Elite OB-Gyn Associates

At first this practice seemed okay. The receptionist staff are friendly and professional (in the Arlington location) and both doctors were pleasant. I have to say the nurse who draws blood and takes your weight was a little standoff-​ish, however.
Anyway, all seemed fine until there was an issue with my insurance. I found out mid-​december that my insurance had terminated 2 months prior and when I told the staff that everything changed. I was honestly infuriated by the way the doctor treated me when she thought I didn’t have insurance to send her a check. My first visit following the mix up, Dr. D had me waiting in the treatment room for 20 minutes and when she finally arrived she was short with me and rude. She even mentioned that I would need to pay at least half of the out of pocket cost ($ 3,000) that day in order to keep coming there. Mind you, I am 32 weeks pregnant at this point. It turns out there was a mistake and I did in fact have insurance. But once Dr. D make it clear that her main focus is on money and not the well being on my baby I found another doctor to go to for the rest of my pregnancy as well as my delivery. I fully expect my medical provider to put the health of his/​her patients before anything else. The icing on the cake was when I had already found another doctor but hadn’t had my first appointment with them and started having abdominal pains. Since the new office hadn’t seen me yet I was forced to call Elite OBGYN for advice. The receptionist told me if I was concerned that I could come in but that if I thought it could wait then to wait… UM I called and asked because I am not a doctor and I have no idea whether to be concerned or not. That is YOUR job as a medical professional, if you can even call the people who work here professional. Glenda, in the Arlington office, is the only pleasant one at this place. I can’t emphasize enough how stressful, uncomfortable and poorly taken care of Dr. Dipaolo made me feel. How ridiculous and terrible at your job can you be? Dr. D, you should probably find a job where you don’t work with people (because you’re awful at it) and where you’re guaranteed a check every week since that is what drives you. Overall this place is totally incompetent and the doctor does NOT have the patient’s best interest at heart. Run for the hills.

first time I came here I had a great experience. This was last year. A year later, they have 2 doctors, one female and one male. Obviously the female doctor tends to get booked up… so you pretty much have one doctor. Due to the fact you can’t even get in for an appointment at this office, it deserves 1 star.
THEN they offered to extend my prescription to accommodate not being able to get an appointment if I had my pharmacy fax them the form. I had my pharmacy fax them the form and call them three times. No response. So I contact them… they can’t find my files; except they know who I am and my address so that doesn’t make a lot of sense. At this point my pharmacy and I have done our part so I tell them they need to responded to the pharmacy, you know call them. well once again that hasn’t happened.
If your front office can’t do their job… I will not be returning to your office. The simplest service to your client, provide a prescription to the pharmacy, was too difficult. Just unacceptable.
Now I know why there’s no doctor’s at this location. Who would want to deal with that incompetence.
Save yourself the headache and go to a reputable office.

I saw Dr. Filipescu for a pre-​conception consultation. During the entire appointment, he repeatedly rolled his eyes, sighed loudly, and made me feel very uncomfortable about my answers. His bedside manner lacked any kind of empathy or kindness. Looking back, I should have walked out of his office after the first five minutes. If you’re considering going to Elite, I strongly urge you to research other OB-​GYNs in the area.

I have been going to Elite Ob-​Gyn on and off for the past two years (I only live in Virginia for temporary periods) and I could not be happier with the services they offer. I always find it easy to make an appointment and never have to wait long to be seen. The office staff is courteous, and the nurse is very friendly and compassionate — she always makes me feel at ease. Dr. DiPaolo is very intelligent and competent. I had an ongoing issue to address, and she made sure I was informed about all of my options, counseled me on what she recommended I do, and alleviated my fears. Thanks to her care, my issue was resolved and my health has improved. I will definitely return to Elite Ob-​Gyn the next time I’m in Arlington.

I have been seeing Dr D for years. She delivered my 2 baby boys. Super, super sweet and professional.
Always wants to see my babies.
Also the front desk been very polite.
I been reading the previous reviews and disagree with them. All of them are about expenses, who said that today’s medical care is cheap?! Maybe you should move to a different country?!
Dr D really gives a patient needed attention and time.
I have seen her for 4 years and definitely recommend her!
Good luck!

