I wish I had seen these reviews before I ever stepped foot in this office. You will only ever see a doctor once. After that, any communication, which will be impossible to get in a timely manner, will be with a medical assistant. I waited 2 months where I messaged them multiple times with no reply. I also went into the office twice to ask why my messages were not being responded to. They suggested I get a call from the physicians assistant to answer the questions. Of course they didn't mention they would charge this as a specialist appointment, which my copay is $85. I submitted a complaint and got back a generic 'we coded it right, pay up now' response. I have had billing issues in general with Sutter but I am absolutely done with the after this. Next step is contacting insurance because they're up coding appointments like crazy here. read more

A representation of the horrible medical industrial complex in America that aims to provide as little care as possible for highest dollar amount. They will charge you exorbitant, ridiculous prices for absolutely no service or medical intervention. Then they will have no communication, no paper bills or emails, and then send you to debt collections after 4 months. When you try to call, you will get an AI. If you're able to get it to let you talk to a real person, that person might just transfer you back to the AI. They offer no reasoning, help, or negations because they do not care about you or your health, they just want your money. Stay away from Sutter Health. read more

Very bad care at Sutter. Long wait times, difficulties with staff not understanding English, staff getting confused about appointments, long wait for appointments, appointments being rescheduled after long waits. The Chronicle reported that they charged 30% more than other places. The quality of the care is doubtful: during Covid, I saw some of the nurses not wearing masks. Abysmal. read more

I've seen Dr Birnbaum twice at Sutter Family Medicine. She is such a warm and friendly person that I liked her instantly. She is very interested in asking questions and answering questions ,which makes me feel confident that she will take excellent care of her patients. read more

Quality of interactions, staff responsiveness, and speed of making appointments; this is nearly a 3rd world operation...

This review is just for the billing errors. Make sure you review all your bills very carefully. There have been so many mistakes over the years. All over billing, charging me for services that were not provided, or situation outside my control. My last billing error was from a pelvic exam with my gynecologist. They did a Pap smear. It should've all been covered under preventative visits, but I received the bill. They were trying to charge me because they used "an out of Network specimen handler". It was a handling fee to transport specimen (the swab from the paper smear) from the doctor's office to the lab. I had to call three times to get this cleared up. They sent the bill back to coding review. That was back in October, I followed up with a phone call in December, and I just called this week to see if it's been resolved. They said it was their error and zeroed out my account. The billing error before that was this summer. They sent my biopsy to an out of network pathology lab. I couldn't get them to correct that one so I had to pay the full $125 for it. I even went through the "Customer Complaint and Appeal Process" and I was denied. Insurance didn't come into play because Sutter sent it to an out of network lab. They said I had to confirm with my doctor that they are using an in network pathology lab. I never thought to ask that question ever before. I'll make sure to ask that next time! I do think about switching to Kaiser to avoid these billing problems. Yes, it's that bad. read more

Julia Chan Nurse Practitioner Sutter Health Neurology Clinic Berkeley, CA Julia Chang NP desperately needs to have her NP license taken away due to her unprofessional behavior and from writing false information and misnomers in consult reports. She has violated standards of professional conduct. She has shown negligence in her practice beyond the scope of licensure. Sutter Health needs to fire her...Office experiences for many have been a total nightmare. read more

My doctor was fine. Referrals were a nightmare and that's why I left. You can only see a specialist who is affiliated with Sutter and no one else even if your insurance plan will cover those other people. There are very few choices within Sutter. I had one physical therapy place and one urologist to choose from, and if I didn't like them it was tough luck. read more

Not feeling good for a couple of weeks, FNP ordered a CT scan. Yep, there's a possible threatening problem. I was advised to see a doctor immediately to determine if I needed surgery. Strolled over to the ER the same day and got fixed up with antibiotics with Dr. Chen. Five days later, I'm starting to feel fine thanks to the attentive medical staff here! read more

It felt their Sleep Medicine Clinic was useless and was mistreating me in many horrible ways. I stopped going there. I found other better resources. read more

