Associate Ophthalmologists & Optometrists

I’m surprised by the poor reviews. I’ve been a patient of Associate Ophthalmologists since the late 1990’s. My experiences have always been positive. I think the main issue with the poor reviews is that people don’t understand their health insurance plans.

I’ve been going here for several years, and every time I have a great experience. Staff is friendly and helpful. I never wait too long to be seen by the doctor.
Dr. Wallis is fantastic. He’s very personable, kind, and knowledgeable. He communicates everything very clearly, and takes the time to answer my questions. I highly recommend him!
Only drawback is that sometimes the wait for the optician can be lengthy. But I think that’s because it’s just her, and she takes time to really help you get the right glasses that work best for you. Her great service makes up for the wait time.

DO NOT GO HERE !!! everything reviewers are saying is true. They will send you bills when you owe nothing. I paid my co pay before I left! When you call your insurance company, they will review your bill and say you now owe nothing. But this company will just send you a revised bill! Saying you owe something else! I believe something fishy is going on with this establishment. I was referred here after getting migraines and I joked to a friend «is this a fraud ring that involves the doc that referred me? something seems off». The eye doctor didn’t even know what he was treating me for and started talking about something that didn’t pertain to me. I told him, «um… I think u have the wrong patient». Low and behold he did. He was nasty to his staff and scolded me «then maybe you should tell me what’s wrong!» Well gee doc you don’t even ask me. DO NOT GO HERE something is really off. Now let me handle this new bill they resent me…

I went here more than two months ago for a routine exam. There are a few things about this practice that ensure I will never go there again.
1) There was some drama going on between the nurses and assistants, and it was caused by the fact that one of them seated me in the wrong waiting area for a visual field exam. 15 minutes passed and another nurse found me and in a really weird tone asked who seated me there. I was confused and told her it was a man who led me to the back of the office. I then watched her confront another assistant. A little while later she raised her voice at her. Ah, the drama, in plain view of all patients. Unprofessional.
2) I told the doctor I sometimes have blurry vision and red eyes. Immediately he told me I have dry eyes and proceeded to insert those little implants that hydrate the eyes. He told me to come back in three months for more. Charge to insurance company: $ 400! No, thanks, I can buy eyedrops in the future.
3) They postponed my visual field exam to check my insurance coverage. I’ve never had an exam postponed to check my insurance. I’d already been in the office for an hour at that point. The assistant then asked me if I wanted to go ahead with the exam because I would need to pay out of pocket since it’s not covered due to my deductible. Sure, whatever.
Well, it was covered! Of course it was. I’ve never had to pay for one before. Fast-​forward two months and though my insurance company spoke to them two weeks before and they said my check was being processed and sent out, I still had not received it. Called them. They said it was about being sent out. After raising a big fuss, they refunded my credit card and said they’d void the check and that I should throw it out when I received it.
Update: Check never came anyway.

Extremely unethical practice — Insurance Fraud — Charging innocent customers huge amounts when you should ONLY pay copay!
I went in with an eye infection (I’ve had the same eye infection numerous times). I had the same diagnosis, but rather than charging my copay (which is what I’ve paid the last 5 optomologist visits at different places), I was charged $ 173!
I called my insurance company and they said that it was due to the way it was billed — they listed the visit as something that it was not to get more $ — the insurance company said it was unethical. I don’t understand how I’ve been to over 5 other ophthalmologists and always charged a copay and this company billed and charged something that was 10x more expensive — for the same type of visit as the others.
I called the office and both Rosemary and Mo were extremely rude. Please stay away and go to a practice that is honest and will not charge you an arm and leg when you should only pay a copay.
I usually don’t have time to write Unilocal reviews as I have 2 kids and a newborn, but felt the need to as I don’t want other people enduring what I did.

Dr. Rudick performed lasik surgery on me this week. My eyes have already healed, and my eyesight is ²⁰⁄₁₅ — better than I’ve ever seen before.
I found the whole process to be quick, thorough, and efficient. I can’t say enough how satisfied I am with my new eyes, and I give a lot of the credit to Dr. Rudick’s skill as a doctor and surgeon.

