Dr. John Shemo

“I needed a psychiatrist for medication management, and at the time had scheduled a separate appointment with a therapist a few months out. It took me months to find a therapist who took my insurance and had availability. When I first met with John Shemo he acted like it was a therapy session and I told him that's not what I was expecting, I was just looking for medication management. He scoffed at me and said something along the lines of "Psychiatrists invented therapy, of course I do therapy". Since doctors are expensive, and taking off of work is hard, I agreed to do therapy with Dr. Shemo, since I was required to do so for medication management. This meant that I canceled my appointment with the other therapist, who is no longer available, which means I'll need to restart that months long search. From there I had the worst experience I've ever had with a medical professional. I came in my second session with a full list and detailed descriptions of what I wanted to work on and what I wanted out of therapy. Dr. Shemo promptly ignored this and never brought it up again. I tried every single session to lead into those topics again, but he would not engage. We would get to a point where I would no longer know what to say, and we'd just kinda stare at each other until he reached his time quota and then he would provide me my prescriptions. It was one of the most bizarre experiences I've ever been through. It's possible he just wasn't a good fit for me as a therapist, but I wanted to share my experience. For context I gave it about 6-8 months before throwing in the towel. The irony of the whole situation is he seemed overly enthusiastic to do the medication management part. The only thing we talked at length about was how my medication was working and what changes needed to be made. He did a great job at the medication management. It seems like he's a real numbers/hard facts guy and less of a people person. When introducing himself he said he's very big into research, and honestly, based on my personal experience, it seems he should focus his efforts there. And as many other people have mentioned the receptionist was not great. I also had issues with them charging my card too much, as others stated. There was never anyone there to pay when I finished my session. I always had to call in and pay by phone. I spoke with the billing coordinator when I had the issue where they overcharged my card, and she told me it happens regularly, and she was not confident the receptionist would be able to fix it, so she just gave me a credit for the next visit to make up for it. I was made whole, but if you can't trust your own team to get something that simple done that's a problem. When I first started with Dr. Shemo he had about a 3.4/5 on Google. I was a bit concerned, but I assumed it was likely skewed by bad reviews, which can be the case with small businesses. People are more likely to write a bad review if they're upset or if they need something fixed (like being overcharged), but they are less likely to leave a positive review. It also seemed like most of the reviews were centered around the administrative staff, and not the doctor, and I thought I could overlook that. I will say my disappointment was with the doctor and the staff. Google forces me to include my identity with this review. Talking about mental health is not easy, and to do so on a public forum is daunting. That makes me really wonder how many others like me haven't said anything. To be clear that is 100% speculation, I just ask that you consider that before making an appointment with Dr. Shemo. I do not wish to be contacted about this review. If any attempt is made to contact me I will note that in my review, and seek legal recourse if necessary. I am done with Dr. Shemo and would like to move forward with my life.”

“Dr. Shemo was fine, however, the front office is terrible. They charged our bank account without our permission - something that at least one other reviewer has also complained about. We have every intention of paying our bill, but we were not expecting to be charged without even receiving a bill in the first place or even being informed in advance of the total. When trying to get information on the phone, I was told that they "don't send bills" and "don't offer payment plans". I tried to ask if they had my husband sign something giving them permission to charge his card for whatever amount they wanted without informing us first, and was told that he gave her his card to pay $50 (which he thought was a copay) as a kind of down payment before they heard from insurance and that "he was informed that they'd charge him if he owed more". Never did he confirm that she could charge him for whatever amount they wanted without first letting us know of the total and letting us know it would be processed. We expected to receive a bill. She even admitted that my husband was "visibly confused" when she was trying to explain their payment processes yet she claims he should have understood because she's "been doing this 15 years and no one else has ever misunderstood". Given that this is a psychiatric hospital and they know my husband has trouble processing information due to his ADHD that THEY diagnosed, you would think they'd try a little harder to make sure their patients understand what they're verbally "agreeing" to - and I highly doubt he is the first to ever have been confused in the last 15 years. In fact, I know so given that there's an identical complaint on here from 8 months ago. She even claims that she called my husband after his appointment to let him know about the charges before she processed them, and when he didn't answer or immediately return her call she "assumed he understood the charges" and took it upon herself to process them. She was incredibly hostile, demanding to know how I intended to pay for future appointments, and when I informed her that my husband would not be returning to their office because we couldn't afford it with our insurance, she suggested that his medication would be withheld if we didn't continue seeing this doctor. Clearly we will be finding another office to continue his treatment. It is really a shame because Dr. Shemo was doing great with my husband's treatment, but you CANNOT charge someone's card without even informing them that you intend to do so - then have the audacity to claim that someone should have understood a verbal explanation when they're literally at your clinic for help processing information. I've never dealt with someone ruder or who so clearly did not care about the well being of a patient that they are meant to be caring for. Truly despicable. Save yourself the trouble and find another clinic.”

“The receptionist was the most rudest I have ever encountered. I called and left a message for a new patient appointment, she then called me and left a message saying to call her. When I called I stated my name and said I was calling regarding the new patient appointment. She then asked me what I was trying to do so I said, again “I’m trying to schedule a new patient appointment, you left a voicemail to call you back” then she says “no I didn’t, we have no openings so I wouldn’t of called you and I don’t remember doing that.” Like I’m lying??? Why would a random person lie about that?? It’s very telling of a business, especially a doctors office when the first person the patient encounters is extremely rude and accusatory. If they don’t even care to make a decent first impression, I can only naturally assume that they won’t care about anything else. It’s a shame because all other reviews about the doctor seem very positive overall and I would’ve liked to meet him, based on them. Perhaps get a new face for your business, the one you have is like a flashing red sign that screams “GO AWAY”. -Cara (Not Karen)”

“Dr. Shemo wonderful however can't say the same for his office staff. Receptionist is unfriendly and even rude at times. Office manager/billing charged our card for more than what we were told without asking. Also made my daughter cry after an appt. We will not be returning!”