Stephanie Ruddy, DO

Possibly the best cardio in the area (and personally I think in Ohio!!!) Most important, she cares! She takes time with her patients and yet somehow there seems to be little wait time when I arrive for appointments. Office staff is always courteous and professional.

Dr Ruddy is great. She is very nice and will take the time to explain things to you. She seems to really care about her patients. Unfortunately I had to deal with Lori over the phone twice. She gets annoyed if you ask questions. On both occurrences she was argumentative and lacked empathy. In my opinion, if you can avoid any interaction with Lori then you will have a positive experience with this office.

I would rate doctor Ruddy herself very high. Though she wasn't able to fully meet our needs she was kind in a not talking down to you way, she explained things well, answered questions and concerns and discussed referring to others who might be able to help us more, and held up well without becoming defensive when problems occurred with the appointment and in presence of the strong personality in advocacy that I bring. Her staff was also fine and attempted to work with the issues that occurred. The girl who did the ekg was very nice and thoughtful. I was going to rate a THREE because there were problems that were significantly impactful - and would definitely count if it was a practice as a whole rating - but because the problem was more with human systems not the people I rated a FOUR. If the system problems were fixed I would definitely speak positively of the doctor/office to others, even though they couldn't really meet our needs. The first one is I think pretty huge and needs fixed. When we asked for copies of something we'd signed we were provided a printout where the signature was blank. They said they can see the information on the form in the computer but it always prints blank. They also said it was not possible to screen shot and send to our mychart. No one should be ok with signing and filling out things that only one party has. The second one is that they didn't seem to be able to hear most of what was being said, even between each other. It is possible that I (a person with some hearing issues) was just missing something, but I'm pretty experienced in being in a room full of people talking to each other saying "what" "what" back and forth to each other so they might want to try to do something to redirect the noise so the receptionist can hear and understand you. It really felt like an acoustic issue interfering and some acoustic backing could solve the fact that the printers, computers and all other noise seemed to be bouncing up and down the receiptionist area. The third is the VRI. Staff was unaware that they need to have the VRI from the point of registration, but problematically tried to avoid bringing it out. This is unfortunately not the first place I've run into this, but basically you should always have the vri where the person who needs it can have it. Do not ask me to read lips, do not ask someone else to handle things, if its for a caregiver do not try to say you don't have to do it. This is hopefully a point of education because these things happen all the time across the miami valley. Once the VRI was obtained, like usual the VRI froze, the interpreter couldn't understand my daughter, and the interpreter couldn't hear people or know who was talking. Sign language is a 3d referential language. if you can't see whose talking a lot of information is lost. The VRI didn't just freeze because they freeze, but there were only some areas they got signal so I was unable to sit during the appointment which wore me out. I've let them know they need to have in person interpreters not VRI machines but this is a common problem with doctors offices whose health systems (and I mean all the health systems) around here have invested in VRI machines, and I've had to fight other health systems and offices. I don't know how they will handle it here but I am hopeful. However if you need an interpreter make sure you make sure they clarify they will be getting an in person one and that any vri use needs to be full and thorough. quick edit due to discussion in a potsgroup asking if this is a good doctor for POTS: For me any doctor that says that the evidence is spotty for saline iv's for POTS patients and does not prescribe them is not a POTS doctor. She seems nice/ competent as a general cardiologist per my review above and is far better than POTS denier docs, but if you're a zebra keep looking. True POTS specialists will have a solid grasp on saline iv's in relation to dysautonomia. Unfortunately many doctors in the region do not, so Dr. Ruddy is commensurate with the area in that regard.

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