West Care Medical Associates – Upper West Side

I cannot tell you how much I hate this medical group. Individual doctors are okay, but the group is poorly run, the staff is rude and you can never get a hold of your physician when you need them. The group fails at basic things such as making and keeping appointments and calling in prescriptions. Based on the other reviews, it seems that I am not alone in what I have experienced. Please learn from all our mistakes. Stay away from this medical group.

It’s a shame how this medical practice has gone down hill all because of the front desk staff and secretaries. Very rude and not helpful at all. They ruin the experience. I need to change doctors now. Too bad.

I’ve been coming to this practice for 15 years and love my doctor. The front desk people in this office used to be so helpful and accommodating. However, I’ve noticed that this year the office looks really shabby and the front desk staff is really rude and unprofessional. I’m not sure what’s changed but I won’t be recommending this practice to my friends any longer. Very disappointing.

This practice performed a flawed/​failed procedure on a member of my family. We told them we don’t want to sue or cause a problem, we just wanted them to refund whatever money we spent so that we could get the procedure done again elsewhere. In response, Rebecca, the office manager, left a voicemail saying, «Unfortunately, we do not reimburse for a procedure that was already done.» (Funny — do they reimburse for procedures that have yet to be done?) While the doctor has since left their practice, I was very disappointed to see this practice take zero responsibility and act with no accountability for this botched procedure.

This is the worst doctor’s office I have ever been to. The administration is bad enough that multiple doctors have LEFT this office to go elsewhere. It’s a total mess.
I came in for one appointment to meet a doctor and get my prescriptions renewed and they tried to charge me almost $ 200 when it should have just been a $ 20 co-​pay. Then, when I called to resolve the issue, they told me to call the number on the bill. There is no number on the bill. So, I called their office manager multiple times and she didn’t answer.
This feels like a total scam.

Today I’m finally looking for a new office. I’ve been happy with my GYN, Dr. Shrivastava, but the overall medical practice? Nope. I’ve had similar issues as other negative reviewers – it can take weeks to get an appointment (even when you share unusual symptoms), the staff often seems disrupted by the presence of patients, and you rarely get timely feedback on test results.
I called a few weeks ago to schedule an annual physical, and the answering service recommended making an appointment online. I was able to find one of my practitioners online and set up the appointment. I received multiple notifications from the booking website, but not from the office. To save time in case there was any issue, I called the office this morning to confirm. Not only do I not have an appointment, but that nurse practitioner is no longer with the office. Nor is the other GP I used to see. Or the other one before that. Joke is on me, because all 3 are still listed on the office website.
I don’t know what is going on in that practice, but patients are paying the price. A receptionist informed me that it is going to take a few weeks before I can get my medical records to share with a new doctor, but that’s worth it. What a mess.

This is the worse place to be seen for medical care. Dr. Lukoschek and May Cheng the NP are very nasty and have no sense of what they are doing. I am pregnant and the NP missed a test I was suppose to be tested for. They do not care for their patients they are money hungry. Both should be reported for falling to run the appropriate test for their patients. I will never return and will be filling a formal complaint.

Dr. Lukoschek has great bedside manner and really cares about you. Front staff is friendly and helpful as well.

Terrible medical centre, rude staff and poor admin function. Most of the time the staff is busy hatting about their personal life, I have ended up waiting at the window for minutes before someone attended to me.
It takes forever to get an appointment or speak directly to the doctor. They do not return phone calls, you absolutely CANNOT reach your doctor. so if you need to ask the doctor some questions or need follow-​up calls, forget about it.
Inspite of an appointment, you have to wait atleast an hour before the doctor sees you and then the doctor just comes in for 10 mins & has left before you can finish thinking if you had any questions.
Even in an emergency, they will take the message for you & the doctor may call back within a few hours.
The nurses are even bad at taking blood tests, mine poked me thrice and was unable to draw blood. When I resisted and asked for another nurse, instead of apologizing, she yelled back at me. I complained to the other doctors as well, but no one paid attention to my issues.
I visited Dr. Lily Wong & do not recommend her at all. She may nice as a doctor but she does not have the time to care for her patients and I did not feel comfortable with quick short appointments that she held.

Staff are very rude and unprofessional. They act as if you are inconveniencing them Dior showing up for your appointment.

Excellent doctor. Petra Lukoschek, M.D.
Staff could be a little more professional.

My mother and I both love our doctor (Dr. Shrivastava), so I wish that I could give the practice a higher rating… but after the nightmare we just went through, West Care deserves no stars.
Dr. Shrivastava is on maternity leave, so we made an appointment to meet Dr. Underwood instead. We arrived early for our Tuesday appointment since we had new insurace and spent some time in the waiting room while the office dealt with the paperwork. By the time we were brought in, it was about 15 minutes late. My mother’s vitals were taken by the nurse and she was asked to give a urine sample. Afterwards, she was asked to change into a paper examination robe from the waist down. While she was disrobing, the doctor came in, and spoke to us through a curtain apologizing and saying she was in a huge rush and had to leave in a minute or she’d be in big trouble. She said she didn’t have enough time to examine my mom, and continued to apologize and blame the processing time for the new insurance. We were unable to reschedule an acceptable appointment for the same day, so we were sent off with an appointment the following day with Dr. Wong and an order to get an ultrasound. We were told the results of the ultrasound, along with the eventual return of the urine test results, would help the doctor decipher the problem.
We got the ultrasound done immediately to make the most of the next day’s appointment with Dr. Wong. The next day (Wednesday) we arrive at Westcare to learn that Dr Wong is off for the day and all of the patients should have received calls rescheduling. Obviously we didn’t. There were other patients complaining that they hadn’t received any such call either, so I know we’re not a fluke.
Eventually we were able to see dr. Shin. We were shocked and annoyed to find out that Westcare had thrown out yesterday’s urine sample, so we had to redo it with an assurance we’d hear back about the results by Monday.
This all happened Tuesday and Wednesday. The next day, on Thursday, my mother’s health suddenly deteriorated, and she was weak, feverish, had a headache, and was very uncomfortable. We took her to the ER that night and after being admitted, we learned that she had a bacterial infection that had moved into her bloodstream. She stayed in the hospital for 4 days until they found an effective course of antibiotics. She finally left the hospital on Monday and has recovered well after 10 more days on the antibiotics.
I’m relieved that my mom is better now of course, and I’m happy with the treatment she received when she visited the hospital.
Westcare, on the other hand, was an extreme disappointment. Not only did they waste our time on two consecutive days due to their shortcomings in scheduling, but they also failed to ever follow up with the second urine tests results (after throwing away the first sample!). Even though we had already found treatment, we expected a call — those tests would have come back showing that my mother had a dangerous infection, and yet Westcare never even called to let us know. Can you imagine if we hadn’t gone to the ER, Westcare would’ve kept us waiting, wasting valuable time and jeopardizing my mother’s health.
In summary, the disorganization and insensitivity of this office (both the physicians and the staff) has greatly disappointed me and wasted my time. I am not one to write such a negative review, but this office truly deserves it after that whole ordeal. I am writing it so that those who may read it realize that this behavior was unacceptable and in hopes that other people can avoid wasting their time and getting subpar treatment.

My doctor is wonderful (Dr. Wong), but the rest of the staff is unfriendly and unprofessional.

Dr. Gray is amazing, knowledgable and respects your time.
That being said, don’t expect a long sit down chat with him. Some days its in and out within 15 minutes. However, he’s straight forward, explains everything and makes you feel listened to despite the short patient to doctor time.
I highly recommend him.