GW Medical Faculty Associates

Terrible customer service on the phone from Felicia and Talisha. Never will go there. Please hire some people that care about their job. right now this place is terrible. It’s clear they don’t take their job seriously and don’t care about customers.

I am having surgery with Dr. Brody, a gastroenterologist at GW Medical Associates. While he seems to be a great doctor, I have to repeat what many of their customers have said about the administrative and scheduling staff. It took me over a month of trying to contact someone even get an appointment. When I arrived on time for my appointment, someone in the scheduling department had unilaterally canceled it, and further, stated that I had never made one. Dr. Brody saw me that day, anyway, but I had to sit around for 3 hours before he had time. The surgery is scheduled in a few days, but given what other people are saying about the billing department, I am very concerned that I’m going to have further problems down the road. The only reason that I have continued to deal with them is that my gastroenterologist really wanted Dr. Brody to do this procedure, but I will never go back to them again.

Do yourself a favor and NEVER get involved with this company. You may do what I did and think «wow, that was a really great doctor», but unfortunately that is where it ends. There is such a massive disconnect between their office admin staff and customer service/​billing and their actual locations that you will swear you are talking to the wrong customer service. I have been dealing with this nightmare of a medical practice for a long, long time, and the crazy thing is I actually have really great insurance. When you get their bills and you contact their customer service # (in my case 202−741−3560) you will be greeted by someone who could care less about your billing issue. How do i know this? The «customer service» agent told me I should contact the practice I went to directly and not customer service if i had questions about the billing. I told her the bills i was getting said to contact customer service at the number listed. I then said i would contact the actual location i was treated at and asked her for the actual practices phone number and told her the dr.‘s name. Her response with a massive attitude was «Who? LADY I answer for over 1,000 doctors, I don’t know specific names». And that right there was all i needed to hear to realize that this would be a never ending battle. So I looked for the exact number on their website and realized that GW MFA has 45 DIFFERENT Northern VA/​DC/​MD practice locations listed on their website, so the customer service agent was spot on. She really did answer for over 1,000 doctors and didn’t know any doctors names, just knew that my account # said i owed $ and couldn’t assist me any further. Make sure you read all of these reviews. An average of 2.5 stars out of 116 reviews should tell you something and should be really scary when talking about your own health. Take a look at what their own employees say on other review websites. A doctor here or there might be good with this practice but none are good enough to force you to have to deal with the incompetence in their admin staff and billing. So I continue to keep getting the same bill every month with the exact same amount owed because no one at my practice location or the customer service # can seem to help me with it. And when you call the customer service number listed every month, they act like they have never spoken to you before and direct you to call the practice. What does the practice do? Exactly what you might have guessed, act like they have never heard of you and tells you to call billing. I’ve never in my life paid a bill late and never in my life have had to deal with billing issues like this. As I said before, I have insurance, my insurance paid them, but i still continue to get monthly bills from them.

I would like to write an extremely negative review on Dr. Amir Ali of Gastroenterology & Liver Diseases department at GW Medical Faculty Associates. Dr. Ali performed a colonoscopy on me that was badly done, causing me a lot of pain and agony. The best evidence to prove that Dr. Ali’s work was not of good quality is that I ended up going to the emergency room due to excruciating pain and that I was bloated and in pain for a couple of weeks causing me to lose time from work. I do not recommend Dr. Ali’s work to anyone.

