MedStar Health: Curtis National Hand Center

"I am here with my aunt. I am very pleased how she was treated with great care and professionalism. The parking is affordable, all staff and doctors thus far are very kind and professional and the facilities are clean. great job!"

"Some very unprofessional bully staff. I was there with my daughter who is a young adult. Being no stranger to the medical field, I know it is always best to have an advocate on appointments so in my family, we try to assist one another in that way, regardless of age. We were told by doc next door, "just hand her the referral and she will know what to do." Keep in mind, we were smiling and friendly. The secretary asked us what she could do for us and we laughingly shrugged and looked at each other. She seized the opportunity to talk disparagingly about "kids these days" not knowing how to do anything, insulting my daughter, and then looked at me, pointed at my face and said "it's your fault mom. You all coddle your kids- it's your fault they cannot do anything." Since I was in a good mood and she clearly misread the moment, I let it go. I am only bringing that up because of what would follow with the therapist-- Before being done with her, I picked up on a discrepancy with what the doctor told us my daughter needed versus what the referral said. I spoke up at that point. Instead of verifying, she just pushed us along the process and said the hand therapist would know the right answer (even though I was telling her what the right answer was.) Willy called us back and he was super nice! While he was doing the intake alongside the therapist, that discrepancy came up again, so I spoke up again. The therapist, Lauren V., Became very defensive and seemed super annoyed that I would have the nerve to speak up about it. I explained to her that there is no reason for us to do it the way they were trying to do it because we have already been down that path enough times and we do not need to spend any more money out of pocket to do it again. I explained that the doctor was very specific that she needed a custom brace, not a prefab brace, because of the bone structure etc... instead of verifying that what I said was true, Lauren wanted to argue with me and State that the custom braces are are just as bad as the prefab ones in this way (which does not make sense for what the issue is). After some back and forth, I finally said to her "look all that needs to happen is for somebody to get up walk over and talk to the doctor in person. That would clear this up." Lauren became more defensive and said "I understand what you're trying to say." But again she was just trying to bully us into submitting to the easy thing rather than what was best. She finally got up and went and talked to the doctor and verified that everything we said was true. When she came back, there was no apology, not even a word said to me, in fact I was invisible from that point forward. I had to sit there and endure listening to another hand therapist complain about "kids these days" and how they don't play cards anymore. I am so sick of people beating up on my kids' generation and parents like me that are doing our best to protect them from bullies like them. Move on! They have absolutely no empathy and no understanding that it is very different for our kids, and using time while you're on the clock is not the appropriate platform to complain these matters. Do it somewhere else on your own time. Update 5 February 2026: I complied with Medstar's seemingly automated reply requesting more Information for them to take this complaint seriously. I took the time to fill out their form. I gave added details for the sake of clarity, and a personal note explaining some context so they could really have a full picture of just how inappropriate the staff was. That was over the weekend, and a business week has passed since then. I have not heard a word from them. Reader can decide if they are genuinely interested in fixing this systemic attitude problem of theirs. I have concluded that their reply to my initial review was just for show and they do not actually care to fix this."

"Yesterday I took my son to a appt for a fractured finger . We arrived to his appt on time . We stood at the front for about 7 mins to get registered and then was given a tablet to complete registration. The lady at the front desk then says that the wrong address was put on his referral and that I needed to call to have it fixed . First thing is why is the patient calling . It's another med star physician they should be calling . That is unprofessional. I sat down to complete registration and make the phone call . The drs office took longer than 10 mins to change the address in the system so they canceled his appt . Saying that we missed the grace period as if we were late . I told the front desk we were here on time and she stated there was nothing she can do . That they told her that they can't see us . We did what we were supposed to do . No consideration at all . I took off work , my son missed school and because the address was "technically right" but they wanted them to put an address we weren't even at our appt was cancelled. Completely unprofessional with No consideration at all . I do not think that this situation was handled correctly . Especially when we arrived on time . I am disappointed. I've never seen anything like this . If we were late then I could understand. We were not late , we were on time . Front desk was not helpful in this situation. People go through a lot to make it to appts . Change their entire day around and make accommodations only to be turned around for something that was out of their reach . You don't know how far someone came to make that appt . I am disappointed. I called to make another appointment and I'm still waiting for a call back to get a appt ."