This place is definitely committing insurance fraud. I went there for a routine annual eye appointment. First, I waited 45 minutes to be seen, even though I had filled out all the documentation online. Second, once I was seen, I was told I had some suspicious optic nerves and that a photograph should be taken. now I have seen an opthamologist my whole life, and have never been told this. I agreed to have the image taken for documentation, but then was informed that this was not covered under my eye insurance but would be billed under the medical insurance. Then I waited another 40 minutes to be told I needed a referral from a PCP (which I didn’t understand because they were recommending it, not my PCP). When I questioned them more, the front desk which is a hot mess, said they would look into the matter. So instead of waiting another hour on my day off, I decided to go home and come back later. They then called me back to tell me it would be covered under medical but I needed to pay a copay.
What made me suspicious is that they told my husband who had gone 1 week earlier the SAME EXACT THING, and he had never heard of this condition before and he is a physician who has had eye issues in the past.
The opthomologist is nice but seems to push expensive procedures and is a bit rude when speaking. I asked him about any specific drops for dry eyes with contact lenses and his first recommendation was a collagen eye surgery… I’ll just get some rewetting drops from CVS, thanks.
Finally, my husband bought contacts from here, they were supposed to call us, never did, I had to call 3 times to see if they were ready, so we could pick them up. They also messed up my script and when I called to question them, no one called back.
Save yourself the troubles and extra copays they are trying to collect and go somewhere else.

I was able to get an appointment pretty quickly to see Dr. Shepps, and I was happily surprised that I only waited about 5 minutes to get in to see him once I arrived (I waited almost two hours last Winter when I went to a doctor because I had the flu). The doctor was really patient with me as I explained that in addition to my eyesight for close up reading deteriorating, I was also suffering from lots of headaches. He explained the procedures he and his nurses would do to check what might be going on and everyone was really sweet, especially when I got a little nervous with the drops they had to put in my eyes.
I felt really well taken care of, and even happier that my headaches have disappeared now that I am wearing reading glasses. On a side note, the woman who helped me choose my glasses (I can’t remember her name) was really helpful too. I didn’t feel any pressure and she has good taste. :)
I would highly recommend them, and in fact a friend recently went here as well for a procedure (I think it was Lasik) and was also really happy.

Simply put, BEST experience I’ve had in a doctors office in New York City.
This review is being written in regards to LASIK surgery with Dr. Rudick;
Being a physician myself, I’m admittedly pretty hard to please when visiting other doctors offices. Let me just say, this place does everything right. The ancillary staff is amazing. Everybody is courteous and willing to explain with a friendly smile. Appointment times are promptly kept, and scheduling is a breeze.
As far as the surgery goes, I would recommend Dr Rudick to my own family (and actually did). My recovery time was less than a day, probably about eight hours to be precise. By the follow-​up visit the day after surgery I was pain-​free I can see perfectly!
Overall, a complete pleasure of a visit. Wish more doctors in New York City were like this

I will never recommend this Ophthalmologist to anyone instead I will tell everyone not to go here. First I had an over an hour wait. I went in for an annual eye checkup, which is covered by my insurance. The front desk called my insurance to check I was covered and told me that you’re only covered for an annual eye check. Then she told me they would charge me a visitation fee, which not every office charges but they do. I told them I can just go to another ophthalmologist, who will not charge me the extra visitation fee that my insurance doesn’t cover. She insisted I see the doctor and she would «waive» the fee since I’m a new patient. At this point she knew I came only for an annual eye checkup and I also told Dr. Rudick I was here only for an annual eye checkup. A couple days later I get sent a $ 300 bill for an annual eye checkup. I call my insurance and they tell me I did not get an annual eye checkup, which I specifically asked for. They gave me services, which I never asked for! This office is all about making money. They do not care about the patients instead are out to make money and bill patients for services never asked for. I will fight this bill because it is unethical to be misleading patients and rendering services they never asked for and bill them for it. I will make sure I let people know this office is not about one-​on-​one patient relationship rather a money business. Dr. Rudick was in a rush to perform a checkup and never had time to ask me about my history or any problems I was having. He was too busy trying to check all of his 10 patients scheduled at once. I know one of the other friends also had the same experience with them.
I would never recommend this Opthamologist to anyone.