Please do not go to this center - if you have any choice at all in care providers, I suggest you cancel with Sutter immediately. One of their urgent care doctors caused me to miss two days of work and caused significant injury and put me at risk of infection and Sutter insists I need to pay them hundreds of dollars for this experience. I cut my tongue open on a sharp molar in February and went to urgent care at Sutter East Bay to have it looked at. The urgent care doctor, Aileen Jabber, told me that I needed to have the wound sutured. She proceeded to suture my tongue, which was incredibly painful, and told me I would need to call out of work that day. She said I could eat anything I wanted to. I went home and ate lunch and the suture fell out. I went back to urgent care and asked to see a different doctor. I was sent to the same doctor. She told me if I didn't have the tongue re-sutured that I was at risk of infection. The second suture fell out the next day and I called out of work to go back to urgent care. I was able to see a different doctor that day and he told me that suturing my tongue was not only not necessary but had put me at increased risk of infection and had further injured me. My dentist told me the same later that week. Sutter is billing me $270 dollars for the privilege of being put at risk of infection and having several painful procedures that resulted in increased pain and difficulty eating. I have filed multiple complaints with them but they don't respond to them and insist that I still owe them money. read more

Absolute criminals. Don't let them do anything without verifying whether your insurance will cover it; they will rack up charges for every tiny thing they can. Silke Heinisch in dermatology is the worst. I've never been treated so disrespectfully by a doctor's office in my life. Over a year later and I still get furious anytime I think about these people and the headaches and bills they have caused me. read more

I was able to get an appointment at this location because the Oakland location where my doctor is was unable to give me an appointment this week and I needed to get my ear irrigated due to excessive ear wax that occurs occasionally. Let me tell you it can be very uncomfortable to only have one ear to hear. I tried ear drops as well as using an aspirator to drain and wash my ear for a week to no avail. It's no fun to have inherited this condition. Anyway, I was able to see a nurse practitioner, Wilson Max. When I arrived in the lobby, I had to check in and show my insurance card and pay a co-pay. I waited for about 15-20 minutes and then was weighed and blood pressure and temperature were taken. Then I had to wait for another 15-20 minutes but Mr. Max was apologetic for the wait. Then after the ear check-up, two lpns performed the irrigation. It's great to be able to hear again! read more

Beware of over billing. My son had a 10 min virtual consultation and they charged my health insurance for a 45 min visit costing $355. After questioning the charge they changed the time but still charged $255. It is unethical practices like this one that keeps health insurance cost so high. read more

Very cool that they're open both Saturday and Sunday for lab work. I've always had quick & professional service here, which is all I can hope for when getting pricked with needles and filling up vials of blood. Preggo ladies, if you're coming to get your glucose tolerance test, bring a book or laptop because you do need to stay on the premises for all 2 hours of testing. Thankfully, they are very prompt about testing you every hour, down to the minute, so you won't wait around longer than you need to. The lab techs are always friendly here, and make things as painless as possible. read more

I saw Drew Ho, in Dr. Birnbaum's office, for an annual preventative physical, which should have been completely covered by my insurance. Due to either greed or incompetence the visit was billed by Dr. Birnbaum's office/Sutter Health as a generic "office visit," which left me paying 100% of the cost. Unacceptable. I've tried resolving the issue with them but it's like talking to a stone wall. I will never use another Sutter Health provider, and will switch back to my previous physician, who always handled such visits correctly. Update: After spending many stressful hours working on this and being stonewalled, pressured, misdirected, and lectured by Sutter Health representatives I posted a one star review on Yelp. Soon after I was contacted by a very sweet woman who apologized for the coding error and helped get things fixed. A mess still remains which I've decided to just write off at this point, and the overall experience was still awful, but at least the majority of the mistakes seem to have been fixed. Update 2: After spending lots of time on this, and being assured by a really nice Sutter Health rep whose direct line I have that everything is OK, and paying the balance--which is still out of the ordinary, but it's small, and let's just make this go away, okay?--I am still receiving a past due notice for almost $400. Sutter Health needs to get their act together. This is unacceptable. Imagine if this wasn't an asymptomatic physical I had gone in for, but I was actually ill, and I and/or my family had to deal with this nightmare. Ugh. read more

