My review is not about my Dr. because Dr. Bandara is great! but the walls are so thin that i hear EVERYTHING from the other patient's visit in the room next door. Honestly what's the point of having walls. You might as well put a curtain and a picture of the patients face on the curtain. It really doesn't make me feel comfortable knowing everyone can hear my problems and the doctors recommendations. I like this office but this may be one reason i switch to another Dr. office which i really don't want to do. I hope this can be addressed ASAP read more

I was incorrectly billed for a follow-up visit instead of a physical exam. When I asked about a refund for the incorrect charges, my concerns were dismissed, and I was told the amount would be applied to a future visit. I explained that there was no guarantee I would return to this practice and requested that my money be refunded in the same manner and timeframe in which it was taken. The staff member "Jacquelyne Sorto" said I would have to wait at least 2 weeks for the billing department to issue my refund, in the most nasty, dismissive tone. During this interaction, she appeared more focused on discussing a TV show with her coworkers than addressing my billing issue. I later found out that she was able to void the transaction, but chose not to let me know. After being frustrated and coming to terms with the fact that I would no longer be going to this location, I went back to the front desk and asked for the billing department's number so I could resolve the situation on my own because I no longer trusted them to do the right thing. That is when she told me she voided the transaction. The fact that she did not inform me as soon as it was done, and that I had to request the billing department's number to get this information, made me lose all trust in this office. She was being intentionally spiteful and wanted to waste my time and money. Just utterly unprofessional, incompetent, and useless. What was most concerning was that during that same visit, I saw them put another patient through the same thing. They wanted to charge them for a physical and force him to put a card on file. The couple canceled their appointment and left the office because of the treatment they received, stating that no other primary care office in the area had behaved in this manner. I later saw them discussing the matter downstairs with a provider from the office, and we were all in agreement that it was one of the unprofessional healthcare experiences. Lastly, because I stood up for myself and asked to be treated fairly, they kept withholding information from me. The provider asked me to get some labs done. They conveniently kept me waiting instead of letting me know how the process was going (out of spite). I had to raise my voice before receiving any guidance. The vindictive attitude and poor customer service I experienced were enough to ensure I would never come back. Which is probably what they want, so they can spend their day chit-chatting on the clock. I am very disappointed about this whole experience. The standards at that office used to be higher, which is why I kept coming back when I was in town. I will review every bill I have received to ensure it aligns with my benefits package, and I will look for a new primary care office. read more

I had a disappointing experience at First Medical Associates in Columbia, MD. I scheduled an appointment as a new patient with Dr. Maria Ibrahim and arrived approximately five minutes before my scheduled appointment time after taking a half day off from work and driving to the office specifically for this visit. Upon arrival, the front desk staff informed me that I would not be able to see the doctor because, as a new patient, I was expected to arrive 30 minutes early. However, I never received any communication, reminder, email, or instruction from the office indicating that I needed to arrive 30 minutes prior to the appointment. I respectfully explained that I had taken time off from work and traveled for this appointment, and I asked why this information had not been communicated beforehand. Unfortunately, the front desk representative repeatedly gave the same response without addressing my concern or showing any courtesy, empathy, or willingness to help resolve the situation. Patients arrange their work schedules, commute, and personal responsibilities around medical appointments, so clear communication and respectful treatment are extremely important. I understand that offices may have policies for new patients, but clear communication and respectful customer service are equally important. I hope the office improves its communication process for future patients to avoid similar experiences. read more

I've been a patient of Dr. Potti for quite some time, dating back to when she practiced at another facility in Ellicott City, MD. When I recently tried to schedule my annual appointment, I was extremely frustrated to learn that she is no longer practicing at this location, with no prior notice to her patients. There was no announcement, email, or any form of communication to let us know she was leaving. When I asked the front desk for more information, I was simply told that she didn't disclose where she was going, which was disappointing and unhelpful. This is truly unfortunate because Dr. Potti is an excellent physician, thorough, attentive, and someone I genuinely trusted with my care. Losing a great doctor without any communication makes the experience very frustrating as a patient. read more

Dr. Karthya Potti has been my primary care provider for two years- she's been great, but she left the practice recently and they failed to notify me. I take daily medication, and messaged her for a refill through the patient portal a week before running out like I do every month, only to be told that she no longer works there. They are unwilling to refill my medication, or even do a partial refill to last me until they're able to see me. This is a medication that causes withdrawal symptoms impeding my daily life. It's bizarre to me that they wouldn't inform me until asked. Their phone line is completely unhelpful. read more

