Nada Roche, MD

The good news: I think she is smart. I had an infection, she gave me an antibiotic, and I was fine in no time. I really appreciate that. The bad news: she was incredibly rude, with no bedside manner. I don’t ask for a lot, but I felt so weird talking to her, that despite her good diagnosis and treatment, I haven’t been back.
I think this is why she has a lot of open appointments. It wasn’t hard to get an appointment with her, which is rare for smart doctors in the DC metro area, but she was so unpleasant, that I never went back — even when I really needed a doctor!

FRONT OFFICE STAFF IS THE MOST INCOMPETENT AND RUDE GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS I’VE EVER COME ACROSS IN HEALTH CARE.
This is NOT the first time I’ve had the unpleasant experience of dealing with these people but it is the most recent.
I made an appointment last week with Dr. Roche. I never got a confirmation call this week so I just called to confirm my time. They couldn’t find me but found someone with a similar name in the time slot I was designated for. Pam told me to just show up tomorrow and hope it was an entry error by Nelly, the person that made the appointment.
UHMMMM NO. How about you confirm it was a mistake so I don’t show up and end up waiting double time because you overbooked. PAM told ME to call back in an hour when Nelly would be back.
I asked her kindly if she could just leave a note for Nelly to confirm this was a mistake and then call me back to confirm my appointment.
Pam says, «I wasn’t the one who made the appointment, that’s why you need to call HER back.»
Pam, my advice for you apparently isn’t allowed under Unilocal’s review guidelines. You have NO idea what ailment I am seeing my Dr. for or what stress I could be under due to my medical situation and you sure aren’t making it any easier on me.
Update: Just called back to talk to Nelly, she hung up on me halfway through. I’m seeing Dr. Roche tomorrow because I want to be seen ASAP but this is the last time I’ll be going here.
Update #2: Still have the same thoughts about staff but Dr. Roche has been replaced with Dr. Plumser who single-​handedly makes the practice jump up two stars. On my first visit, I had a knee injury and despite my protesting this place, I needed to see someone ASAP. I could barely walk and she took a full 45 minutes to check me out and referred me to a fantastic PT. I really do think she cares which is evident in the amount of time she takes with you.

Dr. Roche is great!!!

I had a great experience with Dr. Roche. The staff was very friendly and quick. She was prompt to address my concerns and answered all of my thorough questions without seeming too rushed. She even can back to give more information and check in with me. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes with all my questions answered.

I have been seeing Dr. Roche for many years since I am in the U.S. and I prefer her to other doctors who are not honest with you, and tell you what you want to hear just to make you happy. Being from Europe, this is what I am accustomed to, and what style I appreciate more. If you want a very professional doctor without all the bla bla, then Dr. Roche is your doctor.

Disappointing all around. I came for a physical. The front office staff wasn’t very friendly or helpful. Kind of a you have to ask specific questions or they won’t volunteer useful information of their own volition type. The nurse was fortunately friendly and helpful. That and the short wait time to see Dr. Roche were the only positives.
Once the nurse had taken my vitals, I was shown in to see Dr. Roche. I have to agree with most of the other reviewers – she was curt and did not seem interested. She was more judgmental than helpful when dispensing health advice, was visibly and audibly annoyed and exasperated when I asked her to write prescriptions for OTC meds so that I could use my HSA funds for them. Hey, I didn’t make those regulations up. I’m sorry it’s extending the exam for an extra minute for you to take care of that. There were a few things I might have brought up with her if she had seemed at all interested or like I wasn’t wasting her time, but I was so turned off by her attitude, I didn’t bother.
I would definitely not recommend if you’re at all nervous about going to the doctor or have concerns that go beyond the easy and straightforward. Useful if you need to go for a flu shot, which you wouldn’t see a doctor for anyways, or you have a really routine quick in and out issue since you can get an appointment pretty quickly. Do yourself a favor and avoid otherwise.

This doctor’s office has absolutely no record of me ever being her patient. Last seen in 2009, called for my records today, and they cannot find me in their system. Even if I had another doctor authorized to get my records, why would they not have any record of that or of me as a patient within years? Having to contact HIPPA to find out what my recourse is. In any case, besides that, she is as others described here… competent but lacking in the warm and fuzzy department. Bedside manner could stand a face-​lift. I always felt like cattle when going for my required visits.

Dr. Roche is a fantastic doctor! I can’t believe the nasty reviews listed here. All wrong! I have been seeing her for 2 years and she is brilliant. She will fit you in if you are really ill or panicked about a health issue. She is very prompt with her appointments. I have never waited to see her. I’m usually out within 10 minutes, no matter what the issue. She is quick, knows what she is doing, does not waste time. I love that! She is fast, but truly cares about her patients. And she gives great referrals to specialists, almost impossible in this town. Dr. Roche is an amazing doctor.