If your MD is part of Sutter you cannot be referred to a non-Sutter provider, even if you have a standard insurance accepted by all. Even so your in house referral gets lost or downgraded. Their "specialty network" is rude, does not return calls and loses/finds/relocates records on a whim. You are at the mercy of a large corporation that has nothing to do with patient care and everything to do with production figures and their own almighty $$$$. Either their computer system is antiquated, or their employees are not computer literate. My experience was so bad that I will be flying to Portland OR to get faster and more appropriate medical care. Patient beware... oops, we are not "patients" we're clients. read more

Amazingly terrible. I go to the neurology clinic here. The office staff is staggeringly bad. If you try to call their office directly, you can't. They have an answering service which handles all of their calls. The people who staff this call center are actually very nice people and try to be as helpful as they can. Unfortunately with them having no direct contact with the actual office though, there is not a whole lot they can do aside from scheduling appointments and leaving messages for the office. So if you need to talk to your doctor urgently or someone else in the office quickly, you're out of luck. Now the stuff that really pisses me off about this place. They actually cancelled one of my appointments without me telling them to cancel the appointment. When I asked that they give me the appointment they cancelled back, they offered me an appointment 2 months later. I have been experiencing horrible, progressive, symptoms so to have to wait an extra 2 months because some rude person in their office cancelled an appointment of mine without me telling them to, well to put it as nicely as I can... its frustrating and infuriating. In another instance I tried to drop off MRIs on CDs. The people at this office, unfortunately don't know how to use CDs. They told me there was nothing on the discs. This was a lie, they just had no clue what they were doing. But I tried to work with them and brought them new discs even though I knew there were images on the discs and I would have to drive an hour both ways to drop off the discs. They again lied to me and said there were no images on the discs. At this point I became frustrated and asked to talk to someone who could help me. They made me wait 40 minutes in the office before someone came out to talk to me. Finally, after arguing with this person for about 20 minutes, they admitted that they had security software on their computers which did not allow them to open CDs from other medical institutions. ABSURD. Also, if you want to see an actual doctor at this clinic, you're probably gonna have to wait about 2 months or more. If you want to see an NP that doesn't understand how spinal stenosis is graded, awesome, maybe you'll like this place. Save yourself some misery and go somewhere else. read more

All of the doctors I have seen here have been great! However, their billing department is terrible. After reading many of the reviews on here, I have come to the conclusion that they purposely code visits a certain way so that the patients are fully financially responsible for the cost of their visit. I am a UC Berkeley employee with wonderful insurance but somehow a 15 minute appt with a primary care physician cost me 395! They coded it in a way that my insurance denied the claim! Something really needs to be done to remedy their corrupt practices! If anyone else is interested in taking action please message me. These corporate fat cats need to be stopped! read more

After two years of trying to make this practice work, I've finally had it. It's nothing against my doc, whom I really like, but the support team is completely dysfunctional. The whole system is set-up so you can't actually connect directly with your physician -- every call or email goes to a customer service rep who is just a pass-through to send an email on to your actual doc's office. When a situation arises where you just need to speak with someone physically in the practice, that's just not possible. If someone from the practice calls you, you can't return their call directly... you have to call back a customer service rep, who sends an email to the practice, and you just have to hope you're available the next time the actual practice rep calls. After visits, I routinely discover that information I provided on forms or verbally was entered into my chart incorrectly (as apparent on the online portal). When I'm talking to the staff up to my doctor, I feel like they all expect me to walk them through what I need and how best to meet that need. I'm used to having to take control of situations, but if there's anywhere I want to feel like I'm being well "taken care of", it's my medical practice. This one just continues to let me down. People there couldn't be nicer... they're just totally ineffective, and I from my observations, I suspect they are set-up to fail by bad processes/systems in place. It's a shame, because again, I really like my doctor... :-/ read more

