Visions HealthCare

I love my doctor that was there, but they closed without much notice. Not his fault. They said they sent my medical records, but the CD they sent was blank. They also released «records» on their patient portal, but the records I got did not contain lab results or reports of findings, just doctor notes that said things like the labs were reviewed. You can contact Paula Hannon at the prof licensing division (781) 876‑8200. You can also try Sally Kaplan Levy, Esq. in Boston, the attorney that seem to have filed Visions fillings with the sec of state, if you are in search of your records. I am hoping they can help.

I got an email this morning notifying me that Visions was closing down, which prompted me to review the place (since I had not earlier due to concerns of my billing issues not being worked out).
I went here for dietary assistance since I have difficulties with so much food, and I thought they might be able to help. The person I met with was very nice, however the outcomes of several meetings in a row was «see me next time and we’ll continue this conversation.» I came here to have some measurable outcome, and even after 4 appointments, I came away with absolutely nothing.
Much of what was recommended to me had little to no scientific or clinical basis, and the rationale was «pharmaceutical companies don’t make money from this so are hiding the data.» That sounds like scam science to me.
They wanted blood tests, and a number of other items, which «only Visions could do» which also strikes me as a money grab. Speaking of money grab, they have a ridiculously expensive membership fee, which doesn’t lower costs for appointments or anything else. I don’t know how they expected to stay in business with this? They had all sorts of ghost costs, which when I called my insurance company had not been part of the agreement (Insurance says they charge me my copay, insurance covers rest; Visions charged me copay plus about $ 7). they then fight this, and threaten to knock your credit score over $ 7, which is just small enough to pay to not have to deal with, but large enough that when they do that with hundreds of customers they make a tidy profit.
Short story: No great loss that this place is disappearing. Maybe if they had done actual medicine and not instituted their membership fee and bad business practices, they’d still be there.

In March of 2014 we brought our 4 year old to see Dr. Levitan. During the first 4 years of his life he dealt with chronic GI issues, severe allergies, mysterious rashes, chronic ear infections and global developmental delays. We saw numerous specialists in Boston but no treatment was effective, i. e allergist, gastroenterologists, developmental pediatrician, endocrinologists, dermatologist. In early March 2014 we noticed that he was losing his hair. He was diagnosed with Alopecia and was rapidly losing all of the hair on his body. Taking the advice of someone dear to our family we brought him to see Ed Levitan. It was the best decision we have ever made. By the time we received the results of all of his tests he had lost all of the hair on his body. His eye lashes were starting to fall out. We discovered that our boy had numerous food sensitivities (dairy, gluten, rice, oats and numerous others) and a nutritional deficiency. His gut was so inflamed he wasn’t absorbing any nutrients. After only three weeks of eliminating those foods and taking supplements his hair began to grow back. We have seen incredible advances in his language and cognitive development and his behavior. He no longer struggles with GI issues, chronic ear infections or rashes. Ed Levitan improved the quality life not only for our son but for our entire family.
Our experience with Visions Healthcare has been exceptional.

I advise you to avoid this practice.
My wife has visited this practice 7 times. She does not have a Unilocal account and so I am writing this with/​for her. We are totally exasperated with this practice.
After assuring us that insurance would cover all or almost all of the treatment, they sent us a bill for ~ $ 1,200. After several frustrating phone calls with billing, they said not to worry, insurance would cover it. Then they sent us a bill for $ 2,000! I don’t think they are dishonest but they are not competent.
Some of the providers are good and some are mediocre. The issue is that you cannot charge sky-​high prices and provide bad service which is exactly what Visions does. My wife has been kept waiting a long time in the waiting room on half of her visits. Her providers cancelled a total of three visits that she scheduled. She had some scary tests and her doctor would not return her calls. It just does not make sense to charge as much as they do and be so careless with their patients. Especially because they purport to be patient centered. They are not.
So do not come here unless you are willing to pay at least $ 400 out of pocket for a consult and hundreds or thousands more for labs. Do not trust these people.