"my review is based upon the dishonesty of the physician who did my examination, he immediately out of the gate seemed to doubt every word that came out of my mouth, took me in for a Fluorscopy active xray, after a few minutes of incredibly painful twisting and moving he exclaimed "I see it!" ended the exam without finishing any other testing and sent the report to the insurance claiming he found nothing the nurses and front desk staff were great, but it means nothing when you have dishonest Drs that refuse to discuss anything, and just act from assumptions they build over a few minute period"

"I was very disappointed with my experience at the national hand center. I saw Hugh Baugher, MD for an injury to my wrist/forearm. It has been bothering me since May and I saw him in late August for an initial visit. I got to the appointment 15 minutes early and was brought back to the exam room at 2:30. I waited in the exam room for about 1 hour 15 minutes waiting for the doctor. During the examination, I received an x-ray which came back negative. It was recommended that I get a Tesla 3 MRI which costs $200 after insurance. When I returned for my follow-up, Dr. Baugher saw me immediately. He asked me if I was a new patient when I came into the room. I said that I wasn't. As we reviewed my situation, he said that he remembered me. Then I gave him the MRI cd. He said that it didn't show anything but it wasn't the best quality MRI because of the shadows. He asked if I would be interested in going to physical therapy. We agreed that PT would be the best course of action. I felt like the treatment was comparable to a "minute clinic" and we should have started with the PT recommendation. It cost me $260 and I don't know anything more about my forearm/wrist than when I started."

"Update: They asked for my feedback in below in their comment, which looks like it may have possibly been removed. I went to the link left my feedback and expected a response that never came. Why ask for my feedback if you didn't really want it!?! Original Review: I have brought my daughter to Curtis National Hand Center twice. First we seen Dr Giladi who provided a handout to read about your pain being in your head, and how a therapist could help. While I am sure this can be the case he had only spent 5 to maybe 10 minutes with my daughter. He did no x-rays or scans. Just seen that she was 14 and didn't value what she had to say. When pushed he gave a prescription for physical therapy with no direction on it. So we did physical therapy for about 8 weeks with no real improvement. We then went to a Dr outside of the Curtis Hand Center who seemed to take her seriously, did an x-ray right off, and provided a brace for what he was thinking may be going on with a follow up scheduled. While there was some improvement, it eventually went right back to being painful so he ordered an mri, and then based on those results referred us back to the Curtis Hand Center but this time to see Dr. Zimmerman. This time Dr Zimmerman sent his assistant Dr. Andy to handle talking to to my daughter. Dr. Andy was nice but provided no real answers on why a partial tear would still be unhealed and hurting 10 months later. Dr. Zimmerman stepped in the room barely in the door declared it wouldn't need surgery and when pressed of what we should do, just said it needed time and left. Dr. Andy filled out another form for physical therapy with some direction and a brace. I wouldn't recommend this office for a pediatric patient, because my daughter has just received the run around with no real answers, all the while still experiencing pain in her wrist. When we arrived back at the physical therapist they were baffled why she would be sent there with a partial tear, no surgery, and no scheduled follow up ordered."

"My spouse is currently under MedStar's care for a workers' compensation case, and the experience with the assigned manager Janine Facon has been unacceptable. She demonstrates a clear lack of professionalism, her communication is poor, she is dismissive of patient needs, and she refuses to allow scheduling that accommodates my spouse's availability. This conduct creates unnecessary barriers to care and reflects poorly on MedStar. Workers' compensation cases are already stressful, and patients should not have to struggle further due to unprofessional and unhelpful management. I urge leadership to review this matter and take corrective action to ensure patients receive respectful and supportive service."

"Dr Bauer removed a cyst from my hand. Really nice staff from the front desk all the way to dr. Very smooth scheduling and quick procedure."