Refused care to a cancer patient in need of a referral. Receptionist said it's standard practice…read moreto deny new medicaid patients, even though insurance sent me to them in the first place. In desperate need of an oncology appt. She wouldn't even bring the situations attention to the doctor to try to squeeze me in.

A practice with a Doctor who's never available. They need more than one Docto…read more I scheduled an appointment for 3 months away because "that's all that was available" they called 2 weeks be for the appointment and said the Doctor has to cancel, but I can reschedule for another appointment in March which is 3 months away. They sure make sure you pay your bill but are not in a hurry to see you.

Staff makes it impossible to reach provider about clinical questions and could do a better job at…read moreunderstanding the administrative hurdles.

I've been going to this practice for about three years now and have had the pleasure of Dr. Parras…read moreTomkins as my primary physician. I have also seen Dr. Lee when Dr. Tomkins was on vacation. Both Drs. are extremely knowledgeable, compassionate, and helpful. My only other experience was with the Cambridge Health Alliance for which their Somerville based doctors have a strange system for booking appointments (on the day a week before). In comparison, booking appointments at the Family Medicine @ Ball Square is a breeze. They are open to walk-ins and I have called and shown up as early as 5 minutes later. They also take blood samples and the like for tests on-site, no need to go elsewhere. I have also been taking my 5 month old son (from birth) here and am very pleased with their attentiveness, ease at getting vaccinations and being provided with information, as well as the care of the support staff and nurses. There is very little wait time when going for pre-scheduled appointments. Family Medicine @ Ball Square is part of the Hallmark Health Medical Associates (Lawrence Memorial Hospital and Melrose-Wakefield Hospital) which also provides for a wide range of doctors and services that I have found to be excellent.

Been coming here since High School.. Just the best Dr's and staff…read more Dr. Moyer and Kate are the best, so caring and easy to talk to. I still go back here even though I no longer live in Belmont. That good.

Doctors are good to excellent, but front desk experience pretty inconsistent. Bernadette…read moreespecially seems unwilling to help patients find solutions to their problems, adding to the stress of seeking medical help or referrals by being curt and short without offering support or additional information that may be helpful. Coming from East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, I am convinced that the quality of care is better in centers where it is not only the doctors caring for the patients, but every single person you encounter in the clinic. Time and again, I have had positive experiences there, getting courteous and efficient help for my needs, but at this local family practice in the rich town of Belmont, shockingly low level of care from the front staff. Doctors- help your staff understand that they are the FIRST interface with the public, and being kind actually counts for a lot.

I have been a member of this practice for nearly a year and during that time have been nothing…read moreshort of immensely impressed by the knowledge, skill, attention, and caring of Dr. Zivich and his amazing staff of professionals. Always available. Spends ample time at appointments. I've never left with a single question unanswered. Best personal lifestyle and health care practice around. Goes far beyond "sick" visits. Thank you for always being there!

Below is the placeholder for a proper review…read more In case I don't get back to it, I absolutely recommend Dr. Zivich. If I had any complaints, it would be that with Dr. Zivich as my primary physician, I've completely lost my blinders to the twisted system that is mainstream US healthcare. Not to mention how badly the broken system contorts good healthcare providers. Anyone who survives the mainstream churn that is medical and clinical education in the US-- and retains their empathy and capacity for critical thought--has my respect and recommendation. Wait times are excellent, office clean & comfortable, and the best healthcare support staff I've ever encountered.

I had my entire adult family with this physician as the primary care doctor…read more Visits are brief. Conditions are reviewed with WebMD like computer searches. No treatment for conditions ranging for internal pains, symptoms of arthritis, risk or aortic rupture, or gout were ever recommended. Thousands of dollars in tests were we sent for. No review , feedback, analysis, or recommendations on any of them were ever received. Don't make the mistake of asking an extra question during a visit. You will be billed fully as if it were another appointment. (which your insurance won't cover as they don't understand two sessions with the same doctor on the same day) After 2 years of trying to get any kind of result, we shifted to someone else.

My fiancée and I switched primary care physicians to Dr. Mainali here, just a couple months ago…read morefollowing a move. We've each been twice so far, and are very pleased. It's a small office, but the receptionist was helpful and friendly. Dr. Mainali himself was very thorough in our first visit, really listening to what we had to say as well as his test results. We felt valued as people, not just as paying customers. He was very helpful when our blood test results came back, in not just telling us the problems, but going through every line of the results (full of acronyms and medical lingo we wouldn't understand on our own) and explaining what everything meant, and why we might care. For many procedures, this small 1-doctor office (he's planning to add a second soon) will have to refer you to others. So, don't expect a hospital-like experience where they can handle everything you could possibly need in the same building. For everything that can be done in-house, though, Everest Healthcare and Dr. Mainali come highly recommended.

