Orthopedic Associates of Dutchess County

awful place had surgery in tremendous pain they wont give me an appointment hung up on and they my insurance for a doctor visit that i did not receive

Ever dealt with a practice so idiotic you simply could not believe it? When I tried to make an appointment at Orthopedic Associates, I was told the sports orthopedist could only see me for one body part, although five are bothering me, likely interrelated. However, the receptionist told me I could see a pain-​management doctor for all five body parts. I arrived at the office this afternoon only to be told that the pain doctor could only see me for one body part, my back — it’s unclear what process they used to decide the back would take precedence over the other parts — and that the «doctor» was, in fact, a nurse. I was also told they were going to X-​ray my back, although I am 100% certain my back isn’t broken. Upset that my time had been wasted since I wanted to cover all five painful areas in one visit and had been assured that I could while making the appointment, I raised my voice, and the smug office manager said, «This appointment is canceled!» and ushered me out. The practice also called to confirm the appointment for the wrong day, and the day of the appointment handed me a patient information sheet with info taken over the phone that was riddled with errors. Mainly, though, they completely wasted my time, contradicted each other, and did not try to right the mistake. Does this stupid practice actually think people are going to make five appointments to see one of their nurses when they have five pain complaints that are probably interconnected? And do they not understand the concept of having actual orthopedists see patients instead of nurses? The name should be changed to Stupid Orthopedic Nurse Associates.

Was told to pay $ 200 at my appointment. Was NOT told that this was anything but settling my bill completely. Received a bill for $ 125 more six weeks later. Extremely deceptive and unethical.

It’s not that the doctors are incompetent; they are competent docors. It’s the way the practice is run. Terrible. The individual patient is no more than a number and the numbers are huge. The place is a true money-​making medical mill.
It is very, very difficult to get through to the office on the phone once you are a patient. The line is busy. There’s an option to leave a message that is also difficult to access and often there is no call-​back. I made an appointment a month ahead; the day of my appointment, I found there was no record of it. (They did squeeze me in, though.) I’ve emailed them a few times in order to get in touch; that’s how I got the follow-​up appointment that they lost. I’ve also emailed them an gotten no response. One time I was able to get a response by leaving a message with the emergency answering service. Even the emergency answering service took a long time to answer, then put me on hold! They said they had 14 callers ahead of me.
In the office, there is sometimes a long line just to get to the desk to check in for your appointment! People who are hurting, injured, uncomfortable, standing in this long line to check in for their appointment! Absurd. They really need to hire more staff and create a more patient-​centered process.
When you see the doctor, he will spend anywhere from 90 second to five minutes with you. Brusk, always rushing, without compassion. Just interested in getting thru it to the next patient. Competent? Yes. Caring? No.
Go someplace else if you can possibly find another practice that takes your insurance.

I would not recommend this practice unless you have the Cadillac of health insurance plans or are independently wealthy. They charge outrageous prices if you have a high deductible plan — how’s $ 333.00 just for walking in the door, not counting ANY procedure. How about $ 479 for one lousy cortisone shot? And don’t think they’ll take pity on you and lower the bill. Granted it may be like this everywhere, but just thought I’d share my experience. I’ll just suck it up and deal with constant pain. Thank you very much, not!

The wait time at their walk in clinic in Poughkeepsie is ridiculous. First you register and pre-​pay. Then you sit. I waited over an hour after registering, and when I asked how much longer it would be, the rude receptionist said an hour and a half more. I would have been seen sooner and treated better at the ER. Never again

Doctors are great once you can actually get an appointment. Can’t say enough great things about Dr. Lombardo

