Potomac Pediatrics

Getting anyone to answer the phone is ridiculous. I’ve been put on hold and then forced to leave a voicemail twice and then they don’t call back. And then when I finally get a voicemail from them to call them back ASAP they say they are closed until 2 pm. HELLO how am I supposed to call you back ASAP when you won’t take calls because you are eating lunch.

Unbelievable. Their motto is something like, «the sun will never set on a sick kid” – they will make sure you get an appointment the day you call! Great advice nurses, efficient friendly office staff. Nurses rock. All the doctors there are terrific. This recommendation was the single best piece of parenting advice we have ever received!!!

Simply the best in personal care and wonderful service. I simply cannot say enough wonderful things about this practice. We have raised three boys and all of them have been seen/​treated by the attentive staff at Potomac Pediatrics. It feels more like family than a medical practice. Our children are all «aging-​out» and we have to find «Adult» doctors for them — and I think it will be very difficult to find anyone who can live up to the high-​bar standard set by this group… they have spoiled us for all others!

I really want to like this office (bright/​sunny, credentialed doctors, close proximity to my home) however the office staff and billing department make that impossible. I’ve been contacting them for 2+ months to dispute an erroneous charge on my daughter’s bill and all I get is directed to a billing voicemail that apparently is never checked. Horrible, horrible customer service that really could be fixed with a few staffing changes. I wonder how long these doctors are going to allow their practice to suffer from support staff issues.. .

This place has only a few reviews so I thought I also give my 2 cents. So I have a 3 year old and a 6 month old. For the first kid, we went to some pediatric office that we did not like at all. The nurses and doctors seemed like they hated their job. So we decided to switch to Potomac for the second child. Definitely night and day as the staff that signs you in is nice and the nurses are great as well. We saw a few of their doctors which are all great but settled with Dr. Fishelberg. For us, he just fit better as he has a real cool personality and really funny. He also provides great advice and on top of his baby game! All docs are great here though so it really comes down to personal preference. The facility is really nice as they now have these iPad type sign in pad that works well. Goes by fast and good use of technology. The whole operation just runs smoothly and makes every visit a comfortable and productive one. They also have a nursing room as well. Just an overall well run practice!
The Good:
— staff and doctors are professional and friendly
— clean nice facility
— plenty of parking and good location
— Dr Fishelberg!
The Bad:
— nothing at all

I am currently expecting my second child and considered using Potomac Pediatrics as the physician for our newborn. I quickly changed my mind when I scheduled an appointment for my 14 year old. On the day of the appointment, there was as a really bad storm, tornado and flash flood warnings. I called an hour and a half before the appointment to let the receptionist know that I more than likely would not be coming due to the weather warnings. It rained and flooded, trees were down and power lines were down as well. The rain stopped 10 minutes before my appointment however, it was too late to get there on time and also too dangerous with all of the trees down. I was slapped with a $ 50 no show fee so therefore, I called to explain why we were unable to come. This office has no regard or compassion for human safety and health. Obviously they knew about the storm and that I was 8 months pregnant however, the receptionist exclaimed that I still should have came to the appointment or called again. This practice is all about the money and the staff couldn’t careless about patient safety, health or of the overall well being of their patients. On top of that, I have not been to the practice in over 3 years and paid the admin fee every year. The practice charged me twice for an admin fee. Once in October 2014 which was paid and another in April 2015. The billing department and Office Manager of this practice are very incompetent which leads to extreme frustration and disappointment. Besides the billing issues, scheduling an appointment can be difficult and even getting a human on the phone is sometimes impossible.

Doctors are ok but the staff is horrible, especially the billing staff. Records withheld when we moved out of area because we didn’t pay the annual fee for paperwork. We didn’t pay because we were no longer part of the practice. Even though we had no paperwork completed that year, they still refused to remove the charge. Horrible experience. Would not recommend at all! The practice is managed with no regard to patient care. My son has asthma and they refused to release his records to the hospital we took him to for emergency care. I’m sure that’s not part of the oath they took dedicated to patient care.

My two daughters are regular patients here since very early age.
The doctors are great, very knowledgeable, and several times their advice was the key to getting the kids healthy in a timely manner. We’ve seen many doctors there over these years, and all of the doctors at this practice have been very helpful.
Basically, when it comes to kids health, the professionalism of doctors is by far the strongest factor in appraising the practice. All other issues — like scheduling the sick appointments, getting the health forms for schools, getting the vaccinations and referrals to top-​notch specialists, and so on – were also delivered in a professional and prompt manner.
Highly recommended.

we heard great things about this practice prior to having our first child; our experience has been pretty solid and we look forward to using them for many years
our initial contact with their multiple doctors during the 24 – 48 hour window post birth was awesome; we’ve met a majority of their doctors and each one has been great.
we’ve also had plenty of on-​site check ups for our child; the practice is clean, large and in a great location.
wait times see to be very low (they have a strict policy on being late… which we prefer)
had to wait over an hour once (not sure what happened there), but since then we’ve had no issues.

