Greater Metropolitan Orthopedic

I’ve posted previous negative reviews about Dr. Dwyer in the Alexandria office but have one more complaint to lodge against this practice. I called today to make an appointment with the other rheumatologist in their office, Dr. Roberson, and was told that I can’t see him because the doctors don’t share patients. I explained that I stopped seeing Dwyer long ago so I’m no longer his patient, but the receptionist refused to make an appointment. I also explained that I’m a year overdue for my reclast infusion due to the lack of facilities in our area and the red tape my GP and I are dealing with to get into another facility but she was steadfast in holding to their policy. Great way to serve people’s health needs, GMO. You are an embarrassment to the practice of medicine and the reason people hate to go to the doctor.

UPDATE 9÷15− although my original review still stands, the business does get kudos for attempting to resolve the issue by offering me another visit for free (I declined) and later by paying the small balance on my account that insurance did not cover.(less than $ 30.00). I updated my rating to be two stars because of their efforts after the failed appointment,
May 2015: Please note — this business is now part of OrthoVirginia, a giant chain of Ortho facilities.
After visiting this Fairfax location of OrthoVirginia last week for a hand injury, I still have no diagnosis, am still in pain, and have to go see an actual orthopedist somewhere else — thanks to the utterly deplorable experience I had at this facility.
In short, the office culture is very disrespectful of patients and unprofessional; the rooms were dirty (iodine freshly spilled on the exam bed);the nursing (?) staff are disrespectful of each other; patients are herded from room to room with no explanation, even when taking an x-​ray that was done with no physical exam of my injured hand preceding that test; the physician’s assistant did no physical exam and rather than diagnose my injury proceeded to tell me my pain was from arthritis and then he proceeded to tell me that my hands would probably be disfigured when I «become an old lady» and that he could order an MRI if I wanted to, but that the problem was arthritis. And by the way, in case you think I am an «old lady» I assure you that I am completely fit and in perfect health otherwise. Maybe because at my age I could have been Josh’s (the PA) mother he belittled me as not requiring his attention?
I did not need a 25 year old with a 2 yr technical degree and questionable medical training to take an x-​ray to tell me I have arthritis, which is not even problematic for me and is typical for anyone my age. What I needed was an orthopedist to examine the hand I INJURED PLAYING SOFTBALL and make an appropriate diagnosis based on evidence and proper medical protocols. X-​rays cannot see hairline or stress fractures, or any soft tissues, so to just wave me away as though I’m incompetent to know if I got hurt playing softball or have arthritis pain is beyond idiotic and incredibly unprofessional just as a service professional.
DO NOT go to this place if you want to actually have your problem resolved and be treated as though you exist.

I make the appointment because my back hurts, I drive the 45 minutes to the office, fill out all the paperwork, wait 20 minutes, get called into the room, and only then am I told that Dr. Yadao will only see me for one part of my back so I have to pick: upper, middle, or lower. I explain that my entire back hurts, but she will not look at it. The nurse explains that Dr. Yadao isn’t the spine specialist and that the call center should have made me an appointment with the doctor who does deal with spines so she wants me to reschedule and come back later. No thanks. I can find a place closer to home whose receptionists know what they’re doing and has doctors that can actually doctor.

I’ve seen Dr Hung a number of times since last year. I’ve has the bedside manner of a chia pet and he spends more time staring at his laptop and typing than interacting with the patient. Worst of all he doesn’t listen. I saw him in ‘March 2014 and explained to him that my meduications needed to be adjusted because of another medical condition I had been recently diagnosed with. He refused to change them. I saw him again in July. Not only was he rude and curt, he demanded my hospital records. No problem with the records — I’m sure he needed to see them. A week later I brought all of the information he requested and he barely glanced at it. He didn’t test my leg, arm and back strength. As a matter he never examined anything on this visit. The worst part was that he said I needed to consult with a gmoi/​meds tar surgeon but that particular surgeon tended to be conservative so if he refused to operate, dr hung would find someone else. I’m disgusted with the practice and will NEVER see anytime associated with them again.

