Andrew Albert, MD MPH

Dr. Albert is my miracle doctor!
I started going to him in 2007 for digestive issues. I was in weekly stomach pain and scared to eat several things due to how my stomach would react. After several trials of medications and procedures including an endoscopy and colonoscopy, Dr. Albert recommended I get an ultrasound of my gallbladder and liver. It turned out my gallbladder was only functioning at a 3% rate instead of the «normal» 35%. In the spring of 2008, I got my gallbladder removed and am happy to say, I have NOT had any digestive issues since. I can even eat anything I want! My life has changed completely thanks to Dr. Albert! I have recommended him to everyone that I have come across who has mentioned having GI issues.
My husband now sees him and my mom will be seeing him soon too. I got the pleasure of reuniting with Dr. Albert ta week ago when my husband saw him for a procedure. Even after not seeing him since early 2008, he remembered me and all my symptoms right away.
If anyone has any type of GI issues, you should definitely go see him! He is the best!
If it wasn’t for Dr. Albert, I don’t know where I would be today.

Doctor Albert is a nice enough guy but I learned after I called yesterday to confirm my appointment and inform him that my symptoms were getting worse since I saw him last and made the changes he recommended that he is out for a few weeks having surgery. They then switched my appointment to today with his assistant. When I informed my primary care physician of this they told me to see a different Gastroenterologist they work with because seeing his assistant is not going to get any of the tests that I need done until the Doctor returns. When I called them back this morning less than 2 hours after they opened they informed me I will have to pay a same day cancellation fee which I think is BS because they didn’t tell me the doctor would be of no use to me for a few weeks until after they changed my appointment and they were open less than 5 minutes after they changed my appointment last night.
After all of this trouble they have agreed to refund my cancellation fee. If they had told me going in that he would be out for an extended period during my decision making time I would give them much higher rating as he is a nice guy and appears to be competent.

Dr. Albert is an exceptional Doctor. He has consistently taken personal time (weekends and nights) to help me. One might complain of longer waiting room times than «normal» but he is only running behind because he spends so much time getting to know his patients. He genuinely cares. I’ve seen several GIs in different states and who were supposedly «fantastic.» The only one who cared enough to listen and know me? Dr. Albert. Others told me the problems so suffer from weren’t «real» or another condition. Dr. Albert found a diagnosis and always cares. Trust me, don’t ever underestimate that. He’s fantastic but here for real.

I went to this office back in May as a new patient. The doctor did not seem to be in the office at all, and I was not given the opportunity to meet him. Two months later, I received the statement for my copay. I immediately paid on their website, though I was already planning to find another doctor because the place seemed weirdly sketchy. An hour later, the assistant called! She said she’d just been discussing my case with the doctor, and he’d like to meet me and do some blood tests… two months later. So the options are (a) they really do think the blood tests are necessary and dropped the ball for two months or (b) they saw I’ll pay my bills and decided to get me in to pay for more. Neither of those works for me. I will not be going back.

Horrible service. They referred me to get a scan at the hospital a couple months ago. Since then I’ve called and left many voicemails but no one will return my call. I’m getting billed for the scans be interpreted but I’ve never heard back on the results. It doesn’t matter how many emails or voicemails are sent they just won’t return calls.

Dr. Albert and Anne were always responsive to me while I lived in Chicago. He not only found a stomach issue, he helped solve the issue. Not many doctors can claim those results.
They always emailed, called or texted me which is especially rare in this era. I didn’t feel like another number, I felt like a patient.
Thanks again Doc!

During my second encounter with Dr Albert he really listened even though it was somewhat difficult for him to hear me out. I updated with the additional star.
Final word? Patients, like doctors, come in a wide variety of «flavors.» Not all patients will have the same experience with the same doctor.

Great doctor, very accessible and has always been responsive and overly concerned with my health. He was also supportive of seeking alternative therapies and meeting with other specialists.

My internist recommended Dr. Albert. I have been seeing him for GI issues for several years. I have found him to be extremely through and very cordial. He takes the time to listen and discusses alternatives. The new PA is very thorough and knowledgeable. As to comments from others regarding the office staff, there is definitely room for some improvement. They seem too frantic and disorganized at times. BUT I am willing to put up with staff issues to get the care that I get from Dr. Albert.
On one occasion, I had to wait perhaps 45 minutes (unusual) but I realize that when a doctor — particularly one who does invasive procedures where sedation is involved — is at the hospital, emergencies occur and sometimes things taken longer than expected. It’s all about reasonable expectations.

