Nerve Bone and Joint Institute

I cut the tendons and nerve to my left pinky finger in a freak fall. I drove to a local hospital where after a wait two physicians assistants stitched the wound up. But they told me the hand surgeon on call recommended that I have surgery that night. That turned out to be Dr. Hashemi. We couldn’t get an operating room until after midnight and I was worried that he might be fatigued. But my fears were immediately allayed when I met Dr. Hashemi. He is a very energetic, optimistic person. He repaired the nerve and one tendon — the other was too shredded — and maintained close supervision of the rehab. I especially appreciated that he understood my concerns as a golfer even he doesn’t play. Now I am playing again and my finger is almost completely recovered.

Do NOT go here. I saw this doctor as an in-​network patient and was taken out of network for a non-​emergency non-​life threatening surgery (one I’m not certain was necessary!) The surgery was performed at a hospital the doctor picked and one the office stated I was covered for; only to find out after the surgery that I was covered at that hospital but the doctor performing the surgery there was not. Therefore NBJI could foot me an enormous out of pocket bill. I saw them as an in-​network provider. This is unethical. I learned after the fact that there were hospital options the doctor could have arranged which were in network and for which my surgery would have been covered. This office knew they were taking me out of network and told me otherwise.
The billing department is a shady mess. First, I never received a bill in the mail. They called me to tell me I owed them a ridiculous amount, and later emailed me a bill. I’ve never experienced such disorganization. While I made good faith efforts to resolve my enormous bill with their office the billing department did not follow-​up– even after I went into the office to find a resolve and sent certified mail as they requested. Without notice they sent my bill to collections. When I addressed this with the office the billing department told me I would have received a 90 notice before going to collections. This did NOT happen. One portion of the bill that was sent to collections was for over $ 1K for an in-​office visit which the billing office later admitted was a mistake. A rather large expensive mistake to bill a patient. While I had engaged my insurance way before I was sent to collections when insurance called their billing department they said that myself and the office had come to an agreement, which was false. Only after seeking legal counsel and getting a supervisor from my insurance to communicate directly with their billing department did a resolve unfold. A resolve which involved my paying to be removed from collections which should have NEVER happened and for which their office took no responsibility.
The office even casually informed me they sometimes grossly over charge for surgery to make up for the high rent costs to their office space in DC.
This place is a complete nightmare. DO NOT SEEK SERVICES HERE. This business is shady and scheming.

I came from North Carolina to get surgery in DC with doctor Hashemi and I wasn’t disappointed .i got amazing service, dr. Hashemi took care of me well and made my recovery quick and easy. I have to tell you I had 2 surgeries at ones and I barely have any scars. Stuff is beyond than just amazing, I was asking them all questions I have and they r respond really quick. Thank you so much !!!

