Reiter, Hill, Johnson & Nevin?

[Anonymous]

I've found myself in the unfortunate position of having to find a new OB. I'm currently 8 weeks pregnant and my insurance is changing and my current OB doesn't take my new plan. I am looking at the doctors at Reiter, Hill, Johnson & Nevin but don't know a thing about them. Does anyone have any experience with them, good or bad? Any info would help. Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

I've been with Reiter, Hill & Johnson for about 8 years. I started in their Falls Church office and was very pleased with the practice. The small office made the care seem very personal. I am now 37 weeks pregnant with my first child and since becoming pregnant have switched to their downtown office, as it's more convenient to my work. I have met about 10 of their 14 doctors and have had a pleasant experience with each of them. That said, given the size of the practice, it no longer feels personal. They give you the option of sticking with one doctor throughout your pregnancy or rotating through the doctors. I chose to rotate to avoid having a doctor whom I've never met deliver my baby. Because of this I don't really feel like any of the doctors is familiar with me or my medical history. I really have no complaints about the quality of care I have received. I would just prefer that my doctor be a bit more familiar with me. So with my next child I will probably switch to a smaller, more intimate practice.

[Anonymous]

unless they changed in the past 4 years, I would never choose them again. They failed to listen to me and when they finally did, it was almost too late. I never saw the delivering doctor throughout my labor because she chose to sleep through it. My child was born in distress and stayed in the hospital for 4 weeks. He still suffers from developmental disabilities years later.

Had I had a routine pregnancy, I would have been okay with them. But they really should have referred me to a high risk OB. I had the same complications when I had another child 2 years later and was referred to a high risk OB/Gyn halfway through the pregnancy. It was the best choice. I had a great experience with them and a healthy child. They intervened early on.

[Anonymous]

There's a ton on these boards about R&H. It really is a personal choice. I used to go to them - for about 8 years, for GYN only and was happy with my care. I saw Dr. Sedghi exclusively and have (even lately) recommended her to those who aren't pregnant.

When I got pregnant, I felt that there was no one person reviewing my file, and that was a really bad thing in the end. First and foremost, I was pregnant with twins, and b/c no one looked at everything together they never even realized it. They didn't see it on the ultrasounds either - and I had a bunch of them b/c of another issue. Later on, they said, oh yeah, we see twins now, looking back at it.

So I go in for the last ultrasound and have lost the twins. They wouldn't let me do a D&C right away - instead, made me walk around like that for days, and yet told me I had to have a D&C or I'd bleed to death. They also told us we'd lost the babies and then (and I am not exaggerating) kicked us out of the room 5 minutes later, while we were still crying. I will never forget it.

Hill did the D&C and followup, and I will say he was the most caring doctor ever, and the staff at Sibley was also very sincere. However, I just could not stay with them as a practice after all of that - - too little of a personal touch. If I could exclusively see Hill, I would have stayed - but I never ever want to see the miscarriage doctor again (I don't remember her name), and that could very well happen with this practice.

[Anonymous]

10.51 PP here. I am sorry for your loss. That was my issue as well. By rotating doctors, noone ever grasped the situation and brushed it off. Had I just seen the same doctor every time, it might have been a different situation.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I am about 3 weeks from having my first, and I'm so glad that bad experience is behind me.

Another thing I learned is to trust my gut - bad way to learn, but still. I got weekly hcg tests for a while at the beginning (I had 2 chemical pgs prior and wanted to see the numbers go up) and went from a 460 to 9900 in one week. I also just *knew* it was twins. But when they told me there's the heartbeat of "the baby" I didn't question them. When they said the hcg numbers looked fine, I didn't question them. In the end, I beat myself up some but realized also that I shouldn't be interpreting numbers and such as I am not a doctor.

[Anonymous]

Original poster here. Thanks for your responses. For those of you who had bad experiences, do you think it would have been better if you saw the same doctor at each visit? Were you even given that option? I'm a bit worried but my options are so limited with this new insurance plan. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

I was a patient at Reiter, Hill for about six years (went to both the DC and Friendship Heights offices) - I had no complaints with them until I got pregnant, and I've since switched to another practice. Found the office to be impersonal as others have said, and found the office staff to be difficult to work with. Hope you find a practice that's a good fit for you!

[Anonymous]

I was not only told to rotate, but they scheduled it that way as well. Otherwise, they said, you get to labor and delivery and don't know the person delivering you.

Nothing else available on your plan?

[Anonymous]

OP again. Just did another search with my insurance and it looks like Medstar Georgetown Medical Center also accepts it. I'm assuming this is at Georgetown University Hospital. Does anyone know anything about them? Thanks ladies. You all have been a huge help!!

[Anonymous]

I am with R&H now (first pregnancy, 34 weeks) and have had nothing but good experiences. I have not had a high-risk or complicated pregnancy, so cannot comment on what they would be like under those circumstances as the previous posters. I have found them easy to get appointments with, all the doctors caring and willing to answer questions, phone calls returned promptly, and they went above and beyond when GW made genetic testing very difficult/impossible due to some mistakes and miscommunication. Good luck with your decision.