It's no surprise that this practice has an overall rating of less than 2 stars. Their front desk staff have ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS, exhibit ZERO EMPATHY, and demonstrate ZERO EFFORT to actually try and help you. This practice is not people centric - they are APPOINTMENT centric. Due to heavy traffic, I arrived at the front desk at 10:09 for a 10am appt - and was told I would need to reschedule my appointment for being late. She didn't even check to see if I could wait a few minutes. And imagine if they took a walk in right then, but were asking me to reschedule??? Will not be going back to this practice - the repeated prior appointment cancellations (which we had scheduled well in advance, but the practice/PCP cancelled), the shoddy and subpar customer service, the lack of patient centric service, the ridiculous lack of at least a 10 minute grace period - this practice needs a overhaul. read more

Marili Lemus gets a 5 star as a provider. If I could write a review about her I would. She is very thorough and a pleasure to interact with. However, unfortunately I will begin looking for a new PCP because the front desk girls are horrific. The rudest front desk I have ever encountered in my life! I will echo the other reviews that they will sit there and roll their eyes and act like your bothering them anytime they have to do their job and interact with you. They will also talk about you in Spanish to avoid you understanding as if they're the only ones in the country who speak Spanish. They literally made my blood boil and I'm a New Yorker (ie I have pretty thick skin and am not easily offended). As mentioned, this office has strong, thorough providers with good bedside manner. If I were the office manager or owner, I would strongly consider building a new front desk team. As it stands the front desk is dragging that office through the mud with their piss poor attitudes. read more

Dr. Karthya Potti was an amazing provider here but unfortunately she left. The staff literally did not let me know she had left until the moment I tried asking a question through the app and I had been notified she left. This is completely unprofessional and really states how much they care about their patients. How are you not even going to tell a patient their primary care doctor left? You just canceled my appointment but without any explanation and I wouldnt have known if I hadnt asked a question through the app. This is really unfortunate because i did really like this place. read more

What happened to bedside manner? What happened to basic human decency? I drove half an hour to see Dr. Sharon McCormack, only to have to pull over and throw up because I am 10 weeks pregnant and having a very difficult pregnancy. On top of that, my car broke down, making me just 10 minutes late. I called the office and there was no answer. I arrived, nauseous, exhausted, and hopeful for compassion, only to be turned away without hesitation. Not a shred of concern. Not a hint of empathy. This is how you treat patients, especially pregnant women who are struggling? I immediately threw up again after leaving your office from the stress and physical strain. To make matters worse, I serve my country overseas, and I returned home expecting care, not cold dismissal. For a practice named "First Medical Associates" with an email like "drsfirst," it felt painfully clear that patients come dead last. I will never return, and I strongly urge you to reflect on how you treat those who come to you for care. This kind of behavior is not just unprofessional, it's heartless. read more

Bad service, the doctors just arrive after we arrived so basically late and they cancel our appointment because we arrive 6 minutes later, not make sense when their staff can arrive late, so unprofessional and the front desk attitude terrible, and the other lady name Jaqui doesn't seem like she likes to help at all. read more

Being a bit more considerate and understanding towards your patients would be better. My first overall experience was good, and I thought that I would have an overall good experience. However, 8 days in the ICU for a whole week. I thought that my pain issues would have been addressed by now. I was referred back to the surgeon. Instead I'm in limbo, They still not haven't addressed my pain for about a month now, imagine a human being asking for help and can't get it, being thrown between primary care and surgeons being stuck in the middle. Noone is addressing my issues. The urgent concern/need for medications for hypertension, diabetes and safety would have been addressed. Also,though while I understand the need for getting to appointments on time. Generally I am always punctual. However, life is not perfect and there are things that happen beyond our control at times. After being stuck in traffic for an hour, only to be turned away. It's very disappointing. There should be a little bit more understanding, especially in my condition to avoid further complications. Having me to be without medications for four days is not cool and unacceptable to me after all. You cannot help being stuck in traffic. Trying to get to your appointment only to get there and denied care to have to reset the appointment is very disappointing. Asking for prescriptions, at least until you get to see the doctor again is an issue so you are left without medications for 4 days. How is that beneficial to the patient and avoiding ER visits again helping you to control your symptoms which some may have contributed to you ending up in the I c u in the first place? As a health care worker myself, I have always tried to advocate for patients, but after this experience, I only imagine/pitty and can see what they go through, especially when they don't have someone with them advocating for them. To me, it's unacceptable. read more

