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Alameda Family Physicians
Rating Details »
Categories: Family Practice, Obstetricians and Gynecologists [Edit]
2433 Central Ave Ste AAlameda, CA 94501
(510) 521-2300
- By Appointment Only:
- Yes
8 reviews for Alameda Family Physicians
My experience with Alameda Family Physicians has been good, but that could be because my doctor is Lilian Tsao (she's great). But this review is not about her, it is about the practice in general.
Good:
1. The office staff has been very friendly and efficient with me and has never hounded me about a long overdue bill that is in dispute with my insurance company.
2. I have never had to wait longer than 10 minutes to see my doctor.
3. If you need to see a doctor right away but your doctor is not available, you can always see another doctor there.
4. They have their own parking lot.
5. They are very handy for Alameda residents.
6. The office is clean and nice.
7. I love my doctor!
Bad:
1. The phone system. When you call, you have to go through an automated selection maze before you a human to talk to -- and the hold time can be ridiculously long. This is the only problem I have found with their customer service, but it is a major one.
2. The company that is now handling their billing is not well informed about the insurance networks they contract with. Hopefully this will change after they have done the billing for a while.
3. Sometimes this group practice feels a little too bureaucratic with so many doctors in one place, a big impersonal billing company and that awful telephone system.
I'm just so fed up of AFP that I actually decided to write a review here. This place is a joke! I often compare the atmosphere to government sponsored health clinics because that's how I feel every time I come in. A couple of the receptionists are rather rude, but I will give credit to the ONE lady who was kind (unfortunately at this time I can't remember her name). I don't know if this is common practice at other doctors' offices, but they have started charging for filling out medical paperwork unrelated to AFP. I have to pay $15 for a doctor to make their initials 5 times on a piece of paper?! Poppycock!
I'm not sure why the medical assistants ask me questions about the last time I have gotten different vaccinations. I don't keep track of that stuff! Aren't they supposed to? Isn't that a patient's medical record is meant for? *SIGH* Anyway...
AFP's only saving grace is Dr. Tsao. She is gentle, kind, and thorough. I generally see her for physicals. The medical assistants are also very helpful as well and I think they are the most patient people there. I had the "pleasure" of also seeing one of AFP's newest doctors, Dr. Kermani. I know she's new, but she has a lot to improve on in the "personal relations" department. I felt very rushed by her, especially because I had questions about paperwork, but she ran out as fast as she could. I highly recommend Dr. Tsao, especially to women.
Dr Mary Fisher and her staff are always polite, helpful and have a generous listening for whatever ails me! parking is free and available, never more than a 10 minute wait:)
I accompanied my boyrfriend on one of his visits to AFP. The woman doctor (who shall remain nameless) took a ton of notes on her laptop which at the time seemed impressive, but she didn't have much follow through. He was experiencing which appeared to be panic attacks and she prescribed an anti-anxiety medication to take as needed. When I asked if she should refer him to a psychiatrist to manage such medication, she replied no because "He didn't need to take it often." ???This was pretty unnerving considering there was no officail diagnosis for his problem at the time. How can you prescribe something like that, without follow up? Pills don't cure everything.
I didn't think it was a good idea for him to go back and see the same doctor, but he didn't think anything of it.
On a second occasion he called the doctor's office to make an appointment and the receptionist asked him what the reason was. He explained he had a lump on the back of his neck that wasn't going away. The receptionist instructed him to put a hot compress on his neck and to call back in a week.
Are you kidding me??? If a patient finds an issue important enough to call in and want to be seen then the doctors office should honor that.
My complaint seems consistent with the other reviews and that is alarming. Obviously if people care enough to yelp about a doctor's office then there's a problem and the office needs to assess how they are treating their patients.
I can guarantee he won't be returning to that office, and neither will I. If we have to go outside of Alameda to find a doctor's office who is professional and honors appointment requests, then we will. OUR HEALTH IS TOO IMPORTANT and so is yours!