I was skeptical when I made an appointment through Zocdoc — it didn’t seem very professional, although it was kind of neat, to book an appointment online without talking to a person — but I had hurt myself on Saturday and wanted to see someone on Monday. I made an early appointment, but got a call that morning saying that the doctor was not coming in today. I asked if I could schedule another appointment for the same day. The lady on the phone told me she had an opening for that same morning in a different location, so I took it. However, when I showed up to check in, I was told the other doctor «isn’t in today». When they checked my appointment, they saw I had been scheduled for tomorrow. Not okay. So I RE-​scheduled for a THIRD time, this time, however, I called the office (in a THIRD location) where I would be going, only to find that the people had scheduled me for 10 minutes later than what they had on the books.
I didn’t have a great feeling after all this. Then I read all these Unilocal reviews. There is no way I am going to a medical practice with such terrible scheduling and billing. Even if the doctors are wonderful, I just don’t want to deal with that kind of incompetence, especially if I have already seen the tip of the iceberg.
I have worked behind the desk at a medical practice before. This level of unprofessionalism is inexcusable.

Updating this review based on a bill I got. PLEASE check to make sure it’s all correct. They submitted it to my health insurance for reimbursement (as they should), but they did NOT include the $ 50 I paid OUT OF POCKET for the non-​necessary and pharmaceutical-​paid-​to-​sell back brace. As such, the remainder of the bill (granted only $ 15 and change) was sent to me. I questioned my health insurance as to why I was being billed the remainder and they actually told me I OVERPAID for the brace as my insurance covers a large portion of it.
I emailed the address for the billing company listed on the bill questioning this as well. Sure enough, they are reimbursing me for what I overpaid. ALWAYS make sure your bill is correct. I reiterate that I will NOT be coming here again and suggest you do the same– unfriendly and rude physicians and terrible billing services.

Clearly, this «institute» is more business-​than-​medically-​minded. They deal in volume, so do not plan on getting quality care. Three times I left work early to get to an appointment on time, only to wait for almost an hour beyond the scheduled time. Dr. Schrieber is always in a rush to see the next patient as he speaks rapidly, asks very few questions, and did not even examine me! This appointment could have been done over the phone. Why did I have to come in? Because they want to get paid. What a waste of time and money. If I had read about the $ 2.5M settlement Greater Metropolitan Orthopedic Institute had to pay for false insurance claims, I would have stayed clear of this ongoing scam.

MY MYRIAD CONDITIONS ARE ALWAYS RESOLVED.
While I can see the frustration of previous reviewers, I do need to say that each time I have gone in for an orthopedic problem, it has been resolved. As a professional musician, I was experiencing tendinitis on both hands, which was alleviated by cortisone injection and antiinflammatory medication. Being able to play is my number one priority and GMO has been indispensable.
I have also been wracked by neck pain, which the GMO PT department also resoved through excellent physical therapy. With as much pain as I was in, it was like a miracle. Right now I am dealing with some hip issues, which the PTs are helping me work through. My son broke his wrist and also got great care.
I have also experienced long wait times, probably because GMO has about a gozillion patients. But when I exercised patience about it and practiced kindness with the staff, there were no other issues. I just take a good book and enjoy the extra moments of peace.

I love them. I do. Dr. Sabloff, I will go anywhere to see you as my doc. But good lord these people are horrible at keeping things on time. This is my 7^th appointment and they have never been on time (also applies to their Clinton and Lorton locations). Today’s appointment was at least an hour late and I spent 10 minutes in my exam room listening to the nurses yell at each other about «being late.» Sigh. And awkward.
5 stars for Dr. Sabloff. 1 star for being on time. They do let you reschedule with no penalty if they are running way behind, but not hugely helpful if you drove 30 minutes to get to your appointment and took time off work in the first place.

