Comprehensive Primary Care

I see Sheida Chaikin, the Physician’s Assistant. She is my GP, and she is very knowledgeable and nice. The receptionists and the phlebotomist are super nice and helpful. They are right across the street from the Woodley Park Metro. Very convenient.

This office is in a very quiet, relaxing location. It is very close to the metro, and is easily accessible by car. Staff are genuinely concerned about their patients and doctors are knowledgeable. Doctors often follow up and are very responsive to online messages, follow up questions, prescriptions, etc.

So, in general this office has been pretty good.
I am usually seen on time, or close to it, and the nurse practitioners are friendly. The doctors are good about discouraging unnecessary procedures, which I also appreciate.
However, these guys totally screwed up my travel vaccination appointment. I called a month and a half ago, saying «this is where I am going, these are the vaccines I need, and here are my travel dates. When should I come in?» I was given a date less than two weeks from my trip.
Turns out typhoid, or at least the oral vaccine they are giving me, takes three weeks to take effect. Now I am sure there is wiggle room but the doctor basically said that I should RUN to the pharmacy and start the regimen immediately. I will probably spend most of my vacation worrying about diseases now. Great.

They ask to be you to be 20 mon before the appointment. It’s 25 min over the appointment time and I am still waiting. Without breakfast, at 11:15 am (blood test). You decide.

I really liked the place. I was seen by Dr. Sheida Chaikin and the overall experience was great. Awesome family practice!

For the last couple months I’ve been seeing Colleen Sanders for my gynecological needs and she is one of the best medical professionals I’ve ever had. She is knowledgable, personable, and willing to answer my every dumb question I throw her way. She responds promptly despite the fact she is only at the clinic certain days of the week. I cannot say enough good things about her. The clinic itself is small but clean, and I am able to make appointments there with relative ease. The receptionist is very nice and it’s a breeze to come in for an appointment which I really appreciate.

Welp, it happened. I had not yet refilled my inhaler prescription because I really only need it maybe once a year. Had a horrible asthma attack on Saturday, I’ll accept that I should’ve taken care of it sooner. There was NO after hours answering service. I tried desperately to find anyone to talk to in order to put in a prescription for an inhaler that I could have someone pick up because I can’t afford a hospital. No one called and I rode out the longest asthma attack of my life for almost 9 hours. Had a random friend of a roommate come through with an inhaler eventually.
FINALLY get someone other than a voicemail today, and the three different people I was passed along to were so unhelpful and rude that by the time I got to the last batch of people I was a monster. I’m sorry but a patient calling in for a simple inhaler refill, should not take 4 days, countless phone calls, and a conversation with 5 – 6 people.
Also spent the better half of my morning on a three way call with my insurance company and the billing department asking why CPC had charged me $ 137 dollars for no reason. My insurance company told them it was clearly covered. The woman said that the best they can do is reprocess it and see what happens. What? It goes to collection in 30 days and if its not «processed» by then my credit is supposed to suffer for your mistake?
Switching ASAP.

I have had a total of three visits to this office, and would highly recommend it. Two of my visits were with Dr. Chaikin, one with Dr. Shostashvili. I found both of them to be extremely competent and informative. To give a hint of this, I recently went for a visit with Dr. Chaikin, and asked about (1) allergies/​sinus problems, (2) a potential wart/​skin cancer issue, and (3) psychological issues of anxiety/​depression/​attention, and received very helpful and informative answers and recommendations for all three issues. Both Drs. don’t give you BS but are very real with you, while also being polite and courteous. Best doctors I’ve known.

This location is conveniently located by the Woodley Park Metro. Although the doctors mean well, and everyone is pretty nice, they are not the educated doctors you want handling your health. I went here with a simple viral infection, and was prescribed a fluoroquinolone antibiotic that has left me struggling with my health as a 30 something year old. No warning, high dosage, and I am a petite woman. Just be aware — many drugs — especially fluoroquinolones (Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox) can leave you with permanent damage. Do your research and find an office that is fully educated about the drugs they can prescribe. Don’t gamble on your health.

