Patient First

I wish I could leave no stars. I went in to Patient First for a routine TB test for job clearance. Ive not beenin any situations that are defined as a risk for TB so imagine my surprise when I’m told my skin test is positive and the PA is throwing a gown at me for chest xrays — which come out negative. The PA is cold, uninformative and generally evasive, telling me I have to go to an infectious diseases specialist. I’m left bewildered and in tears, ruining my long weekend because I can’t get an appointment with a specialist right away and I’m terrified I have TB or am some carrier and cannot take my new job. I go to the specialist ASAP… she tells me that the PA read my test wrong, that the size of the red spot was within the results of negative. So basically I’ve spent $ 120 dollars on xrays at Patient First plus whatever bill is awaiting me from an infectious diseases specialist and hours of my life stressing because the PA was wrong. Thank you, Patient First.

I wouldn’t even give this place a star but I have to for this comment to post. This place is awful. They aren’t even real doctors. They don’t know what they are doing. They all had to check for this disease on the internet cause they couldn’t diagnose it themselves. They are all incompetent of there jobs. Such a waste of gas and money on this place.

I used to like Patient First. Last week I brought my wife there in an emergency. We found out only after spending time using their computerized sign on that they no longer accept Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield the most popular and best insurance carrier in the area. Since they had no receptionist only a computer we wasted valuable time learning they would not help. They should either have a sign in the waiting room or a receptionist available. When I went around a door to ask if they could help my wife who was in tremendous pain we were told to go somewhere else. We went to Reston Hospital’s emergency room and were treated wonderfully.
What a shame that such a good source has gone downhill

This is the only Patient First I’ve been to so I can’t vouch for any other location. I’ve had some great service for the few times I’ve been here. Great help from what I’ve seen.

This place is horrible, I waited for a hour then I asked what was going on and they said the lab was busy and I can’t leave, so I waited another they told me to just leave and go somewhere else, very rude I don’t I wouldn’t go here again

This place randomly stopped taking Blue Cross Blue Shield. The largest insurance provider in northern Virginia Washington area.

I have only been to the Patient First in Sterling so I cannot speak for other locations.
First, though they can do routine physicals, if you have decent insurance, get a primary physician that you can make an appointment and get all the proper tests and follow ups with your own doctor when you are not in serious need of urgent care.
Second, that is what I view this place as, more of an urgent care facility, so you feel utterly miserable and you either can’t get into see your regular primary physician or they are closed because they keep bankers hours. If you think you may honestly be having a major medical event like a heart attack, then call an ambulance — that is one condition you won’t spend hours mulling around an ER waiting room waiting to be seen! Beyond something really serious, I have found Patient First in Sterling to be a great place to go for urgent care and even minor follow ups (I have a terrible work schedule and sometimes this place is really the only option). Anything beats the wait in an ER and even with the best of insurance an ER visit will cost at least 5x more than a visit to Patient First. Perhaps I’ve been lucky, but I’m always seen by a technician or nurse within the first 10 min and by 15 min they are drawing blood or getting samples they need to start making some sort of diagnosis. I was particularly impressed the last time I was there. With what they suspect I might have going on, they gave me stop-​gap meds for the symptoms only. The doctor wanted to wait for the results before giving me unnecessary antibiotics or even a flu shot as that could exacerbate my condition. Most patients want the medicine, the flu shot etc as they think anything less is «a waste of money.» I’m no diagnostician, but I do have a PhD in genetics and irresponsible prescribing of an antibiotic or other med is not doing you a favor. Unless they get lucky and hit a bull’s eye on a dart board from 100ft away (which, without evidence of what exactly is wrong with you is exactly what they would be doing) and just happen to give you the right antibiotic (assuming that you even need one) they would only be doing you far more harm than good. Every time you expose your body to an antibiotic you are only setting yourself up for your bacterial inhabitants to become resistant to that particular drug. Of course, if faced with a real bacterial pathogen then you should take the right antibiotic, but only in those cases. Too many doctors give out those pills just to shut you up and get you out of the office. I was glad to see that my doctor at Patient First in Sterling had more sense.
In all honesty (and believe me, I am not wealthy) my primary care physician is part of an excellent group in DC that don’t accept insurance. So, for just the $ 185 visit I am reimbursed by my insurance for about ¹⁄₃ of the cost. Is my doctor worth it, yep, every cent. She is caring, available and takes all the time needed to explain what is going on with me. But again, she is a bit far away and those banker’s hours are hard to make. So, when push comes to shove, I truly recommend the Sterling location at least for this company — for things that are not immediately life threatening, it sure beats a trip to the ER when your normal doc is unavailable!

This is a great alternative to going to the ER and it saves me a bit of money too since the ER co-​pay is much higher with my insurance. I came a few months back after having some post surgery complications and honestly had no idea what was wrong with me other than I was in a lot of pain. I was seen quickly their check in is quick and efficient. They ran some basic tests thankfully nothing to awful bad just needed time and something to take the edge off my pain. They had a pharmacy onsite too so no need to make an extra trip elsewhere.
Why the 3 stars, honestly I’d give them four but the post op diagnoses or what ever had some info that was a bit erroneous for me. They said I had pre-​hypertension based on my blood pressure reading, well yes it was much higher than my norm but mind you I was in a ton of pain so of course my blood pressure was high! Other than that if I’m in a bind I would return again.