PROS: THE PHYSICIANS & PRACTITIONERS I had good experiences with Dr Samantha Malm and NP Stephanie Petreas. Both are friendly, patient, knowledgeable. They are really good and they know their stuff. The medical assistants here are friendly, prompt, and professional as well. CONS: PARKING You have to pay to park, unless it's after 4pm or something like that. Usually costs me $3. The parking spaces are too narrow. Parking was abundant before the OBGYN merger. Now spaces can be hard to come by, so they will tell you to arrive earlier than usual because parking has become an issue. INCOMPETENT BILLING DEPARTMENT On my very first visit in 2009, the billing department mis-spelled my name when billing my insurance company. Multiple calls lead me to speak with Tameka in their billing department. I made a special trip in person to provide copies of my insurance card and drivers license again. I even filled out a comment card thanking Tameka for showing leadership in resolving my situation. Tameka had assured me the mistake would be fixed, but it was not. A few weeks later I even contacted my insurance company to make sure they received a claim, they confirmed nothing had been sent to them. I finally tried to contact the center administrator. Her number always went to voicemail. She did call me back but acted like it wasn't a big deal. Eventually the problem was resolved after two months. I thought that was just a fluke. Recently, charges were not billed correctly to my insurance because the Sutter billing department incorrectly entered their own Tax ID number when filing the claim. ONE WOULD THINK SUTTER'S OWN BILLING DEPARTMENT WOULD BE FAMILIAR WITH THEIR OWN TAX ID...Apparently they have incorrectly entered their own tax ID since February, and continued to do so for months resulting in additional rejected claims on my account because of their mistake. An inquiry into the matter resulted in *surprise!* Sutter sending an official statement claiming everything was indeed coded correctly, which was clearly not the case. But they didn't have a problem sending me several bills indicating I owed a lot of money. So now I am waiting for a corrected billing statement for myself and for my husband. Waiting... I find this oversight to be dishonest just plain lazy. The ineffective management and incompetence of Sutter's billing department is abundantly unprofessional. Even worse has been the amount of time it takes to get resolution. OVERALL: It's really too bad the billing department is dragging SEBMF down. The medical staff, doctors, and nurses are great, the only reason I'm giving SEBMF any stars. read more

I've been going here for a few years, and this place is A-OK. Sounds like some of the other reviewers have had poor experiences. I've been able to get same-day appointments, generally no problem, just not with my primary care physician. I've always felt listened to by my doctors and taken care of. My one gripe is the wait time after you check in. At one appointment, I waited 40 minutes and it was the morning. Hard to understand how nurses and doctors can be so behind already at 10 AM. Front desk staff is helpful, kind, and the nurses are typically helpful and ask good questions. The good: making appointments quickly. The bad: wait time after check-in, and the facility is a bit of a maze. They do a good job of posting signage, though. read more

Pros: - Great doctors - Easy to make appointments via telephone & online. - Easy to access medical information (records, prescriptions, immunization & reminders online - Check-in process generally smooth & admin staff friendly Cons: - Med techs not the most cheerful or helpful read more

Now I've experienced a nearby medical group system (John Muir Medical Group), and have something to compare this group with. While John Muir Hospital is far superior (esp. micro surgery, neuro-surgery... but can only match in the childcare, delivery area), I now have a group to compare Sutter to. Sutter HAS a computerized feed back system to ALL the Sutter doctors; John Muir does not. Sutter places your lab results in your fingertips on-line; John Muir does not. NO ONE can take care of you better than yourself. If you don't watch what you eat, or the drugs you take, you are wasting a physicians time. Sutter facilitates your selfcare, and expedites it with their communication system that other systems just don't have. I have to upgrade the review because of this. This is not a review of their doctors, or Alta Bates Hospital. read more

I love the early morning lab technician here. I have always had excellent customer service from her and hardly a bruise. She is professional and gentle. read more

