Dignity Health Medical Group – Sequoia

Although my normal physician is usually helpful, I had a horrible experience today. I went in for an emergency check up just for the other dr to rudely attend me she seemed very uninterested. Although I have been drowsy for the past couple of weeks she only said relax and see where that goes. I have tried many things which is why im here and the front desk staff was misleading. I also ask for her to refill my medication with her respond to be «so I dont waste time I will do that later» my medication is still not ready!

HORRIBLE!!! The most horrible experience ever!
Very unprofessional, misleading, inattentive — never ever go there.
The start:
This facility is near our house — I can even walk there. Also my husband had good experience both with his physician and with this office. He seemed to be really satisfied with them. So once the time came to choose a physician I was looking forward to have a good experience with them as well. I chose Dr. Elizabeth Kocot.
I called the office and scheduled an appointment for a physical exam and provided my insurance information for verification.
Visit:
I was given forms and asked to provide an insurance card so they can scan it and put in the computer. Doctor seemed to be pleasant. But! She did not know anything about physical exam… Ok… Might be something wrong with computer, me, etc. She asked me about my possible concerns.
The next scene:
I’m telling her that I’m looking for a primary physician which I intend to make her (obviously). And also tell that I would like to get to a OBGYN/​GYN and have recurrent tonsillitis. Actually I was feeling something in my throat at the moment. She looks — tells there’s nothing but makes 2 tests: a quick one and sends stuff to laboratory. Tests show nothing… The tests are basically a smear. But she scratched my throat a little. So I went home with a promise from her that she would call me when the results were ready and 2 persons of recommendation: GYN and otolaryngologist.
Result:
I went home with tests showing I’m perfectly healthy… But! Next day and the next week I was totally sick with high fever. I waited till Tuesday for a call from Dr Kocot which never happened. When I called office they surprised me she went on vacation. Apparently she did not want me as her permanent patient… I went on and called otolaringologyst she advised me to find out that for some reason he does not accept my insurance and charge 800(!!!) dollars per visit. Is he golden or what??? And he is still in the Dignity Health network!!! So I had to find another doctor to go to at least for a receipt to get onobiotics as my sickness was not going away.
Do not know why this doctor has good marks? I completely unsatisfied!
Office:
I had to provide my insurance info like 5 times. First I dictated it through phone before the visit. Then they had my card scanned. And then I called them like 3 or maybe 4 times to dictate it once more.

Fatima is simply an outstanding M.A. She’s not just on top of everything, she’s also very friendly, prompt, competent, caring, gentle, efficient, thorough,
reliable, but definitely not motherly. When I had to have my blood drawn in October for my annual physical which was coming up in November, Fatima was very gentle, and I felt no pain at all whatsoever while she drew my blood. I highly recommend Dignity Health Medical Group-​Sequoia to everybody in San Mateo looking for a PCP.

Don’t like giving bad reviews, but my recent experience at Sequoia Medical was too egregious not to. My regular doctor (who’s wonderful) was on vacation, so I got stuck with Dr. Tarpe (an osteopath, not an MD). I had sustained a puncture wound to my foot that, after a month, wasn’t healing and had become infected. Dr. Tarpe took one look at it, said she’d give a referral to a podiatrist, and was done with me. I had to point out to her (again) that it was an infected wound and, as a first line of defense, what I probably needed was a tetanus shot and an antibiotic. She then agreed to both (really, I had to tell her?) and was gone. She clearly deemed me to be a nuisance, as demonstrated by her brusque, rude and condescending manner. Thanks to my educating her as to what to do, my wound is now healing nicely. Avoid this woman… and shame on Sequoia Medical for having such an incompetent quack on staff.

I have a great doctor but the staff is anything but helpful. I would not recommend them.

Most unpleasant visit so far, I would give 0 star if I can. DO NOT GO THERE!

