The Retina Group of Washington

Last week spoke to Dr. Rivers he said he needed to treat my eyes or I’ll go blind. He said make an appointment for Dec 24^th, The dr. said I will be in Christmas eve since I had was on Vacation during the Thanksgiving Holiday. I went ahead and went to the scheduling desk, made the appointment for 8:30am Dec 24^th. I asked the person behind the desk if they confirm appointments — she said no — not if it’s less than a week.
Show up to my appointment at 8:15am — the young lady behind the desk tells me that the Dr. will no be in today and that he has a emergency. She then tells me that she called me to let me know that they needed to reschedule and that she tried to call to leave a message. Right there I knew something was a miss, because the only person that called me was my sister. She said that another Dr. would see me — I said fine I’ll wait. A few minutes later she calls my name and says the Dr. can’t see me they need to re-​schedule since I didn’t pick up my phone calls — she said this in a nasty tone. I said excuse me you did not call me because I have no calls on my phone from your office. Then she continued to get loud that she was the one that made the calls and my phone was busy — I said wait a minute you did not call my phone because I was at work all day and my phone was not busy. The office manager intervened and pulled up my intake info — she asked me if the telephone number that they had was correct? I looked at it and it wasn’t even close — it looked like who ever typed in the number like the number 8. I crossed the telephone number out and put my correct number in. Then this same young woman in a indignant tone told me that I should have double checked their form — in an attempt to cover her tracks. I was pretty upset at this point and then the Manager asked if I would like to reschedule. I said NO I’ll find myself another Dr. As I left the door the young woman yelled Merry Christmas out as I walked out the door!
I thought to myself why does a big medical group have such people at their front desk arguing with a patient first thing in the morning, let alone insulting them on Christmas eve.
I will never go back to the Retina Group for any kind of patient care, if this is they way they treat patients!

Referral by my regular ophthalmologist late July for an «ERG Plaquinil» by Dr Katira. Test on 3 August, and had stopped taking Plaquinil as a precaution waiting for results – despite the medical régime for about 25 years having made my RA moderate and manageable. Key question: test results?, medicine-​induced retinal damage? 5-​week later follow-​up appointment with regular ophthalmologist was useless exercise, results hadn’t been shared with her. My calls this week apparently did prompt info posting on their «patient portal” – but single line entry is incomprehensible. Referred by Retina Group to phone number to managers of portal. Return call by them: «we’re not clinicians and don’t know what that entry means.» Now 11 September waiting for a call from Dr Katira, almost 6 weeks after the test. (Also was subjected to other, obviously unnecessary testing – e.g., visual acuity while wearing glasses that were being replaced based on 2 very recent 2 Rx’s, test of optics that I would not be wearing??? Etc. Repeats of tests recently performed by my ophthalmologist and 2 optometrists. Acted as though I was changing ophthalmologists, not just showing up for a single test with their uncommon equipment.) Unnecessary testing coupled with extended lack of communication regarding a test that may or may not have been useful. My regular ophthalmologist and even my pets’ DVMs are far more communicative and helpful. [After prompting by her staff Dr Katira did call late afternoon to insist that that extra introductory testing was necessary and to claim that she told me the erg plaquinil test results (favorable – which I certainly would have remembered if it had happened) on the day of the test, also to claim that she had left a message (when?) with my regular ophthalmologist. I’ll stick with my rating.]

As the name suggests, this practice focuses on retinal disorders. They seem experienced with handling an older clientele. My dad frequently sees Dr. Rivers at this location. The parking is a bit better at their new location in the Calibre building across the street from Inova Healthplex. Long wait times, but the quality of care here is excellent. Dr. Rivers was able to preserve my dad’s eyesight after complications with diabetic retinopathy and I wish we were referred to Dr. Rivers sooner. The staff is generally friendly and helpful. One note: be sure you know your insurance benefits well because sometimes they don’t always charge the correct copay, but they are pretty good at correcting any issues and returning overpayments.

If they can’t keep an appointment, what’s the point in scheduling the first appointment of the day? The doctors are arrogant, rude, and chronically late. I will never set foot in their offices again.