A new survey of patients at one of the largest health care conglomerates in the Hudson Valley is highlighting increasing concerns about the company’s quality of care.

The survey of Optum, which owns Crystal Run Health Care, was conducted by Rep. Pat Ryan.

The results were released this week and found patients are highly critical of the practice’s quality and accessibility of care, as well as billing problems and customer service, since it was bought out by Optum in 2023.

Following the release of the findings, multiple patients and employees have expressed similar complaints and concerns about the practice with News 12. One patient echoes billing concerns and says she was erroneously billed $350 by Crystal Run for a knee brace that she bought herself and wore to an appointment.

“This has been going on for a month now. They never corrected it. {One} call to them {is for} 48 minutes. Another phone call, I’m on for 50 minutes, an hour - only to be hung up on,” says Evelyn Lipnicky, of Warwick.

Optum Medical Care says it is working to make necessary improvements, including enhancing billing processes and appointment availability.

“We remain dedicated to advancing health care in the Hudson Valley and are grateful to serve this community. We understand the frustrations some of our patients have been experiencing and are working to make necessary improvements, as we value the long-standing relationships we have with our patients. We’re enhancing our telephone systems, billing processes and appointment availability with dedicated teams responsible for scheduling and supporting medication refills and clinical questions. We have intensified our physician recruitment efforts and have added a new digital portal to help patients manage their health care and improve their experience,” says Dr. Jonathan Nasser, president and regional chief medical officer for Optum Medical Care. “We look forward to reviewing the constituent survey information from Representative Ryan and continuing to work with policymakers at all levels of government to achieve our common goal of providing the highest quality patient care for the people and families we’re privileged to serve.”

News 12 has previously reported on Crystal Run patient and staffing concerns with Optum layoffs and outsourcing of lab and billing services.

Ryan says he’s submitting the survey data to the Department of Justice, The Department of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Trade Commission for further investigation.