I wish I could give her zero star. I had an appointment with the other doctor and was instead on the book for Dr. Roche, Regardless of her cold personality, I was chocked that she walking in the room and did not greet me, did not bother to introduce herself, went straight to my chart and started examining me. The entire appointment took 4 minutes — she was in a hurry to leave since I was the last patient there. If you want to see Dr. Stone, do not make the mistake (or do not have their front desk make the mistake) of booking with Dr. Roche.

Dr. Roche has been my primary care physician for quite a number of years. She is professional in demeanor and I have no complaints about the quality of care provided. She is very attentive to my concerns, gives good advice in a caring manner, and has provided excellent specialist referrals when appropriate. She keeps me on point with respect to what I should be doing for my own health maintenance. When I’m off, she tells me and when I’m on, she tells me that, too. I like her and over the years, I have come to trust her medical judgement and consider her an important member of my medical team.

Dr. Roche is by and large one of the worst doctors I’ve ever had the displeasure of seeing. Contact time is nil, nor is the impression that she actually gives a damn about any of her patients.
I’d seen her once before and been the recipient of her awful treatment. I’d hoped she was just having an off day and that things might be better next time. Wrong. She reconfirmed it on the last visit.
Avoid this nasty woman if at all possible.

This is the reason I never had a primary care physician in DC. I will never return to Dr. Roche. She walked into the room, didn’t look at my information and said «what’s wrong?». Me: «Nothing — I’m new to DC and would like to have a primary care physician before the cold and flu season.» Her: «I can’t bill insurance for that.» Nice. My wife sees her only a couple of hours later same exact thing, only Dr. Roche adds «Please return when something is actually wrong.» THEN the receptionists make a huge deal about how they won’t take her insurance (which is the same as mine, which they took hours earlier). Even after this horrible experience, I still need to fight it out with the insurance company and the doctor’s office.

I’ve been going to Dr. Roche for about four years now, and I’ve decided to start looking for a new PCP.
During my most recent physical, I spent a total of about 8 minutes with Dr. Roche, during which she stared at the computer screen and just asked rapid fire questions as if reading from a script. It was very difficult to raise an issue or question in response to one, because if I’d say «no, but» she had already charged on to the next question. I don’t want to get into specifics, but she was very dismissive of a couple of concerns I raised. I tried to explain why the assumption she’d made was incorrect and what the problem was, but again she’d moved on to the next question on the list and didn’t want to hear it. She also insisted she’d previously given me a prescription when she hadn’t.
I like and appreciate a doctor who is straightforward, but my experience with her has leaned more toward rude and dismissive. I’m no hypochondriac (I think I’ve called or come in only two or three times in four years, plus twice for physicals), so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a few minutes of undivided attention every year or two where a few questions and concerns are listened to and answered respectfully.
For a positive, I will say this — her staff is very good and fast at filling prescriptions. Call and inquire about getting a prescription for something and you’ll get a call back that same day that it’s been phoned in to your local pharmacy often without ever speaking to the doctor. Though of course this assumes that you know what you need and there’s no consultation with her about options, etc.

An experience my friend recently had:
I was charged $ 66 for a visit which the receptionist incorrectly marked as a meeting with the doctor, but not a physical which was what I had asked for. When I went it, I saw the doctor for 5 minutes and gave her brief information on my family background. I was then told she would act as my PCP and then was dismissed. A bill came later which my insurance rejected, which I don’t blame them for at all. I was essentially charged $ 66 for no diagnosis and no testing for a meeting to see if I «liked» the doctor. My copay for a physical, which is what I wanted originally, is $ 20. I was charged 3 times that for the effort of learning that I did not like this doctor or the unprofessional handling of the situation by herself and her staff. I would not recommend her to anyone, and in fact will tell many friends not to go to her.

I’ve seen Dr. Roche for six or so years and have always had good experiences with her. I can get appointments when I need them, she’s good at what she does, and her staff is competent, i.e. no botched billing, they take care of referrals and perscriptions, etc. Dr. Roche knows the limits of her knowledge and is very liberal when referring patients to specialists. That’s a very good thing in my book. The reason I’m giving her 4 stars is that she’s so straight-​up and direct that I’ve heard people say she comes across as aggressive and unfriendly. I’ve never minded that at all. I find her honesty and attitude refreshing. In my book, she’s definitely 5 stars.