I've been going to AFP for awhile and never really felt that great about it but then never really took the time to shop around for another doctor, until now.
I have been shuffled around through a few doctors, not received call backs when I stressed the urgency, and been kept waiting for a lengthy amount of time without seeing a doctor. Which brought me to the last straw.
I made a same day appointment (with any doctor) and rushed from work to get there in time, early actually. Waited 35 minutes in the waiting and then 25 minutes in the examining room. The assistant was like a robot and didn't really acknowledge me as a person. Never saw a doctor, it had been an hour and I was sick, hungry, and tired, so I left.
I checked with the front desk upon leaving and the woman was very apologetic and said that there was an appointment with my doctor the next morning. I took it.
The next morning not only do I feel better but don't feel the need to go in to the clinic but know I will be charge anyways so go so that I can at least get a prescription. I showed up 13 minutes and the front desk person was like "Oh, I don't know, lemme check:" Never have I been called the time of my appointment and she wanted to give me static about my tardiness. I also noticed that another person had an appointment 15 minutes after me. The other front desk person said "yes, that's it, 15 minutes for an appointment": Talk about trying to crank 'em out.
At that moment it made it more apparent that I need to move on.
When I got in to see my doctor she was "Well, you must be really bad if you came back." I said "actually I am 70% better but still had the appointment." I told her I was feeling better because the amoxicillin that I started taking the day before kicked in. She copped an attitude about me taking the pills thinking they were an old prescription and I told her I buy them to keep in my house, they're not outdated.
Sidenote: I am a self-prescriber with certain meds.
Then she went on about how doctors hate when patients do that and don't follow through with the duration. Ok, I'm not all patients, I know how important it is to take any of the penicillin family for at least 5 days if not 7.
Also I told her that when one is not able to get into see the doctor it's good to have meds at home.
So to sum it up she told me to continue for 5 days and that was that. She never even broke out the stethoscope to check my breathing.
I asked her for a script and she said no because it isn't what she would've prescribed for me. She wouldn't have prescribed anything and is always about over the counter.
My previous doctor there gave me scripts for 800 mg Motrin for back pain and cramps, when she became my doctor she wouldn't do the same.
She told me to take more of the over the counter product. Isn't that how Jimmel Kimmel ended up in the hospital?.
Anyway, I've never really had a connection with the latest doctor and at this point do not care to.
One great thing about this clinic was the location.
I just visited Alameda Family Physicians for my first time today. I was definitely nervous about it after reading the terrible reviews, but I had few local choices that were covered by my insurance.
Pros:
- I had a good experience with Dr. Lilian Tsao. She's friendly, seems knowledgeable, has a gentle touch and didn't rush through the appointment too much like other doctors I've seen have.
- The assistant (not sure if she's a PA or what) was also really friendly and nice to work with. She administered two shots and I could barely feel them.
- You can register as a new patient online, as well as take care of some existing patient things like requesting a new appointment.
- I thought the facility was good in terms of order and cleanliness, and I was greeted by a really friendly person at the front desk. There was also a nice assortment of current magazines which of course is not medically important at all but a nice-to-have while you're waiting.
- My appointment was at 10:45am, and I think I was actually called in at 10:45am!
- There's a free private parking lot and I was able to find a space with no problems.
Cons:
- The fastest appointment I could get for a physical exam was almost 2 months out from the date I called.
- The office forgot to call me back on whether I'd be able to get blood work done on the day of my appointment so I didn't know whether I had to fast or not. Turns out it's really easy to get lab work done -- they just have to fill out a request for you, then you can just walk into one of the listed labs and get your blood taken. I haven't done that yet.
- I've called the office four times and have had to wait on hold for 3-5 minutes all but once. In the future I hope to be able to handle these kinds of things online, but I've not yet tested this so I don't know what their online response times are like.
Hopefully all will continue to go well, because I've liked all the staff I've interacted with to date and it's a nice location if you live in Alameda.
Go here if you want to be inconvenienced, treated rudely, and if you want to support a practice that milks insurance companies to make money while they drive patients away.