I came here for a simple infection on a Thursday. Dr. Shotashvili told me she was prescribing me an antibiotic, 1 pill two times a day. She sent my prescription to my pharmacy and I thought all was great. I get to the pharmacy and the prescription they were sent was 1 pill one time a day. I understand doctors can make mistakes and this was an error in inputting the prescription or maybe I misheard. Fine.
I called the office Thursday evening, they were closed. I called again Friday at 9am. First the front desk person, Alfonso, kept reading me the prescription that they sent in instead of checking with the doctor. I said I understood what was sent, but the doctor said something different during the appointment, so I would like to double check on the dose. They told me they would have a medical assistant contact Dr. Shotashvili and they would get back to me. I called again at 4:50pm after not hearing back all day (the office is supposed to close at 5) and I just got sent straight to a voicemail saying they were closed. Questions about medication dosing should be dealt with as priority, especially before a weekend.
But the fun doesn’t stop there. I call back Monday morning and explain the issue, this time to a woman at the front desk. She says she’ll check with the doctor now. After a brief hold, she told me she just spoke to the doctor and said the prescription is right and to come back after the treatment is done if the pain still isn’t gone. I get a call the next morning (5 DAYS INTO THE MEDICINE) with an apology saying the prescription was wrong. And the doctor said she didn’t get the message until Monday after I spoke with the front desk.
This is an unacceptable error. Its one thing to make a dosage mistake, but its another thing to drag a patient around for 5 days, lie to them, and then finally correct the medication. Just never go here.

I’ve been coming to this practice for a long time and have always loved it. I came in today for a follow up and while in the waiting room I hear whom I assume is a doctor complain that there was no paper in the printer. My assumptions were correct and it is apparently a new doctor with the practice. It really got under my skin the way he spoke to the person at the front desk regarding the empty printer. This man has no business helping patients if that’s the way he treats people that work in the office and have to deal with him every day. Can he be any more condescending? Grab a pack of printer paper and do it yourself. You are not above anyone. This practice deserves a 5 star review but this doctor alone knocked it down 2 stars.

This office clearly has the dregs. My son (a college student) had acute gastro symptoms… diarrhea, blood etc. Through ZOC DOC he was referred to
Dr Shadi Hamwei in the Woodley Park office. He immediately prescribed a very toxic antibiotic (Flagyl) w/​o first running tests. This is taboo in the medical world. Doctors we sought out for a second opinion were horrified with this practice. Unethical & irresponsible. His gastroenterologist said Flagyl made his condition worse. Stay away from him!

Pros: Doctor is nice and efficient. Can make same day appointments (but they wont care if you’re in pain, have work meetings etc.).
Cons: Where do I begin?
Example 1: I went to the doctor and found out I had to have a surgical procedure done. In the meantime I was given medication to help with symptoms. It made me incredibly nauseous, so much so that I couldnt go to work. I spent four days calling them multiple times a day begging to talk to a medical assistant or a doctor to get nausea medication because I couldn’t afford to take time off. They did nothing more than leave «messages» and I never heard back. Thank God the procedure was a success and I could stop taking the medication.
Example 2: I was given a course of antibiotics and mistakenly knocked them over getting out of bed the next morning. Two fell into a glass of water. When the pharmacist told me I needed a new prescription my heart sank. I called the doctor’s office and again was told they’d «leave a message» and someone would «get back to me.» I stressed that this was a course of antibiotics and if I didnt get the dose that day I’d have to start all over. That was five days ago. No one has gotten back to me to give me a new prescription for the two pills or for another full course of antibiotics. Thankfully I called my Uncle on the other side of the country and he was able to fax in the prescription.
It was after example 2 that I decided to write this review. I am beyond frustrated by the blatant disregard for patients by front desk staff. How are the doctor’s I see so nice but the rest of the office acts like this???

Dr. Shotashvili is the best, most caring doctor I’ve ever had. A friend recommended her to me years ago and now I frequently refer my friends to Comprehensive Primary Care. To have a doctor who remembers you and is so genuinely concerned for a patient’s physical and mental health & overall wellbeing is truly wonderful.

