Pacific Frontier Medical

I wish I had a better rating to give this place other than average. For $ 350 a half hour I feel like it’s a place you need to have a strong opinion about. For me it’s just so so. Closer to 2 than 4.
I’ve been going here for a year and a half to treat Lyme disease. I see Dr. Sugden who’s a naturopath I guess. She is quite nice and knowledgeable, and has suggested many things over the course of months I’ve been with her. Many of which were unfortunately homeopathy. Had to learn that lesson a few times before it sank in. Anyway. So far nothing has worked really. The main thing that got me better so far has been Cowden herbs but I buy those online and not through her office. She also suggested a low carb diet which helped a lot as well though I’m no longer on it. Other than that though it’s been a lot of money spent on supplements that just get pissed out.
She is very helpful in getting the right tests done and such. Last I was in there she tested my cortisol, neurotransmitters, as well as the actual Lyme test to see if I still had it (I do). It’s helpful to know that my cortisol is literally so high it couldn’t be charted. At least I know what I’m dealing with. But shit the supplements here are so expensive. Expect to spend no less than $ 100 extra by the time you leave. And for the love of money don’t buy the homeopathy. If I had to gauge dollar for percentage how much better I’ve gotten I’d say I’m at around 5%. Mwah mwah.
If you live closer than 6 hours they’re gonna insist you come in for appointments every time. $ 350 for a half hour is a pretty high price especially when you’re coming every 6 – 8 weeks. Wish they’d change that. They sometimes do phone consults though.
Would I recommend it to someone with Lyme? Well there’s no one else in the area that treats it for any cheaper. So… I guess?

I’ve been a patient of Dr. Harris’ since 2012 and him and his staff are very caring, compassionate, and amazing people. I fly out every 4 months to see Dr. Harris. Even though there are some amazing doctors here on the east coast, and despite how much money I would save, I will not see any other doctor. I lived in San Jose when I found PFM in June 2012 and started seeing Dr. Grieder (who was just as great.) I got so sick, my mom had to move me back to North Carolina in September 2012.
I have never had an issue with not getting a response back even when I ask the most tiniest, silliest (in my mind) questions. The longest I had to wait for a response was a day and a half… With urgent questions or situations they are back on the phone with me within 30 minutes to an hour.
Dr. Harris himself is such a wonderful doctor, he has helped me so much, has always had encouraging words during my hardest times and has the ability to make me laugh and gain confidence. He’s worked with me very closely on my treatments and listens and addresses my concerns and questions.
The staff is really great as well. Very helpful, friendly, and easy to work with.
I’m very happy I found PFM, I can’t thank them enough for all that they do.

I had only one initial appointment which lasted a total of one hour. After surmounting a ten-​year ordeal that included 13 months of IV antibiotics for Lyme and four co-​infections under the guidance of another doctor, I got bitten by a tick again. I was grateful to get an appointment the next day with Dr. Jennifer Sugden. I had read about Dr. Steve Harris and was hopeful regarding his practice. After seeing Dr. Sugden who was very competent and knowledgeable, I was much calmer and reassured. I knew from experience with one of the best Lyme doctors I’d seen previously, that Dr. Sugden is right up there at the top with them. We had a good rapport. She asked me to return in three weeks to get blood drawn for a Lyme test. But Dr. Sugden was overruled by Carolyn Degnan, the practice manager! Just one week later, I received a letter signed by Carolyn (not Dr. Sugden) telling me, «There are times when a patient just doesn’t fit into a medical practice for various reasons. We believe that is the case with you and our practice. We are therefore terminating any relationship we have with you effective…» Really? Okay, I admit it, I made a bitchy remark due to the stress of potentially facing another Lyme Disease nightmare: why did they have to take my temperature, blood pressure and weigh me just for a tick-​bite check? Can they not understand that patients aren’t always at their best when they are facing a serious medical issue, particularly at the initial meeting? When I first arrived, I waited for ten minutes after ringing the bell. Then the receptionist took another patient before me who arrived after me – apparently she hadn’t remembered I rang the bell and she had told me to wait. I was respectful, said nothing, and the other patient was sorry he when realized he’d been taken ahead of me – all while the receptionist said nothing which was so lame of her. So it works both ways, Carolyn. Your operation isn’t perfect either. But Carolyn and her staff clearly made a snap judgement (never an accurate thing) and now I am banished without explanation after just a single, one-​hour appointment where the doctor herself asked me to return. Who operates like this?! Totally unprofessional and and highly reactionary. In two decades of interacting with medical professionals at all levels due to accident injuries and Lyme, I have never encountered anything remotely like this. If this practice has it’s office manager take charge to dish out a one-​sided assessment of «deal-​breaking» behavior without any rationale, they did me a huge favor by ending the relationship now! Good to be away from this kind of obvious dysfunction and total lack of transparency.