I was about to leave a 5 star for easy appointment and good RN experience, however...... their billing and customer service is SHADY! I asked to pay for services right after getting them... then get a letter later with tacked-on fees for the RN visit! Also I accepted a $75 test when my RN offered, but got a bill for that and 2 additional tests I never consented to, adding $400 extra to the bill! No wonder that lazy, good for nothing guy behind the lab desk didn't want to read me all the lab costs upfront when I asked... Get your S together! read more

I feel disgusted that I even have to provide a star to this facility. My wife and I have seen physicians and nurse practitioners here for the past three years. It's annoying that you have to pay to park, but I figured "Hey, it's Berkeley, you have to pay to park everywhere." At first, the physicians and NTs were great. We particularly liked Dr. Malm and NT Petreas. However, I could not help but notice the large number of NTs that we saw, and the number that has turned over. Also, NT Petreas looked haggard the last time I was in for a visit. The last time my wife went to see Dr. Malm, she noticed that Malm was less attentive than before, and was seemingly going through the motions. And not once did I ever visit to have an appointment on time. Always behind, always waiting once I get into the examination room. Can not help but think that everyone is overbooked and overworked. Which is a shame, because there seem to be many good healthcare providers there. The receptionists are passable. It's not their fault that the patient data system underwent at least three overhauls the past three years, resulting in me and my wife having to give them the same exact data time and again. But I do think it's one of their faults that my wife's name was spelled incorrectly. However, the straw that broke the camel's back came this past year. My wife had to visit NT Petreas for a minor emergency, at which time Petreas noticed a few things and requested a few tests. All good work on her part, all good tests to be performed. Until we received the bill. Either Sutter, the provider, or HealthNet, our insurer, did something incorrectly, because we were billed the full amount for everything. The visit, the tests, everything. Not only for my wife, but for my visits, as well. Thus, the string of phone calls begins. First, I call Sutter. They tell me that HealthNet billed it as "Out of Network". Prompting me to call HealthNet, who tells me that they did so because "SEBMF" has a different Tax ID than "Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation." I ask, "Well, what do you think SEBMF stands for?" HealthNet: "If I'd have to guess, Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation?" Me: "Correctamundo!" Well, now at least everyone knows who they're dealing with... ...Nope. Four months later and many letters from both HealthNet and Sutter, and the bills are not corrected. I keep calling, and Sutter advises me not to pay until things are correct. Which finally happens last month. I receive the correct bill, asking me to pay before 7/30/13. I pay on the 24th. The End? Not at all. Just yesterday, I received a letter from "Stanislaus Credit Control Service" regarding an outstanding balance from Sutter East Bay, for an amount which just happens to be equal to what I paid on 7/24/13. So I call billing, and get a nice man named Travis. I ask Travis if I have an outstanding balance, to which he says "No." I then ask him "Well, then can you please explain to me why I have a letter from Stanislaus Credit Control regarding an outstanding balance?" Fifteen minutes of hold music later, Travis tells me that Sutter sent the request to the creditor on 7/19/13, a full eleven days before the due date. I proceed to ask why that would be done before the bill was due, and his only response is that "it must have been a mistake". Well, at this point I proceed to tell Travis about all of the mistakes SEBMF has made. With language that I cannot in good conscience use here. I tell him that several of his colleagues advised me not to pay until the bill was correct. That for the past few months, I had been on the phone with someone like him at least once a week. That it's not good business practice to send a bill to a collection agency days before it is due. Especially when the customer has no history of delinquency, and the delinquency was advised by the very same company! A company that I will never do business with again. Last, I tell him that this fiasco damn well better not effect our credit rating. By now, Travis does not know what to do. And is practically sobbing. All he can muster is a "Well, it should not effect you credit rating..." To which I say "Well, you must understand that I cannot trust a thing you say as a representative of SEBMF. This has been beyond disappointing. I hope you realize that you've lost a customer." Thus ending my being a patient of SEBMF. Go here if you want a good doctor have you wait fifteen minutes in the examining room only to rush through your visit. And then hope that they bill you correctly. I almost feel sorry for how I treated Travis. Almost. read more

