Manhattan’s Physician Group- Harlem

Dr. Redcross is awesome so what I’m about to say has NOTHING to do with him as a doctor. My husband and I have been seeing Dr. Redcross since he practiced in Los Angeles. We moved to the east coast and it was perfect because we heard he did too. We have seen Dr. R a few times since living in NYC and I have to say that Manhattan’s Physician Group sucks big hairy balls. I am NEVER able to get a straight answer from anyone that answers the phone, I have to leave numerous messages in order to get a response and the majority of the time I NEVER get a response.
I have to call at least 9 times and talk to rude people in order to get a prescription filled and they end up not relating the message to the doctor anyways which leaves me scrambling, trying to find the earliest appt with a doc who can refill my prescription. Such a pain in the ass.
Everything’s automated to get prescriptions and appointments made and when they give you an option to speak to someone (you push 0), hahahahahaha, it says that there is no one available to speak at this time and to leave a message.
It’s a huge shit show.
Steer clear from Man Phy Grp. go somewhere else. I’m with One Medical Group now. Huge difference. They actually treat you like a human.

I am completely confused by the negative reviews. First and foremost, Dr. Sudha Varma is an amazing pediatrician, and I recommend her highly. She has a wonderful bedside manner with my daughter, who has seen her since birth. If I need an emergency appointment, the office nearly always get me in right away. The doctors also call me back within a half hour if I ever call with a question or need. With a baby, this provides tremendous comfort. Also, importantly, if my appointment is at 5, I get called in at 5. The office is bright, clean, and nice, and offers hours before 9 and after 5. If it’s snowing, you’ll get a robo call before 7 to let you know if the office is open so you can plan. I find the staff pleasant and helpful, from reception to the nurses. I’ve never had any problem with billing — in fact, they were very helpful when I had an issue (that had nothing to do with them) when my daughter was first born. So I don’t understand the negativity about this place. If I had to nit-​pick, I have two: one, no weekend hours (although they do call back quickly on the weekend to help). Two, when you call, sometimes you wait on hold for a while. But, as I said, when they pick up, they are very helpful. I love this place, and it has made my daughter’s first year easy and wonderful. I recommend!

My kids have been coming here for years I love Dr varma. I used to come here too but I got tired of the 4 hour wait even with an appointment. Dr. varma is pretty quick and efficient I usually don’t wait more than 10 minutes with my kids which is a blessing. I had a minor incident a few months back where the system was new and had an older lady at reception after an hour waiting to speak with her I was told there are no pediatricians in on Saturdays which got me upset but it doesn’t reflect the level of service provided by the other staff members.

Do not. I repeat. DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE. If you are already sick, they will make you sicker with their horrible administration and no care doctors. This entire Manhattan Physicians Group (MPG) chain (not just this site) is so bad that even the ER docs at a major Hospital (Lenox Hill) said they are not responsive to their patients who come in with various ailments and complaints about not getting help from their doctors at MPG. I had not even complained about MPG in the ER. They saw my insurance card and offered me friendly advice to run for my life. The MPG «patient ambassador» at the 95^th Street site, Karim Allen, was a complete jerk with black mommy issues who wanted to have an ego pissing match with me instead of listening and addressing my concerns, even having the nerve to tell me that «I’m not the only patient» and I’m «coming off aggressive» about my health needs. You are d$$$ right I am being aggressive — especially when black women like me die of totally manageable diseases or are shoved to the side or ignored until something that was treatable is now terminal. A 44-​year-​old black woman died last year in NYC because doctors didn’t bother to tell her an early x-​ray revealed she had early stage cancer. This was a major story in the papers. She found out when she came in terminal. The news constantly is reporting the Breast cancer crisis among black women who die at five times the rate of white women due to mostly «delayed diagnosis.» Yeah the same run around, brush offs and delays they are putting me through. My health is not a joke. But do these doctors or administrative staff care? No. Do they care that you were in such pain and distress that you had to go to an emergency room? No. I was told by my primary (who is based at the 125^th Street location) and the 95^th-​street specialist he referred me to that it wasn’t a big deal even though the ER recommended I get follow up tests immediately to determine the exact nature of the problem. There was nothing on the literature I read about the condition they classified it as «no big deal.» They classified it as a chronic and sometimes debilitating condition that can turn serious if not treated and addressed. Do I care? Yes. I’m not going to let these rotten people bully me or brush me off. Mr. Allen and all the rest of them can call me what ever they want. It is my life and I only have one. And I will fight for it. I’ve had great doctors through other insurance in the past. I got well and made great health improvements. These people have caused my blood pressure to skyrocket and my stress level to climb. And I can’t switch my insurance for a year. These people will put you six feet under. Avoid at all costs.

