NOVA Patient Care | Old town Alexandria

Hands down the worst practice I have dealt with in terms of billing. I received care in 2020 and last month (January 2024) I received a phone call about a balance for a bill that I never received. I was told that the emails probably went to my spam folder (they didn't) and magically received a statement immediately when I asked for it (dated the same day I asked). The claim was processed and completed through insurance in May 2020 so the fact that they took 4 years to call and pester me about a bill that I would have paid had I received it is unprofessional and indicative of the business practices that this group operates under. I'd superglue a wound shut before I walked back through their doors.

Please reconsider going here. This is by far the worst medical office I have been to in terms of costs and billing. I visited the location in August 2021 to get a referral to a dermatologist and was in the office for all of 10 minutes. Then in August of 2023, two years after my visit, I was contacted by the billing department saying I owed $250 for that visit two years prior. Apparently, the office only sent the claim to my insurer in July of 2022 (11 months after the visit) and I was billed in October 2022 (13 months after my visit) after the insurer processed it. I was not contacted until October 2023 about the outstanding balance (I had relocated in the interceding period but they never emailed or called). It should not take 13 months to send a bill to a patient. I do realize that medical offices have a wide timeframe to bill patients, but that does not make it right or a fair business practice. In all of my other medical office experiences, I have been billed promptly after my visit. Because the bill was so late, I could not even use my HRA funds towards paying it, so I had to pay out of pocket. Secondly, the $250 for a referral appointment is a ridiculous charge for a 10 minute appointment. I was able to bring it down to $186, but that is still very steep. All in all I would highly recommend going to another provider that doesn’t charge exorbitant prices and that bills promptly. I very much resent the way I was treated here and stopped going to this office for a reason.

The worst patient care I have ever received. This may be the worst administrative team I have ever dealt with. First off, they outsource their "call team" to India and you have to jump through hoops just to talk to someone in their office. Second, if a patient has a legitimate issue with medication, they should take some time to reach out to the provider and solve the issue. Instead, the secretary said she would talk to the general manager and never actually answered my question. Essentially, "sorry nothing we can do go to urgent care." Urgent care? You are a primary care provider. What kind of guidance is that? I hope people can learn from my poor experience and find another doctor's office. Terrible.

This office firmly establishes the principal that the medical profession is a business and is no longer about building relationships, expanding the health knowledge and wellness of patients, and generally providing respectful engagement between doctor and patient. I visited NOVA Patient Care in October 2023, with the intention of selecting Dr. Richard Morris as my new primary care physician. In my first interaction with him, he took a considerable amount of time to introduce himself, talk about my health and concerns, and develop a plan for an upcoming physical. I was thoroughly impressed and was excited that I'd found my "life" PCP for my time in Alexandria. In January 2024, I went in for an annual physical. The physical, itself, lacked a lot of basic elements associated with a physical. Instead of a comprehensive analysis of my current health state, I felt like I was getting a "check the box" approach from Dr. Morris. I chalked it up to a "busy day", and left it alone at the time. I submitted for blood and urinalysis and was told that results would arrive in 5-10 business days. After two weeks passed, I contacted the office via their online portal. Specifically, the portal allows you to send a message to your doctor. I politely requested information on my labs from Dr. Morris. No response. After three weeks passed, I contacted Dr. Morris via the portal, again. Again, no response. This time, I followed up with calls to the office. When given the telephone menu, you can select a number to be connected with someone responsible for "lab results." That person is named Shazib. I choose not to speak ill of people if I can help it. Shazib is not only bad at what he does, he also doubles down on his office process and fails to recognize how poor he is with patients, customer service, or common sense in general. Over the course of three days, I contacted Shazib for my lab results three times. Each time, Shazib said he would call me back in a half hour with the results. Each time, I informed Shazib that I wasn't going to be available, and that I'd prefer they use the portal to simply upload the results (like every other doctor who uses a secure portal.) Shazib was obsessed with a procedure requiring him to call me back with results. He insisted on this, despite the fact that he acknowledged that they sat on the results and that the doctor had not responded to my secure messages on the portal. Today, I finally blew up. I yelled at Shazib over the phone demanding my labs. He said he called me yesterday and asked me to call him back (this was after I asked yesterday for him to send the records and he agreed to do so but did not follow through.) I now finally have my labs and they indicate that my Rx for a condition should change/increase. Knowing this, and knowing that Dr. Morris hasn't contacted me, the office sat on this information and didn't contact me is just disappointing. The whole purpose of preventive care is to get ahead of your health concerns. Dr. Morris doesn't seem to care about that. His office certainly lacks the basic decency to notify me. If you are serious about your health and preventive care, avoid this practice. They are incompetent, lacking in customer service, and just generally don't seem to care about your health. Find a practice that will respond to your investment in preventive health.

I originally had an appointment at 5:45 PM in order to have it properly align with my work schedule. NOVA called me to change the appointment to 9:00 AM. I rearranged my schedule to get there at 9AM, but was slightly late due to METRO issues and then significant traffic with the Uber. When I arrive, I am informed that I am three minutes past the grace window and need to reschedule. This is absolutely absurd. I rearranged my schedule at the last minute because YOU CALLED ME to change the time of my original appointment. After over 30 minutes on the phone with the absolutely atrocious "customer support" they then tell me that they can fit me in at an office an hour away in an hour...when I already moved my schedule for them. The management is absolutely atrocious. It's a pity a good doctor like Dr. Morris is at such an abhorrent place. Additionally, I have been getting charged a $45 co-pay for each visit, but when I checked with my insurance company, the co-pay should be for only $20. They have been illegally and intentionally filing my visits for PRIMARY CARE as URGENT CARE when these are appointments that I have scheduled days in advance. I will be filing a complaint and pursuing an investigation for Health Care Fraud on this.