The GMO Walker Lane, Alexandria, front desk and phone system may make you pull your hair out but if you can persevere and just keep working the system until you get your appointments, the GMO orthopedic surgeons are outstanding. My wife had hip replacement surgery in June. She was attended by her primary physician and three of his colleagues who covered the on-​call nights and weekends. She had some complications and all of them worked as a tremendous team to pull her through. One of the docs gave me his personal cell number while my wife was hospitalized in case I had problems with the on-​call phone system, which I did. Also, when we saw the X-​Ray of the new hip replacement, it could have been a poster to advertise the operation, it looked great. She’s 6 weeks post-​op, feeling outstanding, and the follow-​up with our surgeon has been superb. We needed pain meds and I forget to call ahead but they wrote me our prescriptions with no hassles, getting refills has been no hassle either. Our main goal was to get the best physician we could find that accepted our insurance carrier to do the best possible hip replacement operation and that goal was met. We’ll put up with all kinds of administrative crap as long as we get the desired result — a first rate surgeon and follow up and the desired result from that surgery. GMO also set up the in-​home post-​op nurse and physical theapy referrals and they’ve been excellent also. Only real hassle — if your doc has priveileges at several hospitals — don’t go to Inova Mount Vernon in Alexandria like we did. There are much better hospitals in the area. It was closest for us but I wouldn’t go there again.

Negative stars. I am writing about 2 separate visits– one by my husband and one of mine from just the other day. Both in the Lorton office.
**My husband, who is on my insurance, was made to pay almost $ 300 for an office visit because they didn’t charge insurance. When I tried to correct the error, they told me it was our error to correct. So, I had to bill the insurance company myself, get them to pay the doctor, and then keep calling for almost 6 weeks before the doctor’s office would send us a check for the difference. Keep in mind that they specifically told us that it was OUR responsibility to keep checking in with the doctor so that they would give us the refund. How is it our responsibility to babysit them?
**I just saw Dr Carlini on Wednesday of this past week. I was almost in tears by the time I left. First, my appointment was at 5:30, and I thought, great! Late appointment day, so I don’t have to miss much of work. I got there around 5:20 and waited until 6:40 before I was seen. They swept me into the x-​ray room without looking at me first, as I told them I was there for a neck problem after a car accident about 10 years ago. It doesn’t curve correctly anymore after pretty severe whiplash, and while it’s quite sore, there is also a pretty big spot in the back of my neck where you can see it diverge from where it should be going. I mentioned that I was trying to conceive before they took the x-​ray, and so they acted as if it was just the biggest hassle in the world. Eye rolls, sighs, saying they didn’t know what I expected to do about this if I couldn’t get an x-​ray. I mean, god forbid they actually just LOOK at my neck. Anyhow, after sitting for awhile, they decide to just cover me up with lead vests. Fine with me.
The doctor breezed in, and you know, I understand it was his last appointment of the day. But the way he treated me was UNACCEPTABLE. He asked me what my problem was, and as I started to explain, he kept interrupting me and wouldn’t let me speak. I never got out any details about my pain, what it feels like, what exactly happened, etc. He looked at my x-​ray, said «Yes, your neck is severely misshapen, you need an MRI and then we’ll see, so get that done and come back.» I mentioned again that I was trying to conceive and asked if it would be okay, and he said that if I am bothered enough to come see him about my neck, it must be bad, and so I need to shift my out-​of-​place priorities to get this taken care of. EXCUSE ME??? THE NERVE OF HIM! I didn’t know what to say. He just started to walk out of the room as if he was finished with me, and I had barely said anything! As he was walking out, he said «Give me your purse,», and grabbed it from my hand. As he picked it up, he flung it back at me with an eye roll, saying that I should not be carrying such a big purse on my shoulders. I started to tell him that I didn’t carry a big purse on my shoulder, but before I could get out 3 words, he was already out of the door, shaking his head.
I finally got out of there after 7pm. And I wanted to cry. I have never felt so disrespected by a doctor in my life. Telling me my priorities are screwed up because I have been trying to conceive for awhile and was asking questions about x-​rays and MRIs? HOW DARE HE.
I know that I need to get my neck checked out and fixed somehow. But I am going to a new doctor to get it done. There is no way in hell I’m going to see him again.
Oh, he also treated his nurses and office staff like shit. He spoke to them in such condescending ways (I could hear him out in the hall when I was in the room) that I almost felt embarrassed for them.

