Desert Orthopedic Center

I see a lot of previous reviews focus on time waiting, and my two trips to see Dr. Fontes did involve waits. However, I am still giving 5 stars because the little time I spent in the office saved me hours upon hours of recuperating time, money and suffering!
I had previously gone to another practice– which I have previously reviewed & will let you know I’m not an «easy grader»! I have a partially torn Achilles’ tendon and tendinitis.
That practice wanted to operate on it and sell me orthotics, afterwards. That would have been months of recuperating!
However, Dr. Fontes reviewed the X-​rays and told me NO surgery needed! He let me get back to exercising on a recumbent bike, although I did need to keep using the boot & crutches (+ scooter I had). He also recommended icing as needed.
This last appt, roughly a month later, with the inflammation gone, he said toss the boot & crutches, keep icing when needed & stretch, any pain, call him.
That was it! And, now I feel great!
No orthotics necessary, no PT (I do a little on my own).
If all that wasn’t worth a 30 minute wait, so be it.

IF I COULD GIVE THEM MINUS 10 STARS I WOULD!
This practice is strictly assembly line medicine. You think you’re scheduled to see the Dr, when in reality you see a PA. I saw the Dr literally 5 minutes during my pre-​op appt in Feb and then 5 minutes each in hospital pre-​op and discharge. All the other times, I saw the PA.
As soon as I arrived for my appt, the front desk person says «You know your deductible is $ 500 and you have to pay it today, right?» I told her, «I’m fine, how are you? [pause] And yes, I know all about the deductible».
PA dismisses my complaint that when I was in the hospital, I was prescribed a drug I’m allergic to with «oh, that’s standard therapy after surgery». That’s where the assembly line feeling comes in. Good thing I ignored the discharge instructions. Now they want me to use their own outpatient PT office. I don’t think so. I’m going to an independent company that will treat me not like just a number.
Oh, and if you go in for a surgical pre-​op appt, you are not required to take the drug test they want you to take. That’s done with a secondary company and its not a requirement for surgery.
UPDATED ADVICE: If you ask them for the DMV handicap form to be filled out — make sure they CHECK ONE OF THE LENGTH OF DISABILITY boxes on the form. I didn’t notice the idiot PA didn’t check the box; spent 1.75 hrs at DMV waiting to get the hang tag only to be told the box needed to be checked. The guy at DMV tried calling the office to get an answer, but came back after about 15 minutes, telling me the office «couldn’t locate the doctor» to talk to DMV. Now I have to go back to the office just so some idiot can check one measly little box she should have checked in the beginning.

My husband had an appointment here and we waited over 2 hours in the waiting area before being taken in the back, and had to wait over 45 minutes in the back room. This place really needs to figure out how to manage their appointments better.

Dr Bauldoff is a fantastic hip surgeon back ridding my dirt bike after 2^nd month of recovery. I’m 56 and realize I should not do this type of activity anymore but my new hip does not hurt me at any time during any strenuous activities. Going on 3 years and fills great thanks dr Bauldoff :)

