NovaCare Rehabilitation

My received treatment was not the issue. The therapists here were awesome, and I loved working with my therapist. They were all cooky, funny and nice, but did a great job and educated their patients about their injury and recovery.
I am giving this place a poor rating because the billing was extremely unethical, and the front-​desk manager Robin flat out lied to me and over-​billed me. As a young 19-​year-​old at the time, I was not too educated on health insurance. I told her flat out before I scheduled any appointments that I wanted to see what my insurance would cover, and that I had a very small budget, and that I couldn’t fork-​up thousands. She insisted she would make sure I was taken care of, and every day she did «math» to make sure I hadn’t gone over what my insurance would cover.
Anyway, after my treatment was completed, I got a bill for about $ 3900.00. When I called, and asked what this was about, and why she had lied to me, she played stupid and hung up the phone. A month later my account was sent to collections. I was over-​charged, and lied to. Horrible.

I love NovaCare on Halsted and Beth is my personal PT hero.
I first went to her 7 years ago for torn cartilage in my knee and through her coaching, teaching and massage she got me all fixed up in three months. Best of all she gave me the tools (exercises) to maintain my knee.
Then last year I went back to her after being diagnosed with painful osteoarthritis in my other knee. I was waking up in pain every night around 4am and within two weeks the pain was gone thanks to the exercises that Beth taught me. When I finished up treatment after two months she gave me a list of exercises to continue and details on which ones I should do always, often or sometimes. She has inspired me to keep up and a year later I am still pain free in both knees.
Thank you Beth. You’re the best!

Dr Mike is the best. I had been suffering from planter fasciitis for years. Mike completely fixed me up! I have no more pain no more trouble walking and it’s all because of my work with him. I had been seeing a specialist already for a couple of years but Mike gave me the tools to help myself and correct it long term. Can’t recommend him enough.

GO TO KYLE! He is a life saver and probably the best PT in all of Illinois!!! Words can’t explain how great of a PT he is. Maybe I’m making him sound like supermsn but read on and you’ll find out why. Backstory: Well… I was wearing 1 of my 20 pairs of high heels and missed a stair and ATE shit down Mt. Everest stairs thus rupturing all my ligaments and pulling my Achilles. FML! I am new to the city and have never had an acute injury before this.
Basically I went to the wrong doctor. I did my research too and he had «rave» reviews … Well turns out he has an old mentality of healing and made my foot 1,000,000 X’s worse! Then I went to Accelerated PT bc it’s close to my house and had pretty good reviews too. Obviously I don’t trust reviews anymore bc I went there for approx. 2 months avg. 3 times a week and saw absolutely NO difference! Oh, not to mention I started out with the manager, saw him 2 times then he disappeared. I then got passed off to the other PT, she then passed me off to her assistant, THEN to a student that had only been there 2 days before I started. She never touched or really examined my foot after that. So you can see why I was close to giving up hope. I went from training for my first half marathon, to thinking ill never run again bc of the imbeciles that are in the healthcare profession!
Kyle to the rescue!!! So not only was it my foot and all the scar tissue now, but the accident made my back injury (unrelated ongoing for 5 years) a bazillion times worse! I was about to go to the ER again when I walked in to Nova. I was seeing a Specialist but he put me on a million different medications that were supposed to help but didn’t. Everyone kept telling me «you’re too young to be in this much pain» it got to the point that I wanted to (figuratively speaking of course, Stab him in the foot and spine and tell him he couldn’t be in such pain. Let me repeat I would never ever do this, if you’ve been in my position you know what I’m trying to say.
Kyle did an assessment on me and immediately knew what was wrong with my back. He also assessed my foot at the same time. He busted out anatomy books and explained everything to me. For the first time in a VERY long time, I had a glimmer of hope.
I’ve been going 3 days a week and although I’m not quite there yet, it is in NO way his fault!!! it’s bc I had such horrible care for so long and Now he has to clean up everyone else’s mess, poor guy. I know it’s his job but had I just gone straight to nova I KNOW I would’ve been running a LONG time ago. Also he has a new technique needling. He is very professional and if he says it works then I trust him and although its definitely a strange feeling, I will do it again. I am sooooo sorry if you are injured. I know how daunting it is but please have faith. There are miracle workers like Kyle that will without question get you back to your normal self. Stay strong and try to be positive.