I’d previously taken my kid to a different urgent care for a head wound that needed tending — we ended up in the ER when they said, «Oh, sure, we can stitch your 5 year old’s eyelid — if you hold him still.» Errrrr, what? You wanna come at my kid’s eye with an needle and expect me to hold him still when he convulses away from your gloved hands with the strength of a frightened Brahma bull? Do I look like two orderlies or a papoose board? Yeah, no, F that.
Anyway, I was in the hunt for a new urgent care. You know how it is, crap happens afterhours, you gotta work, or sometimes your DR can’t get you in before next Thursday and it’s not worth the ER co-​pay and waiting hours. Urgent care, happy medium.
This place fits the bill. It was clean and bright. My husband has been here twice. Both cases we knew what it was but he needed scripts for the appropriate treatments. He was seen and diagnosed quickly. I also brought our kid because she’d fallen on her hand and had a tremendous amount of wrist pain that immediate icing and screen time couldn’t cure. Paperwork was quick, check in took mere minutes, and I’d barely gotten her set up with an ipad before we were called back. They examined her, took x-​rays, then diagnosed a fracture in her radius. They splinted her, gave me a copy of her x-​rays, referred her to an orthopedist for casting, and we were on our way. We were in and out in just over an hour.
Minus one star because I wish they’d actually gone over the post-​care instructions verbally with me instead of telling me to grab a pile of printouts with microscopic printing without any explanation of what the paper was or that aftercare was even needed. Especially since I only got around to reading them more than 24 hours later and found out we hadn’t been doing the things we were supposed to have been doing. Oops. Luckily no harm done!

If you go in because you think you have the flu– you don’t because you have Strep
If you go in because you think you have an ear infection –you don’t because you have Strep
If you go in because you think you have a sinus infection — you don’t because you have Strep
Out of the 2 times I have brought my daughter in here they diagnosed her with Strep even with a negative Strep test. Sadly, both times we ended up in the ER where pneumonia was diagnosed almost immediately.

No one wants to spend hours and hours in ER on Sunday. Patient First is a definitely your alternative to an ER, of course, not in all cases. I was very impressed with the staff’s professionalism, care and how efficient everyone was. My daughter needed several involving tests. They were done promptly so that the doctor could know what was wrong and to start the treatment. I would definitely recommend this location to anyone who needs speedy, solid care.

I had a great experience this morning at the Sterling location of Patient First. The staff are friendly, the service was quick, and the Dr. Kim was friendly and knowledgeable. The facility is large and very clean, and I love the fact that they have their own in-​house pharmacy. I will definitely come back again for future needs!

Three stars for speed. Dr’s nurses are good. Depending on who is working. First year I had no issues with billing. The billing now has become a scam, watch carefully on what ur billed and coded for. My past 30 exams compared to recent ones same procedures are being charged much different. Called my insurance with billing and patient first said depends how they code and bill in different parts of Virginia. Hogwash

Fast and friendly care. Everyone in the family has been her at one point or another. I have been nothing but impressed with the speed and quality of care.

Went again after two weeks for a followup and recieved the same level of primary care as before, highly recommend this place to anyone looking for urgent medical care

One of the speediest healthcare visits I have ever had. All the personnel were extremely courteous, attentive and friendly. Having to visit on an out of town trip not what you want to do, but Patient First made it painless. Highly recommended.

Dr. Amardeep Athwal informed me that he would get me in to see a specialist, and didn’t when he said he would. I followed up and he told me I was wasting his time, wouldn’t help me, and then when I asked for a refund proceeded to say «you can have your f’ing refund, now get the f out and don’t come back».
He was the most unprofessional doctor I’ve ever seen in my LIFE and I would strongly urge anyone to steer clear of this «doctor». He shouldn’t even have a medical license and I will be filing a formal complaint. Even his staff was appalled by his awful behavior and crappy attitude.

Always have had a great experience in terms of getting in and out. They really make you feel like they’re paying attention to you and are concerned. I came in a couple weeks ago with nausea, vomiting and extreme dizziness very late at night and was worried it was going to be packed due to flu feason but was in and out very quickly. They took their time with me, drew my blood and everything. The doctor was able to determine I was experiencing a bad case of vertigo and gave me medicine to knock it out and determined I was unable to drive or work for 72 hours, wrote me all the required notes and detailed instructions. She was very concerned for me and I felt very confident that was able to figure out my issue so fast.

I have never had to wait long at all for this place to see me.
Granted, I don’t use it for ‘big items’ but I use it regularly for annual flu shots and ‘small’ illnesses like when I woke up one morning and was in severe neck pain.
Yes, they are very thorough and super nice and professional.
There are times when I think, hmm, they treat me better than my regular doctor of 12 years!
I’m so thankful they’re here and take such excellent care of me! They save me hours of waiting time in my regular doctors office.

Not feeling well and need to know why ASAP? This is the best place to go. Anytime you feel sick you can just walk-​in and they can take care of you pretty quickly, no need for an appointment.
I’ve been here twice and each time the diagnosed the problem and sent me home feeling much better. They don’t give you the fun around and are straight foreword.
This place is what healthcare is all about! I know if I have anymore issues I have patient first to make it all better!