Boston University Charles River Medical Practice

There must be something wrong with this practice when the doctors cannot stay here for any period longer than a year. None of the doctors that other Unilocalers have mentioned are still here. I’ve seen Peter Everett and Catherine Rich leave. The retention rate is ridiculously low (a year or two?), and I don’t know what the reason is. But I think that should be a big clue for avoiding this place.
Why did I pick this practice? Location. It’s conveniently located and that is about it. Everything else about this place is just really mediocre. Also, I’m fairly healthy and don’t need any real help. Otherwise, I think I would go to a different place where hopefully someone knows my medical history for greater than 1 year.

Try to reschedule an appointment and you will need to wait 2 – 3 months. Quite a nightmare.

(This review is mainly for the front desk and Dr. Locke — I have no opinion on the other Dr. s)
OK so there hasn’t been a review of this place since 2008, so I am happy to give an update on the goings on at BU Medical Group.
First of all, I hate to say it, but the receptionists are just terrible. This sucks, since I love Dr. Locke and he did amazing surgery on my foot. But going to this office is like asking to stick a fork in your eyes. One of the receptionists has like a –23 on the empathy scale, and has conversations about her weekend plans with customers while people are waiting to check into their appointments. Not cool. And the OTHER receptionist is just, well, kind of brainless. So it’s like the blind leading the blind at the front desk here. (After my appointment, when I went back to the desk to make my followup appointment, the grumpy one was actually nice and accommodating. I think she heard me complain to the Dr. or maybe her girl/​boyfriend stopped by. Who knows, I am still grateful she was helpful later!)
Secondly, this office is nice and shiny and new, so if you DO get stuck behind happy hour at the check in, at least you are in a nice new room and not in some dump.
And thirdly, Dr. Locke is amazing. My stars are for him. I had a bunionectomy and he was great. He is very informative and takes time to answer questions, even when he really doesn’t have the time. He is thorough, and high tech — he sent me pix from my surgery that were taking during! If you know me at all, you know that geek-​ness wins my heart instantly. He is approachable, personable, and his credentials are outstanding… that is…
(4) if you can get an appointment to see him! It’s tough to get in and schedule follow ups, but the wait is totally well worth it.
Your feet are in good hands here with Dr. Locke once you weasel in and make it past chatty cathy at the front desk.

The doctors at Commonwealth Medical Group are great. I’ve seen Dr. Kronman for about four years now and she’s been wonderful. In fact, she is the ONLY reason that I continue to go here.
To echo some of the other reviews, I am constantly appalled at how horribly this place is run. At least five times I have shown up (elsewhere) to appointments with specialists, having requested a referral with plenty of notice, and they look at me like I’m crazy because they’ve received nothing from my primary care physician. This is a problem that Comm Med Group has been working on, and I do think it’s improved a bit, but there is simply no excuse for that.
In addition to problems with referrals, the staff here has managed to mess up my bill at least three times. Most recently, months after my insurance had changed due to a new job, they managed to bill my old insurance instead of the new one that they had on file and I’d reminded them was the correct one. A few months later, I ended up with a bill for more than $ 500 from my old insurance company and had to spend hours on the phone with the old company, the clinic, my new insurance company, etc. Ridiculous.
Last but not least, the reception staff is horrendous. This morning I tried to make an appointment and called just after 8am, knowing that the office opens at 8. It went straight to the answering service… and continued to do so for the next 30+ minutes. I finally spoke to someone at the answering service who told me that the receptionists were «running late»… and when I eventually got through to someone I ended up on hold for more than ten minutes.
Usually when I’m in the office I’m happy with my experience. The people are generally pleasant (in person) and, of course, my doctor is fantastic. But the management of this place is awful, and one of these days it will probably cause me to look for another doctor. Too bad, because I have a great one here… it’s just that everything else about the experience of being a patient is obnoxious and frustrating.