I have been going to this practice for almost 4 years and Dr. Dipaolo delivered my first baby and Dr. Filipescu delivered my second. They are both the best its gets!
They really care about me and the health of my baby when I am pregnant, and keep me up to speed between pregnancies. I had some problems with abnormal paps before coming to this practice and the other doctor didn’t do anything except kept repeating it. They fixed the problem from the beginning and I have two healthy babies and plan to get pregnant again soon. All my paps have been normal and I just love the the prenatal appointments. Always informative and reassuring. THEY ARE THE BEST!
They also have a GORGEOUS new office in Fairfax!
Its like a spa :)
Thank you Dr. D and Dr F!
Shani

These unprofessionals are still charging me for a $ 40 missed appointment fee from 2009. Yes, 2009! After paying them over $ 200 for labwork, close out my bill, and be done with them completely. This $ 40 charge appeared AFTER I paid them the $ 200. Very shady!
After talking with Janet (the Billing Manager) in 2009 and 2010 to get this charge removed from my credit report, I just find out that it was NEVER done. Yep, still on my credit report. The collection company they use is still posting and I think they’ve changed Billing Managers twice. I know it’s only $ 40, but I’m thinking of getting a lawyer involved just in case they try to add some more money later.

If you’re looking for anything above and beyond, please go to another medical practice. Going to see an OBGYN isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, and if you’re looking for someone to hold your hand while giving you the results of a test or any type if medical information you won’t find it here. Lets start with the location:
Location is great, parking is never too terrible and its close to the metro.
Booking an appointment/​front desk: they’re always busy, very short with people and seem a bit unorganized. Whenever I call I’m always kept on hold, whether it be took book an appointment, leave a message with the dr etc…
The nurse: she’s friendly, but she’s only one person. Please get that woman some help! She can’t assist the dr and take a patients stats at the same time!!!
Dr. F: I found this guy by chance, my husband and I had trouble getting pregnant and I was worried I’d need medical help to conceive a child. Well long story short ive been going to see this man for up to three years now and am now with child, however my appointments always feel rushed, I don’t feel that he’s listening to my questions and brushes off some of my concerns. I would have looked for another doctor a long time ago, however the man knows his medical stuff. I still plan on finding a new doctor after I have the baby, but I really wish this guy had better bedside manner.

MEDICALLY INCOMPENENT, RUDE STAFF, TOTALLY DISORGANIZED. WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME. DO NOT GO HERE. Dr. DiPaolo and her father Dr. Filepescu deserve ZERO stars. On two different occasions, they had a nurse practitioner who does not speak English well and who does not understand English well when it is spoken to her call me to explain complicated test results. The test results were concerning and inconsistent with all prior test results from previous gynecologists. When I followed up, Dr. DiPaolo insisted that she could not explain my test results over the phone because they were too complicated and demanded that I come in for an in-​person appointment. Dr. DiPaolo charged me about $ 150 in out-​of-​pocket expenses, after BlueCross and Blue Shield insurance, for this in-​person 20 minute consultation. During the 20 minute consultation, her bedside manner and her science were terrible. In her own words, she said she was ‘confused’ about the results and did not know how to explain them. She followed this by ordering additional tests. Altogether, Dr. DiPaolo’s requested tests and procedures have cost me over $ 1500 dollars in out-​of-​pocket expenses, after BlueCross and Blue Shield insurance. The greater cost has been to increase my anxiety over my own health status without Dr. DiPaolo providing medically clear answers, despite numerous tests. My overall impression is that, were I seeing a competent doctor, none of these expenses and none of this anxiety/​concern over my medical health would be necessary. Dr. DiPaolo will have you pay for her own incompetence out of your own pocket. Indeed, this has proven to be true. The New York Times (NYT) ran a story about how the test that Dr. DiPaolo had been administering was recently changed and consequently was resulting in numerous false positives. Dr. DiPaolo should have known this, and had the old versions of the test run, instead of asking her patient (s) to pay for unnecessary additional versions of the same erroneous test and additional procedures. If the NYT knew, why did not Dr. DiPaolo and why did she not change her treatment of patients according to account for this ‘erroneous’ test. In addition to this, some of the nursing staff are either incompetent or rude, or both. For my first appointment to start, I waited over an hour and a half (even though I was on time). The nurse in Dr. Filepescu’s office yelled at me to undress while failing to give me a gown to change into. The nurse in Dr. DiPaolo’s office incorrectly took my height measurement. She forgot that there are not 10 inches in one foot, but rather 12 inches. I had to correct the height measurement that she had written down, which was off by 2 inches. On another occasion, I called to inquire about my test results. The nurse had me wait on the phone 30 minutes while she checked if Dr. DiPaolo might be available. After 30 minutes of leaving me on hold on the phone, she informed me that Dr. DiPaolo would not be able to make it to the phone. The nurse informed me that my test results were POSITIVE, which was a cause of a great deal of concern. When I called the office back again and reached Dr. DiPaolo 24 hours later, Dr. Paolo informed me that the test results were NEGATIVE — the nurse had provided the results to me over the phone incorrectly. In another set of tests requested by Dr. DiPaolo, the test results were received by her office and no one bothered to contact me by mail, email, phone or otherwise to inform me of the results. I stopped by in person to inquire about the test results. It turns out they had received and reviewed the test results 2.5 weeks prior to my stopping by the office, but no one had bothered to inform me of the results. What if I had not bothered to stop by the office? Would she have had her staff never inform me of the results? Nothing ever arrived in the mail. Also, I have asked her to write a prescription for a very basic gynecological prescription, and my prescription drug company rejects it every time. Wow, the incompetence and waste of money just does not end. SAVE YOURSELF TIME, ANXIETY, AND EXPENSE — FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR.