Given how difficult it is to find a really great primary care physician, I'm surprised that there…read morearen't more reviews of them here. Five years ago I got my first grownup job in this area, and was presented with the enormous task of picking a new doctor. I had very little help as most of my friends were mostly accustomed to student health services, the essential but terrible health care of grad. students in any local university. Being unceremoniously presented with a phone book sized listing of providers from Blue Cross & Blue Shield provided nothing in the way of actual assistance in making a decision. I didn't choose Dr. Holt exactly randomly, but my criteria wasn't exactly scientific. I looked for listings that were: close to my apartment at the time, female, fairly young and with an American sounding name. In short somebody who I felt I could relate to and would feel comfortable asking questions of. I was more than willing to try multiple doctors until I found one that I could be comfortable with. As it turned out I didn't have to. I hit the jackpot on my first try with Dr. Holt. Dr. Holt is extremely thorough, taking actual time to have a conversation with me about medical concerns and also about general lifestyle choices. As a fairly healthy person I generally see her only 1-2 times a year, but she always appears to remember the conversations that we've had on previous visits. Her warmth and genuineness match the knowledge and skill she brings to her profession. Also, I don't want to over-share, but the ladies out there will understand the difficulty in finding a PCP who is willing to perform basic GYN care. Dr. Holt does both, and I love not having to keep two separate annual checkups. There's also a lab center on site. So convenient! I've had pretty good results in getting 'sick' appointment, never having to wait for more than 48 hours. However, I debated taking this review down a star because of how long it takes to make appointments for physicals or routine checkups. (Sometimes up to a month.) In the end I decided that all of the positives FAR outweigh this one minor issue.

I've been a patient of Dr Holt's for over 15 years now. I dread the day she retires and have to…read morefind a new primary care doctor, although that shouldn't be anytime soon! I hear stories about primary care doctors that rush, are impersonal, and don't leave the patient feeling like they matter. Dr. Holt couldn't be more opposite. She remembers all the details of not only my medical history, but my personal life as well. She listens to my concerns and creates treatment plans to address them. Three of my friends have become patients and rave about her too. If you can get in to see her, do it.

I have been a patient at FPG-Arlington for decades and I can't praise them highly enough. The key…read morepoint is that the doctors spend time to get to know you and your health issues -- I never feel rushed or ignored. The staff is attentive, professional and responsive. It's a great practice! I changed my insurance just so I could keep being seen here.

We've been going here as a family for 41 years and we've never been disappointed. When Dr. Sagov…read moreretired, I was assigned to Dr. Chandler. He has been professional, attentive, and knowledgeable. Thank you for wonderful care!