The office staff is a nightmare. So unprofessional and rude.
The doctors aren’t much better. Their «course of treatment» consists of you coming in unneccessarily multiple times to spend a ton of money on copays for something they could have given you day 1.
Avoid this office.

I am quite surprised to read the negative reviews about Dr. Ruddick. I had a very positive experience and can honestly say that I believe he saved my eyesight. I was having real problems seeing out of my right eye and went to see Dr. Ruddick for the first time in discomfort. He was patient and thorough and diagnosed me with something called branch retinal vein occlusion and sent me immediately to a specialist, whom his staff called and arranged for me to see the same day. After two years and numerous injections (in my eye) by the specialist to whom I was referred, I am essentially healed and continuing to follow up with Dr. Ruddick. He continues to be patient and interested and I would recommend him without hesitation.

So, ended up here through doctor referral when I had an ocular migraine — or something like that. The doctors were very thorough, rather abrupt (I was asked to not ask questions until he had finished talking, and was informed he didn’t need new patients) but in the end did the job.
The class-​act however are the front desk staff, who are so rude, so dismissive, so non customer focused, that if I was in charge of the operation I would be doing some in depth staff retraining. I laughed it off, but after multiple visits it is the residing memory I have.
Still, I get it, you go here for your eyes, not for someone to be remotely polite.

Dr. Rudick performed my LASIK surgery and I cannot say enough great things. One week later I am seeing ²⁰⁄₁₅ and could not be happier with my decision to go forward with the surgery. Dr. Rudick is very friendly and answered absolutely any questions I had. I HIGHLY recommend both the surgery and Dr. Rudick!

I got my appointment pretty quick. Thats the only postive thing I can say about this doctor. Maybe because I paid cash. When I got there, I waited for about 40 mins to get in. Dr Joseph Rudick examined my eyes but didn’t seem to find out what’s going on. When I asked him questions, he didn’t give me satisfactory answer and seem reluctant to answer any more questions. Look impatient and didn’t listen enough. He didn’t treat my problem and in fact refer me to another doctor. When I asked him to prescribe for my contact lens, he asked me if I brought the contact lens boxes. Huh? I thought he should know. I never have to do that with other doctor. Poor diagnose and don’t listen to the patient. He has a lot of patients but does not mean he could just be in a hurry and overlook the patient’s problem.

I’ve asked to have my eyeglass prescription faxed to the eyeglass retailer on two different occasions now. BOTH times they’ve assured me it would go out that day or the following day, and BOTH times it wasn’t done. I also spend at least 40 minutes waiting here each time, for an early morning (~8am) appointment that lasts all of 10 minutes.

I really dislike going to see doctors. It generally involves having to book an appointment months in advance, dealing with rude and incompetent receptionists, waiting an hour or more, and then finally getting to see the doctor for 15 minutes where they hurry through the exam and give me a stack of prescriptions before I leave.
However, I was pleasantly surprised at the level of care I received at Associate Ophthalmologists. To give you some background… some dust had fallen into my eye and I had attempted to flush everything out with water. But when it was still pink after a day and it still felt like something was in my eye, I decided it was time to get it checked out.
I went to Associate Ophthalmologists without an appointment and was able to see Dr. Gerald Shepps after waiting less than 30 minutes. The front staff was efficient and courteous. Dr. Shepps is extremely knowledgeable and competent. He explained clearly what the problem was and kept me informed as to what he was doing throughout the procedure. He adeptly removed a shard of metal from my eye with nearly no pain or discomfort. The entire visit took about an hour. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.
I would highly recommend Dr. Shepps to anyone who is in need of an ophthalmologist.

Dori Wolf, OD is thorough and professional, my prescription was spot on. Nice quiet office on East 40^th St. Highly recommended.