I had a really bad experience with this practice.
I was referred to Doctor #1 by my GP. It turns out the specialty of orthopedics has numerous sub-​specialties and Doctor #1 specializes in something other than what I needed. For some reason the receptionist still made an appointment for me with Doctor #1 and that appointment stayed on their books for weeks and weeks, even after I’d made appointments with Doctors #2 and #3, whose sub-​specialties were more appropriate for me.
The practice wants you to fill out all your history, consent and privacy forms online in advance of your appointment or else you have to show up 45 minutes before your appointment. I completed and submitted the history portion but «didn’t have the privileges,» according to the website, to fill out the consent and privacy portions.
The first receptionist at the office scowled at me and said I should have been there 45 minutes before my appointment — to sign privacy and consent forms???
The second receptionist said something unkind about my career and then treated me like I didn’t know how to use a computer, even after I quoted the error message I received from their website (and I’m sitting here doing a review online, so I can’t be all that computer illiterate). She did acknowledge that they had the history portion of my paperwork and just needed the privacy and consent portions.
The next person was mean. He said he was assigned to get me into a room and take my history. I explained that I’d done the whole history portion online but he said «Well it didn’t go through. Sometimes it just doesn’t go through.» His condescending manner, attempts to kick me out of the office when I protested, and insistence on my only giving him yes or no answers convinced me that he is actually an attorney. The person insisted on knowing every single tiny fact about my medical history but insisted over and over that they would not be seeing me for anything other than one complaint about one part of my body that day. Somehow these two lines of thinking just don’t go together.
The doctor was abrasive and terse. He didn’t ask about my job description at all. I felt like, even though I had great pain, a well-​in-​advance scheduled appointment, money for the copay and good insurance, I was taking him away from somewhere he’d rather be.
The physical therapy office was also condescending and assigned me to a therapist who only works very limited hours.
Based on my insurance, my PT copay is X for a standalone PT clinic. Because this PT clinic is owned by and adjacent to the medical office, they can get away with charging 2X. I felt this was a bit dishonest but I don’t work in the medical or insurance field. I paid for one visit, got my homework, and never looked back.
I supposedly had a prescription for a topical pain gel, whose manufacturer would call me in the next day or two. I waited five days and they never called. It turned out that neither the doctor nor his admin had ever bothered to call in my prescription.
Because I had pain in another area, before I left the medical office I was scheduled for an appointment with Doctor #3, two weeks later. For the next two weeks I remembered over and over how badly I’d been treated by everyone at this office. Finally, the day before the scheduled appointment with Doctor #3, I decided I had to cancel. I just couldn’t go back there.
Sure enough, they didn’t even have an appointment scheduled for me with Doctor #3. The appointment scheduler must not have clicked «save» or something! Of course they still were expecting me to come for an appointment with Doctor #1.
I hope other people have better experiences with this practice.

First off, we came in the other day asking for Xrays they insisted they could fax them over to the doctors! Come to find out a week later and just a day before the day we needed them they call to say we have to come in to pick them up physically because we needed to sign them off! So we Come in to pick up medical records, I was only sitting in the lobby and I noticed how absolutely rude the front desk women were! None of them with even a hint of a smile on there faces,
They don’t even know what’s going on.
We move on the the radiology department, apparently the XRays are not even here, they are at another office, in which the person who called NEVER mentioned. So how would we know that we would need to go to ANOTHER office to pick them up when this is the office we have been dealing with!
Staff needs some personality and maybe some clue of common sense!

Horrible place! Waste of time! We made an appointment for 12 noon. Came here at 11:30 now, it’s 1:30. Still no doctor! Useless place!!! WTF is the appointment for!!!

I should have listened to the previous reviews. How is it okay to keep patients waiting over an hour and a half after their appointment time, to be seen?

I had a motorcycle accident in June 2015, and knew right away I had seriously injured my right shoulder. Being in the medical sales field, I was familiar with the Desert Orthopedic Center, and their good reputation, and looked on their website, and found that Dr. Huff was their shoulder surgeon. I made an appointment, had some tests done (x-​ray, MRI), and found that I had a total rupture of one tendon, and tears on two others. Obviously I needed surgery to repair my shoulder, which I scheduled right away, though overall it was a month between the times of my accident, and when I had surgery. Dr. Huff was good at communicating to me what was going to happen during surgery, and how I needed to clear my calendar for two months to recover, and begin physical therapy. He said it could be up to a year to recover, but it has now been 12 weeks since my surgery, and I feel great. He referred me to Comprehensive Physical Therapy, who knows his PT protocol, and together they have done wonders in getting my back towards normal. My goal is to be able to play golf again, and I feel that I am getting close to having the range of motion, and strength in my shoulder to get out and play. Dr. Huff did a great job repairing my shoulder, and I highly recommend him to anyone with a shoulder injury.

Fix your website and email links so I don’t have to hassle with new patient info in your office. It’s inconvenient.

