Equilibrium Physical Therapy — Local services in New York

My therapist here is excellent and I have received great care from him. I started seeing him at a different practice and when he changed jobs, I followed him here. 5 stars for him, but this review is for the practice itself.

The administrative side is a nightmare and their policies and procedures make no sense; they don’t seem to understand insurance requirements at all. There were issues from the start, small stuff at first, like they cancelled an appointment and didn’t tell me until I arrived at the office. I won’t list everything, but I was willing to overlook it because I was receiving good care.

Then I got a call from Equilibrium asking for an updated referral from my doctor. I have never experienced this with other practices, which use the existing referral for as long as necessary, but I was fine with getting a new one if necessary. I had some questions, specifically what information I should get updated since the expiration date on my existing referral was not for several months, so I was transferred to the office manager. She was immediately hostile and threatening. She threatened to cancel all my appointments unless I sent them a new referral literally the same day they made the request. She wouldn’t budge despite the fact that my insurance had never denied coverage, and despite the fact that I was more than happy to pay out of pocket if necessary and told her this repeatedly. She claimed they previously left a message, which they didn’t, but outright refused to tell me the time is was allegedly left. Questions were met with her complaining about having to be on the phone with me and threatening to terminate the conversation. I see a LOT of healthcare providers and while administrative hiccups are common, I have never been treated with the level of rudeness and lack of basic courtesy I encountered here. While I am reluctant to discontinue care with my longtime therapist, I would not recommend this practice to anyone else as the hassle and disrespect are not worth it.

Edit: I received a call from Equilibrium minutes after posting this review. Rather than addressing any of my concerns, they told me that unless I deleted the review they would refuse to see me again. OK bye! I guess that explains their high rating — they squash any criticism by refusing service.

In response to the owner: You can choose to believe your employee or you can choose to recognize that she is costing you business, considering I am the second recent reviewer to report the same experience. I’m sure there are plenty more among your mostly elderly clientele who aren’t writing google reviews. I was happy to provide a new prescription given a reasonable timeframe to do so. Please point me to the state law that you claim requires you to cancel appointments that are weeks away unless you receive a new prescription the same day you request it. Please point me to the law that requires you to refuse service to a customer who has offered to pay out of pocket. By the way, your two employees spent a total of 17 minutes on the phone with me between them, not over 20 minutes each. And yes, they called back after I posted the review to cancel my appointments in retaliation. If the way I was treated is your idea of courteous then I don’t know what...

I had suffered from BPPV (a form of vertigo) for 2 months before making my way over to Dr. Matthew Rome at Equilibrium. I found him on Google and that was a godsend.

Up until then I had managed by avoiding as best I could activities that triggered my vertigo (a room-spinning sensation). I was able to stop the spinning fairly quickly (within a minute or 2) by changing my head position. And if I ever couldn’t stop the spinning, I had medicine (Meclizine) at the ready. Yet, I felt far from well or normal, for the spinning was triggered several times daily anyway: when lying down, bending over, tilting my head back to look up, turning my head too quickly, etc. And there were bad days too, when my head felt very heavy/woozy, and I moved about in slow-motion, or in which my balance was off enough that I’d need to walk with my legs spread wide (drunken-like) for stability and safety.

At Matt’s clean, bright office, he gave me the BPPV lowdown, went about his work to find the inner ear canals involved and then performed the vestibular therapy of head-positioning treatments. He confirmed more fully my BPPV diagnosis, which it turned out involved inner canals in BOTH ears.

Matt communicated & listened very well. He was just the right mix of sensitive to my condition on any given day, yet, like a good trainer, still encouraged me to try to take the extra step up for my own benefit. It was rough at the beginning when I was in my worst shape, moving my head this way and that, but I steadily improved in the course of my treatment (5 visits across several weeks). Today, a month since our last session, I don’t have the spnning, I move normally, and I don’t avoid activities.

After our first session, me (and my crystals ;) were quite shaken up, and it gave me pause to sit in the waiting room with a new unease. But Matt had said I should recover in 30-45 minutes, and very possibly feel better as the day progresses. He was spot on. Each day I did feel better, and the recovery time I needed at our last session was nill.

Matt’s a delightful individual, as well, with very good bedside manner. I felt very safe in his care, trust him, and will return to him if I have a recurrence...

As a Medical provider myself, I am appalled at the way this practice is run and how I was treated as a patient I am extremely frustrated and disappointed with the treatment I received from this office. On Friday, I was informed—at the last minute—that I needed a new referral for my appointment. Despite reaching out to my PCP, I had not heard back, leaving me scrambling to resolve this issue before my scheduled appointment. To make matters worse, I woke up feeling sick the morning of my appointment with coughing and chills. When I called the front desk to reschedule, I was met with an incredibly rude and dismissive response. I was told that I would be charged for the cancellation—both because of the referral issue and because I was sick. Frankly, this is unacceptable. Patients should be given at least a week’s notice if a referral is needed, given how difficult it can be to get a response from a PCP. The staff’s response to my concern—telling me that I “should know when it expires”—was unprofessional and completely dismissive of the challenges patients face in navigating these processes. If I was supposed to know, why did the staff have to call and inform me?

When I mentioned that I would be testing for the flu at home, I was told that I should still come in wearing a mask to avoid the cancellation fee. Encouraging a sick patient to come in just to avoid a charge is completely irresponsible and goes against UNIVERSAL HEALTH PRACTICES. To top it off, when I asked for the staff member’s name, they abruptly hung up on me. I have never been treated this way in a professional medical setting, and I find it absolutely unacceptable.

I have awaited a call in return which i have not received and am awaiting a return email from management which I still have not received. I have however received a charge to my credit card! avoid this office at all costs, and please do not send your elderly family members or friends here, I would never want my parents to be in a situation where sick patients are...