Unfortunately I have to agree with the other one star reviews. My dad has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease and after some research decided to get treated at Pacific Frontier. The first appointment was a consultation with nurse Amy (can’t remember her last name). We waited in the waiting room for 45 minutes. After the appointment we were all hopeful because Amy was very positive and had laid out what seemed to be a good plan for him.
My dad came back two days later for a vitamin I.V. treatment. Again he waited in the waiting room for an hour, for which they tried to charge treatment time for.
Luckily my dad is a smart man and could tell there was something wrong with this place and the treatment he was receiving. The next two days after the I.V. were the worst two days of his life since he had gotten sick. Both he and his friend David, on my father’s behalf, tried to reach Amy repeatedly for four days without response with emails saying *URGENT*.
Needless to say, with $ 1,000 down the drain, my father is going elsewhere for treatment. He said to me earlier, «I would write a scathing Unilocal review, but I just don’t have the energy to.»
DO NOT IGNORE YOUR PATIENTS.

I literally owe my life to Dr. Harris and his team at PFM. The office has a very high demand and every patient is a complex case. They do their best to take care of everyone.
When I started here 5 years ago it was a much smaller group with only Yvonne, Dr. Harris and Dr. Grieder. Dr. Harris told me today I was originally in his top 8 sickest patients. His wisdom and knowledge guiding my care has lead me to where I am today. He has an amazing team who all bring their own expertise to make the clinic better for all patients.
Things do get lost and mixed up occasionally and wait times for doctors appointments are usually late, but those things don’t matter as much to me, because I understand how crazy it is to be caring for hundreds of patients who are very very sick. I never felt rushed and always felt like each doctor took the time to answer my questions.
My journey was never easy and there were many bumps in the road, but I knew I trusted Dr. Harris and was confident that he would lead me to health. I’m happy to say today I was told lovingly by him, «be free and fly». I believe in PFM and am so grateful they have helped me on my journey to health.
My recommendations are:
1. Get a fax to best communicate with this office. I subscribed to a service that made my scanner/​email into a fax message.
2. Stop eating gluten and dairy for sure but look into the autoimmune pales diet. Diet is huge in a successful treatment.
3. Don’t define yourself by having Lyme, instead recognize it is one part of you but it’s not all of you.
4. Trust the process. My treatment took 5 really long and tough years but it gets better.

I’m shocked to see any negative reviews about this clinic! I personally have not seen Dr. Harris, so I cannot comment regarding his care.
I’ve been seeing Dr. Mischa Grieder ND, since 2012 for treatment of late stage Lyme Disease, Babesia, and Bartonella. I did lots of research before deciding which doctor I wanted to work with to help me recover from these terrible diseases and parasite. From my initial consult to my current care, I’ve felt very well taken care of and never taken advantage of financially, or otherwise. I make a two hour roundtrip drive to this clinic because there are no reputable doctors in my county that treat these diseases.
I’ve improved tremendously under Dr. Grieder’s care. He’s a smart, kind, and genuine doctor who truly cares about his patients getting better. The staff has been nothing but helpful and accommodating. I understand their policy regarding phone consults because if you live within a reasonable driving distance, in person appointments are the preference. It’s important for the doctor to see you in person to assess your progress.
Anyone newly diagnosed must understand that treating Lyme Disease, especially in the late stages is a roller coast ride, filled with many ups and downs, before you can fully recover. Many times, you feel worse before you feel better due to all the toxins, etc. that are released when the bacteria is dying off from treatment with antibiotics or herbs.
I was a «high functioning» late stage Lyme case, with minor to moderate «neuro-​Lyme» symptoms, and it’s still been a difficult road. The average treatment time for people diagnosed with late stage Lyme Disease is 3 years! Those who are worse off, will likely have a much longer, more difficult road to recovery and may be the reason for some of their negative reviews.
I also agree with Kathryn’s review regarding insurance. They’ve always provided me with a bill to submit for reimbursement. And unfortunately, there are no Lyme literate MD’s or ND’s that bill insurance directly.
I believe some people’s expectation to quickly recover from a disease that many unknowingly have had for years while it wreaks havoc on several our body systems is RIDICULOUS!
True healing takes longer, but will ultimately lead to better long term health. As Kathryn also said in her review, «if you want to be given a magic pill that will make your problems go away without any real work on your part, this probably isn’t for you.» I’m grateful that Dr. Grieder wants true, long term healing for his patients!