If you’re unfortunate enough to need physical therapy then get yourself to NovaCare asap! If you’re fortunate enough to not need physical therapy then you should be outside enjoying your mobility. Step away from the computer, go on, go!
I went to the doctor for knee pain and they said I’m about 94% fat and bone and they don’t understand how I can even stand at this point. Ok, that’s not entirely true, but I was told I need to work on my hip muscles because they are deficient. To be honest, I’m really surprised my hip muscles aren’t top notch, I mean, they get enough exercise if-​ya-​know-​whad-​I-​mean *wink wink*.
That was the end of April and I was having constant knee pain from the minute I opened my eyes in the morning till I fell asleep (usually with some kind of heat on my knee). I was directed to NovaCare and specifically to Eric to work my 2% skeletal muscle up to 2.5%. He set me up for 2 appointments a week and I was feeling much better by my 3^rd appointment. It’s now early July and I’m almost totally pain free. Also, I think I’m down to like 92% fat and bone.
Each session starts with a few minutes of warming up the muscles in my legs and then Eric tortures, I mean, manually works on my knee and hip for 25ish minutes. It was a lot like torture at first, but he smiled and was pleasant the whole time. Then one of the very nice and knowledgeable aides would help me awkwardly do exercises that Eric prescribed. I still think half of them were just sobriety tests, but Eric insists they were to help me with my balance and whatnot. It worked!
Everyone I’ve worked with at NovaCare has been friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and fun to work with. Being in pain is bad enough, you want to get better while smiling, and you can do that at NovaCare.
I’d highly recommend NovaCare to anyone in need of physical therapy. For those of you not in need; seriously, go outside! Why are you still reading this?!

NovaCare is great! Laura and Beth are awesome therapists. Whenever I go and see Laura, I feel like a new person. I own a Pilates studio and refer all of my clients. Highly recommended!

The folks that work here are nice/​smart folks, thats the main/​only upside (hence 2 stars). They are very sweet, easy to talk to and get along with. I have nothing against any of them personally, I’m sure they are great people.
But.
1. They obviously over-​scheduled at every time slot during the early morning/​evening hours so don’t expect to get too much attention. I actually wouldn’t mind that so much… if they had any time of structured plan for what they want me to do while I’m there. Instead, you will make up a list of exercises related (or not) to the injury you came in for on the fly. So many of my sessions were spent completing an exercise (while the PT tends to the other 4 people scheduled at the same time slot) then asking them whats next, and they pull something out of their ass and then I off I go. Don’t be surprised if you spend half of each session doing things that are largely unrelated to your injury, «but would be good for you to do». I will echo the unprofessional comment from a previous review x10.
2. The space they use for therapy looks like it hasn’t been redone in 2 decades. It actually is really strange that it is so dated given that it is attached to a fairly nice/​modern gym.
3. Anyway at the end of several weeks of therapy my injury is almost as bad as it was when I came in. The improvements have come mostly from working out less while attending therapy, I suspect.
4. Lastly, this place charges insane prices to you/​your insurance. That time you spent walking backwards on treadmills and balancing on one leg followed by a short massage from the PT? That’ll be a few hundred bucks, each time. The best are the «fitness assessments» in which they spend a few minutes (as in less than 5) deciding if your injury has improved at all our not (as if you don’t have very simple ways to determine that yourself). Those sessions, which they like to do before you go see your actual doctor again, will cost you/​your insurance an extra ~$ 100.
I really shouldn’t have gone for as long as I did but I thought my insurance was covering more of it than it was. Really, if you’re insurance isn’t cover 100% of the costs, I would definitely go somewhere (anywhere?) else. For my share of two sessions I could buy all of the «equipment» I used there, google the exercises others with my injury say help them, and do them at home for as long as necessary.
Anyway, if I could do it all over again I obviously wouldn’t go here. It was really convenient which was the main reason I went for it. Live and learn.

Don’t Go Here… The people that work at this facility are amazing.
However, the billing and bill coding are completely UNETHICAL. I went there with leg issues from surgery. I paid my bills on time (according to the front desk person at Novacare Halsted). It’s several weeks later, and I’m getting a bill from NovaCare central billing with charges differing in OVER PER VISIT!!! PLUS, the treatments varied by over $ 300 for some visits… UNETHICAL!!!
They told me, «There are consistently changes to bills.» Had various calls and run arounds with a myriad of people and call centers… What a PITA!!!
This was just a miserable experience, especially after major surgery.
I enjoy the people at this facility, but the billing is just wrong and difficult to work with. There are better options present. It’s just not worth the hassle.

