I warn you all to stay away and be wary of this exploitative private practice where the staff is…read morenot trained to deal with neurodivergent people or senior citizens especially with disabilities, ranging from vision and hearing impairments. Their website doesn't match the poor, rude, and frustrating staff that we dealt with to just schedule an appointment, which parents couldn't have scheduled on their own independently.
For example, they're still paper-based. This is incredibly unsafe because their staff collect and share medical and financial info without HIPAA-compliance via encrypted forms or emails. Who knows how they or whoever accidentally gets this sensitive info may abuse it?
Plus, this makes it difficult for those who aren't tech-savvy to complete their new patient intake, which is only 15 minutes. When we heard that their missed visit fee was $250 from their staff (especially their insensitive practice manager), they were neither empathetic nor accommodating in responding to our clarifying questions. When I checked that they only charge $50 for missed appointment fees, I was still alarmed because their patients likely struggle with issues, ranging from executive function to emotional regulation, and yet they show no compassion for resolving misunderstandings with neurodivergent patients and caregivers except to exploit their deficits by coercing them to pay for what they signed under false pretenses. No breakdown of costs including missed appointment cancellation fees were provided to answer our request.
Plus, their staff conflicted with their messaging whereby their practice manager claims that they require cancellations within 24 hours to replace the vacancy with another patient while the other receptionist stated that it's impractical to find another patient on short notice. Since they don't seem to have social media, a system for communicating with patients efficiently except by phone and email, or even a telemedicine-equipped service to reduce costs during and after the pandemic, maybe that's why they';re so desparate to nickel and dime a disabled, neurodivergent senior citizen for missing a new patient intake after suffering from a stroke, recovering from a flight with vertigo, and other complications.
Clearly, their staff have no business sense to invest in patient-centric customer care and I have no doubt this business will eventually close given their inability to treat the neurodiverse community with respect according to the American Disabilities Act and other regulations. Had they accommodated a courtesy waiver or televisit intake, they could've gain a family of patients and referrals at the expense of damaging the hard-earned reputation of Dr. Alan Steinberg, MD, who "served as a psychiatric consultant to Suffolk County Adult Protective Services and the Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Task Force for Suffolk County."
What would happen if their patients learned this is how their staff, including medical director, who is only a nurse, mistreats other prospective patients? Plus, he'd rather trust his staff than listen to the patient and caregiver for a balanced, holistic perspective to make any billing decision. Would you want a clinician claiming to be a doctor making one-sided decisions without listening to your account of events for a fair chance at reconciling misunderstandings? Worse yet, who is making medical decisions & prescribing drugs when there seems to be no certified doctor (except an emeritus retiree, who let's a nurse take over his practice)? Doesn't this sound scary, unsafe, and wary?
ZERO stars if I could rate this place, which would likely be disgrace to its founder.