I see Emily as my PCP, and I absolutely love her. She is amazing and super thorough whenever I come in, even for simple follow-ups. She answers very quickly whenever I send her a message in the patient portal. If this were based solely on my experience with her, it'd be 5 stars. Sadly, I do not like the office. The front desk is unfriendly and seems inconvenienced to do their jobs. There's also no grace period, which I was not aware of when I first made my appointment. I went to my appointment after work and ended up leaving later than I wanted to due to issues at the end of my shift, so I arrived about 5 minutes late. I'm already an existing patient, so there was no paperwork or anything for me to do, but I still was not able to be seen. While driving to the appointment, I also attempted to call to let them know I was running late and to see if I had to reschedule, but no one answered the phones, which resulted in a complete waste of time, especially since my drive there was 40 minutes and then 30 minutes to go home. I was hoping to at least do my bloodwork for the issue I was coming in for, and they said I could do that and that they would have her put in orders really quickly. Apparently, they don't do the type of bloodwork I needed, so I still would've ended up wasting time regardless. The only positives are my PCP and the fact that they do a lot of their lab work in-office, which is the only reason they get 2 stars instead of 1. read more

I see Emily here and she is really great very nice bed side manners however the staff here sucks no grace period what so ever my daughter had an appointment once and was 5 minutes late and they literally made her wait 45 minutes for the next opening like come on I work at a providers office and we have a 15 minute grace period and my very first time there I was scheduled to see another NP i arrived 20 minutes early and the front desk girl never cheeked me in after 15 minutes past my appointment time she said oh that provider can't see you and that's how I ended up with Emily so front desk sucks they really need to hire more professional people the girl who forgot to check me In was busy running her mouth and being on her phone only reason why I stick around is because of Emily she responds quickly to messages on portal but overall the service from her is great is just the staff there the manager or who does the hiring really needs to be trained on how to run a practice because her or she has no clue at all. read more

Worst experience with the girl at the front desk. I arrived on time, but she said I was late because I was a new patient and did not fill out paperwork. She said they do not have a grace period, I said my appointment time is now and she said again, but no paperwork was filled out. I said I submitted documents through ZocDoc. She said they were not affiliated with them. I questioned that since that is how I found the office. Too early for rudeness and attitude!!!! I would give a zero if I could!!! A waste of my time and gas. I will not be returning. read more

Dr. Emily was amazing! Listened to all complaints, addressed all concerns, had lovely bedside manner, and was patient as well as kind. The front desk, however, was rude, dismissive, didn't care at all about the patients, talked with attitude, and were really unprofessional. The front desk was absolute trash, but Dr. Emily made up for it. read more

Very first visit ...first impression not great. The first person we met had a poor attitude. She was annoyed and making faces while my mom was explaining that she thought the visit was at 130 not 1. So apparantly the paperwork was not filled out by my mom beforehand. She seemed bothered by everything she had to do for us. Maybe she just had a bad day. Just not what I expected for a first visit at a new Dr. The front desk is very important part of a Dr office. read more

Im a big fan especially Dr Sharon McCormack. I had a slurry of symptoms and finally getting somewhere. Today she sent me to get an MRI scan for high prolactin levels that might be caused by a brain tumor! I still have to wait 1-2 days for the results and not as afraid as id be in others hands (after complaining of symptoms for 2 yrs at Kaiser Permanente). Mercy me if they find anything! I'm going to be devastated for wasting time and not switching providers sooner. Apparently if found its most likely benign! But overall i feel like I'm in better hands and getting the proper care i need thanks to my new PCP Sharon Mccormack from First Medical Associates on Snowden in Columbia. She's taken so much time with me / more in weeks then KP gave me all year. In fact KP kept pushing me towards psychological instead of ruling out teal fears then started ignoring major medical symptoms. Advanced Radiology and Gastro Health and First Medical have all just been super kind and put me at ease so IF forbid they find something serious at least my anxiety is already being treated beforehand just by feeling listened to and heard out. Im not sure how else with my vast array of possibly associated and non-related symptoms that all seemed to appear at once could be used to diagnose the problem(s) that are clearly not obvious and unlike TV, without a Dr House like team going over every possibility, it seems its the norm like KP ignoring aspects, not making connections seemingly unrelated or ruling out options! Lol! But a great start seeing Dr Sharon M - off the bat she started ordering tests, asking questions and never got frustrated with an already jaded, scared and disenfranchised patient who had been bounced from other providers previously for getting curt and direct! Kudos to healthcare practitioners who listen, care and take action and don't dismiss woman!!! I should add they have NO grace period if you are late and its frustrating especially when they make you wait anyways but after a few appointments i will say the other side is i barely wait for my appointments, they take a ton of time with me and they listen. So its a trade off! I believe the grace late period should be waived based on a case to case bias IF they can still see you not just as a point or lesson but having it known makes me get there earlier. Also FYI lab goes out for lunch and front desk leaves at 5 so if you need labs schedule appointments outside lunch hour snd if you need a referral as immediately and have front desk generate the order right away or you cant leave in hand with a hard copy which many places require. Anyone on a community plan also needs a Universal Referral Order with the specialists specific name, location and specialty on the form. These can be downloaded online by searching Maryland Universal Referral Form. Don't leave without it if you need a specialist appointment ASAP! Just my 2 cents! And get there early or they wont let you through. Wont budge after 5 mins. But Dr is worth it! read more