Tried this practice/doctor for a year. As of this writing, I believe the annual individual fee is…read more$10,000. I do not recommend them and did not renew for several reasons: * Dr. Donahue is not terribly responsive. There were several occasions where he said "I'll get back to you" and then never did. * Relatedly, I would have to call and follow up every time test results came in-he/the practice never reached out to me. Even the boring ol' dermatologists and ob-gyns of the world (in non-concierge practices) let you know your test was negative/positive/whatever. For $10k a year...can't Dr. Donahue or his staff do the same? * Inability to schedule online (every time I emailed to ask about an appointment--even for telehealth--I was told to call in to speak to someone live just to schedule the appointment). Every time they wanted to see me, they would email me and say "please call in to make an appointment." Couldn't you just have...sent some appointment times in that very email? Or call ME? For this (alleged) level of service and fees, I'd like the ability every hairdresser and nail salon has had since 2010: let me schedule online! Offices can certainly review and reject appointment requests, as these other professions do. * Dr. Donahue is relatively scatter-brained, to put it politely, to the point that it will affect your care. I experienced this a few times across my year in his practice, including in minor ways (e.g., promising to get back to me after he reviewed an article I'd sent him), but the most egregious example is that we had a entire appointment (reviewing test results and recommending actions for me) that he subsequently forgot about. I checked in with him about a month after the appointment to follow-up, and he emailed me to ask me to take a variety of tests before we met...which tests I'd already taken and discussed with him the prior month. When I mentioned the date of our prior meeting and the lab results, he sent an email apologizing. Still: if I were less meticulous--or forgetful myself--I'd have undertaken a whole new round of tests (not covered by insurance, natch). At various points throughout the year, I actually wondered if he might have early-onset Alzheimer's. * Dr. Donahue runs a LOT of tests--many of which are not covered by insurance--the results of which are not terribly helpful. For example, one relatively expensive test for 'food sensitivities' revealed some for me...I asked if I should eliminate those items that showed up in red on the test, at which point he told me the test could be revealing a sensitivity OR just picking up on stuff I'd been eating a lot of lately. That....would have been helpful to know before the test, when I might have modified my diet; when I mentioned this, he said that I could always eliminate something concerning me and then retake the test in a few months. * Dr. Donahue would frequently say things--especially early on, going over my medical history, etc.--like, "now THAT'S interesting!" if I presented a medical quandary or something bizarre or troubling. This language happened a few times, when I presented new issues or we got new test results in. Conversely, I got the sense he was a bit zoned out when we talked about your regular 'run of the mill' medical issues (e.g., high cholesterol), and that overall, the only way to keep his interest would require an ongoing litany of unusual troubles...like he's "House" or something. *At our first meeting/physical exam appointment, he cheerily pointed out a few times that he could do my ob-gyn work, too! I have a great gynecologist, which I mentioned--and he re-mentioned, again, later, that he could do it, too. I thought it was odd that he mentioned it first (I hadn't brought up ob-gyn work because I already have that taken care of) and more than once. I was attracted to the practice because I felt that Dr. Donahue's experience as a doctor in a more rural community may have given him the knowledge/wisdom a kind of old-timey house call doctor would have. Instead, what I got was part absent-minded practitioner, part woo woo medicine dude. No, I don't want to order oregano oil from your Personal Health MD dispensary at Fullscript.com, where you make a commission (and where everything you prescribed costs more than from GNC, Amazon and other online stores). Jeez Louise. That kind of stuff makes you feel like you're in a multi-level marketing scam rather than a pricy concierge medicine practice. If you definitely want to be part of a concierge medical practice, you can find several others in the area for much less money and with more responsive, professional doctors. If you're still on the fence about signing up for concierge medicine at all, I'll say this: you're in the Boston area, and there are no shortage of awesome physicians to choose from who are just part of the regular ol' conglomerates we have. Whichever way you decide to go, this guy ain't it.

If you're not aware of what 'Functional Medicine' is make sure you google the background before you…read morecommit to being a member of this practice. While I do support and believe in alternative therapies, when they make sense. I believe in them after traditional medicine might not work, such as acupuncture or massage therapy and the like. I Don't subscribe to the idea that Supplements or Molecular and numerous Genetic testing should be used as a Primary approach to health care or in lieu of traditional medicine first and foremost. That's what Functional Medicine is, lab tests that your standard insurance carrier will not cover and will reject the claim as 'Experimental' because it is which might also explain the high annual membership cost. If you're looking for a physician who isn't interested in 'your' input regarding your medical needs and would prefer to 'tell you' what they thinks is best, than this is the practice for you. If however you want to have a meaningful dialog to work on a plan together such as discussing past comprehensive medical history or being 'asked' if you're familiar with a certain medication or protocol 'before' making assumptions and decisions...this is 100% definitely NOT the practice for you. The membership fee is very high and while you usually don't have to wait long for an appointment. The trade off is not having a traditional GP/Patient relationship. A traditional GP wouldn't sell me a $140 bottle of CoQ10 because my whatever enzymes were low for instance. Or some vastly overpriced liquid fish oil to help with joint pain, because we all know joint pain is based on inflammation and fish oil reduces inflammation...okay. (Which I found on Amazon at 1/3 the price btw.) Don't get me wrong. If this approach 'is' your thing and your not interested in a standard medical GP for your routine illnesses than by all means, enjoy the lovely persian rugs and fine china while you sip some herbal tea. If however you're looking for a Concierge Physician that practices standard traditional medicine or to provide routine referrals as needed. This is not the practice for you. I'll stick with a traditional approach where the emphasis is on treating the patients needs, it's never failed me before and you're valued a great deal more than in a Functional Medicine approach which prefers to ignore the symptoms and go off on tangents for the all important 'root cause'. Vitamins have their place...on the store shelf of my local pharmacy.