George Washington University Hospital Outpatient Rehabilitation Center

"Shana has been working with me for several months and I consider her care, compassion and knowledge to bean essential element of my wellness and improving quality of living. All of the associates could not be more helpful and positive. Extremely considerate and supportive"

"First of all: the treatment I got from the physio that was assigned to me was very good. My problem is that I was completely scandalized by GW charging policies. They managed to charge $2600 for 1hr of physiotherapy. I have really good insurance, and even with that, I was still on the hook for $150 coinsurance. But the fact that you dare to charge that amount of money for 1h of physiotherapy is really beyond the pale. I have had physio before in the DMV region and it was always a co-pay of about $20 per session... I sincerely do not understand how this pricing comes about. As nobody could explain it to me, I would recommend everybody not to use this facility."

"It is gratifying when you meet (for me at least) someone that takes their professional craft serious and are knowledgeable in said craft. My orthopedic sent me to rehab as a prerequisite for surgery per my insurance to operate on my heel spur. He assured me he has never seen anyone get relief from a heel spur doing physical therapy. During my first appointment with Polo, she suggested my injury was more likely due to a tendon injury as opposed to a heel spur. There was more dialog about it but that was the gist. I started my therapy in March 2024, I wanted 1 x weekly to expedite my recovery for a host of reasons, Polo deemed 1 x bi-weekly. Despite the orthopedic's diagnosis/conclusion, I have seen immense improvement and continue seeing the same. I was accustomed to doing 6 - 8 miles daily 5 x weekly prior to the injury, the injury left me unable to even do a .25 mile. It lingered from June 2023 until I started seeing improvement under the direct care and treatment of my physical therapist, Polo, in March of 2024. I am grateful for her guiding me to the recovery process as she deems. Form is very important, it also helps doing the prescribed exercises at home."

"I go to many departments at GW for most medical needs but will not be returning to this department. First, they kept claiming they 'couldn't see' the referral sent from another GW department. I was turned down for an appointment, after spending 30 mins on hold, because they required a copy of the referral and swore it didn't exist even though I could see it in the system. I ended up getting a copy of the document mailed to me to make the appointment and was never asked for it again. Per the referring department, they just doesn't bother aligning their online systems with the rest of GW and acts like this is the patients fault. Second, they called me back the day after making my appointment to reschedule, because they scheduled me with someone who doesn't provide the specific service I needed. They were pretty rude about the rescheduling, as if I hadn't already moved my entire day around for the first appointment and as if I caused the problem not their lazy person booking. For some reason, unlike every other department at GW they do not provide any online information prior to your appointment. They claim they text you a reminder text 2 days before. I didn't get a text but did get a cut off automated voicemail. The week before my appointment, I got a call from 'The University of Delaware' for pre-registration. I thought it was phishing and wasn't going to give any information until they confirmed the time/location of my appointment. Guess the person was calling from a personal cell phone which is shady. Upon arrival, I was asked to complete paperwork with all the same info I provided at pre-registration and booking. I said I already pre-registered and they told me that was just to 'get me in the system'. How many times do you need my address for you to set things up? They then told me they had no idea what my coverage would be and shared my deductible. Clearly you have access to review my insurance if you can see my deductible balance. The paperwork provided asked me to waive my right to contest if they 1) Didn't bother billing my insurance at all and 2) That I agreed to the estimate provided. Shady given that they just told me 'We have no way of telling what an appointment will cost and cannot even provide a ballpark estimate'. I crossed that all out and wrote I don't consent to waiving insurance if they just don't bother submitting paperwork and that no estimate was provided for me to sign off on so I won't sign a lie. I asked why this wasn't mentioned upon booking if I'm out of network and was told the people making the appointments 'don't work here'. Contractors or employees, it's this clinic's job to align their policies and procedures across the board. It's 2024; every medical provider lets you know upon booking if you are in network and provides an estimate up front, sends a confirmation email and/or portal access. They said 'You are in network, we just can't see any details.' They also asked me to opt into a random data sharing company. I asked if it was an online portal, since they don't use MyChart like the rest of GW, and they said no, it's 'if the hospital needed my records for some reason'. My session was not as described by the referring department and while the Physical Therapist was kind, definitely nothing helpful enough to be worth all this headache. Afterwards, the desk was suddenly able to provide an estimate and asked me to sign more paperwork. Guess their earlier claim meant 'I just don't feel like checking and expect you to sign even though I'm too lazy to do my job'. Lots of hassle for the great price of approximately $300 to be told to sit straight and do back bends. It's 2024; update your software to sync appropriately to receive documents, show patient appointments, etc. There are dozens of other PT providers in DC and I'll be following up somewhere that uses technology to streamline instead of acting like their disorganization is the patients fault."