Super disappointed to see that this practice does not care for their patients. I went in for a new patient visit, I was also in a lot of pain and was refused to be seen because I did not fill out paperwork on time. I have never experienced this in my life. I also worked in the health care I was in complete shock that they refused to see me due to paperwork. How insane!!!!! This is probably a blessing in disguise because I probably would not have had good treatment. Will definitely never go here! I do not recommend. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME! read more

I have been calling the Germantown and Frederick offices for one week in order to get a prescription filled. IF you get past the syrupy voiced bot, Melissa, no one picks up. And IF you get an agent, they assure you that they are passing on a message to your doctor, which is untrue. The medication i take is one you cannot stop overnight and i have spent one WEEK now, trying to get it filled. My doctor finishes her day at 2:30, and her assistant has said (the one time i got through today) that she is overworked, as she sees 10 patients today. I am a teacher and taught 60 students today--i think she AND DRs. FIRST, or whatever they call themselves, should retire. i had a video appointment yesterday, as i cannot run to Frederick every morning, and the doctor never came online. Then they asked me to pay my co-pay! i have previously met others in her office who have had similar experiences. They once sent me for x-rays "down the street". i had to ask for a specific address. When i got to radiology, they told me to inform my doctor that you need a 'referral' for x-rays!! I went back to her office and she had left for the day at 2:40 p.m. it's horrendous. I finally had the x-ray, paid for them, and never got the results. My doctor never informed me and the radiology department only does BILLiNG! Their portal dors not work. I am SO disappointed!!! read more

I made an appointment online for an annual check up. At 11:20pm and this appointment was made before hand just to arrive on time and not wanted to be seen because of paper work. I have never experienced this at all. New patient or not what doctor rejects a patient just for that. Filling out basic information and putting in insurance information doesn't take hours its something so simple that one can do. And the funny thing is as I made my appointment online I put in my insurance information and it confirmed that the my information was sent to the doctors office....I arrived minutes before my appointment. Receptionist already had a disgusting little attitude at that. None professional at all....customer service was trash. And she couldn't even look at my face because she knew it was wrong and was not right to tell a patient of seconds on arrival that I cannot ve seen. Im sorry that is some Bullshit. read more

Very helpful and everyone is very nice! Care quality was great. Appointment went fast, got my blood work done in office so that was a plus.

I had an appointment with Dr M last year and it went very well. He was informative and thorough.

This office snd business is a sham. The doctors and staff do not care and hide behind a call center that has no customer service experience. They didn't process any of the calls from radiology to confirm dr request(which was wrong). Dr Renee never got up from chair to examine area to confirm. Ultrasound was a waste of time and money after they called the office 4 times and then I called while at radiology place. After all blood work and radiology results came in I waited for dr to contact me. I gave a few days. When I called they said results weren't in. Mind you I was emailed one and radiology Business confirmed they were sent to doctors office. Then I mentioned I got the email and the test was IN-HOUSE lab work. So again this is a tragic business methodology. Months later and numerous calls and still no follow up. Called and got hung up on by two call center employees because I wanted to speak to office directly. I was told they were too busy. I could leave a message but instead of just accepting having them call me back the CSR wanted to be a smart Allic and mouth off instead of just taking the message. The next csr cut me off when explaining the problem (to shut me up) and then asked what do I want? Maybe if you listened you would know. I then drove straight to office again. 3 people sitting there not busy at all. Imagine that. I restate my issue and they actually try to make an appointment. So you don't care about my health just taking my healthcare money and now you want another chance to mishandle my health. I was given business owners email address. Info@drsfirst Dr Renee and the owner are well aware of my complaints early on and did nothing but blame others in the process (internal to First medical). Save your time and patience. Go Somewhere else. T Jackson read more

This doctor will continue to bill you even after your insurance pays them. I've called them several times and no resolution to this bill that's been paid twice already. read more

here waiting to get blood work done supposedly I been waiting here for a minute now I'm getting really mad