I have been going to Poolesville Family Practice for +20 years. Dr. Sax used to be there and once he left, the practice immediately started going downhill in terms of organization, customer service, billing, care for the patient, etc... If is very, very sad. Their billing system has fallen apart--they almost never notify you when you have credit in the system or when you need to pay a bill. From my family’s perspective, the care for the patient is the bare minimum and I doubt his ability to diagnosis illnesses properly (his dismissal of a life threatening problem landed my father in the hospital). I can forgive an occasional misdiagnosis—BUT it happens frequently with little to no remorse once the mistake has been pointed out. In other aspects, I think the poor quality of the practice now is their receptionists and not necessarily the doctor’s fault, as the practice’s organizational skills are ridiculously poor for a family practice.

As far as care for the patient, for me, I've had a history of core scores since I was a child and this is in their medical history for me. I went off to college, keeping him as my primary physician and seeing him yearly. I just graduated and moved to PA. I recently told him about a flare up and asked that he fill a prescription that will last me a few days until my new primary care physician appointment in 3 days (for a condition and medication I have been on and prescribed by the practice for +15 years). He refused despite my frequent visits to the practice, the thousands of dollars my family has spent there, and the many, many years the practice has known me. If you make any move that removes you from the sphere of their practice (and the sphere of their revenue), they cut you off. This is very concerning considering that almost all of my vaccination history and medical records are there.

Basically, if you have an emergency and there is no one else, go to him (though if you haven’t seen him before/ paid him before, I doubt if he gives you the time of day). If you plan on seeing him for long term use—DON’T USE HIM!! The receptionists are awful (there is almost never an available time slot, no follow-up calls or mail concerning billing, poor response to medical history inquests, etc) and Dr. Duggirala treats the practice now like a businessman vs. a doctor and takes VERY little interest in the personal well being of his patients. Dr. Duggirala has let the practice go to waste and it is definitely worth the extra drive out of Poolesville to see a competent and CARING physician.