Dr. Abreu is fantastic and a great primary care doctor. The only issue I have, as well, is the front desk staff. They truly need to get some professional training. Interacting with them is a miserable experience.
if that staff were as good as Dr. Abreu, this place would get Five stars. However, the hassle associated with getting some basic care before you reach him is more than it should be.

I used to recommend this office and my doctor to others but not anymore!
First of all, my primary care doctor that practices here has dwindled her hours over the last few years so now she is only there 2x a week and has literally not been available for an appointment anytime I have called over the last 3 years. (Half the time she is either on vacation or at BMC.) Sometimes they assign me to another doctor which is fine for some things, but I kinda want to have somebody who sees me consistently and actually recognizes me.
Today, I had to go obtain some medical records of my vaccines for a new job I am starting and the two receptionists were really apathetic and rude. This was the straw that definitely broke the camel’s back! They told me that I have not been there for 3 years. I told them there is a good reason for not having returned recently. My PCP is never available!!! They didn’t seem to get the point.
Anyway, I get bounced around between two receptionists. The first one looks at me and doesn’t seem to initially comprehend my question. She finally asks me to fill out a medical records release form and apologizes for being out of it. I grimace since this is a doctor’s office. Shouldn’t you be on the ball?
The second receptionist doesn’t crack a smile, but is the one who finally checks my records. This gets better by the minute. She made it seem like finding my file is the toughest job in the world. Hell, if they gave me access to the files, I would have looked myself! So she finally gets my records and says she doesn’t see that I have gotten the vaccines there.
Fine, that is all I wanted to know. So since I don’t have them, can I schedule an appt to get that done ASAP I ask? I even apologize for the urgency but I was only advised by the school last Friday that I needed this done. The receptionist says my PCP is booked till November (surprise surprise) and she cannot determine if there are any openings for any of the other doctors since I have not been there for 3 years. Umm, isn’t that what a computer is for? Can’t you look that up? So she takes my name and says the nurse will call me back. Secretly, I wonder if she ever will.
Anyway, I am going to find a new PCP and medical venue that has more pleasant customer service. The only upside from this experience is that the nurse did call me back as the receptionist promised to check in with me about 1.5 hours after I left the office. She’s going to check with another doctor to see if he can squeeze me in because surprise surprise, my doctor doesn’t have availability as I learned earlier today! But alas the receptionist wrote down the wrong vaccines I needed info on and the nurse was surprised that I needed a HPV test. I said Hepatitis B, not HPV. Argh. I even wrote it on the damn form. Two very different vaccines me thinks…
I can just see this as the type of medical practice where mistakes are made and nobody seems to give a damn or have a record of it. STAY AWAY from here if you can!

There are a couple of reasons why I go here.
1) Location. The office is located right off Commonwealth Ave. at the Pleasant St. stop on the Green B line. It’s easy to get to than any downtown medical office.
2) Insurance. They accept a huge range of plans here and my co-​pay is only $ 5 a visit (a bargain compared to the more common $ 15 co-​pay!).
3) Doctors! They have great doctors here, and while it can sometimes be difficult to get an appointment with the exact doctor you want, they try their best to accommodate you. Also, the doctors actually respond to phone calls and emails! That almost never happens.
4) No wait. I’ve never waited longer than 5 minutes past my appointment time. It seems like they’re always on schedule, something of a miracle in today’s medical community.
The staff is very friendly and the waiting room is the least hospital-​like waiting room I’ve ever been in. The nurses and fellows are engaging and warm (something I always appreciate when they have to stick a needle in me). While going to the doctor is never really «fun», at least the folks at CMG make it relatively painless and fast!

Great office staff– very polite and helpful (especially Roberto, what a character!)
The building is something of a maze, but that’s a minor detail.
I was very pleased with the one visit I’ve made so far– Dr. Catherine Rich is fantastic. She’s pleasant, caring, smart, and I instantly liked her from the moment she said hi.
Little known secret for BU students: Chickering will cover this! Just get a referral to start coming here instead of Student Health Services.