I was in need of a quick physical exam, which should be pretty straightforward. They got me an appointment quickly- now I know why.
After she finished the exam, the doctor had to come in again to do part of the exam she had forgotten to do- not very confidence-inspiring. At the end of the exam, she did a urine test and then sent me directly across the street to Labcorp to get more blood and urine tests done there.
When I called the doctor's office from Labcorp to ask the nurse why they were making me pee twice in 5 minutes instead of just having me do all the tests at Labcorp, the nurse was rude and said I shouldn't worry about it since my insurance would cover everything and nothing would be coming out of my pocket. When I told her I would have preferred to have been given the option to have only one test done which would have been faster and cheaper for everyone involved, she was sarcastic and said that wasn't her problem.
Insurance fraud? Rude, unprofessional service that I have to pay for? No way. I won't be back, and yes, I called my insurance company to report this.
From Feb 2008:
With all the drama I endured today trying to get $10 worth of the medicine I have been taking for 5 years for my migraines, the only thing that saved my sanity was knowing that I could yelp about the experience.
Up until today, Alameda Family Physicians was largely un-yelp-worthy. I always had an "okay" experience - sometimes good, sometimes bad, often just mediocre. The doctors and physicians assistants are friendly and seem knowledgeable about medicine. Over the past 2 years, I've seen almost everyone in this practice for both non-emergency and emergency reasons. It was never anything spectacular, but nor was it horrible.
However, after today, I am divorcing Alameda Family Physicians and will be on the lookout for a new primary care physician. This has nothing to do with my current PCP, and everything to do with the support staff.
I am traveling in Colorado on business, and woke up this morning with a migraine. It was still in its early stages. Stupid me had forgotten to pack my meds with me, but I thought it would be a fairly simple process to call in to my doc and have them fax over a prescription to a pharmacy in Denver.
Boy, was I wrong.
It took me 6 hours and at least 25 phone calls (according to my cell phone, so that doesn't even count the times I tried on a land line) to get... nothing. That's right... nothing. The first five times, the staff faxed my new prescription to a pharmacy in Alameda... even though I gave them the name, address, phone, and fax number of a pharmacy in Colorado. Everytime I called, I got put on hold (once for 42 minutes!) while they tried to correct the problem. Anyone who has ever had a migraine knows that 42 minutes without medication feels like an eternity. Each time I called, the staff person would tell me that the prescription had been faxed - and each time, I would call the pharmacy and they'd tell me they had nothing for me.
Eventually, I started to get angry and voiced my frustration to the nurse. At that point, they claimed that they had been trying to call in my prescription all day, but that the line "just rang and rang" and no one picked up. Funny, because when I called the same number (about 10 times), someone always picked up on the first ring.
And don't even think about calling from noon - 2pm. The office is closed. Wouldn't we all like to work somewhere that offers 2-hour lunches? I know I would.
At any rate, it's been almost 12 hours, and I still have no medication. The last I heard, they were going to "fax it over right now." I have my doubts.
Grrrrrrrrrrr. And ouch.
***
From September 2008:
As an update, I've had another terrible experience with the receptionist at AFP. This week started for me with an extreme case of nausea - I actually pulled over and threw up while on my way to work on Monday. On Tuesday, I had such a bad headache that I wanted to die - no joke. By Wednesday, extreme exhaustion had set in - despite 19 hours of sleep, I couldn't even stay awake for 5 minutes to make myself a cup of tea.
I called AFP to see if I could get in to see someone, and told the person who answered the phone about my condition. She responded: "Is that it? It sounds like nothing." I said it wasn't "nothing" and wanted to see a doctor. She said, "I'm not going to make you an appointment to see someone because there's nothing wrong with you...."
Since when does the receptionist have the authority to make medical decisions like this?! After a fair amount of arguing, I FINALLY got an appointment - and it turns out I have mono.
I said I'd find a new doctor before, and now I mean it - this place is ridiculous.