The Woodley Park office is conveniently located, with great hours. The staff and doctors there have been helpful and pleasant to me.
The reason they do not get 5 stars is over billing concerns. When I went in, I was assured there would be no copay for my visit. As it was my first doctors appointment with new insurance, I believed the office staff who had just input my information into their system.
Months later, I have received a large bill for what was my annual physical, billing me for an additional procedure. At the time of the visit, I asked the RN and medical technician if it would be a separate procedure and have additional costs. I was assured it would not.
I have now had 2 calls with billings where they are condescending, rude and talk over me. I originally called not to dispute the costs but to talk to them about staff providing misinformation on costs. I was lectured about the legality of their practices in return. My concern was never acknowledged or addressed.

The bad news: This office does not take DC Medicaid, for whatever reason (they have 2 offices in DC, though). So I had to pay out-​of-​pocket.
The good news: The nurse practitioner (Dr. Escobar) who saw me today was really, really excellent. I got the sense that she actually cared about my health problems, and she did everything in her power to not slap me with additional fees. While they could really only triage the issue, I’ve never received such a thorough consult.
The assistant who took care of the basic vitals (her name is Hope) was incredibly sweet and good at her job.
Front desk staff has seen tremendous improvement.
Thanks, guys! Start accepting my health insurance and I’ll be back in a heartbeat.

I am so happy I found this place. I am so impressed with Dr. Natalia Shotashvili! First of all, she works until 7pm Monday and Wednesdays so I love that I am able to schedule an appointment with her outside of traditional business hours and not miss work. I love that there is a Patient Portal where you can message the doctors about prescriptions, questions, etc. Dr. Natalia Shotashvili replied each time very promptly, I was enthralled how responsive she was, most doctors are notoriously difficult to get in touch with. I recommend this office for anyone in the DC area looking for a new general practitioner.
IMPORTANT: the office shares a wall with a karate studio. I used to think that patients we yelling out in agonizing pain from some sort of medical procedure I was super confused and uneasy, just wanted to clear that up. haha

When I first started going here, I would have given them 4 stars. Now, not so much. The past couple of months have been terrible experiences. The doctors/​PA/​RNs are all extremely nice and seem like they are on top of their game, so I’m not sure where the breakdown occurs. Lately, when I’ve either needed a new prescription sent to the Rite Aid by my house, or renew my prescription with Express Scripts it has taken multiple calls to the office to get them to actually send it, after I’ve been in office. I’ll get a call from Express Scripts that they have called my Drs office, but haven’t had a reply, so I then have to call them and they act like they have no idea what’s going on. Once I give the office a call about it, they have no idea what I’m talking about and I have to answer 20 questions about what Express Scripts wants, which I usually don’t know the answer to.
Also, when trying to schedule on ZocDoc, it takes multiple times for the appointment to actually get approved. Usually the first couple of tries they decline the appointment time, even though it shows they are available.
For how good the service is, the frustration of having to put in multiple calls to the office is worse. I plan on changing my dr.

A friend referred me to this office when I first moved to DC over two years ago and needed a primary care physician. I have seen several of the NP’s and an MD at this practice and have always received high quality care. Colleen Sanders is my primary care provider and she is truly the best health care provider I have ever seen. She has a very patient-​centered approach: she always makes me feel comfortable, answers my questions, and understands the ins and outs of insurance coverage. Not all md’s/pa’s/np’s provide such high quality and attentive care, and I so appreciate it.

So apparently the ZocDoc issue has been resolved. A couple people told me they had no problems using it to set up an appointment, and it worked out fine for me last week.
The rest still applies:
1. Efficient office. I’ve never waited more than 5 mintues.
2. The whole medical staff is friendly and helpful.
3. It is easy to get an appointment.
And judging by other reviews, the office staff can be surly (or unpleasant at least), but I’ve had never had any problems with them.
In short, if you’re looking for a GP, I strongly recommend Dr. S and this office.