Albany Med Endocrinology

This place is a total nightmare.the only reason I gave them one star is because it’s the only way I could leave a comment. This has been such a nightmare for my 18 year old and our entire family trying to get test results had numerous Drs call them to no avail I and my husband called countless times and still nothing. Another Dr needed these results to start her on meds. I just can’t even believe that it is that daunting of a task for them to fax or email the results. I am just very disgusted and shocked that a medical group can be so lacking

No one ever answers their phones except the operators and they just forward you to the people who don't answer. On multiple occasions I've attempted to talk to a human about various things (insurance change, prescription filling, scheduling an appointment) and getting someone to answer their phone is impossible. If you leave a message you have a 50/50 chance of getting a call back within a reasonable amount of time and if you don't answer then they just leave a message to call them again. One time I was trying to reach them for days and ended up having to go to the office in person to get my medication. I've been a patient here for years, love my doctor, but their system has to change. I've never had so much trouble with a doctor's office.

In the pass I had seen two doctors in the practice for my type 2 diabetes. Had difficulties getting my A1C under control. I eventually went back to my primary care physician for treatment. After about 3 years my A1C was getting out of control. He recommended to go back to the Endocrine Group I had seen in the past. I had made an appointment to see one of the PAs. The PA I saw was Tom Russo-RPA. His concern was noticeable, particularly due to my cardiac issues. Tom worked diligently with me starting with oral medications which over time did not seem to be doing the job sufficiently. Over time my A1C plateaued and he then prescribed 2 injectable meds which for about a 1 1/2 years seemed to be bring down my A1C, Then I reached another plateau and I was not making any more progress. Tom had me speak with the diabetic educators in the group. The 3 of us met and decided it might be advantageous for me to try an insulin pump. We discussed the pump and I had the necessary testing to make sure that the pump was setup to my insulin sensitivity. As I became more familiar with the pump My A1C dropped from 11.0 to my present 6.1. It did not happen overnight but it was always in a decreasing direction. My sincere thanks to Tom Russo. Heaven only knows where I would be today without his diligence and caring about my health including his contacting my cardiologist throughout my treatment. I only rated him 5 stars because they don't allow you to rate 100 stars.

Every time I call never get to speak to secratarie for Dr Geretty. As I did today. Left many messages in past for Medication and don't seem to be very prompt at all to get back to me. I have been patient of Dr. Gregg Geretty for many years. He is not the problem. He is best Dr I could ask for but his secretaries I give the 1 star for not answering phone or returning calls promptly. Waited very long time for a simple prescription refill in past. Which caused me pain and suffering. Please up the staff or get someone that will take calls or at least return calls promptly. I didn't even leave number today because I know the outcome.

I’ve had a positive experience with my dr. However there is one receptionist who really should just retire.

I have been trying to over a month to get an appointment at the Washington Ave location. The new patient scheduling coordinator, whose name is Sally, dose not answer the phone nor return calls. I was able to reach her two weeks ago (after calling and leaving messages over 10 times) and she said that she did not receive the information my doctor faxed to her office. My doctor faxed it again, and again, and still no call back from Sally despite my repeated calls. I hear Albany Med has good doctors, but I will never know because they have an unresponsive and unprofessional new patient scheduling coordinator. Disappointing.

Let me just say, I am never the type of person to leave reviews, but I feel like this was particularly egregious. I was newly diagnosed with Diabetes by my OBGYN and referred to this group. I saw PA Bill Stoeckton, who told me I probably have Type 1 Diabetes and I need to be on insulin right away. That's it. No instruction. No dosage info. No follow-up. Just get on insulin and then nothing. My assistant at my job said that didn't seem right. Shouldn't I be monitoring my blood sugar levels, else how would I know if need to increase or decrease my insulin dosage. I called him back and asked him. He said, "oh, yeah. I'll call in a meter for you. " I'm like, ok, what am I looking for? Help me out here, what's a good number. He said under 150. But didn't tell me when I should increase or decrease the dosage. So I called about a Diabetes Education call on Wednesday. Left a message. By Friday, no response. Called again. No response. Monday, I called him back and he said he'd take care of it. By Thursday, no response. So I called back. They said, oh, you have an appointment on Jan 17th at 3pm (which by the way, is almost 2 months after starting me on insulin!) Also, no one called to let me know about this appointment, or asked me if that date and time was ok. A friend of mine told Dr. Robert Busch what was happening, as they are friends, and he took over my care. In just a week, here's what happened.

