Inova Launches Online Physician Reviews
Washington DC – September 8, 2015 – As part of Inova’s ongoing commitment to transparency and improvement, the health system today announced a new online resource for patients looking for the best available care: patient reviews of Inova Medical Group physicians. Inova is the first healthcare system in the Mid-Atlantic to make both star ratings and unedited patient comments available to the public.
In today’s world, patients consider online reviews to be a valuable part of their decision making process when choosing a new physician. Patients are already visiting sites like HealthGrades, Yelp! and vitals.com to make informed decisions about their healthcare needs. To add more quality data to their decision making process, Inova is publishing thousands of ratings and unedited comments about Inova doctors on Inova.org. The ratings will be presented as a five-star system, similar to most consumer rating sites and other leading health systems who have paved the way for this initiative. The feedback is collected by Press Ganey, an Indiana-based company that provides research and business consulting for more than half of the hospitals in the United States. All comments and star ratings are published anonymously to Inova Medical Group physician profile pages on Inova.org.
“Inova seeks every opportunity to meet the unique needs of each person we are privileged to serve,” said Loring Flint, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Inova. “By collecting, analyzing and publishing all comments, Inova can help patients make informed decisions when choosing their doctors. In turn, our physicians and office support staff use the feedback collected as an opportunity to make improvements to the quality of care and experience a patient receives in our outpatient practices.”
All comments are reviewed before they are posted on Inova.org and only withheld from publication if the comments are considered inappropriate, libelous or reveal patient information.
“We want our patients to have full access to unedited comments and trust that our patients will provide valuable and constructive feedback that will benefit both patients seeking healthcare and our providers,” added Dr. Flint. “Transparency is the future of healthcare and we look forward to continuing this dialogue with our community for years to come.”
Media Contact: Tracy Connell, tracy.connell@inova.org
This is a note of appreciation for the care and support provided by Dr. Larry Belote, Inova Medical Group, Purcellville, VA. I have been a patient of Dr. Belote for well over 25 years, and while always a caring and thorough doctor this year my wife and I have had a host of medical issues where Dr. Belote has gone above and beyond what should be expected of any physician. His personal touch and sincerity have provided us a level of comfort that one can only receive from a trusted friend and excellent physician.
Inova has amazing Doctors!
The review process of patient feedback potentially sensors negative feedback and undermines their goal of transparency. The validity of a negative review should be determined by the prospective patient reader and not an Inova employee. There are many “faux review” websites that block/filter negative reviews.
Thank you for your comment, we are sure to share with our patient experience team. The patient comments collected from actual patients as part of our Clinical & Group CAHPS survey are published edit-free. Comments are only removed if they are profane, libelous, slanderous or risk the privacy of our patients. We are committed to posting all unedited positive and negative patient comments.
Dr. Eileen C. West deserves to be known and applauded for representing INOVA so well. Dr. West is a quality, personable, knowledgeable, and approachable doctor, and I’ve been seeking that for years. Getting the feeling that your doctor is actually listening to you versus watching the clock to make sure you’re in and out, is quite the rarity, especially in this fast-paced Metropolitan area. Dr. West is efficient but concerned, and I am encouraged to follow her instructions because of her investment in me. I’m not asking for much either, just the feeling when I leave the appointment, that my doctor and I are a team and we’re in this together. It’s my life we’re talking about here, and for the past 15 years no doctor managed to much remember my name, versus remembering details. Not even money can buy the feeling that your doctor is invested in your health and Dr. West does just this.
I just left the out patient surgery today at Loudoun…Everything was first class. I’ve had a few treatments at various local hospitals in the area, and I would rate your service the best. Everything was on-time and all nurses, staff, and doctors were on top of games including Dr. Roberts, Jennifer, Diane, Stephanie, Antoinette, and the Anesthesia team….Thanks for the quality care….Hope I’m never back but you understand that!!!
Dr. John Liljestrand is the most AMAZING doctor I have EVER seen in my entire life. Thank you INOVA for employing such an outstanding Physician. My doctor left INOVA (Gainesville location) and I was in a pinch and needed to get my son into the doctor for a medication refill, they told me that (AKA) Dr, John had some openings, I was reluctant at first because of the location being in (Centreville) and I am in the Gainesville area. Boy am I glad I took the appt. I will now continue to take my sons and myself to him from here on out.
It is so hard to find a “Good” doctor, not only was he a excellent physician, he was extremely kind, caring, and has a wonderful bedside manner, he listens to you, you don’t feel rushed and you most certainly do not feel like just the net patient in line. I cannot say enough great things about this doctor. If you are looking for a new primary care doc then give Dr, John Liljestrand a try. Amazing!!!!