So, this saga began on 9/​21, when I initially had an 8:15 appointment at the New Windsor office. I was there at 8:10 or so and waited patiently until around 9 am when the waiting room was informed that the dr. was running late due to an emergency. Ok, well, I had to be at work, so I rescheduled, as did a number of other patients. The earliest appointment I could get was for the following week, but because I knew I would be switching insurances and my then current insurance was ending as of 9/​22, I figured I’d wait to make sure there would be no confusion. My new insurance was supposed to be active as of ⁹⁄₂₃ so there would be no gap, but given I work for the state of NY, I was not going to count on having that documentation by the following week.
Fast forward to Friday, ¹⁰⁄₂ at 9:54 am when I received a call from the Poughkeepsie office ahead of my appointment there today (¹⁰⁄₅) and was invited to update my insurance. I had explained that I hadn’t yet received the cards, but I had an email from my benefits department with all the official details. I gave the woman these details and she said, ok, you’re all set. Because I am mistrustful of such things, I asked, just to double check, «are you sure that everything’s all set,» to which she replied affirmatively.
So, today, after a very busy day at work, I arrived at 3:45, in time for my appointment. Upon arrival, I am asked that BCBS is still my provider. I told the woman that it was not, that we had sorted that out last week. She said something to the effect of just take this paper work and wait, we’ll sort it out at registration. I’m called to register within a few minutes, sit down, and things quickly go downhill. Not only are they not able to find me based on my name or SSN, they’re not able to locate me in the system based on the information given to me by my HR department. (Showed them the dated and signed email on my iPhone.)
I am told that the birthdate that is in the system is wrong. (Well, I know my birthdate, so, not my doing. Someone else screwed that up.) I am told that **I** will need to call the insurance provider. So, I do. I sit there and I sit on hold with UHC for at least 30 minutes. Another 10 or so to figure out that they can’t find me and then, the woman say, «I’m told you need to speak to someone at the Kingston office, I’ll transfer you.» Meanwhile, the nurse has twice called me in and was told by the billing/​receptionist/​registrar that «no, she (I) cannot go back yet.» Finally, after being on hold for another 7 minutes, I’m told that the Kingston office closes at 4:30 and it’s 4:34, so I’ll have to call back another time.
I am then told «the doctor says you need to reschedule at this point.» Wow. I do believe I had to reschedule when he had his little emergency. You think he could spare a little patience considering I’m not sitting in this chair by choice, but that the fascist behind the counter won’t let me be seen unless I pay for the visit in full? Seriously, I cannot afford that. Nor can I afford to have my time wasted, which is what this office, this practice, that receptionist, and yes, that doctor did to me today. And it’s not the first time my VERY PRECIOUS time has been wasted at this practice.
Note to all doctors out there: I respect your time, I expect you to give me the same courtesy. I do not have unlimited sick time to be hassled by your staff and be held accountable for it by you. That is a really shitty way to treat your clients; it discourteous, and disrespectful.
PS: I did try to call after I stormed out of the office (and, I did storm – I will take responsibility for my behavior) to complain, but of course, there is no option to leave a message. So, I posted a note on Facebook, to which there was a response (some client care person will be getting back to me tomorrow), but the post was subsequently deleted. I was going to hold off on the Unilocal review until tomorrow, but since they deleted the complaint, I’m going forward with it.
I don’t care if it was UHC, my HR department, or their office who made the mistake – I had proof of insurance in the form of an official email from my benefits manager; they could have been generous and taken me at that word and taken my copay. Instead, they chose to provide crap service by telling me I had to sit there on hold or pay for a visit out of pocket, which I simply cannot afford to do, which made me feel as if they thought I was trying to pull something.
PPS: All this being said, they have one phone call tomorrow to make it right. If they come through, I will amend this review. Until that time, they will remain with the lowest rating and this review will stick. Whoever calls me tomorrow better bring their A-​Game and the receptionist and doctor had better personally have an apology at the ready, because I tolerate a lot, except when it comes to a business wasting my time and essentially punishing me for someone else’s mistake (s).

Words cannot begin to describe how ecstatic I am with oadc. My daughter suffered an ankle injury that MANY doctors could not figure out what was going on. She first saw Dr. Dentico the Physiatrist who led us to Dr. Shen. Dr. Shen is phenomenal. He was able to pinpoint my daughters problem. He did not rush things, was very thorough, and has excellent bedside manners. He performed surgery on my daughters foot and had his personal nurse check on her the next day. He’s compassionate towards his patients and their families. We all had 110% confidence in him as a surgeon. My daughter had no infection afterwards, and the incisions are healing and scarring wonderfully. The staff at scoa is also wonderful. All the medical assistants and other staff at oadc are top notch. We never leave there without a question unanswered. You are the best of the best.

