Commonwealth Dermatology, P.C.

Reviews 5

JI

Jimmy Howick

My wife has been to many dermatologists throughout the country due to our frequent moves, and it is clear that the front office staff at Commonwealth Dermatology was the most incompetent of all of them. Before the first appointment, we were already given red flags when the front office was too lazy to request medical records from a previous practice. After we had them sent ourselves, they again were too lazy to request lab results so we had to request those on our own as well (what do the front office staff even do, if not those things?). New patients beware, youll need to get all of that yourself. While not a huge deal, it does take time and weve just never come across a practice who was so hands-off with new patients. My wife then arrived at the time of her appointment only to find that "the computer doesnt show that you have an appointment." Apparently, the doctor she was meant to see had to leave, so they just cancelled her appointment without even a phone call. She then waited for an hour to be fit into another doctors schedule. Finally, she had a time sensitive online form that needed to be filled out (which takes ~ 1 minute to complete) which she repeatedly told them needed to be done by the end of the day (And was assured it was taken care of), but they waited too long to fill out so she could not get the prescription in time. She now has to pay to re-do her blood work, to be seen by a doctor and pay the co-insurance AGAIN all because of the incompetence of the staff. Were literally paying for their mistakes now. The doctor, however, was really great. The front office staff only gets away with innumerable mistakes because this practice is one of two in the area. If you are currently completing a dermatology residency, you should come to Richmond because it would be easy to obtain new patients who have been forced to deal with this practice. I would rather drive two hours to D.C. than be seen at this place again.

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SA

Sarah Harmon

This morning I had my first visit with Dr. Sage. I was extremely nervous and the negative reviews I had read werent helping to ease my mind. I never leave reviews but I feel like I have to because it may help to ease the next persons mind to hear of my experience because it was GREAT! I arrived 15 minutes before my appt time as instructed when I set up the appt as well as on the reminder voicemail I received 2 days ago. The office was easy to find and probably the nicest waiting room Ive ever been in. Everything was clean but not that weird sterile "doctors office" type of clean. It was nice and comfortable. The ladies behind the desk were nice enough. They were laughing and joking and seemed to be having a good time but not so much that they come across as being unprofessional. Once I was called back to the exam room (EXACTLY at my scheduled appt time, I noticed a lot of people saying they had to wait forever which was definitely not the case today), my nerves were going CRAZY. My hands were shaking and I was sweating! Then, Dr. Sages nurse, Shay, came in. She was great and immediately I felt more relaxed. She asked some basic questions and was just overall very pleasant. When she came back with Dr. Sage, I knew right away Id made the right choice to come here. He could tell I was nervous and his demeanor was PERFECT. He was professional and friendly and during my exam he made sure to stop and explain every little thing that I might have a question about, even if I didnt ask the question. Before I left he made sure I had a chance to ask any additional questions now that my nerves had calmed down. I couldnt have asked for a better doctor or experience and I highly recommend Dr. Sage. I hope this helps anyone who might be in the same position I was a few weeks ago, stressing out and reading reviews!

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AL

Allison Hoffman

My son was treated by Dr. Shinn, while we were happy with the medical care and results he received, there was a significant price to pay. It took weeks to get them to submit his claims to the insurance. When they didnt, I got nasty phone calls from the billing department threatening to cancel his appointment for non-payment. They NEVER returned phone calls. If you want to speak with someone, I suggest you hold, or it will go undone. He had three visits with the exact same procedure. Every single visit the billing was messed up. Then on the third visit they finally submitted the claim in a timely manner, and submitted it with errors. The billing supervisor who claims to have 35 years of experience then tried to call and ask my insurance company to erase their billing error. Unfortunately this is illegal, claim forms and submissions are considered legal documents. They are necessary to protect the insurance company, provider, and patient against fraud. The experienced billing director blamed the insurance company for giving her incorrect information. Apparently her experience doesnt equate with an understanding of the legal requirements within the insurance field. We will now be traveling to another pediatric dermatologist in Norfolk who has the same equipment and still save myself time and aggravation over the repeated phone calls to the practice, and then back to the insurance company to find out that they lied to me. While I might write it off as a series of errors, had the situation been handled proactively and professionally, the lying and NEVER returning phone calls, will not be tolerated.

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A

A Private User

I took my 6 month old to see Dr Royster for eczema. I liked Dr Royster. I thought she was informed, had a good-bedside-manner, and explained everything very well. My problem with the office, like other reviewers have said, is administrative. My appointment was for 1pm. I was not taken back until after 130pm. Alright, thats, fine thats what I have come to expect (unfortunately) from drs offices. Like I said, I did really like Dr Royster. I live 2 hours away in Maryland. I told the receptionist that my prescription needed to be sent to my pharmacy in Maryland. She was able to locate the correct pharmacy in the computer. This was at 2pm on Monday. While on my 2 hour drive home, I had my husband call the pharmacy at 7pm to verify that the prescription had been received; it had not been. The pharmacist called Com Derm on Tuesday morning before 8am to locate the script. I called Come Derm at 9am, left a message with a receptionist for the nurse. I checked at the pharm at 1030am on Tuesday, they still had not received the script. I just called Com Derm back again at 1230pm on Tuesday and left another message for the nurse. If I had known that it was going to be this much of a disorganized hassle, I would have asked for a hardcopy of the script. In my opinion, its pretty unprofessional on the offices part to have the patient AND the pharmacy call multiple times to locate a script...and the script still not be filled!

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JO

Joshua DeGraff

The admin is the worse I have ever had to deal with. It doesnt matter how many messages you leave, they will not call you back. You need to continiously keep calling and calling all week, and hope you get through, our that there is no nurses that are busy. I am currently on accutane, and going through all the BS processing for the first month, 2 week visit, then another 2 week visit, and so on n so on, so that is the only reason I am not leaving this dermatologist, just for the fact that I would have to start the whole process all over again. The nurse AND dr. both told me last visit, yeah man, dont worry about another 2 week visit, your extremely healthy, just make an appointment exactly a month from today, here is my direct line, call me when you need this refilled. Well, of course there was problems with this. I called to try to get my prescription filled, only to have the nurse tell me(after I called 10 times in the last 3 days)you need to come in for another 2 week visit, then you go month to month after that. Just complete bullshit, and a very unorganized dr office. I wouldnt recommend this to a single person. They are clearly only concerned about the money they make, not the patients well being.

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