2013 update… so those herniated L4/​L5 & SI joint issues? Turns out I actually broke my pelvic floor. What? Yup. I didn’t know that was a thing either! Anyway I am now finally really on my way to recovery for good bc these folks helped figure out what the problem really was.
Even above and beyond that, I had a shady health insurance billing situation — my insurance decided after I’d done a bunch of sessions already that it was a preexisting condition even though I was getting treated for what was actually the root issue. So Novacare was super awesome & reversed all my billing to non-​insurance rate and cut my bill practically in half. Ridiculous! What a huge relief bc I was very worried about a random expensive health care bill.
I had to stop going to Novacare bc my insurance wouldn’t pay for it but I am still doing all of their exercises and being good about doing pilates/​yoga/​massage so well on my way to a pain-​free hipular region.
Oh and 2 yrs later the music is still awesome. Dog friendly practice. A+

I went to Novacare for a couple weeks and didn’t have a good experience. While Beth and Laura are both very experienced and knowledgeable, I found the clinic to be extremely poorly managed. It wasn’t unusual for there to be 10 or more patients booked in an hour time slot, and after a session where there were 12 patients and the PT only spent 7 or 8 minutes with me for the session, I called to ask about their patient-​per-​Physical therapist policy, and how long the PT was supposed to spend with each patient. The receptionist told me they don’t have a policy. They spent more time with me the next session, but I couldn’t help but notice how little time they spent with the other patients because they were trying to spend the extra time with me.
Other problems – it took 5+ minutes each session to pay because they didn’t have a billing system, the credit card machine was supposedly new, and a line would form. Also, my sessions were right when they opened in the morning, and the PT and receptionist sometimes would frequently arrive a minute or two late, which meant that I was usually left standing outside for a few minutes each time because I didn’t want to be late to my appointment.
I switched to Accelerated on Broadway and they are so much more professional.
Big perk: Novacare will give you a free 1-​month pass to the gym next door.

I have been really impressed with Novacare on Halsted. I injured my back in July and worked with Beth for a couple months. She is amazing — super nice, really smart and produced impressive results. I would walk in with horrible pain and leave feeling great. She also worked with me to establish a long-​term regimen to heal the injury and prevent future injuries and so far so good. I have nothing but positive things to say; the facility is clean and the staff are really great.

Beth and Laura are both amazing physical therapists.
They are so helpful and caring. I have referred my friends and family to this facility.
I trust both of these girls and know that I will always be well taken care of.
I HIGHLY recommend NovaCare in Lakeview!

The people that work at this facility are amazing. Beth and Coop are so nice and helpful.
However, get ready to get screwed by their central billing department. I went there with knee issues in December 2010. I paid my bills on time (accroding to the front desk person at Novacare Halsted). It’s now August of 2011, and I’m getting a bill from NovaCare central billing.
They told me, «We have up to 7 years to bill anyone.» Now, i can’t claim it on my flexspend. It’s too late. I tried to call central billing to inquire — they basically accused me of being a liar and saying that I’m not paying my bills. They’re miserable people.
I love the people at this facility. If you plan on paying cash out of pocket, you’ll be fine. If you need to use flexspend or need to submit billing paperwork to your insurance company, don’t bother. It’s not worth the hassle.

Back in March I was having the WORST knee pain. I’m only 24 and couldn’t help but think I had serious problems going on. My pain even got to the point where I was calling off of work for weeks on end because being a bartender, I couldn’t even stand.
I walked by Novacare one day and saw a sign for free joint screening. I made an appointment and within two days I was seen by Beth (I think) and she gave me my free screening. Now, as someone who doesn’t have health insurance, I was unable to afford Physical Therapy and the doctors appointment needed to get PT approval.
Aware of this, Beth diagnosed my problem and gave me numerous exercises and stretches that would fix my knees. Furthermore, she referred me to a place where I could get proper soles for my shoes.
Within two weeks I was back to my normal self. I owe so much to this place for helping me, and especially for doing it for free. Since my visit, I have recommended numerous people to visit Novacare.