This is a complaint about the Lorton office of this practice. I wish I would’ve done a bit more research before scheduling an appointment, but I ended up here because I was able to make an appointment online on a Saturday evening after my knee started hurting from marathon training/​3 weeks out from the marathon/​started freaking out.
Day of the appointment I waited FOREVER. I got there about 15 minutes early and signed in. The front desk person did not even acknowledge me with a head nod. I waited. Two more people walked in and signed in. After about 45 minutes, the front desk person called up the two people that came in AFTER me to take their information/​get their patient forms/​make copies of their ID and insurance card. These people that had walked in at least a half hour after me and had appointments later than my appointment were helped before me. I was kind of pissed off so I walked up to the woman at the front desk with my patient forms that I had got off their website and filled out before my appointment and stated that I had my forms already filled out, she cut me off mid-​sentence and said «I will call you when I’m ready.» WHAT!!! What a complete B.
Eventually she calls me up, take my forms, photocopies my ID and insurance card. I get seen by the doctor, prescribed my nsaids and leave.
I have a high deductible HSA so I don’t pay a co-​pay but rather I am billed for the full amount (minus any network discounts) which I pay when I receive my bill. Anyway, I waited over a month and constantly checked my online health claims to see when the claim would be processed, and it never was. About a month and a half after my appointment I receive a bill for $ 310, no explanation of the bill (procedures done, cost of the x-​ray, cost of office visit), JUST A BILL THAT SAID YOU OWE $ 310. The thing of it is, I reached my deductible earlier this year so I should have received NO BILL. If the billing person had actually done his/​her job, and sent the claim to my insurance company they would’ve realized this, but they didn’t. I mean, WHY DID I FILL OUT MY INSURANCE INFORMATION ON THE PATIENT FORMS AND WHY DID YOU PHOTOCOPY IT IF YOU WEREN’T GOING TO USE IT? I ended up calling the billing person and explaining to her that the bill I received must’ve been in error because I had reached my deductible earlier that year. She simply stated that she would be sending the claim to the insurance company that day. I interrupted her and asked «Why didn’t you do this initially? I don’t understand why you would just send me this bill without sending it to my insurance company first. This $ 310 doesn’t even include any of my network discounts.» She completely ignored me and just repeated «I will send your claim to your insurance company today.»
HELLOOOOOOOOOOO ??? I just logged onto my health insurance website and saw that the claim had finally been processed and that the actual amount that I owed, minus my network discounts was about half the $ 310 I was billed for.
Please please please please do not go to this practice if you do not have to. Not only is their front desk staff completely, and utterly rude, not only will you have to wait hours after your appointment time, but their billing procedures/​billing person is completely incompetent. Save yourself the hassle and the headache. I went here because of the convenience of being able to make my appointment online. I will never make that mistake again.

Run, if you can, away from this place!
Their scheduling process stinks or else the docs don’t care enough to get to the office before the patients. The waiting room is always full of patients waiting, and waiting, and waiting to see a doctor who probably has not yet arrived in the office.
And can anyone tell me why they want my medical history filled out in pencil and the rest of my paperwork in pen? The receptionists have no clue why they want pencil. But wait, they are catching up on their gossip so they don’t have time to answer.
Bottom line: DON’T GO HERE!