I have been seeing Dr. Jocelyn Serrano located in Gainesville for almost 10 years now and have always had excellent service. I’ve also had to see others when she was not in and managed to get an appointment with no problems. I’ve also had the pleasure of using other doctors services and agree with one post which stated how INOVA has improved over the years. I would also like to state how attentive she is to your needs and does everything she can to make sure your needs are met. While I am quick to give praise because we all need to hear when we are doing well as well as when issues arrive. The communication between patient and doctor is important which leads me to point out that the patient portal is excellent at managing that very issue. Thank you.
Inova Primary Care – McLean
I am continually impressed with the Doctors in this practice. I prefer a holistic approach to health care. I am open to natural and conventional medicine as needed and as it best suits healing and future health. While this office at INOVA is not an Integrative, or Holistic practice, I have been continuously impressed with the three doctors at this particular location. I have found Dr. Anna Zamskaya (no longer at this location) and Dr Homaira Behsudi-Wali (joined Dec 2019) to be highly knowledgeable, professional and compassionate. While very efficient with their time, they also make it a priority to really listen, dive deeper into underlying health issues, explore alternatives, and to develop a mutual health plan. And, did I say they LISTEN? A precious and valuable trait these days in the medical field. I can’t recommend them enough, particularly for those of us with complex chronic health issues not falling into neat care plans. As other reviews have commented on billing and admin challenges, (which I have experienced too), I choose to look beyond, as the medical care has been exceptional.
Review for Dr. Michael B. Foster – Cardiologist in Gainesville , VA
Because of the outstanding care I have received from Dr. Foster I wanted to write this review so that I may help anyone looking for a great cardiologist in the Gainesville, VA area. Dr. Foster is one of the best doctors I have seen. He is knowledgeable and takes the time to listen and discuss any questions or concerns you may have. You never feel rushed during your appointment. From my first appointment I knew I had found a great doctor. I would highly recommend Dr. Foster for anyone in need of a kind, caring and knowledgeable cardiologist.
Review for Dr. Warren J. Smith, DO – Family Medicine in Annandale, VA
Five stars
I was honestly skeptical about Dr. Smith at first, especially since he had no reviews nor stars. I am also a new patient, so I had other doctors to choose from, but I needed to see someone since I had been pushing it off for quite some time. I had a list of concerns (mostly questions about my skin), which Dr. Smith answered as best he could, but I am honestly so grateful that he put my mind at ease. He also referred me to other doctors I may want to see. He was extremely kind and welcoming. He is also new to the area, but do not let that stop you from seeing him. Dr. Smith was a great doctor to get to know and I recommend him to others.
If you look at something outside of INOVA (Healthgrades) one doctor I had a horrible experience with has barely 2 (out of 5) stars. In the INOVA system, she has 4.5 stars. I suspect bias.
For Dr. Charlotte Kastl: I did not have a good experience working with Dr. Charlotte Kastl. Other people in her same office were pleasant and helpful. Dr. Kastl was uninformed in her own field, didn’t communicate with people in her own office, and was dismissive and unprofessional.
If you have chronic illness(es), you tend to be on the lookout for medications that are effective as well as symptoms and diagnoses from others with similar ailments. When I asked Dr. Kastl about a medication that others found helpful, she had “never heard of it” (end of conversation).
When I had an appointment with another doctor in the office, Laura A Cinski (who was wonderful), I described my symptoms and asked if it could be a type of migraine I’d read about. She said that sounded exactly right and we talked about treatment. When my next appointment was back with Dr. Kastle, I told her about that type of migraine, she had “never heard of it” (end of conversation).
When I had an appointment with the nurse practitioner in the office, Leandra S Armstead (who was also wonderful), she modified my prescription for one medication to take regularly as a preventative (I also have a second medication that’s taken at the onset of pain). Unfortunately, it didn’t work well so I messaged the office about it and asked for a refill of the medication that I take at pain onset.
For some reason, the prescription request did not make it to my pharmacy. It’s happened on occasion – one time I know the pharmacy’s system went down for an hour and that happened to coincide with when my prescriptions were sent. I followed up with Dr. Kastl when the pharmacy never got the refill authorization and she would not believe me. She accused me of abusing pain medication. I even gave her a screenshot of the last refill date and asked her to contact the pharmacy for verification. She refused to do anything and gave me a very holier-than-thou speech about her duty as a doctor.
It was a really horrible experience. If you’re someone who has chronic pain, it’s just mind-boggling and disheartening when a doctor gaslights you, blames you, or shames you for needing help managing your pain. Unless you really like that don’t see Dr. Kastl.
P.S. Any doctor who tells you not to do your own research probably has delusions of grandeur. In today’s world where so much information is at our fingertips and we can reach out to people around the world who have the same health issues, it’s ludicrous not to take advantage of that. Granted, you probably shouldn’t do most of your health-based research at Betty’s Holistic Health Emporium of Crystals and Essential Oils (my apologies to Betty if this is a real thing), but there are good resources out there and you deserve a doctor who says “Let’s look into it,” rather than rolling their eyes at you.