1) Apparently (and I could be phrasing this wrong, so forgive me), I have antibodies attacking my thyroid or something. My thyroid is currently fine, but that will not always be the case. One day, I will have a problem and it is something that needs to be monitored. This was on my initial lab results, which Bill NEVER TOLD ME.

2) Bill put me on the wrong dose of insulin. Within 48 hours of Dr. Busch correcting my dosage and telling me how to tell when I need to increase/decrease my dosage, my blood glucose levels fell to within normal range. They have been in normal range for the past 2-3 days. It spikes a bit when I eat, but I'm playing around with what works and what doesn't, as far as diet is concerned.

3). I also need to be on 3 ADDITIONAL medications, which Bill did not have me on. These medications will be make it so that in about 2-3 months, I can come off the insulin, because there's a danger of bottoming out (which he did not tell me, my assistant was the first person to warn me of that). He also did not have a plan for getting me off the insulin, because as it turns out, he was wrong, I'm type 2 so I can probably come off it.

4) One of the medications is very expensive, so Dr. Busch gave me a free sample, as well as a free monitor thingy that's inserted into my arm, which is not covered by my insurance. But it checks my levels continuously without me having to do a finger stick. I just wave my phone over the sensor and it tells me what my numbers are.

5) Blurry vision is a problem that I need to be looking out for, which I've had. I need to get my eyes checked to make sure everything is fine, which the 1st guy did not tell me either. One day after my appointment with the Dr. Busch, his secretary called me to set up an appointment with the eye doctor in their practice group. She did not make me find the information myself. She called and said, hey I've taken care of this for you. If this appointment does not work, we can change it. She also scheduled another appointment with the doctor in January to see how I am doing with the new meds.

6) I've also been injecting the insulin wrong, because of course, Bill gave me no instructions. He told me to go look on YouTube if I had any questions, which is, of course, akin to professional medical advice.

7) I will also need a stress test at some point, as Diabetes can affect the heart. Just to see where my baseline is, and to keep an eye on it. You guessed it. The first guy did not tell me I should be doing that.

The difference in patient care has been astounding. I feel the first time I went here to see Bill, my care was negligent. 0 stars for Bill. 5 for Dr. Busch.

Laura Boland is absolutely incredible, so impressed by the extremely thorough and compassionate work up she gave me. She is very knowledgeable and really listened to me. She was very patient with all my questions and made me feel like a participant in my care. The phlebotomy team is talented and efficient. Front desk is friendly and organized.
I see a lot of doctors, but she is the best!

I have been a patient of the Endocrine group for over 20 years now. Dr Jay Watsky is my physician and he is exceptional in his field along with all the other physicians whom practice here

My apts are always quick easy and efficient. Blood draw on site. I’m well controlled on natural thyroid meds. Which hadn’t been the first go to medication to try. Bill stoeklin even seemed hesitant to try it but he listened to me and now I am on regular meds, well controlled and none of the bad side effects I had before. There is nothing that can replace a medical professional who actually listens to their patient even if they don’t love their ideas.

PA Tom Russo and Diabetes Educator Linda Richmond are great. I can't say enough about how professional and helpful they are. The office staff is not so great. Very hard to talk to a human when calling. The people who refill prescriptions are the WORST. My pharmacy has called three times trying to refill one of my prescriptions. They then enlisted me to call. I've called twice and still nothing. Very frustrating! Things have gone decidedly downhill since Albany Med took over, imposing their rules and regulations.

Another fine experience today. Thank you to the Staff, and of course Dr. Tietgens. A fantastic group!

Had a horrible experience with Physician Assistant Shimon Tobolsky.
He was very condescending, rude, and unprofessional.

I asked him for an alternate type of medication because i was having a tough time with the side effects and he refused to give me any alternatives! None! He said that i needed to go to his boss in order to have a different medication.

He also got snotty and said that I could have a complete refund for the appointment if i wanted. He also recommended that I should go see a different doctor for my side effects. Ridiculous. Why doesn't the doctor listen to its patients? Why wouldn't he prescribe me an alternative medicine to try? I know for certain that there are alternatives.

I cant help but wonder if there is an insurance company kick back for them pushing these particular types of medications.

He tried to tell me that an alternative medication would cost much more and it wasn't worth it. Well since then i did wait a month to talk with his boss. His boss listened to me and my concerns and prescribed a different medication to try and the cost isn't much of a difference.

Maybe the PA was having a difficult day, and stressed and thats why he lashed out, but he needs to learn to do that with a Therapist not his Patients that are trusting in him