Associates In Medicine, PA

I am an ICU RN at a local hospital. I hand picked my physicians. I actually chose Dr. Rachel Bishop bc I saw her work ethic at the hospital. She’s amazing! When she left on medical leave I was placed with Dr. Niefield. I saw Dr. Niefield about two times and I was impressed. I heard Dr. Bishop came back from medical leave, but I decided to stay with Dr. Niefield because he is thorough and he listens so I felt no need to leave. I’ve been with him ever since and he’s my PCP. I am not easily bothered by wait times because I have an idea what all the doctors have to assess and do with each patient. Very few are healthy like me and most come in with one reported problem, but in reality the doctor assesses many. Even though I’m healthy, I never feel rushed by Dr. Niefield. He takes the appropriate time with me. While I’m not saying it takes a long wait time before I see the doctor, I’m saying I don’t notice bc I am not bothered by it. I do know I don’t get hungry, so it must not be that long! Also, I personally don’t like a doctor who just does what I tell them… Dr. Niefield listens to my concerns or thoughts about why I’m presenting and then he uses his expertise to pin point to the current problem. I like to be an informed patient and share in my plan of care, but by no means do I want to drive my care completely when I don’t have that scope of practice. Dr. Niefield is never intimidated by that and uses every opportunity as a teaching moment!!! I’ve never had a problem with staff and the lab also works very efficiently!!! Their online appointment option is also fast and I’m personally enjoying their online chart that I have access to. Dr. Niefield personally looks thru the labs and leaves an online note for you describing abnormalities or letting you know they are normal ranges. Lastly, I had a bad ear irritation and the office squeezed me in for the next day (I think that is very good!). to answer an earlier client, if the office can’t see you that day and you are expressing to them over the phone how you feel it might be emergent… You should go to your nearest emergency. The office did the right thing and if it truly is emergent the ER is the best place to handle an acute emergent event. I recommend this office.

I have tried really hard to appreciate this medical practice group and the bottom line to me is that it does NOT reflect patient-​centered care. The office staff are not only rude, but they are insensitive to patient concerns. The medical doctors are more concerned about staying on a schedule and being able to close the office on-​time than they are about making sure they understand a patient and the patient’s needs.
Referrals to a specialist for insurance purposes should be requested well in advance as with most practices. It may still be questionable whether or not it is done by the time you see the specialist even if you give a 7 – 10 day notice of needing the referral. If you get to the specialist and find the referral is not there, you can forget asking Associates in Medicine, P.A. to help you immediately. It will not happen.
Again, there is nothing about their protocols that are patient-​centered. They will do what they do on their schedule and in their time. So if you are looking for real patient-​centered care, this is not the place for you. I do not plan to darken their door again for this very reason.

Associates in medicine is a joke. I saw Sheri Rubin, who is probably the only suitable individual in the entire practice. She was fantastic. Unfortunately, the staff isnt capable to shovel elephant shit. It took the office and nurses over 1.5 years to call in a prescription that I take every day. I had to keep getting another doctor from my old home town/​state to call in the prescription due to the incompetency of the nursing staff. Another medication I’ve taken literally almost my entire life needed to be called in another time and they insisted that I’ve never taken the medication before. I told them in Dec. 2012 that I would never go back, and today, they sent me an invoice for an appointment that I missed last month. Guess what morons, I’m not paying.

Dr Lu, who is fairly mew to the practice is one of the best doctors I have had the pleasure of seeing in my lifetime. He is very skilled and very patient with information. I cannot recommend Dr Lu enough.

I have had a different experience from the reviews below so I guess that means that they have definitely improved over time! The staff was very friendly and welcomed me as soon as I came in. I filled out my paperwork and they called me back to my room within 10 minutes. Dr. Gilford was AMAZING. She was extremely personable and very easy to relate to. She explained every step of my checkup and what exactly she was checking for. The nurse who did my bloodwork was very friendly and efficient as well. My visit was in and out but still effective. I have zero complaints. I will definitely be coming back to see her again.

I was very pleased with my physician Dr. Gilford and her medical assistant. However the office staff is RUDE and they have bad attitudes if you ask questions. The lady seemed very impatient with me, when I asked her about the portal login information. Just a FYI

My husband had blood testing done as a requirement for joining the Methodist Weightloss program. He chose AIM because it was on Methodist’s recommended list. There was nothing special about the tests that were run, just the normal physical exam tests. The blood was taken February 26. It is now March 12. We have been given misleading information each time that we call AIM such as they were going to fax it to us. The latest excuse yesterday was that the doctor, Shi-​Tse Lu, had to approve the test results and they would fax it to us. It is another day and we still haven’t received the test results. My husband does not care about the doctor’s approval. He just wants to receive the data that he has paid for. Also the people answering the phone act as if they couldn’t care less.

Terrible office staff. They are extremely rude on the telephone which turned me off so much I did not even want to see Doctor Septimus anymore who came highly recommended to me by staff at Baylor College of Medicine.
One of the staff members named Shannon even alluded to my conversation being recorded. BEWARE.

Horrible office operations/​management. I really like my physician but it’s such a shame that she’s in a poorly managed office.
Every time I have gone, even when it’s the first appointment after lunch, I do not see my physician for at least 45 minutes after my scheduled appointment time.
Additionally, the whole point of going to a doctor who is an associate is so you can see another doctor in the case that you need immediate-​ish care. THIS IS NOT THE CASE HERE. I was told to go to the ER after I found out that my physician only works half days now and that the other physicians do not want to accept any of my physician’s patients, i.e. ME. What happened to referring your patient to ANOTHER doctor’s office? Horrible.
Although, in their defense, they did fit me in ONE other time, but I guess that’s when my physician was working full days. Sigh.
Thank God my husband goes to another family practice. They gladly fit me in. Never coming back to Associates in Medicine.