Scam alert x 3. Scam 1: This may be one of the few clinics that your crappy health insurance is contracted with. So when you set up an appointment you will be seeing an MD who has less expertise and is less helpful than what you could find by researching your health related questions on the internet. In my case, the Dr. could not even do a reliable ________ exam. (Clearly has not done many before.) Scam 2: If you need to have lab tests done you will be herded down the hall to the onsite Sutter Lab where you will be ignored with the rest of the patients from Sutter clinics. Have a question? The lab staff will either tell you they are not on the clock yet so they can't answer you, or they will act as if it is a great effort and imposition to have to listen to you, or maybe they are practicing for making a training film demonstrating how not to treat patients. And if you have had enough of Sutter lab's lack of service and try to have them drawn at another lab, get ready for some serious time wasting hassles. Even if you tell the Dr. in advance that you will be going to another lab, he will conveniently give you paperwork that is not what will be needed by "outside" labs. So you will arrive at your chosen lab after fasting for 12 hours and be turned away. It will take numerous phone calls to get your doctor to authorize the faxing of the lab requests to your lab. Scam 3: Hopefully you have called your insurance company and found out what labs are covered. Three of the tests ordered by the Dr. would not have been (were not necessary) and would have had to been paid out of my pocket if I had not cancelled them. Excess labs ordered, with the expectation that you will have them done by Sutter lab and not check if they are covered -- sorry, that is too much of a coincidence not to have been Sutter's plan from the start. A sub par physician and the waste of 2 mornings and about $8 in travel costs -- fool me once, the shame is on you. The one star is for having an online patient portal. read more

Sutter Health, you're no Kaiser. I was a happy Kaiser patient for 30 years but had to switch to Sutter because of a change in my medical insurance. Sutter is desperately trying to catch up to Kaiser in efficiency, service, and quality. They're probably about 5 years behind. The problems? 1. They hide under a "non-profit" status but are driven by greed. Just check out all the studies that have shown them to have higher prices than other organizations. 2. They hire clerical workers from the bottom of the employment pool. It's disheartening to be greeted by illiterate and morbidly obese reception staff with an attitude. 3. Quality of service is not consistent, and varies from location to location. 4. Depending on the location of the facility, cleanliness and efficiency vary. Interesting that medical facilities have filthy restrooms so you can track bacteria into the exam rooms. (Note- this is mostly applicable to urban locations, which are dirtier and less well-maintained. Maybe this is all one can expect in an urban dump). 5. Telephone service is lousy. Calls to Sutter practitioners are routed through a central switchboard. I won't even use the phone anymore, but instead use the online services, since you then have a paper trail of contacts. There's more I could say, but this covers quite a bit of it. Note- these observations do NOT apply to my Sutter physicians, who are universally professional, competent, and skilled. I suspect that they may have similar complaints about the Sutter organization if they were free to express their opinions publicly. read more

Need a doctor and want to be grossly overcharged for their services? Sutter Health is your kind of place! I got charged close to $350 for a 10 minute doctors appointment. You're joking, right? I wish I wasn't. There is this thing called the Medical Blue Book. You might look into it. It describes the reasonable prices for all sorts of medical procedures. Sutters cost for my appointment was well over a third again as much as the recommended price for that level of care. Do yourself a favor and avoid Sutter Health offices where ever they may lie. There ARE good doctors out there who don't belong to such a rip off based organization. I'm against putting people into penury in order to get out of pain. read more

I had some lab tests done and the woman that took my blood bruised my arm. I expressed that it hurt and she looked at me like there was something wrong with me. It's been almost 2 weeks and it's still bruised and it hurts. I workout have have great veins so there really was no reason for her to have damaged my arm. Won't be having labs here again. read more