Dr. Albert and his team have been a godsend and are the reason I will never move out of Chicago! (Or if he moves somewhere, I’m going to follow him & his practice!)
5 years ago, I was in the middle of a terrible flare up that caused me to be an absolute trainwreck. I was in the hospital for several days feeling awful. Dr. Albert was the covering physician and because of his thoughtful care, I jumped ship from another doctor’s practice over to Dr. Albert’s practice.
Dr. Albert has taken very good care of me ever since, always within an arm’s reach should I need help. His staff was great at responding to my emails and Dr. Albert always allowed me to text or call his cell phone at a moment’s notice, even calling on me himself at night just to check on me after a particularly rough weekend. Being a young millenial, I love having the ability to text or g-​chat his practice and their response time has been pretty good.
He also worked with me on my individual case, even when I fought back. He recommended surgery earlier on in my care, but I was scared of it, so he looked into alternative methods of care and pushed it off for as long as we could. He’s been flexible in terms of recommending care for me that I could afford when I was struggling financially as well.
I really love the care that Dana and Dr. Albert have delivered over the last 5 years to me. Dr. Albert has taken care of me and hours of his time making sure I could be the healthiest version of myself. You wouldn’t even recognize me now based on the catastrophe of a patient I was at the beginning. I will never leave his practice and I would recommend every person having gastro issues to his practice as well.
Thanks Dr. Albert for bringing me back to a normal state of life!

I’m a recent transplant to Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood and was pleased to find a gastroenterologist within a stones throw of my house. I have a significant history that requires attention to detail and the proper due diligence, so choosing a gastro is a big deal. After my first call to their office, I was shocked to get an appointment relatively quickly. Upon arrival and after the initial paperwork, I met Dr. Albert. He’s a very nice doctor that seemed willing to listen to my history and overall concerns, and made thoughtful points about my case. Along with his PA, I felt I was in the right hands. That was, until after I left the office. Dr. Albert had me go through a couple of tests after the appointment. The problem began here. It was IMPOSSIBLE to get a hold of a human being and to get past their unprofessional answering service (as if you are leaving a voicemail on someone’s personal phone). Nobody called me back and instead I had office staff call me a week later and ask to do yet another test. Wait, can’t I talk to the doctor about the results of my first two tests?! Of course not. I left yet another voicemail asking to speak to the doctor about the initial results before scheduling another invasive test. I finally got fed up and took my business to a professional team of doctors at Northwestern. Funny thing was, my new gastroenterologist at Northwestern said they get a lot of transfers from that office.
When choosing a doctor, you want to make sure they are accessible and take your case seriously should you have concerns. I finally have that at Northwestern.

Easy going doctor which is usually a nice thing. However, I felt rushed & not taken seriously at all!

