Dr. Crisostomo Baliog Jr, MD

After reading some of Dr Baliogs’ reviews, I was apprehensive about my first appointment with him. Now that it’s completed, it seems like they were all talking about someone completely different than the Dr Baliog that I met with today. He was professional, listened to me, diagnosed my symptoms and explained my situation and we came up with a plan to move forward. Will be seeing him again in Oct. I’d highly recommend him to anyone.

This gentleman asked questions, really listened to my responses and made sure he understood what I was saying. I went from continual pain to none after my first appointment. The medication was perfect, and made it possible to see what caused other problems. This will be a long term issue with new problems arising over time which I am confident this office will recognize and treat quickly. Simply put - I trust this person.

He was my doctor for about 1 year. Great until I questioned his diagnosis in last visit. He began ridiculing me, said I had too many symptoms and if I wanted help I needed to focus on one or two symptoms only. Went further and said he didn't deal with feelings (ie; I feel weak, tired, etc). Said he only dealt with facts. It should be noted that he missed a lot, didn't read my file over and ultimately diagnosed me with one condition and closed my file. Said he didn't need to see me again. One week later it was discovered that I had a serious life-threatening genetic disease that is treated and managed by a rheumatologist. He appeared to be more interested in preserving his ego than doing what was best for the patient. Everything he needed to properly diagnose me was already in my records which leads me to believe he never really looked at them in the year I was there. If you have something that is not painfully obvious to him he may not go extra mile.

Saw this doc for 2nd and last time today, virtual visit, made the mistake of asking a question and expressing my emotions along with it, which which he apparently took personally.. After derailing every attempt I made to get the appt back on track, I finally did get angry and he actually kicked me out of his practice as well as the zoom call. Wow. His attitude was patronizing, he seemed to think I was just some hysterical woman, and all us hysterical women need therapy, not pain management, it's all in our heads, right? He disparagingly referred to one of my pain reports as a "story" and the look of righteous skepticism was unmistakable even on a 2" screen. I should have gone with my gut feeling at my first appt, and cancelled this one. I had been 5 minutes late due to construction near his office, he claimed he had to squeeze me in and that I was wasting his time asking questions. This guy's an arrogant clown.

His perspective is that the patient is insincere. I had been referred to him for ongoing shoulder pain, elevated markers, recent flares, and family history; and when asked why I was there, I was telling him I had seen a shoulder specialist back home and was getting shots when he interrupted to say, “There isn’t a shoulder specialist in all of New England.” I then clarified what I had meant (bone specialist whose name I had forgotten under the pressure of having to ‘defend’ my doctor’s referral to see a rheumatologist, Baliog) and suggested we could look it look up in Google (thinking he’d be curious to know) and he replied, “I am under no obligation to do that.” He is in the wrong line of work if his starting point is that patients are trying to pull something over on him. When he finally did a physical inspection, he was surprised at the shoulder pain and concluded ‘possible bursitis’ but discounted need for an MRI because “that’s expensive.” It was a bizarre, demeaning experience.

I have been a patient of Dr. Baliog for six years For for RA. He Cares about his patients and does try to ensure that your treatments are the correct ones for your illness. I appreciate whenever you leave a message for a concern you have Dr Baliog gets back to the same day. I would strongly recommend Dr Baliog if you are looking For Rheumatologist

This DR is very dismissive and rude. It felt like an ER visit. I left feeling ridiculed.

He was very thorough.

Unconcerned and dismissive.

Excellent personable and thorough doctor. He took the time to listen to me and asked many questions. In addition he ordered blood tests and x-rays in order to be certain of my diagnosis. I appreciate Dr. Baliog's competence and compassion as I have dealing with these symptoms for 10 years. Many doctors brushed off my symptoms and did not take the time to find out what's going on.

This man kept me waiting for almost an hour. Came in, didn't listen to my history, barely examined my symptoms and then diagnosed me with a disease that later turned out to be incorrect and not even close. He wrote a prescription and then got frustrated with me a week later because I refused to take it. I am glad that I went with my instincts and found another rheumatologist. This man can not be trusted.

He is kind and listens to everything I have to say to him. He did a lot of testing and I feel he came to a quick diagnosis after considering lab work, tests, and the symptoms I had (after having suffered 4 years without a proper diagnosis). I saw him carefully consider treatment options, as he involved me in the process. He is very smart and up-to-date with all the ideas I have read from research studies I found online. I hope to always have him as a Rheumatologist.

Doesn't care about his patients. He is disrespectful and rude. I will never recommend him.