It is impossible to talk to anyone by phone or receive a call back. Poor customer service.
The care is VERY expensive and not very robust. They talk about a holistic approach but really wanted me to have costly testing and buy 6 different expensive supplements.
They often changed appointment times on me. My doctor was very late one appointment, and charged me for the full hour. I found her to be pedantic. More time was spent talking to me rather than diagnosing my body. She ignored me when I explained the pattern of my symptoms.
I think the membership charge is ridiculous. Actually I don’t want more time with my doctor; I want her to be efficient. If they need to charge more to cover costs, then build it into the doctor rate.
The nutritionist was not well prepared for my appointment and was not in sync with the doctor who referred me. Again, they talk holistic approach but really want to push supplements from their apothecary.
The billing is confusing and convoluted. I feel like I’m always pulling out my check book.
All in all, I am VERY disappointed and am going back to traditional Primary Care Physician.

Update on the membership review!!!
I’m happy that I can update my recent review of Visions medical center. They worked with me privately so I could continue to work with my doctor, Dr Emsbo.
I’m grateful that I don’t have to switch doctors and can continue to get care from the great medical team at Visions medical center.
It’s greatly appreciated!!!
Thank you!!!

Between the impending membership fee, horrible communication (you have to speak to 5 different people to get a simple question answered) the long waits for your scheduled appointment and the times THEY cancel on you last minute. Their horrible management and how they can’t keep employees for more than a year it’s amazing they are still open. They don’t know what they want to be or how to get there. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few employees/​doctors that don’t deserve the bad review, guilty by association.
I wonder how NWH would feel if they really new what happened with the extremely fast departure of one of their doctors.

I was so disappointed. Communicating with the staff by phone is next to impossible. It takes days and multiple attempts to get a return phone call. It takes months to get an appointment and, after waiting months, my appointment was just cancelled. And, they won’t even reschedule it. This practice is having serious morale and staffing issues and needs to get it together.
Plus, Dr. Bingham, whom I was referred to and everyone raves about, is leaving.
In one phone call, when I complained about how long it took to get an appointment, the person I spoke to actually said, «You think this is bad, just wait. It’s going to get a whole lot worse.»

If there were an option to give zero stars, I would have given just that.
Truly appalling service! They cancelled an appointment 50min prior to the scheduled time, without any credible reason other than to say that the ‘doctor is not in’. Well, if the doctor wasn’t going to be in, why did they book the appointment in the place?
Indeed a callous, rude, and unprofessional team.