The good:
Erika Pineles-​Mark
Office location is convenient
The bad:
Patient rooms are too small
Patient history intake is tedious
The ugly:
The front office
This is the DMV of OBGYNs. The lobby is constantly packed, the receptionists are surly, and the lighting is harsh. Babies cry, other patients play music on their cellphones with no earphones, and there is no TV. This office should come with a prescription for Xanax upon booking.
I have been a patient at GWU OBGYN for two years. In that two years, I have never spent less than 20 minutes waiting at reception. On bad days, I have spent over an hour in the lobby and waiting in a patient room. This office location is certainly more convenient than driving out to the ‘burbs, but all told you’ll probably spend the same amount of time to see a doctor.
I had mostly been willing to put up with the horrific office management because Erika Pineles-​Mark — who was recommended to me by a friend — is beyond fantastic. Erika is respectful, thorough, inquisitive, and extremely sharp. She is the Hermione Granger of lady parts.
Unfortunately, the amateur hour front office has finally exceeded my admiration for Erika. Today I arrived 10 minutes late to my appointment. The office was a mess — the 30+ seat lobby was almost completely full. After over 20 minutes, a medical associate told me that although I had arrived within the grace period, her supervisor had decided to cancel my appointment. No apology, and the supervisor would not come out to tell me in person.
It would have been one thing if the front desk told me when I checked in on arrival «hey, we’re swamped today. I know you’re only a little late, but can we just reschedule you?» I get it — I was a bit inconsiderate (in my defense, trying to shorten what I already knew was going to be an atrocious wait), and January is a bad time to go to the doctor. But honestly, I have never been treated with such utter contempt in a professional setting. I can’t decide if I’m more outraged by the blasé violation of their own policies, or that I had to wait 20 minutes to be told I would not be seen.
If you want to feel helpless rage in the face of overwhelming bureaucratic incompetence while having someone give you an intimate medical exam, this place is for you. If you are not a masochist, go elsewhere.

Disclaimer: Dr Pasha was really great. Friendly, professional, clear and quick. I’d like to come back and have him as my doctor. I am new to DC and looking for a one stop place for my healthcare.
But as good as the doctor was, the rest of the staff was a different story. Front desk clerks seemed preoccupied and disinterested. No one smiled. Their personal stuff (coats, cups, etc) was everywhere and they were not professionally dressed. Everyone seemed in a rush to leave. Nursing/​medical assistant staff was okay, but similarly not paying attention. No one introduced themselves. There was a mixup on the label of my flu shot paperwork. And my birthday was wrong when I got to the lab. Did not inspire confidence.
As a new patient, no one showed me where to go, no one told me when my appointment was over, no receipt. When I asked for information about the online portal, they gave me an old photocopy of instructions (crazy lines on the page) and said «call them» — rather than giving an invitation code, etc. And when I called, my info was not in the system yet.
In contrast to a dental appointment earlier in the day, when staff explained everything step by step, in a friendly and personal way, this was hugely disappointing. I’ll probably explore other options.

Dr. Adler in the Endocrinology Department has been my doctor for 2+ years now, on the recommendation of a friend. I have seen my fair share of endocrinologists since my diagnosis 8 years ago, but Dr. Adler is the one that stands out. She is a kind and soft-​spoken woman with a deep care for her patients. She is also extremely responsive on the online portal, which makes a difference for me in between appointments. As others have mentioned here, it’s a bureaucratic nightmare, but I’m willing to suffer with that to see a top-​notch physician.

The offices can get crowded.
The staff is relatively efficient.
Drs Brendan Mitchel and Lakshmi Lattimer are quite nice.

I agree with the numerous comments about the scheduling and their staff calling you back when they feel like it. I called to make an appointment and someone didnt call me back for about a week. In that time I finally got through and made an appointment myself. In a week or so after that my appointment was cancelled and rescheduled. Either way, I made an appointment to see a neurologist because Ive been plagued with migraines that basically never go away. They get better at some point but are always lingering. I saw another doctor and they gave me basically something OTC. I got to this appointment and honestly Ive never had a more thorough appointment. Unlike what you see on tv in doctors appointments when they check your reflexes with the little hammer, Ive never actually had that done even in a physical and this dr actually took the time out to do this. First I saw an intern doctor who checked everything and then the head doc came in and ran down all my options. I really felt taken care of. I didnt feel belittled or like i was making up symptoms like I have been made to feel before. So all in all, the scheduling does suck here but once you get in you are taken care of. And my headaches have basically gone away. Praise baby Jesus! The docs name is Dr. John Rothrock btw who basically stated hes had a hand in developing everything on the market today associated with migraines. Best place to be if this is your issue. :)

What is wrong with this place, judging by all the reviews, GW seems to be happy serving their corporate sponsors and pushing their unneeded very expensive products on their patients. PLEASE double check your prescription and make sure they are not trying to get your insurance to cover their pay checks because you will be prescribed a $ 700 cream when $ 3 cortisone would work better.
We made an appointment to see Dr. Bathgate at GW and were left waiting for an hour and a half, the wait staff were rude whenever we would enquirer as to the reason for the long wait. Further, GW is always trying to push some very expensive cream or medication, they have an incentive to sell products but not help patients. I will never return to GW they are unprofessional and provide a terrible environment for a medical care facility.