My experiences with the doctors, physical therapist, nurse practitioner and customer service reps have been 95% negative. There is a lack of care and compassion at all levels of this practice. Their medical records clerk was very good! I don’t feel that it is necessary to share all of the details of my negative experiences, but every organization has a culture and the metaphor I would use to describe this practice is machine. I’m not even sure that the providers in this practice see their patients as individual humans, but instead see them as objects or cogs in the wheel. They are jaded. I believe they are suffering from burn out and their behavior certainly indicates that this may be the case. I’ll offer one final thought: Complaining about a pain management practice is a bit of a catch-​22. I’m sure that this practice chalks all of their negative reviews up to patients who are drug seeking, but turned down. I was seeking injections after learning that the practice does not manage pain medication. So drug seeking is simply not the case in my situation. I hope readers of this review and others will take the reviews seriously. I’ll not be returning to this practice.

This practice seem to have moved their page — they do have other Unilocal sites that are full of bad reviews — glad to see that I’m not the only dissatisfied patient who is out of patience with them… I have been dealing with this practice for over a year now and all I can say is RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN IN ANOTHER DIRECTION! They do not care; once they get a surgery out of you, you are cast off once you aren’t a money maker anymore. I really did like my knee doctor and thought very highly of him at first but now I’m just disgusted, frustrated and annoyed. I have now dealt with 4 of their physicians (2 knee, one spine and one pain management) (The first knee doctor I saw was never available and I was overcharged for a service so I switched). Yesterday was the final straw for me… I had arthroscopic knee surgery in August 2014 (torn meniscus) and have been in pain and limping ever since and, by December, my back was also throbbing and my knee was giving out and unsteady — after physical therapy, a 2^nd cortisone shot, 3 rounds of anti-​inflammatory meds, a suggested knee brace, home exercises given to my on a sheet of paper and countless trips back to the knee doctor still in pain, I was advised that he believed the problem was «caused by my (now painful) back» and it was suggested I pursue that avenue. (I never had back pain in my life until then). I had a lumbar MRI and xrays, went to a Chiropractor for adjustments, which made it worse and sent shooting pain down my leg into my foot and created hip pain, and then was seen by their spine specialist (it took 3 weeks to get that appointment), who spent all of 3 condescending, rude seconds with me (he even insulted me at one point), told me my back is fine (IE: doesn’t require surgery so he wasn’t interested) and referred me to pain management (which was (another) 4 week wait to be seen). Now out of pain meds, still in throbbing pain, limping and now also dealing with 4 bulging discs in my back and now growing depressed by my lack of mobility and inability to manage everyday chores like I used to), I went back to the knee doctor last week who says «knee is fine, keep the pain management appointment, he will manage your pain meds and do injections FOR YOUR BACK which will most likely alleviate the knee pain». I had to beg for some pain medication to get me thru until I could be seen by pain management. Yesterday at pain management, after being asked by the nurse to relay the history as to why I was there, the snotty woman says «well if you’re only here for drugs, he cant help you» - (after the long history I gave, apparently thats all she heard even though that wasn’t what I said) then he had the audacity to come in and hand me a sheet of paper with OTHER practices in the area with pain management doctors on it and he says «I dont give out pain medication and you aren’t a candidate for injections because your back is „fine“ — I can’t help you — good luck» and out he goes (I waited 4 weeks for that appt., drove 45 minutes each way — in the snow storm — then waited 30 minutes in the waiting room, waited 10 minutes in the exam room and THAT was my «treatment»? a less-​than-​3-​minute brush off?). I am sick and tired of being shifted around one from «specialist» to the other with absolutely no results or assistance whatsoever from this group. The knee doctor keeps insisting that my back is the problem and my knee is fine (no additional tests, MRI’s etc. have been done to ensure that it is «fine» however). My knee doctor is in the Cornwall office but the Fishkill and Poughkeepsie office staff (where the spine and pain management physicians I saw are located) are the rudest, nastiest, most disrespectful, condescending people I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with; trying to get an appointment is a nightmare; the wait time to even have a phone call answered is upwards of 15 minutes EVERY TIME YOU CALL ANY OFFICE and I was sent to a pain management doctor (by 2 different doctors in the same practice) for MEDICATION who doesn’t GIVE OUT MEDICATION! Seriously? I cannot live like this anymore — my advice is even if you have to travel a little further or maybe pay a little bit out of pocket, it is worth it for your sanity and health — I’m a complete mess — this experience has had such a negative impact on my entire life — this pain and immobility had made me a prisioner — I can barely move. I will be contacting other practices for another opinion on Monday.

Today I experienced a 8 minute hold in order to confirm the time of an appointment that THEY needed to change. Endless recordings regarding, of all things… QUALITY ASSURANCE!