One strange episode for me, but I’ll give it 3 stars for the fact that my fiancé has had good experiences with the place and it typically works out efficiently for him, and he has been there multiple times.
I was able to get an appt same day since my schedule is very flexible during the day, so that’s all fine. The wait took a while, but to be fair, I arrived earlier than my appointment time. The facility is huge — I want to say, almost too huge for the number of ppl that appeared to be working there. The waiting room has no shortage of space to sit — it looks like an airport terminal from the number of seats. Parking was easy since they share a huge lot with a few other companies, and they are easy to locate from Shoreway.
The actual appointment took over an hour. I came simply for a vaccination and to get scripts redone after I switched insurance, which put me here. It took forever for the doc to get in and it appeared the waiting room had maybe 3 – 4 people in it, which makes me think, not busy! What was bizarre was that the doc got pulled out by a nurse for a question, mid-​appt while I was asking about my scripts, and I was left alone for about 20 – 30 minutes. The nurse finally came back to give me my vaccine and I asked where the doc was. She said she didn’t know and said she would get her back in here. The doc came back and was somewhat irked that I was confused. I dunno, could it be that I was not sure whether to leave or not, where the hell my vaccine was (did I have to go somewhere else?), stay in the room, where my scripts were, which meds were approved for a new script? I had to remind them which arm to vaccinate in about 2 minutes after I had said, left arm. Not to mention I realized on the drive home that she took the copies I made of some medical records and I forgot to ask for them back, but I wasn’t dying to return for them and wait some more. JUST STRANGE and disorganized. I’m not sure what this place has to be like when it’s actually busy, lol. Overall… not impressed.
And PS — one of my scripts never even made it to my pharmacy. What a nice surprise when I got there and I had to make yet another desperate call back to this place before everyone took off for the weekend!
PPS — asked for a renewal of my BC pills as the exact same ones I had before (even gave them the exact brand, name, and dosage) and when I get to the pharmacy, I get «we’re confused. Your doctor sent over both the script for 1.5÷20 AND 1.5÷30 so we have both but we’re not sure which one you wanted or if you wanted both.» Triple ARGH! Glad I pay attention to the dosage and other details. Why is this so confusing?
PPPS — I’ve never had this problem with University insurance for 2 straight years, but I transferred a recent gyno exam from Stanford Vaden to these ppl and I got a prescription for the same BC pills (the most generic one out there, not even anything unusual) for 3 months. All that was fine until that script was up, and from that point on, I had to start calling after every pill pack to get a new one and I was told the doc was not comfortable with prescribing more. WHAT? Blood pressure, check. Recent gyno exam /​pap smear, check. Palpated my boobs for lumps 3 months ago at my initial visit, check. Front desk, still confused. Beyond puzzled!

DRS APPOINTMENT– My husband went to Dr. Aron after having a pulimary embolism misdiagnosed at the ER. MY husband said his entire appointment the Dr spent on the computer researching or looking up things and while my husband hung out on his phone… terrible but whatever… we just wanted to get the necessary tests done that he didnt receive in the ER.
My husband works and was only able to take the blood tests on saturday… they couldn’t read the Drs. handwriting! Ridiculous! My husband called the office three times with ZERO response. Finally got a hold of someone that could just send the blood test to the labs so there would be no confusion. This time my husband called in advance to make sure it was there before driving all the way down there… NOPE! its been over a month since the first (AND ONLY) appointment and still not a single test had been done for this life threatening condition.
THE WORST PART OF THIS– I got the bill! Not only is $ 400 OUTRAGEOUS for a 15 minute appointment that was spent on a computer but there is NOT A SINGLE EXPLANATION of services or why we were charged that!)
«Dignity Health Care Foundation is pleased to present our new patient friendly statements.»
All they are doing is trying to take advantage of people. NOT EVEN THE DRS NAME WAS ON THE BILL. Not even a service date. When I called to see what this bill was even for she didnt tell me and said she would send me the details… in 7 – 10 business days. They claim they no longer give you this critical information because they don’t want it to get into the wrong hands… A BILL??? What are you talking about… Fine, don’t put my insurance, social security or medical numbers on there… date of service and details on what I’m being billed for is my RIGHT… this is simply to take advantage of their patients. how many people actually call or check, especially the chronically ill, elderly or non native speakers?
you literally have to call in for EVERY SINGLE BILL and ask for the details. I asked if they could just flag my account that I ALWAYS want the bill details and that is not an option…
I WILL NEVER AGAIN DEAL WITH DIGNITY HEALTH CARE– your responsibility as a health care organization should to help and heal… not be driven by your profit and taking advantage people.

Hands down the most impressively poor service ever. Had an appointment at 230, was not seen by a dr until 4. I had a one year old I had to entertain while I waited. If there was anywhere else to go in this crap town, I would. Avoid if possible. Really disappointing.

Terrible front office. Misbillings. Forgot to fax things to the lab. Lose my phone # EVERY TIME I’m there. Always revert back to old insurance info from 8 years ago (no idea why). Basically they don’t follow through and do what they say they are going to do. The doctors are great but that place is run soooo poorly.

Medical care was good enough, but good luck if you plan on using insurance to pay for it or transfer your records after you’re fed up with the billing department.
Parking is convenient.

How can such excellent doctors and nurses be stuck with such terrible support staff? It’s been years now. The front-​desk staff are sometimes nice but never very effective, and the billing service is abysmal (*four times* now they have made the same mistake and billed the wrong insurance, and I have called to fix it).
The medical staff really is fabulous, but you have to decide for yourself if that’s worth the poor administrative experience.

I went here even after seeing all the bad reviews on this medical group because it was convenient and all I needed was for some warts on the bottom of my foot to be frozen off.
I’ve been plagued with foot warts many times and it’s always been cheap to have it remedied (sometimes as little as $ 5 for a followup). I came in here trying to worry about my health and not my wallet. That mistake has cost me over $ 700 now (and I have insurance!). Don’t make the same gamble, go somewhere else.
Made me mad enough to finally create a Unilocal account and post a review.