Dr. Shar Hashemi, of the Nerve Bone and Joint Institute, was recommended in August 2013 — I had significant damage to my right peroneal nerve. After my first appointment I was excited and relieved to have finally found a doctor who could help me. Dr. Hashemi really seemed to care and had a great bedside manner.
I was scheduled for surgery in the next month. The surgery center that was recommended and preferred was a surgi-​center in Maryland that Dr. Hashemi is a part owner in. This didn’t trouble me — I just was focused on healing.
It wasn’t until I was recovering from surgery that some red flags appeared. I got an infection in two of the three surgery sites. When I was able to drive for an office visit with Dr. Hashemi, I was told I had a balance on my account. In the past, doctors who perform surgeries had the follow-​up charges as part of the surgery fee. I owed money for co-​pays that Dr. Hashemi was charging. When I complained at the front desk I was told the new charges weren’t considered surgery follow-​up since I was being treated for «new» issues. I had an infection from surgery the doctor just performed…
In January 2014 I began to experience pain again in my right leg — bad enough to limit me in my activities and my ability to stand and walk. I saw Dr. Hashemi and he recommended I see another doctor in his practice, Dr. Morvarid Yousefi — who happens to be his wife. Although I started seeing some red flags, which I continued to justify, I saw Dr. Yousefi — she was fine — but seemed to rely on her husband’s, aka Dr. Hashemi, lead. Everything was followed up with: we’ll see what Dr. Hashemi thinks. If it’s all above board — why appear to keep it secret your married?
Sometime at the end of 2015 I recommended to a co-​worker of my husband — who had a leg problem — to see Dr. Hashemi. The first week of February 2014 or so — my husband followed up with this co-​worker only to be told that they didn’t see Dr. Hashemi because he stopped taking the insurance we all had coverage under. This was news to us. I called the office ASAP and yes — it was true my insurance was no longer accepted and if I wanted to keep my follow-​up appointments I would have to pay out of pocket. I couldn’t afford that choice and stopped seeing Dr. Hashemi. Thanks for the notice. I never heard anything from the office or Dr. Hashemi.
Fast forward to October 2015 — living with my inability to stand or walk for long periods of time and severe pain — I emailed Dr. Hashemi for a referral to see a doctor at Johns Hopkins. The response was undecipherable. Later I was informed I had to make an appointment and be seen by Dr. Hashemi for him to consider a referral.
After some complaining on my part and calls to try and get a copy of my medical record, I received an email from the Nerve Bone and Joint Institute’s attorney, who is on staff, that all communications were to go through him from now on.
On December 11, 2015 I was sent a password protected letter via email that Dr. Hashemi would no longer be my treating physician. It stated that a good relationship between doctor and patient was essential for safe and quality medical care and we longer had that. The letter even stated that :
«The reason for this decision is inability to follow my peripheral nerve surgical recommendations… I advised you to follow up… You have not scheduled a follow up.»
I am disappointed that after trying to get a simple referral too another doctor the situation ended in a giant mess that caused me stress and many hours of frustration. And Dr. Hashemi never writing that referral for me to get help, relive pain and get a new treating physician.
In my opinion, Dr. Hashemi and the Nerve Bone and Joint Institute staff don’t care about patients well-​being — the care is focused on a «cover our asses» attitude and concept — which is all about making money.

I had peripheral nerve surgery done by Dr. Hashemi. I have seen over 20 physicians for the nerve pain. I recieved meds and blocks by several other physicians, none of the meds helped and the blocks were short lived. Dr. Hashemi explained the surgery to me and my husband in a manner that we understood exactly what he was doing and what needed to be done after surgery in order for it to be successful. Dr. Hashemi’s office also helped me with coccyx pain from a snowboard fall. I have seen this office 3 times and got more material relief and correct diagnosis with them than with any other physicians. I’ll be forever grateful to them for helping me heal and curing my pain.

Dr. Hashemi and his team at NBJI have a very attractive facility that is brand new. The staff that support the doctors are very helpful and professional. Unfortunately, Dr. Hashemi is not a very good doctor. Beware, he is very convincing, but this guy will try to get you to undergo procedures that are both risky and completely unnecessary. I had repetitive stress injuries from typing and saw him for several months. He was so convinced in his approach that he got me to do an unnecessary diagnostic procedure that put me under. It was unnecessary according to the leading hand surgeon expert at John’s Hopkins Hospital. Based on the results of this surgery, which was supposed to test something in my arms and was chalk full of errors and bad readings, he recommended I proceed with a very invasive surgery that would have put me out of work for an entire month and PT for several months to follow. Despite my pointing out to the doctor that his diagnosis did not explain some of the other significant symptoms I was having, he was confident in his plan of action. I am sure that this doctor is good at treating certain health problems, but his narrow focus blinded him from realizing that my symptoms did not fit his diagnosis.
He has a vested financial interest in the surgery center where he conducts his procedures and referred me to his wife for both diagnosis and treatment. His billing department had serious difficulty in explaining to me how much I was going to have to pay for my procedures with this doctor, and they had several billing mistakes. Talk about serious red flags.
Most annoying of all, this doctor was constantly distracted in consultations with me by his phone. The bottom line: Don’t Come Here Unless You Have To