[Anonymous]

I just delivered my first baby with Reiter Hill...I agree with the first response about the lack of individualized attention. You and your baby's life are in the hands of these doctors, and there's a good chance with RHJ that (unless you schedule an induction or C Section with a specific doc), you will never know who you will get in the delivery room. That was very stressful for me. Fortunately, I ended up with a doctor who I both liked and had met with. The practice tends to lump women into categories and will not treat you like an individual unless you really REALLY push for it and demand it, and are aggressive and comfortable with following up yourself and being a good advocate for yourself. This is a practice where you need to take the initiative...they will not follow up with you.

I very much agree with the PP who said you need to go with your gut...if something doesn't seem quite right, don't take the doctors' brief opinion as bible and PUSH for more individualized care/attention. I was brushed off by one of the RHJ doctors via phone when I called in with a problem...but I didn't think her opinion/diagnosis was correct, and I was right...I ended up demanding to be seen in person, and it was a good thing I did...since what was supposedly "normal" back pain, ended up being preterm labor, and I had to be hospitalized! If I had waited or ignored the signs/gut, I may have lost the baby or delivered him too soon.

RHJ is great if you have a very by-the-book normal pregnancy. BUt I agree that the fact NO ONE DOCTOR knew my entire history or file was troublesome. Every appointment, I felt like I had to rehash all of my pregnancy issues (and there were several), rather than seeing one doctor who knew me personally.

I ended up having a healthy baby, but am not sure I will stick with the practice again. If I do, I will make sure to just pick one or two doctors and see them again and again. Rotating was not ideal.

[Anonymous]

I really have mixed feelings about RHJ. They delivered my first baby in 2005 and I was very happy with them as a practice. No, it is not personal at all, but I found the doctors to be very competent. But I also had a textbook, very easy pregnancy with absolutely no complications. I was overseas for my second child and had one doctor (solo practioneer). Looking back, I think I prefer the solo doctor even though that presents a few problems as well (if you are unlucky enough to go into labor when the doctor is on vacation, etc).

I am back in DC and got pregnant again and went to RHJ. At my first appointment I insisted on an ultrasound b/c I wanted to know the date (I had purposely waited 3 weeks for an appointment for this very reason). They finally gave in and the ultrasound showed a major problem with the fetus. The technician mentioned it but did not refer me to a doctor. I had to find out myself (online) that b/c of the problem I had an 80% chance of miscarriage. When I went in for my next ultrasound, there was no longer a heartbeat. They weren't great about it, but weren't bad about it either. I think the problem is that there are SOOO many women that end up with miscarriages that it is completely routine to them. They seem to have forgotten that it is NOT routine for the woman going through it. They let me decide on when and whether to schedule a D&C and I decided to wait a few days and ended up passing the fetus naturally.

If I get pregnant again, I think I'm going to go with another OB. Which is a HUGE deal for me considering RH is ridiculously convenient to me. There is just something about them at this point that I don't trust.

If you have a perfect pregnancy and labor, they are fine. If not....it is another story. The unfortunate thing is that I geniunely think that most of the doctors are outstanding. The problem is really in the large nature of the practice.

[Anonymous]

I've been with RHJ for almost 12 years and have not one complaint about the drs. I did however, have a complaint with a front desk receptionist but she's gone, probably because of my situation, but it was quite awhile back. I was going through a m/c and she was extremely rude, and I told my dr. Soon thereafter, she was gone.

Dr. Johnson delivered my son. She's, by far, one of the best dr. in the practice.

[Anonymous]

I've been a patient there for several years - first gyn, and now OB. I have experienced multiple losses and the drs. have been very sensitive and compassionate about the whole thing. Although I started in gyn with Dr. Abraham (who I still like very much), I transitioned to Dr. Hill after he performed my D&C. His attitude towards things is always reassuring to me (even when things look bleak), he knows my chart, and he follows up with me personally whenever I call with even trivial concerns. I've rotated drs. during this pg, but I always tell the scheduling nurse my few favorites, and mostly they're able to accommodate my request. In the end, it means I've met plenty of the drs., but I usually see one of three drs. They've also fit me in at the last minute on several occasions when I've had a scare or a concern. On each of those occasions I was very impressed by how non-resistant they were to getting me in ASAP and addressing my concerns immediately. You really could do a lot worse that RHJ.

Although this is more of a trivial matter, I will say that I sometimes find it difficult getting test results. Having had multiple losses, I inevitably seek multiple quantitative betas whenever I get a positive HPT. With RHJ, I find that i call in the morning and don't hear back until the next day, and when I hear back it's simply "you're pregnant", when what i'm really looking for is whether my numbers are doubling. The receptionist/nurse on the other end is usually confused by the request for specific numbers. It's like that for other tests that come down the pipeline. Frustrating, but a little pestering usually gets you the information you're looking for. I know it's unlikely that Dr. hill will actually deliver me, but I've found the quality of care I've received at RHJ throughout this pg to be top-notch, although I'm ever-mindful that if I'm seeing a new doctor I need to run through the list of issues I've had in my pg, because it's unlikely that they've reviewed my chart sufficiently to have caught it all.

Obviously other posters have had a different experience, and I have no doubt that what they say is true. When you have that many different doctors there's bound to be some that handle issues better, both professionally and personally, than others. I will also say that once you've had an ultrasound on which a loss has been diagnosed/confirmed, RHJ could improve their protocol by having a dedicated room available so that no couple ever has to go back out into the waiting room in tears only to be surrounded by happy pg women looking at their cute ultrasound pictures and just glowing in their happiness. I did have that experience at RHJ TWICE, and although I'm a big girl and all, it was really tough to swallow.