The sad thing about writing this review is that I actually like Dr. Albert as a person and I have always felt he provided me with good medical care… but his office policies have changed in such a way that I was forced to leave his care abruptly today.
I stopped in about 3 weeks ago to pick up some med samples… at that time, the woman working the front desk asked to take a copy of my driver’s license & new insurance card… said it would save time at my appointment in July. No problem!
I arrived today about 5mins early for my appointment… the same woman was working the front desk and she asked to make copies of my ID and new insurance card — I reminded her that I had already had that done when I was in a few weeks earlier — she remembered. The problem? The copies she made of my driver’s license & insurance card, that she remembers taking, were NOT in my patient file. This made me very uncomfortable… but the office manager then chimed in and said she was sorry but she promised that they must have accidentally been shredded. I wasn’t pleased, but handed the cards back over to be copied yet again.
I then was asked to fill out 2 new office forms. I did so… BUT the 2^nd one required that patients write down their CC info — CC #, exp date, etc. I decided, especially after just witnessing that personal information can get misplaced or lost in the office, that leaving my CC info wasn’t a safe option. Not to mention, I have insurance! I am not paying out of pocket for the visit… why would they need a CC?
I explained why I wouldn’t submit this information and the woman at the front desk said she understood.
I then went into the waiting area and waited… and waited… and waited…27mins later the office manager calls me back but doesn’t take me to an exam room but rather the doctor’s office. She said that Dr. Albert was informed of my decision to NOT provide my CC info and that he could NOT allow this — that the new office policy required it from ALL patients. I said I was sorry, explained again that I wasn’t comfortable doing this. Her response was, «Well then I am sorry but you can not be seen today.»
I was furious! I had waited 27mins for my appointment, was told my not giving a CC # was understandable… then was told to leave. I demanded a copy of my entire file and a refund of my copay. As I was waiting for the copies at the desk, Dr. Albert came around the corner and asked what was wrong — I explained — probably not in a great tone — I was pissed! His reaction on solidifies my decision to leave his care — he said to me, «I really can’t have you doing this in my waiting room.» What is wrong Dr? Afraid others waiting to see you will hear that you are scamming CC #s from patients and that your office staff loose personal information on patients?
To say I am disappointed in Dr. Albert and his staff would be an understatement. I have recommended him to others… I have bragged about him and how much care he takes with his patients. Now I see that all that matters to him, like most others, is their bottom line.
I did a little research — because of his contract with my insurance provider, he technically is NOT supposed to be able to turn me away for not providing a CC — not when I have insurance that he is contracted with. They are going to look into it further and suggested I call a few other places (Board of Health, etc).
It really is too bad… I entrusted my health to Dr. Albert for over 5years… I believe he is a good medical professional but his office procedures, policies & staff make him one that I will never return to, recommend and I will WARN of to others!

I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS! I never had such a unprofessional, disrespectful doctor in my life. I went to an urgent care walk in 8 weeks ago and found that i had a bacteria in my stomach. She wanted me to follow up with a GI specialist, which i unfortunately chose Andrew by looking at reviews. First off I had a wait an HOUR AND A HALF with an appointment. When he finally comes in he gives me the excuse he likes to be thorough and provide his patients with all the information they need. Ironically he did nothing of that sort with me, he sees me for 10 minutes!!! I know because I checked the time when he came in and when we finished our talk. He lets me know I’m probably just pregnant and had me have 7 different blood tests. Basically everything I said he disregarded by saying I’m pregnant even though I kept insisting that I do not think I am. He didn’t give me the time of day and questions I asked he could not seem to answer except vague responses which I can easily get via google. Also at the end he tells me that if i don’t hear from him for maybe 1 to 2 days that everything is fine. WEIRD since every other doctor I’ve been to will call me either way to let me know if the results were good OR bad. ALSO another thing he was inconsiderate about was, how would he know if me being pregnant will be positive or negative? What if I wanted to be pregnant or what if I didn’t want to be pregnant? How can he judge which will be the bad news? He should call regardless to let me know if I’m pregnant or not especially since he said that’s the reason for some of my symptoms and also because I am paying for his services! Thought that one was particularly unprofessional. I found that, like I predicted I am not pregnant and it wasn’t because he called me. The good news is that the lab they sent to me was a great experience which helped me forget temporarily my awful experience with Andrew. I learned my lesson and will be looking for another GI doctor!

It’s such a godsend that I’ve found Dr. Alberts. While I cannot take credit for this discovery, he was a referral by my Primary Care Physician, I am pretty sure I couldn’t have picked a better GI doc.
Dr Alberts is warm, friendly, and very thorough. He genuinely cares about this patients and it’s obvious from the reception to exit. Bonus points for having online scheduling too!
GI stuff is never super fun to have or to discuss, but somehow I feel at ease in his care.