I saw Drew Ho, NP, who misdiagnosed my ear infection as RUPTURED eardrum and scared the heck out of me. he also prescribed antibiotics, which turned out i didnt need. I took the pills coz i was desperate to do anything to alleviate the pain coz i couldnt sleep. i finally got to see an ENT in Berkeley and got my ear infection taken care of. Since it was misdiagnosed by Dr Ho, I tried calling their billing several times, and they said they'd look into it but i keep getting the same billing each month like they never did a thing. read more

My initial visit to Sutter East Bay wasn't terrible, but then I got tested for something that I didn't know I was getting tested for and that I didn't need to be tested for. When I contested the bill, I received it back and have to pay it in full despite my insurance company's help and speaking with 20 different individuals. Not only was the entire system broken in its communication with both me and between hospital employees, but my doctor did not assist me in any way. I will not go back to Sutter Health or the doctor there in the future. read more

Multiple issues. I came here for a regular yearly checkup and overall bloodwork. Firstly, the doctor was very curt with me and disinterested. Also, when I mentioned I want an STD test because I had had unprotected sex, she seemed judgmental. On top of it, when I went to get my bloodwork done, the phlebotomist informed me it was her first day as an intern. The very young woman fumbled around, making multiple insertions (even though my vein was visible) and taking a very long time switching between test tubes of blood. She took so long, in fact, that I actually lost consciousness and fainted. After this fiasco, the insurance company ended up not paying for any of my STD tests because apparently the doctor coded the tests as 'treatment' instead of 'preventative care'. The doctor did this because I mentioned I was "worried" during the checkup. This should not have indicated that I definitely had an STD and needed 'treatment'!!! I have never had this happen to me before, it felt like the doctor just wanted to get extra money out of me. Just because I mention my anxieties in confidence should not mean that the doctor takes advantage of it by billing me for 'treatment', knowing that insurance does not cover that. I ended up not having an STD after all, but having a bill of over a GRAND to pay for a procedure which has ALWAYS been free before. It's nuts! Also, getting in touch with anyone at this ginormous medical center to dispute a claim is insane. The call center is physically separated from the hospitals and might as well be in India, because no one knows anything about the doctors except what is on file. It was impossible to reach my doctor, away on maternity leave. I felt bad for the call operators who were getting the brunt of my anger when really, they are just doing their shitty job. The foundational problem of such big medical centers is that you cannot get individualized care when the organization is as big as a multinational corporation. You become a number. At a separate time, they would not release my personal medical records to me after I spent two weeks going back and forth between this center and my old medical provider to ensure that the test results I needed to volunteer (tetanus) would be available on my first day of the job. Once I got there, after all this back and forth, they informed me that they HAD my medical records, but they WOULDN'T GIVE THEM TO ME because it was a violation of privacy. THEY WERE MY OWN MEDICAL RECORDS, BUT I COULDN'T HAVE THEM , BECAUSE IT WAS A VIOLATION OF PRIVACY. I only got the records because i started CRYING, my volunteering gig was in half an hour, and I thought I had set everything up to avoid problems.... Anyways --foundationally flawed! read more

They are the worst. don't get involved with Sutter health, Corporate health care to the max. first off they have a horrible bedside manner, I saw a Dr. Shute who was heavily perfumed and when I complained and asked her to adhere to their Scent free policy she flatly refused. Then there is this snotty, nasty patient advocate named Janet Johnson out in the Lafayette patient advocacy center who is the worst advocate for patients there could ever be! She actually eats and burps while you are on the phone with her trying to ask very simple questions. And she does NOT DO HER JOB, she had zero help in locating the assistance I needed. She should be fired and soon! I could go on, it's so pathetic but do yourself a favor and get out of Sutter! they are expensive with little to offer any patient. The only Dr. I have had good luck with is in the Rheumatology Dept, but they seem to be fading fast as well. read more