I originally posted a review on here specifically for Dr. DiPaolo, then I saw the reviews for the office and was extremely surprised. I’ve been going to this office since 2007 and have never had a bad experience. First, I came her her after being scared by a previous gyno about a possible issue and she very fairly explained that it could be one extreme or another (come to find out it was the latter). I understand why some would view her as «brisk», but honestly I am too so I appreciate it. She has never cut me off from my questions or ever implied my question wasn’t important, and I’m very surprised people have received that impression. Few comments to below:
— I also showed symptoms that could be a sign of kidney issues but she very quickly explained that this could be due to athletics as well. She offered for me to stop by on another day to drop off another sample (no appt or actual visit needed) and only after multiple offenses of the symptoms did she give me the «you really need to get this checked out» speech. She wrote down all of the numbers from previous tests for me to give to my primary care doctor and spelled out the medical terms I didn’t understand or recognize. Luckily when I did see my other doctor, I found out my kidneys were fine after more tests (FYI, avoid jogging right before giving a urine sample if you’d like to avoid this issue!) but she was very impressed that my gyno was the one who noticed the potential issue and agreed that she was shocked by my levels as well.
— I had a separate issue with my skin that she noticed and once again she told me both extremes as to what could have caused it, and very wisely mentioned that IF it required medication I should start treatment before trying to get pregnant. I’ve been very impressed by how smart she is in the gyno and general medicine fields.
— The office is extremely clean and I have never been worried about where they process samples (in fact, I’ve never even seen another patient’s blood or urine sample when I’ve been in the office)
— The only time I had to wait more than 5 or 10 minutes for my appt was when she had a OB emergency, which I completely understand because if I was the pregnant one I would hope I got priority over an annual checkup! Her staff alerted me shortly after I checked in that she would be late. To be fair though, I’ve always had morning appts so I have no idea if the afternoon gets backed up
— Her staff is extremely friendly and they happily put up with my never-​ending list of questions – they definitely know their stuff! And I definitely agree that the RN was absolutely wonderful to work with.

I’m writing this review because the other ones seem really off.
1. My appointments have always started on time.
2. The front desk is fine.
3. Dr DiPaolo can be sort of high energy in her manner of speaking. If that is more important to you than someone’s actual competence, perhaps you should find someone with a softer voice or something.
4. I had complicated problems that needed major surgery. My previous gyno, who was perfectly nice and competent, did not have the surgical background to deal with me. I made an appointment at a hospital out of town (top rated in the country for gynecology) with a surgeon. However, she both disagreed with my diagnoses and recommended a way more invasive, long surgery that would have required blood transfusions. I felt weird about it, so I did some research about INOVA Fairfax (Which is also highly rated for gyno) about which doctors in their network specialize in laproscopic surgery. I ended up with Dr. DiPaolo who has a long history of both laproscopic and traditional surgery. On my first visit she literally sat with me for an hour to talk over my options, and how the different surgeries are performed. When I did go to the hospital, the surgery was completed within an hour (lo and behold, the fancy doctor was wrong about my diagnosis, and I did not need a complicated surgery with blood transfusions). I was out of the hospital in less than 24 hours and I healed pretty quickly after that – no complications. Dr. DiPaolo was incredible patient and kind with my crawling-​up-​the-​walls-​with-​anxiety parents, explained everything to them, and answered their questions.

So I never thought I’d be writing a review on Unilocal for a gynecologist, but after trying to find a website to pay my bill and coming across the reviews that perfectly echo my experience, I couldn’t help but contribute.
I’m new to the area and I don’t have a dedicated gyno. So when I started bleeding worse and longer than ever in my life, and not really wanting to pay $ 800 for an emergency room visit, I took an open appointment here. If only I had done my research…
Upon examination and listening to why I came in, Dr. DiPaolo responded with dramatic gasping and wide-​eyed «OH MY GOD, are you PREGNANT? Have you TESTED YET?! YOU MEAN YOU DIDN’T TAKE A TEST YET?!? Oh wow. WOW. Well, let’s get you a blood test then…»
Gee doc, seeing as I’m 23, unmarried, and have been on BC since I was 16, I sincerely HOPE I’m not pregnant! And no I didn’t test, that’s why I came to the damn doctor! I was about to have a melt down when she set me up on the table and felt my abdomen and was like «Oh! you’re probably not pregnant. You’ll have the blood test results by tomorrow!» Cool. Bye!
So, largely unprofessional, very scary, a little condescending, and not at all compassionate or understanding to my needs or situation. Yeah, avoid this one.