They consistently cancel my appointments, because their automatic confirmation system is broken. Everyone that works here is completely unapologetic about it. Their doctor’s also constantly cancel appointments, often on short notice.

OB-​GYN patient here. Dr. Valentine was wonderful, but that’s where the good stuff ends.
I wanted to know whether a procedure I wanted would be billed against my deductible, or whether there was no out-​of-​pocket cost to me. I asked that at my consultation weeks ago, and I still don’t know.
The administrative staff is just so bad. A few examples I encountered:
— I was told after the first appointment that they’d call me to schedule the procedure. After a week, I called myself to get it on the calendar.
— Hanging up when you’re on hold, or mid-​conversation.
— Modifying my appointment date without informing me.
— Never returning calls/​email in a timely fashion.
— Leaving a voicemail without identifying who called (when I attempted to return that call, they were rude when I explained I didn’t know who called…)
So now I’m looking for a new practice to perform said procedure, because I really don’t trust these folks. And I kind of hate my primary care doctor for sending me here in the first place.

Years of Unilocal!reviews show that GWMFA knows about the same problems, but just won’t fix them.
Super doctors, but very short meetings with them, so it’s difficult for even the most caring doctors to get to know their patients. Many of the staff are kind and capable and go out of their way to be helpful, and deserve five stars.
But many — especially the gatekeepers at the reception desks — are not. Inattentive, surly, self-​absorbed, semiliterate, and generally inept staffers reflect poorly on the doctors, with management running things like a mill. Here is where MFA falls flat.
Unilocal! reviewers have echoed similar complaints for years, receiving the typical «we’re so sorry» response from the same poor MFA respondent — with no improvements being made.
A shocking number of the clerical and appointments staff are obviously unqualified and show little devotion to their jobs and no sense of duty to the patients who pay their salaries. It can be extraordinarily difficult to make an appointment, and on three occasions we had to drive over just to make sure in advance that we could see a doctor.
The doctors and many of the staff privately agree that the clerical and appointments staff are inept — with some thoughtfully giving their private cell phone numbers as backup — but they are powerless to get management to do anything about it. This has been going on for years, as the Unilocal!reviews prove.
Find another group of doctors to visit if the feckless management won’t fix this chronic problem.

Dealing with fertility is a daunting task (I realize that this is an understatement), and selecting a doctor or facility based on online reviews doesn’t make the task any easier. With that said, I scheduled an appointment with MFA based on an average of three-​star reviews (all fertility clinics in the DMV were between one and three stars), anticipating that I may very well have ended up with a one-​star doctor. I called and was scheduled for an appointment date that was almost two months out, and was told that was the earliest available date. Great. I booked, and ended up with Dr. Kathryn Humm (and her assistant/​RA/​intern/​idk he didn’t say his title).
We finally made it in to see Dr. Humm and could not possibly be happier. She’s sharp as a tack, confident, and warm, but very professional. If I must trust someone with this task then I feel confident in saying that she knows exactly what she’s doing. The husband and I feel very comfortable with her level of skill and professionalism.
**Now for the one-​star notes: since the initial appointment the women up front have not done a good job with the administration portion of the business. If they’re job is solely to check us in, move us through, and check us out, then they’ve failed each time on the third step. No one ever says what happens next. We’ve been left in private rooms, waiting rooms, little stalls, etc, with no guidance. Each time we’ve had to get up and ask if we were all finished. We’ve even left the facility without doing other things because some woman told us that we were all set. A suggestion for each appointment is to ask the doctor what she would like, because the front desk receptionists will tell you something that is different from what the doctor ordered. Always ask questions, even the stupid ones – it’s much better than having to return the next day for something critical that should’ve been done the previous day.
Additional notes:
It was difficult to find this place the first time around. The easiest way is to find street parking on I St or 22^nd St, then enter through the ambulance entrance. Elevators are to the left and you’ll come up right around the corner from MFA, Suite 300. If you can’t find parking the patient garage is right there, but it was almost $ 20 for an hour and a half.
*If you found this review helpful then please give it a thumbs up – I shared this personal information in order to help other couples sharing our struggles and hopefully aid in your journey to find a good fertility doctor. Thank you.