This is likely as much a review on the healthcare system as it is on Potomac Pediatrics, but here goes.
Took our daughter in for a persistent cough in December and had a relatively quick appointment. Doctor came in to check her, took some vitals, cleaned out her ears to check for infection, and she pretty much said things were going to be ok.
Few weeks later I receive a bill for the visit that included a $ 115 charge for cleaning my daughter’s ears (incidentally only $ 110 for everything else she did). Not only did I not realize the doctor was doing an extra procedure while we were in the office, but $ 115 for maybe 2 minutes of cleaning! I understand prices for codes are set, but I think something is broken here.
I called to raise this issue with the billing department and they essentially wiped their hands clean and said this is business as usual (contractual obligation, etc etc). Nothing they can do about it.
As I said, I’m not saying Potomac Pediatrics is solely in the wrong (though their billing dept/​office manager response was disappointing), in fact their doctors are good and we’ve had good experiences with them, but something needs to be fixed. Maybe the doctor just needs to know that some procedures might yield out of line costs and let the patients know, but saying there’s nothing you can do about it is a pretty lame response. Just remember to ask if actions your doctors are taking will be coded, especially if you’re on a HDHP like us.

I have three kids (5, 3 and 10 months) and we have been patients of this practice since my oldest was born. They are not forceful with their care and they really make you feel like they are caring for one of their own. I have had nothing but positive experiences with all of the doctors.

We left the state and came back after four years. I came straight back to Potomac Pediatrics thinking I’ll be getting the same treatment we did in our first year. But I was so disappointed. Starting with just getting the flu mist, which by the way is a norm for my son since his father works for the company that makes it. Not only did the nurse stuck that thing up his noise while he was still WALKING towards the table, but she didn’t even apologize, no wipes, nothing. He gets the flu mist every year and this is the first time we experienced it being treated like this. I gave them a second chance since that was just the nurse. Then our emergency appointments went from waiting for 1 hour in the room for the doctor to see my son who had 103 fever, to my son gagging while being examined because the nurse was in a hurry and she doesn’t have even a second to wait until my son can just lay down properly, to learning that there’s an annual fee on top of your co pays and insurance. They need to be reminded that even the patients are still children, they are still people and customer service should be a priority.

We have been bringing our kids here for years, since before they moved offices to their present (‘new’) location. Our oldest being 7 and having needed heart surgery before age 1, and our youngest 2 which are identical twins who were a little bit preemie.
For those who complain about vaccines, actually, they did let us split up the MMR vaccine for our oldest daughter, years ago. At this point I’m not concerned about vaccines as much as the avoiding the diseases they are supposed to prevent. (Thanks to parents who think they know better than medical professionals, because they read a few column inches in «Parenting» magazine, things like measles are starting to make a comeback. Measles… what is this, The Oregon Trail!?)
One of my twins had a partial hair tourniquet which had formed on her toe, which I removed myself, and I called their line rather late on a Saturday evening once I determined what I was dealing with. Kind of a rare thing. Doctor got back to me relatively fast, we talked the issue through, she gave me a few more steps to take, and all was well.
Anyway, we’ve been very pleased with the guidance from this practice.
They’d get 5 stars, except they charge me some kind of $ 50 fee annually for each kid. Which I’m still trying to figure out what it is for, and why they can’t build this into their normal billing for services.
And they have a great coffee machine in the lobby…

Over all great services. I would suggest to give parents a choice between paying annual fee or pay service based fee. We only visit this office twice a year (annual physical and flu shots), and we hardly use any other non-​medical related service at all.

We came here on the recommendation of a friend, and I absolutely love it! Our daughter is 6 months old, and when she was a newborn, we got to see a variety of doctors, all of whom were terrific. One even helped me with some breastfeeding issues. We primarily see Dr. Weiss, who is very caring, has a wonderful bedside manner and really takes the time to listen and answer all of our first-​time-​parent questions. I never feel rushed here.
There are a couple reviews below that gave 1 star based on their vaccine policy — on the flip side, this is part of why I chose this practice. Since there is study after study proving the safety of vaccines, and the best medical minds across the country agree on this vaccine schedule, they absolutely should demand that their patients follow the schedule! To do otherwise would risk the health and safety of the young and vulnerable children in their practice.

