Dr. Inamine (Nikki) is a completely awesome Doctor. No question on that. Her patient care is top notch. However, the office switched in 2025 to a concierge-type service, for which the patient pays a few thousand dollars a year. Why pay that? well, this yelp site it says "Similar to concierge medicine physicians, Dr. Inamine is available 24/7 by phone.". and on the MDVIP site it states: "Your health needs don't always follow office hours. That's why MDVIP-affiliated physicians offer after-hours availability and more flexible scheduling when needed, which means... Direct after-hours communication with your doctor for urgent concerns". That sounds great, right? except that in practice, that's not what you get. Sure, you get a more detailed annual checkup and blood work, but you absolutely do not get care or acknowledgement outside of their limited office hours (6 hrs/day M-F except for Wednesdays when they quit at noon).
So here you are, some fool patient who can only call your doctor when you yourself are are one inch break or after work, but you can't get through because the office is closed, and the voice message says (I'm paraphrasing, but feel free to call the office any afternoon at lunch or after 4, or weekends, see for yourself):
"Thanks for calling. we're closed. Need an appointment? Call back when we're not closed. If you're dying, call 911. If it's urgent, go to the emergency room. If it's urgent but not life threatening, go to urgent care. If you need covid care, call the queens hospital covid line. If you just need a prescription refilled, forget it, we don't do prescriptions when we're closed either. If you're a hospital you can reach the doctor through the physicians answering service at xxx. But if you're a patient stupid enough to pay $3k a year for personal service? Ha. suckers. Call back when it's more convenient for us. THIS MACHINE DOES NOT TAKE MESSAGES."
So yeah, great doctor, 5 stars for the medical care; it's absolutely wonderful if you can take time off work to call for an appointment, but if the point of the new service is that patients can actually reach their doctor when they need to, then at the very least get need a functioning answering service. this is ridiculous. zero stars for the "VIP" service. read more