I heart Visions & Dr. Bingham!!!
Visions just moved its Wellesley offices to Needham — not sure why Unilocal is creating an entirely new page for them as a result, but here we are. They are amazing — & the new office is an awesome bonus. My previous review is below, followed by an update at the end. I’ve now been seeing Dr. Bingham at Visions for — can it be? — FIVE YEARS. I think I’m due for a certificate, people. (But I’m happy just to be improving my health.)
Previous Review:
NB: I also posted this review under «Dr. Alex Bingham.» Just FYI!
Head & shoulders above the rest. Seriously first-​rate.
I’ve struggled for the past ten-​ish years with a sudden onset of weird, annoying allergies that don’t seem to fit any obvious pattern – but that once sent me to the emergency room with supposed anaphylaxis. Not fun. Visited 3 – 4 allergists across the US, none of whom concurred with each other («Oh my god, you could die at any moment!» vs. «Oh, I’m sure you’re fine…»). Not one of them offered a smidgeon of relief, though they were all nice enough & totally credentialed. I basically gave up & confined myself to a life of no seafood, no nuts, & hellish spring/​fall allergies.
Enter Alex Bingham. (Rousing choir of angels singing «Hallelujah!»)
Last spring (2009) I was swept up by some strange mystery ailment, & all of the many doctors I saw put their money on Dr. Alex Bingham to crack the case. (See my review of the Osher Center; Dr. Levy was the first to recommend Dr. Bingham & Visions Medical Center.)
«Thorough» is the word that comes to my mind when I think of Dr. Bingham. He turns over all the stones – has sent me to a nutritionist, consulted with me about immunizations, taught me how to introduce potentially dangerous foods into my diet, etc. I’m still in the process of going through tests to figure out what happened /​is happening, but at this point I feel so much better already. He’s developed this allergy neutralization therapy that allows you to train your body to chill out when it encounters an allergen, rather than freaking out & causing some life-​threatening reaction. It’s amazing – immediate results, zero risk – & easy (you can administer the treatment to yourself at home). Finally, I can sweep, dust, clean my storage room, cuddle with my cat, go on hikes, etc. without sneezing up a storm!
The other staff are also great. All of the nurses in the allergy department (for testing, treatments, etc.) seem extremely well informed & professional – as well as patient. The whole place really puts a premium on patient education, which is something I value so much. The nutritionist Julie is also fantastic – seems to do way more than you might expect from a nutritionist.
I haven’t met with any of the other Visions doctors, but Dr. Bingham books at least three months out, & he’ll keep you in the waiting room a *minimum* of 45 minutes after your appointment time. Route 9 traffic will make you want to hang yourself. These angles are not awesome. (I’d recommend booking appointments either really really early in the day, or after at least 10:30, to avoid the morning rush.) BUT no matter what, know that Dr. Bingham is the type of sleuthing doctor we’ve all be looking for. His office is full of extreme cases, & as far as I can tell, everyone raves at least as much as this. We’re talking Moonie-​level loyalty here.
You heard it here first, people. Just don’t take my appointment!
UPDATE:
I’ve had some ups and downs with my health since my first review, & Dr. Bingham has always improved the situation. Most notable was a dark time when I’d had not one but two miscarriages. Other doctors, of course, don’t even begin to try to figure out what would cause that until you’ve had around four losses — but those of us who have been through it know how hard each one is. I appreciated that Dr. Bingham — while stressing that he also didn’t know what caused the miscarriages — did check some hormone & antibody levels, as well as my candida level. He put me on a candida diet for a few months, on a hunch, & — voila! Either it was a coincidence (he would be the first to emphasize that possibility) or he is as much of a genius as he seems, because currently my «next attempt» (now two years old) is sleeping soundly in the next room.
My allergies seem to have improved over the years of injection therapy — HUGE bonus, & Dr. Bingham has continued to be the most thorough detective regarding health issues that suddenly appeared after I gave birth.
I do worry that Visions’ growth might begin to hamper its personalized service, but so far, so good. I will continue to see Dr. Bingham until he kicks me to the curb — he’s like the kind of doctor you’d have in some nineteenth-​century novel about hard work and virtue… except (don’t worry) with much more modern techniques & know-​how, of course! If he doesn’t know, he’ll tell you he doesn’t know — but he’ll help you find out!
One note: make sure to train the new phlebotomists — ouch!

I switched to Dr. Zub because this practice was closer than my former PCP, and after 6 months I have changed back to my old one. Here’s why:
–it took THREE MONTHS to get a follow up appointment to review my labs, which are hardly relevant after that amount of time. the communication between MD and the lab is horrible, I went to one follow up appointment only to learn that the lab didn’t run all the tests ordered by my doctor and it was a total waste of time.
–I called the on call line one night with a medical concern and was basically ridiculed on the phone, the on call MD was very insensitive about some issues and made me cry. I made a complaint to the clinical director who seemed caught off guard, did not take action to remedy the situation, and provided no follow up.
–I am all about alternative therapies, which is one reason I joined Visions. But when Dr. Zub recommended a type of healing that calls on my guardian angels to help me resolve issues from my past lives, and tried to sell me a bottle of aloe juice for $ 40, I moved on…
Also, the patient portal is impossible to sign up for!
Don’t judge the quality of care by the beautiful building!