We have really enjoyed this practice and I would definitely recommend it to other parents. We have now seen three doctors there and they are all fantastic. Wait times have always been minimal and the office space is wonderful. There is even a nice, comfortable room for diaper changing and nursing, which is great when you need a few minutes to regroup after appointments.
We selected this practice for several reasons. First, it came highly recommended to us from other parents. Second, the location and office space is excellent. Third, the office has vaccine requirements. This last one was especially important to us, as pediatrician waiting rooms are known to be a source of illness in children and adults alike. The office has this policy to ensure that everyone is as safe as possible while in their waiting room (parents and children alike!) Also, the office takes other measures, such as scheduling newborns at times different than sick appointments, to minimize germ spreading.
I have also really loved the nurse’s line. As a new parent, it is reassuring to know that I can call and speak with someone before deciding whether I needed to bring my baby in to be seen. We have also had to use their after-​hours call line and received a prompt call back from the physician on call.
The practice also does a lot of little things to make the lives of parents easier, such as offering an on-​site flu clinic and allowing you to come in and use their scales to weigh your baby without an appointment.
The ONLY issue we have had is problems with their billing department (namely, payments we made not being recorded properly in their system, although this is probably attributable to their recent switch to a new EMR and billing system). But this is really small potatoes, as everything else has been great.

The website says monday operation hours are from 8am to 5pm. Yet I called multiple times between 4:40 and 4:45 and apparently all the assistants who answer the phones already take off. Great job on that.
One of the doctors, Dr. Glassman gave my kids a description, yet none of the pharmacies carried it. I was told by one of the pharmacist that it was a very uncommon drug and I’ve got to special order it. Later that night we called the pediatrician’s office again and one of the on-​duty doctors picked up the phone (not Dr. Glassman), and as soon as I told him we couldn’t find the description drug anywhere, he asked us if it was Dr. Glassman who gave the description. Apparently according to him Dr. Glassman is the only dr. there who would give such description… Now I really worried how aggressive the pediatricians there give prescriptions drugs…

After reviewing several clinics in our area, Potomac Pediatrics exceeded my expectations. As a former medical personal, I was blown, by there customer service quality. You’ve heard of get him to the Greek? As a soon to be parent, get your child to Potomac Pediatric. It’ll make a diaper changing look easy. Thanks.

I am amazed that any parent with a conscience can give this practice 5 stars. I’m only giving it one instead of zero because they have new office space. My two kids have been patients here since October 2011 but I have just left for a new group. Doctors are there for us parents to provide medical opinions on what is best for your child – they are not there to make decisions in your child’s healthcare or to «insist» upon any form of preventative or well care. For instance, they have a zero tolerance policy on vaccines. If you are a mom like me you are at least cautious about the viruses that are injected into your child, then this is NOT the practice for you! Doesn’t mean my family doesn’t do vaccines, on the contrary, just that we don’t follow the same vaccine schedule set in the fifties. We split them up and start them later. This practice runs a dictatorship on the vaccine front – I think this is completely disgusting and a real eye opener… It is not a physician’s job to demand a parent do anything – their sole job is to advise and administer medical practices that they believe to be in their patient’s best interest – and then ALLOW parents to make decisions for their children. This practice does not allow that, period. They require all vaccines within 30 days of your child turning the date they are supposed to receive it. The nurse called me «irresponsible» and questioned my parenting (we had a death in our immediate family which kept me from sticking to their «30 day» policy). Appalled at this practice. And wouldn’t you know it, three of my neighbors in King Farm left for very similar reasons – one because of the vaccine policy and the other due to a doctor pushing antibiotics on her child when what he really needed (and later received) was an anti-​fungal cream. My third friend left when her son was 3 weeks old after telling her she was ‘starving her son and being irresponsible’ trying to breastfeed… she was being pushed to start him on formula instead of having an advocate work with her through her breastfeeding troubles.
I would NEVER, EVER take my kids back here and will do everything I can to make sure everyone in my inner circle knows how atrocious I think they are.
Though, the bright side is, if you’re a parent who blindly believes everything someone says to you and doesn’t ask questions – this is definitely the communist practice for you.

I LOVE this practice!
Dr. Glassman came to speak at our child birth class as we were preparing for our first baby. She was smart, quick and frank… my kind of people. So we decided to use her practice.
Since baby was born last September, we’ve seen Drs. Scheibel, Moss, Fishelberg, Braithwait-​Dingle and Weiss. They are all absolutely wonderful! I think we’re going to start seeing Dr. Weiss regularly because her personality vibes best with my husband and I but I’m completely comfortable seeing any one of them.
Also, their new office is beautiful! We only visited the old office once a couple days after baby was born and by his two week check up they had moved so I can’t speak to that one much but I can say the new office is huge, clean and cozy. I’m so glad we chose this practice!