More ridiculousness! I requested a waiver of my co-pay and was told that I am required to pay it because even though I had to "wait an inordinate amount of time doctor's sometimes occasionally run behind schedule due to circumstances beyond their control." This is completely outrageous! read more

if I could give 0 stars I would. I saw Dr. Christine Tsang at Eden Medical Center, to see if I could establish care with a PCP and also get help for my immediate medical issue. She was HORRIBLE. and SO mean. I actually had to ask her, several times, if she didn't want to talk to me or if I offended her? She acted like I was wasting her time, and all I could think was, aren't I paying for this? When she came in, she didn't introduce herself, and say, how are you feeling. I was lying prostate, on the bed, feeling dizzy, and she started our conversation with: So? after a long silence, I guessed she was starting the appt. I then asked if I could use the restroom (was feeling nauseous). She huffed off and said, FINE, I'll see another patient, and then came back 10 min later. I am sorry, I just felt like I had to vomit and I didn't want to vomit on the floor of the patient room. And then, after she came back, didn't ask how I was feeling and if I was okay. I have NEVER been treated so meanly, even by someone at McDonald's. and I am FLOORED that this person is a DOCTOR. When we started our appt, it felt like she was put out having to talk to me. I know that I am not well but isn't it her job to hear my history? So I told her my history and she was like, you don't need to see me, you need to see a specialist. Yes, I know that. I just want to establish care with a PCP as I see other specialists so that PCP can help me be an avdvocate for my health. She seemed really mad at me, and I asked if I had offended her? I finally asked if she didn't want to talk to me and asked if I could see another doctor. I am struggling and sick and I am a nice person, and I barely got 10 words in before she started getting upset with me. I have never been treated SO BADLY by someone, even someone at a fast food restaurant. If Sutter East Bay doesn't want me as a patient, that is fine, but don't be mean, i am only coming there because I am sick, not because I need social interaction. read more

in one year, they screwed up billings of two different, SIMPLE things. in both cases I make my copayment when I visit them. In both cases my bank shows a transaction to that Sutter, for the right amount, that day. In both cases Sutter either 'loses' the payment internally or intentionally double-billing me. When I contact them they are not very helpful and I have to go to a lot of trouble to prove to them that they got the money. Sutter - fix your SHITTY (mis)crediting of payments to the patient account! read more

Stay far away or if you have to go do not give any of your real info. SH is so crooked with billing they illegally charge until you point out to them than bill just magically disappears. they have gotten in trouble in past for illegal billing. NO way for a sting and dizziness is an ER visit 7000. Ive had ER visits with imaging that are less than that. SO if you do go just give them alias no social as than they cant illegally bill you just take it as a loss DO NOT GIVE SSN nor real first / last. they cant deny you service for not giving info. Its ironic the first real person you talk to is billing lady shes like a fucking vulture she cant bill you though without proper info and they cant force you to. since SH is going to illegally charge you, might as well get services under alias, and or say no social or any form of ID. Better yet give them no personal information decline to talk to billing and they still have to treat you legally. oh and not helpful they pump you full of pain meds than send home without actually helping you. read more

I really wish I read reviews posted here before deciding to go with this clinic. This review is about their billing practices, NOT about the medical staff all of which were good. I went here for my prenatal care before switching to a private provider. I have an insurance plan with a substantial deductible (but one that covers a few visits before deductible kicks in), and attempted to get answers for how much their services would cost. I was redirected to call their "billing department" and no one in the office knew how much services cost. So, I was charged $786.00 for a 20 minute appointment. 20 minutes! I was told that their other prenatal apts. are 10 minutes long. A routine check up with an ultrasound, and a doctor rushing out of the office with me trying to ask questions. It included an ultrasound which ended up costing me $450.00, which my insurance will not be covering. That's on top of $336 already paid by my insurance, after calls to them to get them to pay. Had I known I'd be stuck paying this much I never would have gone here. The doctors seem fine enough, but I can't help but feel ripped off after being charged so much for such short appointment.It bothers me also how their billing rates and policies are this big mystery before you receive a service and then get stuck with a big bill. Maybe that's the standard in a managed practice, but it sucks and makes it hard if not impossible to build rapport with your treating doctor. read more