How to write a review of an OB/​GYN without oversharing. Giving it a shot.
First, even with an appointment, I waited on average 20 – 45 minutes all three times I was there — And that’s from the time of the appointment, not the time I got there.
Second, bedside manner is horrendous here, bordering on scary. I can’t even go into the details, except to say that Dr. Filepescu treated me like my grandfather would during the exam — if my grandfather hated me.
Dr. DiPaolo is OK, but brisk. After reading the reviews, makes sense that Dr. F. is her father. During my first visit for standard testing, it was implied that I might have kidney failure. The doctors proceeded to leave me sitting in the room crying for 20 minutes before coming back. After a roughly three-​week wild goose chase and $ 175 for lab work, it turned out to be a mistake. Thanks, guys.
In fact, I’ve seen all three doctors in the practice, and the only person I liked was the nurse/​practitioner. Give her a promotion. No, sorry … I know it doesn’t work that way.
Fail. Fail.

Where do I even begin? The nurse practitioner who did my pap was great. Based on that experience, I would have given this place 5 stars. However, when my pap required a follow up and I had to see the Dr Filipescu, it was awful. He is just plain mean. I got scared and he threw off his gloves and said he refused to do my procedure and that I may die of cancer if he doesn’t. I was crying at this point for sure. Next, he looked at his staff and said «If all my patients were like this I’d commit suicide.» Very unprofessional and mean. He claims he was helping you but really he made me feel super nervous and I’ve never had a doctor yell at me not once, but two visits in a row. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t like me. This place deserves zero stars and I am looking for another gyno.

I give the overall place 1 to 2 stars. They do your blood pressure and weigh you in the same room they wash the pap smear equipment and where they look at samples for Chlamydia. I don’t think that’s reasonable or sanitary. The front desk was pretty bad– wasn’t greeted for a good 6 minutes and them seemed unorganized.
The only good part was meeting the PA– Nicole. I would give her 5 stars. She was super nice, did a full prior history and listened to everything I had to say. She did my pap quick and painless. Her bedside manner is superior.
I would say if you can put up with the other stuff then def go– they were quick. But if you’re expecting anything above the necessities you won’t like it here. (I.e. you write your own name on the pee cup with the same pen that everyone uses after they pee in the cup)

OK, where do i start?
I went to Dr. Dipaolo in 2007 for a pap smear. She is a nice person, but She rushed me out basically. Whenever I would ask questions, she would make me feel stupid.
During my pregnancy, I kept having bad experiences with Dr. Dipaolo and her father, Dr. Filipescu. Almost always, when I came for a visit, I had to wait 30min or more for her in the exam rooms. One time she kept me and my husband waiting for 2 hours before we almost walked out. I had to rotate between the two Dr’s in case Dr. Dipaolo wasn’t available to deliver my baby. Whenever I had concerns regarding my pregnancy, Dr. Filipescu would brush it off and just tell me its normal. For example: when I was 8 months pregnant, I got this very violent dizzy spell where I could not sit up or walk. When I asked him about it, he brushed it off as part of being pregnant. Later, My primary Dr. told me I had vertigo.
Dr. Dipaolo also tried to talk me into having a c section, but i refused. I found out from another doctor that they get paid more if they do c-​sections.
I have not return since.

Visiting an ob/​gyn isn’t my favorite thing to do… especially when I’m in pain. So when the visit is quick and services are professional and courteous, that’s the best you can hope for. Unfortunately, that was not my experience at Elite Ob-​GYN Associates in Arlington, VA. Dr. Filipescu was 30-​minutes late for my 9am appointment (I was the first patient in line that morning) and offered no apologies for being late.
After the exam, during which all he was saying was «hmm…, this is not good» (so much for professional explanations or compassion), he insisted on having done a costly and painful procedure. At home, I consulted a couple of medical websites and decided to get a second opinion. Guess what? There was no need to do the procedure. In my case, with the help of antibiotics and lots of rest, Mother Nature took its course just fine. The bottom line is that I’m no longer his patient and I suggest you arm yourself with knowledge before any doctor’s visit.