Just don’t come here unless you want to be frustrated. All I wanted to do was get an annual physical exam done. Got my first appointment set up. It was about 15 minutes of nothing of importance. They took my height/​weight/​blood pressure. Then they told me that I needed to get my blood work done. After that, then I come back in for the follow up physical. Why couldn’t they have told me to get blood work before I came in? Better yet, blood work can’t be done at that location. So I need to make an appointment to go elsewhere and then come back. Got my blood work done and then tried to schedule my follow up. The doctor canceled my appointment twice. It’s been about a month since my first visit in and they still can’t get anything worked out for me to come in. I should have paid more attention to the reviews. I figured annual physicals aren’t too complicated, but I guess for this group, it is.

I’ve been to Dignity Health twice now, and I guess you have to really pay for your dignity.
The service from the doctor has been excellent. I was really happy with the way that the doctor spoke with me, and explained everything in depth. However, when I attempted to make an appointment, for some reason the receptionist didn’t seem to know what I mean by needing a general checkup! Then when I went in for the appointment, they didn’t seem to have me in the system, even though the appointment was verified with me over the phone. But again, the actual doctor’s visits themselves have been excellent.
The billing is my main issue. Even with my health insurance not being the best coverage, the bills that I’ve received for services at Dignity Health were notably higher than other medical visits that I’ve had this year, including visits with specialists that took a lot more time with me.
Even though I was happy with the doctor’s friendliness and helpfulness, I’m not sure that I’ll be going back. The office is very nice and somewhat swanky looking, so I got the impression that I’d be paying for that through the billing — and sure enough the bills were quite high.

Horrible, horrible doctors office! Run the other direction from this facility. The amount of unprofessionalism and lack of care is shocking. They are Rude! If you value people being nice to you and having a Doctor that actually cares for you then do not come here. I had the unfortunate experience of being here 3 times and they have the worst staff. I was actually chastised, unbelievable! Also I had a dr and she left abruptly so had to go in to establish a «Relationship» with a new dr just to refill a prescription. They didn’t even bother to tell me my Dr had left and never received any follow up after blood work or a mammogram.
I have moved on to a much better, friendlier and caring doctors office and I fully advise anyone else to do the same!

As much as I hate going to doctors, I had really good experience here. No wait time at all for me. I made an appointment over the phone, when I came 10 mins in advance I was called exactly the time my appointment was for. I had very quick check with a nurse weigh/​height/​pressure, and I was by myself less than 1 minute in before doctor came see me, after the nurse left. Got prescription for pills I needed sent to my pharmacy.

Poor overall experience.
Visited office twice. Spoke to staff over phone 2 times. Though I’m male, I’m comfortable with male or female doctors. Unfortunately, for certain issues, Dr. De Loa didn’t seem very comfortable treating me and generally inexperienced treating athletes. If you are male and or an anthlete of any sort (even recreational), I do not recommend her as your GP.
Also, Dr De Loa/​Dignity Health Sequoia are not prompt in returning online messages. Though online portal says they’ll respond in 1 – 2 business days, after 5+ business days (no holidays), I had no response from anyone regarding a medical question. Then, on the day I placed a followup question, I got a call from someone named Jackie who when returning my call failed to adequately address my first medical question then put me on hold 3 times during our conversation to ultimately return and tell me that she had other patients and would need to call me back… why call me if you have other patients?! Very frustrating experience here. Won’t be back.

So disorganised, get ready to pay out of pocket for things your insurance covers.
I had Dr Hughes run a typical lab test. Nothing relating to a pre-​existing condition. He’s so freaking disorganised that he sent my insurance company a code for the lab test that said it was for a pre-​existing condition. This was 2012, so the insurance company refused to pay.
But it was a mistake. The lab test wasn’t for a pre-​existing condition. I spoke to many people in Dr Hughes’ office, and they agreed that it wasn’t for a pre-​existing condition. My insurance company said that if the doctor would resubmit with the right code, they will pay it.
I tried for 20 months. TWENTY MONTHS. To get his office to change this code and send it back in. His office sent me to collections for non payment of this lab test.
They just called to let me know they’re not going to fix it. They refuse. I have to pay out of pocket for this test because of a series of mistakes. I tried so hard to fix this and make it right. I tried to get them to change the code. And they won’t.
So in addition to crap care from a guy who wants you to run into the office for every hangnail so he can bill for it, you have this. Get ready to pay for things your insurance covers because they are so damn sloppy with paperwork and won’t fix mistakes.

Phone Receptionist: Polite and warm voice. Very helpful when I tried booking an appointment. No rushing and no excessive holding. GREAT!
Front Desk Receptionist: Aloof and not welcoming, but not rude. Alright…
Nurse: Not too chatty but nice. Allowed me to keep my thin button up shirt on while taking my BP — flexible. GOOD!
Doctor (Deloa): Gives off a very strong condescending and cold vibe. Her hello was barely audible. She did seem to warm up to me by the end of our appointment and recommended I see her again in a month. Couldn’t help me with any of my problems but did make referrals for me and apologized for not being able to help me.
Lobby: Spacious, quiet, modern, clean, and organized. VERY NICE!
Room: Also spacious, quiet, modern, clean, and organized but not as nice as the lobby.
Parking: Easy peasy.