Excellent staff and doctors! Facilities are very clean and new. Thank god for getting here early and having all paperwork filled out online, because it made our appointment run smoothly. Having said that, would definitely recommend morning appointments, as the afternoon and evening hours are quite busy!

Waited 1.5hrs… Appt was at 9, came early and got in the room quick but got x-​rays done and waited and waited and waited. If you have a whole day to waste, come here.
Front office wasn’t very welcoming, rather robotic. Nurses are nice.

Be prepared to wait…
THIS PLACE LIKE SO MANY DOCTORS, OVERBOOK… The dr. said they booked me for a 10 min. appt. for my first visit… I was in there at least 20, and still felt rushed… We should all stand up and demand to be seen in a timely manner and if not start walking out. I have several times. We shouldn’t have to wait. Too many people just accept it. And if we are a few minutes late they turn us away!!!
The staff was great, very pleasant and helpful. One nice thing was when a dr. was about 45 minutes behind, they came out and mentioned it and gave us the opportunity to reschedule… no other place has been this upfront and honest.

I came here after hearing a loud pop in my calf and experiencing pain after a run. I will say the front office staff is very polite. I had my 3 year old with me so I was preoccupied with the fact that he was running around like crazy instead of watching the minutes tick by past my appointment time. I love that they had the xrays done on site. But, when I saw the doctor, I felt like a cattle call. When he walked out of the room with his associate, I was like «what the heck just happened». It was such a whirlwind, he never looked at the xrays on the screen in the office. Both docs were nice I guess, but didn’t ask me if I had questions, just went back and forth between each other and left the room. Check out lady was really nice, but overcharged me. I did get a refund for the difference in a timely matter though. Can’t say that I would be back, I am not a high maintenance patient and hardly ever go to the doctor but I hate the feeling of being rushed and that I don’t matter. Two stars for the front office staff and the check out lady.

Once again they are 45 minutes late. This place is ridiculous
They are also remarkably disorganized
If you have a choice AVOID DOC!!!

I waited 2 hours to get to the first exam room even though I showed up 15 minutes early for my appt. Another 20 after that before the tech came into the room. 30 minutes to take X-​rays, and another 30 minute wait to see the doctor, who was a bit arrogant. The diagnosis was correct, and it was nice that X-​rays were done in the office, but overall I don’t think I would come back. I don’t have ½ a day for every appt.

I saw Dr. John M. Baldauf at Desert Orthopedic Center. I was referred to him after seeing another Dr. in the practice (see my other review on Dr. William T. Stewart) a couple days earlier.
Dr. Baldauf is amazing. What I noticed right away was how closely he listened to me and how empathetic he was. When he examined my knee he was gentle and told me what he was going to do before he did it. He answered all my questions in a very honest, down to earth way (no medical jargon). He didn’t try to scare me with what was wrong and he didn’t minimize things either. He was just straight forward. I also respect how conservative he is when it comes to surgery. I left his office with a total understanding of my options, what to expect and what was going on with my knee. He actually encouraged me to go have a good time on an upcoming family trip and gave me some tips on how to make the trip more comfortable and enjoyable for me.
I highly recommend him.
The reason I gave this review 4 out of 5 stars was due to the wait time. We waited an hour after our appointment time to see the Dr.

They’re too busy to provide good, personal care.
I had knee problems that was diagnosed as Osteoarthritis. I received a injections that supposedly would work for a minimum of 3 years. 3 days later I waa unable to walk again. I waited a week to see if it would fix itself. When I did schedule an appointment they couldn’t take me for 3 weeks.
Since then I’ve gone to 3 appoinments, each time waiting for at least an hour AFTER my scheduled appointment time to see someone and nothing was accomplished.
They finally got the OK from the insurance company to do injections. I arrived early. 30 minutes after my scheduled appointment they put me in a small exam room with nothing but a very uncomfortable stool to sit on where I waited for another hour until I finally had enough and walked out.
The little bit of business they lost from me is insignificant, because the waiting room was FULL when I was leaving. They really need to concentrate more on providing quality service to the existing patients before taking on new ones.