Let me start off by saying that Dr. Kenneth Redcross is awesome. I searched high and low for a male primary care physician and came up on Dr. Redcross in my search. I seen him August 19, 2013. (Why do I remember the exact date? I’ll get to that in a minute in my review!) His bedside manner was phenomenal! He came in the room and was upbeat and uplifting during my annual examination. He’s a doctor I can really relate to. With that said… the staff at this facility are the worst! Somehow my lab work got sent to the wrong lab (which as someone who works at a doctor’s office, I know exactly where my labs are supposed to be sent based off my insurance) and it took the Office Manager at this practice three months of back and forth phone calls for them to fix the problem! Then I recently booked an appointment for this coming May and a woman by the name of Ms. Robertson called me to cancel it do to Dr. Redcross not being in that week. While I can understand him taking time off (because doctors are human beings too), her approach to helping me rebook an appointment was so ghetto! I asked for a day and she read off a time, and I made mention that it wouldn’t work because I have another appointment somewhere else close to that time and her response was «well why you trying to book an appointment that day then?» Then when I told her I would call back because I wanted to book my appointment to coincide with booking one for my spouse to come on as a new patient of Dr. Redcross as well, she said «well I’m going to lunch in fifteen minutes so you gonna have to call me when I get back from lunch!» In the words of NeNe Leakes «SO NASTY AND SO RUDE!» I decided to go back to my previous doctor and leave Dr. Redcross based on the staff at Manhattan’s Physician Group. Just horrible customer service.

Expect to wait two hours to see a doctor even with an appointment, which okay, I understand because that is typical in NYC.
The negative review is regarding the staff/​customer service. The physician’s assistants are unbelievably rude. (One of the assistants was very careless, entered my weight in incorrectly, and scolded me about how I should stop kidding myself about being Spanish (???). This took me by surprise as this was my first conversation ever with this lady and I do not feel as if race is something I discuss with strangers in a professional setting.)
My ob-​gyn was fast-​talking (Dr. Payero) and was annoyed anytime I asked a question. I waited for her for an hour and a half and the appointment seemed to last 15 minutes. I asked her a question about birth control towards the end of the appointment and she snapped at me about how I should have brought up the question during the beginning of the appointment.

I’ve been coming to MPG’s offices for over 15 years now, at various locations throughout the city. I came here to get a physical and a referral. Dr. Redcross was phenomenal as well as the receptionist and nurses. I planned on giving this place a shining review until I waited almost and hour to check out and get my referral. Mind you, there was only two people ahead of me! Unacceptable. When I finally got to the front of the line the rude woman at check-​out advised that I would have to sit and wait to be called. Wait. What?! I need to be called to check out? Un heard of. Even though my insurance doesn’t require a referral I was told I would not be able to see a specialist within their network without a referral which then has to be approved by not only the Dr. but then by their internal referral committee, hence my hour wait. No one bothered to explain this to me unitl I got annoyed and ask to speak to whoever was in charge. Although my interactions with the Dr. and other staff was exceptional, this was definitely a turn off. There’s no reason why it took me longer to check out than I had actually spent with the Dr! Tuh!

The customer service is not great and they messed up my appointment twice and didn’t provide any notice. Billings were also not completed correctly. The space is actually big and the Doctor that I saw was nice but overall there are definitely better places to spend your insurance dollars in Harlem.