NEGATIVE STARS.
Five times I’ve been to the Walker Lane office and five times they made me wait well past my appt. time to see my doc. Three visits were to see Dr. Hung; two to see Dr. Bridges. The office routinely schedules patients before the docs even arrive.
The waiting room has a clear view of the elevators so patients can see just when docs and receptionists arrive.. .late.
My second visit to Dr. Bridges was a total waste of my time. First, they took me to the back later than my scheduled appointment; then they could not find the meds she was going to inject into my knee. The nurse asked ME if it was at another office! (Scary that they don’t know the whereabouts of their meds.) Turns out that it was never ordered because no one initiated contact with my insurance for approval. Mary, the receptionist, told me that she had submitted it 2 weeks prior. Turns out that she had not and waited still another two days to fax it for the first time, 16 days after Dr. Bridges ordered it. This was confirmed with Angie the person in the practice who gets insurance authorizations.
A side note: take your hand sanitizer with you. Mary, the receptionist, SNEEZED INTO HER HAND. I never saw her use a tissue or sanitizer or excuse herself to wash her hands. The only comment she had was «excuse me, I have allergies»…and nasty habits, too!
Once I had the first appt. of the day (8:15) and saw Dr. Hung at 9:40. He then tried to rush through my appt., did not listen to what I was saying and asked questions that I’d answered in my previous visits.
Scheduling problems exist with all locations of this practice. They routinely make patients wait well past their appointment times to see doctors. This I learned when other patients and I compared notes while waiting for the docs and receptionists to show up. We also learned that complaining to the docs does no good.
My fifth visit, (third with Dr. Hung) was the final straw. I got there on time which was well before ANY of the three at the front desk or Dr. Hung. (I saw them all get off the elevator.) And once again waited more than an hour past my appt. just to go to an exam room and then waited even longer to see Dr. Hung. He suggested I buy a donut pillow for my back/​spine pain. My family doc had already suggested this but it just made my pain worse. This had been noted in my medical history on my first visit. I got really frustrated and said «That was tried! My family doc referred me here because it didn’t work!» I asked if we could work on finding reasons for my pain. He ordered an MRI.
Upon leaving the office, I called my family doc for the name of another ortho doc NOT IN THAT PRACTICE!
UPDATE: I had the MRI and took the results to a new doc. It was a great experience. They took me on time; the doc listened to me, diagnosed the reason for my pain and recommended treatment that has given me relief. He also mentioned that a donut pillow is for hemorrhoid patients, not those with my back and spine problems. This new Ortho office has all high marks on Unilocal

I absolutely love Dr. Roberson the rheumatologist! I have also seen two of the orthopedic Drs and the physical therapy for myself and my children. Very professional!

Went in for a follow up appt. Waited an hour. I would have had to wait longer, but the nurse at the front desk said Dr Yadao was running late. We asked how late and she said she had no idea she’s just late. Half the office left. The lady in front of me said she waited 2 ½ hr last time! I then heard the nurse say the dr has to leave in 40 min and I knew there were at least 6 patients she still had left to see. I’m not sure if the issue is that the front desk overbooks or if they do it to make as much money as possible. I will say the office is horrendous and disorganized as mentioned many times in lots of the reviews. You would think such a large practice would be more efficient. I saw the dr for 2 min and she seems to want to see me every month. I think it’s so they can bill me over and over again!

No way to contact them except by fax to reschedule appt. So I faxed them:
Dear Dr. Carlini:
Please cancel my appointment tomorrow at 130p at Walker Lane. If your office would like to reschedule, please have them call me at xxxx. I won’t call to reschedule.
For your information, I have no way of contacting your office except through this fax.
Folks don’t answer the phone and there’s no email address (last appt I asked for one and was told, we don’t have one).
Yes, I am a bit frustrated.
Yesterday, I called (703) 971‑3701 three times between noon and 5 p.m. and also today at 911a. For each of the four calls, I was put on automatic hold and then eventually disconnected because no representative was available. The message refers to the web-​site to request an appointment but I can’t find that means of contacting you.
This is a big waste of my time.
I’d be happy to talk to either you or your Senior Office Manager about this; but my primary concern is getting my knee evaluated.

I wish there was a way to give this place negative stars. I went to the Alexandria office and had xrays and blood work done. It has been over a month and still have not gotten my results. They refuse to tell you results over the phone so they can make you go into the office to get another copay out of you. DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE. With so many options in the area filled with doctors who actually care about the patient rather than just getting paid go somewhere else.

I had my first visit yesterday. The place wasn’t bad. Just a normal office. My wait was about normal for a specialty clinic.

I was referred by my rheumatologist, who is by the way in the same group and wonderful. Made an appt on Thurs for the following Monday. When I walked in I was handed the standard new patient paperwork. On the top of the pile of papers was a notice that said-​your wait time will be 15min to 2 hours. I couldn’t believe the nerve of this practice. I waited an hour because I had taken time off work to go. Finally I told them that I had not been told on the phone about the wait and couldn’t stay any longer. My time is valuable too. If I had known ahead of time I would have found another MD.