Folks, listen. It is rare to find a doctor who actually cares and treats people like human beings. It took me a long time, but I finally found a GI doc in Chicago who does — Dr. Albert.
Fed up with other GI docs in this city who shall remain nameless who don’t listen, I started seeing Dr. Albert towards the end of 2011 after finding him right here on Unilocal.I have battled an iffy stomach my entire life, but something was going on at that time that was making me incredibly sick and just didn’t feel right. When I was blown off by the GI doctor I was seeing at the time, I came here for a second opinion. I remember my first appointment — I started off by asking him to please listen to me. I knew my body, and I knew something wasn’t right. And listen he did. He caught something that no one else did and after getting treated I felt a thousand times better, and I will always be grateful to him for that.
Since then, he’s been trying to help me get to the bottom of some other stuff going on. He’s patient, he listens, he actually discusses things *with* me (instead of talking at me), explains what he’s thinking or why he wants to run a certain test, makes sure all my questions are answered before I leave, and I’m always left feeling informed and cared about. Bottom line: I trust him, which really wasn’t easy for me to do after my awful experiences with the last two GI docs I had in this city. And best of all, he’s got a sense of humor and is just an all around nice guy.
He’s also… available. What a concept. He is one of those rare doctors who has embraced the fact that we live in the 21^st century and he emails, I can schedule appointments online without having to call (his online appointment system is the best invention ever), and he has even texted me test results before in the evening — which was unexpected but appreciated.
His staff is also great, though I’ve really only ever dealt with Anne who is super friendly and thorough. I think he is associated with a couple different hospitals (Illinois Masonic for sure), and he also does procedures out of the 900 North Michigan medical building, which is very nice.
I seriously can’t recommend him enough — he is the best.

My primary care physician recommended Dr. Albert and I could not be more satisfied with the level of care and service that I experienced at his office. Anne at the front desk was friendly, helpful and extremely competent. Dr. Albert took the time to answer all of my questions and put me at ease before, during and after my procedure. He is extremely friendly, patient, approachable and knowledgeable. He was also great in terms of responding quickly to several emails that i sent to him outside of office hours when i had some additional questions. They both helped me to navigate through the insurance billing aspect, which made everything go smoothly and with no unexpected surprises. I will definitely continue to follow up with Dr. Albert as needed and would highly recommend him to anyone in need of a great GI doc!

Dr. Albert is a stellar individual, who cares deeply about medicine and helping people. He’s extremely selfless, often putting the needs of others above his own. I can attest, having known him for more than 15 years. Get an appointment before he’s all booked up!

I was warned by Dr. Albert during my first (and only) appointment about the «big bill» associated with «tests and samples.» Now that I’ve read the experience of Daisy C. and her 5,000 dollar bill, I am glad to be going elsewhere.
I only met with Dr. Albert for a few minutes, and I never got the impression that he cared about me very much, as some of the other posters here did. The very first thing I explained to Dr. Albert was that I am going through fertility treatment and taking Clomid, so there is a chance I could be pregnant very soon. After our very brief encounter, Dr. Albert wrote me a prescription and ordered 3 tests. When I asked if the prescription was safe for pregnancy, he said, «Yeah… I think.» When I called the hospital to schedule the HIDA scan he ordered, they told me not to do the test at all if I could be pregnant.
Was Dr. Albert not listening to me at all? He gave me a prescription for something he «thinks» is safe, and ordered a test that the lab won’t even perform if I could be pregnant. I wonder what the radioactive tracers used in the procedure could do to an unborn baby.
During my 30-​second «history,» I told Dr. Albert that I used to drink heavily up until about a year ago. I am, in fact, a recovering alcoholic, but I made it very clear to him that I haven’t had a drink in almost a year. When my appointment was through, I went to the front desk to check out, and Dr. Albert came up to me and said with a smug grin, «No more intake of that thing we talked about”– in front of three other patients and the receptionist. I can only imagine what «that thing» might mean to uninformed bystanders. Talk about unprofessional.
Now that I have reread the «glowing» reviews, I realize they sound rather fabricated… But that’s just my opinion.
There are plenty of gastroenterologists in Chicago.
UPDATE: I did turn out to be pregnant, and I just found out I’m borderline anemic. Why, you ask? Most likely because of the medication that Dr. Albert prescribed. I researched it and learned that while it is given a Pregnancy Category rating of B, it also blocks absorption of non-​heme iron. I am a vegetarian and therefore ALL the iron I consume is non-​heme. Thanks for the warning, «Dr.» Albert! I hope I don’t go into pre-​term labor or require a blood transfusion now!

This man got my life back in order! I was diagnosed with Crohns a few years ago. It was a rough time but he got me on the right medication régime and I feel fantastic. Over the course of my visits I felt so comfortable with him and he really made me feel important to him.
I highly recommend this doctor to anyone having any gastro issues. He won’t shrug you off and make you feel like a number folks!