-ray technician 20 salaries reported	$25.98 per hour
Medical receptionist 98 salaries reported	$20.07 per hour
Certified medical assistant 18 salaries reported	$19.42 per hour

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