"Like other patients, I was absolutely floored when receiving my PT bill from this office. They charged my insurance almost $3000 dollars for 45 minutes of PT, which left me on the hook for $300. I was unaware and continuted to attend my PT, all the while racking up a huge bill. I, too, have good insurance, and when receiving PT elsewhere they billed my insurance only a few hundred dollars. I hope others see this message and seek treatment elsewhere. It's a shame, and so predatory."

"The guy that runs the Aquatic is disrespectful and doesn't no how to talk to people and his name is Jose Sanfeliz ."

"I was less than impressed with physical therapist Joseph Signorino's civility or compassion as a therapist. It's not just that he was rude, passive aggressive and condescending to me, but that he did so just a couple of days after my hip surgery - and over such a small issue. I had concerns about getting into and out of the Fairmont Hotel pool they use for aqua therapy. Most of the patients while I was there complained about the pool. When I sent an email to Joe and my surgeon expressing my concerns, the response was reasonable: lets discuss solutions and possible alternatives. Great. Apparently this diplomatic answer from Joe was only for show since my surgeon was in cc: on the email, because when I saw Joe 2 days after my surgery, he seemed defensive, angry and dismissed my concerns out of hand. I brought up the pool issue and asked were there other options. He simply but emphatically said "no." I asked "No, there's nothing?" He said staring at me, "No, nothing." I paused waiting to see if he'd expand on his comments, but he stayed silent and just kept quietly staring at me which was weird. After this long silence, I moved on and to ask about maybe adding more PT sessions and using another pool facility. I didn't get the chance to finish as he cut me off very abruptly and said quite emphatically, "No, no. Only 2 sessions per week and that's it. No no, Only 2 sessions and that's all." He had no intention of discussing ANY of my concerns. Seeing the confusion on my face, he then mentioned he could schedule more time on the CP machine at home, and he then added, "But this may not work for you, but it'll work for me. I'll be able to compare your results to other patients who finish the program and compare results." This sounded not just a little bit snarky and concerned me that he wasn't deeply invested in my recovery anymore because I wasn't doing what he wanted. He then finished up his comments by saying sarcastically that if I have issues with my recovery later on, he'll be able to look back (on the decision to not go to the pool) as the cause. He then said that kids, women, old people use the pool just fine, but "you're this big strong guy that isn't doing it." So not only did he dismiss my concerns, but decided to voice his anger by being passive aggressive, rude, and condescending to me just days after my surgery and while I was still in a bit of pain from the surgery. When he walked away for a few minutes, my wife who was sitting near us and watching the whole conversation, said it appeared to her he was angry and defensive and taking my concerns about the pool use very personally for some reason. She and I discussed for a few minutes why he was acting this way as this seemed to be a small issue to us to talk through with him, and we'd never seen this side of him before. Prior to this, I'd been very pleased working with Joe, but this issue seemed to have gotten under his skin and he was now acting out like a petulant child. When I decided to address his behavior and asked what was going on with him he abruptly cut me off and said, "Let's just put this behind us." So he was angry, had had his say, knew he was misbehaving, and didn't want talk about his inappropriate behavior. Does this sound like somebody who has your best interests in mind? A couple days later, I found another therapist and a new place for aqua therapy closer to home and stopped seeing him. No one should have to deal with this childish, rude behavior from a health care provider days after surgery while not feeling 100% and still in pain. My wife and I were disappointed in his conduct. I expected Joe to be decent and to help me out, but he just didn't have it in him. (The above is just my opinion based on my personal experience.)"

"You can learn everything needed to practice protocols for specific conditions, however when the practitioner is not only knowledgeable, but can flex/ intuit the steps necessary to heal, you empower clients to change and TRUST the process Dr. Hope Cunningham is a value asset to this department. I hope she is acknowledged and appreciated"