West Side Gi, Llc

I have mixed emotions about this place. I’ll start with the positive as someone who has had a lot of medical procedures done. Staff was courteous to me. Linda the amazing receptionist was an absolute gem. Every single nurse I interacted with starting from my intake nurse, to the nurse who inserted my ivs, to those that attended to me after my procedure all lovely. All professional. My doctor (Dr.Delopez) and anesthesiologist were so professional and made me feel comfortable throughout. Now onto why this place got two stars. The wait time is excessive. I had a 9:30am procedure and didn’t get taken in until 11-11:30am. I only noticed three procedure rooms. When my intake nurse was doing my medical assessment prior to my procedure I also noticed they had about six different doctors doing procedures there. Each doctor on their card had over 5-6 procedures for that day alone. With three procedure rooms, the math does not equate to having enough procedure rooms in order to sufficiently have a timely manner for scheduling purposes. Second matter which was the most alarming one of all. While I can absolutely handle a wait, it was a minor inconvenience at best waiting to be taken in, the more troubling manner was finding out that this center is NOT affiliated with any hospital system. My doctor who scheduled this procedure is with Mt.Sinai. I got a bill from Mt.Sinai and then I get to the GI center and I’m told I owe them, not Mt.Sinai for a deductible of $150. That’s when alarm bells went off in my head, as I had to then confirm that my anesthesiologist accepted my insurance and now I’m seeing thru my insurance EOB statements that I’m probably going to owe the GI center more money. I should have been told by my doctors office that this GI center was not affiliated with Mt.Sinai. Finding out the day of my procedure was extremely upsetting. I’m now in the process of finding another gastro doctor because I’ll never go here again based on withheld information to patient. Withholding information to the consumer is the biggest problem in my humble opinion.

I had a colonoscopy scheduled at 9:30 AM, but I wasn’t seen until after 5 PM. The wait time—over 8 hours—was completely unacceptable. What made the experience even worse is that patients are required to fast the entire day before on a liquid diet. My last solid meal was Sunday at 8 PM, and by the time my procedure was finally done Tuesday afternoon, I had gone an extremely long time without real food. On top of that, I wasn’t allowed to drink anything for 8 hours prior to the procedure. That combination made an already long day feel physically exhausting. There was also a lack of communication throughout the day. No updates were provided unless I personally flagged down a staff member to ask what was going on. Meanwhile, I noticed patients who arrived hours after me being taken in and discharged before I was even called, which made the situation even more frustrating. I also spoke with the office manager about the situation. Instead of directly addressing my concerns and answering my questions, she repeatedly tried to redirect the conversation with compliments. As someone who understands customer service, I recognize that technique—but this was not the time for it. I was asking valid questions that needed clear answers, and that was overlooked. Overall, the scheduling, patient prioritization, and communication need serious improvement. Patients deserve transparency, realistic scheduling, and consideration for the physical strain that comes with preparing for this procedure.