The doctors were ok, but wait till you get entangled into the kafkian back and forth discussions with the billing department. If you do things by email, they seem reluctant to sign the emails with their names so you end up having discussions with who knows who, but when things get rough they will ask you to call the customer service department instead. Who then claims not having access to any of the emails threads, therefore starting the loop again.
But if you start the conversation by phone and you need to send any invoice, payment, paperwork, etc, they will ask you to send it by fax since they don’t have email access. Honestly, WTF… is it on purpose?

The review is for OBGYN department:
I love the doctors and the proximity to my work. The only drawback I have experienced in the last year is that several times I had to wait an hour or more beyond my appointment time.
I Hope they fix this scheduling/​overbooking or whatever underlying problem since otherwise it’s a solid practice.

It’s a pretty good medical facility. Security guards are generally nice and will direct you to wherever you’re going to. Since its big, it can get confusing.
I’ve never had bad experience with any of the facilities yet.

Wife needed a mammogram. I called to make an appointment and received a callback a full week later. A place that can’t be bothered to call you same day and get you in for medical checkups same day is not helpful in medicine. I am so disappointed in this place that we’re now going to John’s Hopkins. Driving over an hour away is better than coming to this mismanaged place! I am so disappointed, but frankly there is very little good medicine in downtown DC so I’m not all that surprised.

I found the GW MFA during an extensive search for a primary care doctor. I’ll leave my angry comments about the absurdity of the structure of our medical care system for another day, but say that I was very happy when I finally found a practice that was taking new patients! I’ve been going here to see Dr. Doliner for about 3 years now.
The GW MFA office is clean, new, and in a relatively convenient location. My experience with the office staff has never been anything but great. Sometimes they are clearly swamped, but I’ve never once had a bad interaction with any of the reception or administrative folks. I’d also like to add that they use the MyHealth system, so you have access to all of your personal health information in one place. This is very convenient, and is easy to use.
I’ve never had to wait more than 10 minutes to be seen, so it seems like they’re usually on top of their appointments. I also like the fact that while I’m usually only coming here for primary care, the GW network is extensive, takes my insurance, and covers just about every specialty doc I would need to see.

Arethia, the OB-​GYN admin, was such a nightmare to deal with on the phone that I decided not to come here for fear of further headache.
When I first called in to make an appointment, I could hear her make a snide remark to her coworkers every time I asked a question. She’d say things like, «why is she even asking me this…» Eventually, Arethia recommended Dr. Gaby Moawad, and when I asked to take a second to look up if he was in the Aetna directory, she actually said, out loud: «Come ON, I need to get off the PHONE!»
Eesh.
A month later, I spoke with someone else and asked about a change in the procedure I wanted done. She said she would find out and get back to me. At the end of the day, I get a voicemail from Arethia herself, saying she has gone ahead and cancelled my appointment (which I had to make MONTHS in advance!) and I could call back to reschedule. Arethia didn’t even bother to discuss this with me to see if I would rather keep the appointment and original procedure. Didn’t bother to give me a choice in the matter.
Faced with the prospect of having to deal with Arethia again, I decided not to call back instead.
It’s a shame, as Dr. Moawad seems very good based on what I’ve read online. But if I have to go through the Gatekeeper from Hell just to see him, I’m better off looking for someone with nicer and more efficient staff.