An absolute and utter nightmare. I have gotten off the phone literally sobbing and cussing one too many times with this office. The way they treat patients makes me feel so deeply disregarded, treated like a number, and taken for a fool. They are after your money. I think this practice is either a racket, or they just have fantastically dysfunctional administration. Either way there is no excuse.
Now I am not the kind of patient who is looking for reasons to feel victimized. I am very proactive about my care. After struggling with Lyme for 16 years, Dr. Harris was recommended to me by a trusted friend, and he is a good person– the one time I actually got to see him, I got a false hope. I have been giving this office business for a year and a half, and only once have I got to actually see/​talk to Dr. Harris. They will only let you rotate into his schedule, so you have to interface with nurse practitioners and other doctors three out of four times– which might make some kind of sense in a universe where they had competent administration. But alas, they cannot keep track of what drugs you are on, it literally sounds like they have the wrong persons file in front of their face half the time. They repeat back incorrect information about your treatment. The nurses might ship the wrong supplements to you, or forget to ship them. This is compounded when, like me you are a long distance patient– there are all kinds of ridiculous rules that if you live a certain number of miles away from the office, you cannot have phone appointments, and if you are a phone-​appointment only client, you can *never* consult with Dr. Harris. He is too busy for phone appointments.
You might wait an hour and a half to be seen. Knowing you are a college student, they might tell you to get a $ 1,500 blood test and not tell you it will cost you this much. Having somewhere to be, 3 hours late now, you might wait in the blood drawing room for another hour, then your blood might be drawn, *before* they mention this test will cost you $ 1,500. Then you might leave the office in tears. This happened to me my first time there.
After a year and a half of treatment here I was totally frustrated with the complicated and expensive regimen and did not want to take their treatment anymore. I was over it, but needed to call in a simple favor– I needed them to sign a statement for my college confirming that my absence was for medical reasons, so that I wouldn’t lose my California residence status.
They initially agreed and I assumed the letter was on its way. When I called to check to make sure it was sent, the front desk person said they could not write this letter unless I paid for a phone appointment. Why? Because I had not had one in 3 months. Sick with this same disease for 17 years, and they think a lot has changed in 3 months? I resentfully agreed, or rather was forced, into an expensive phone consult with a doctor I did not even want to interact with. I said I was doing basically the same and did not want to continue my relationship with their office, could they please send the letter now. The doctor agreed. I confirmed, are you SURE you understand the nature of this letter? She said yes, no problem. I said do you have the address? I left it on the voice mail like 4 times. She said, yes. It will be sent.
2 weeks later I am calling my school anxiously wondering why they haven’t received the letter yet. I get ahold of a PFM office person who explains to me, «oh, we were confused, and didn’t know what the letter needed to say, and didn’t know where to send it.» OK, so your office lost valuable information, then didn’t bother calling me to clear this up? I told her the doctor promised me she was sending this letter already and we had gone over the details. No apology, she keeps making it sound like my fault. Then she says, well we can send this letter if you WRITE IT FOR US, and email it to us– we don’t normally check our email but we can make an exception this ONE time. That will be $ 25.
That’s when I really started losing it. Why are you charging me for this? «If you refer to your new patient packet… you will see that you agreed to our terms of service…»
At this point I felt like they were literally going to keep charging me fee after fee for all eternity and this letter would never be sent. I tearfully asked my mother to give her credit card info over the phone to purchase this favor. ABSURD. Did you want to get those supplements? No, I never want anything from your office ever again, and it would be unfortunate for any other human being ever to give these people a penny.
These blood suckers will nickel and dime you, lose your file, mix up your information, spring hidden fees on you, bully you into spending more money while making you feel like a huge inconvenience and burden. The opposite of customer service.

I have been a patient at this office since 2010. I came to them very, very, very sick and had been turned away by many other Doctors. Unfortunately, that is not an uncommon story. What is uncommon, I have learned in my years navigating a complex illness, is a physycian who will work with you tirelessly to get to the bottom of the problem. With other care providers, if my symptoms didn’t fit into a neat little «box» then I would be blown off with a referral to a therapist. Not the case with the Providers at Pacific Frontier Medical. They did not give up on me and would not let me give up on myself. Without this office, I would still be bed-​ridden and using a walker… or worse.
A word to those who complain that they do not take insurance: You can submit your claim to your insurance company for reimbursement. Even paying out of pocket for my office visits, I am saving money by not wasting time at other less qualified physicians who do accept insurance. It is a terrible situation to be in, that is certain, however, lets not take away stars because of the entirely screwed up medical system in our country.
Since there are 4 providers at this office, I will review them individually.
Dr Steven Harris, MD — A talented physician with many years of experience treating complex illnesses with success. He would not give up and worked very hard to make sure I recovered from my illness. In addition to pharmaceutical medications, he is also quite knowlegable of beneficial supplements and treatments and does not over prescribe or just fling pills at you. He takes his time with you in appointments and really looks at the whole picture. I have not observed the arrogant or cocky attitude mentioned by other reviewers, BUT I do know he is a no b.s. kind of guy (which I actually appreciate) so I can see how that may be confused. Since he is the head Doctor at a busy office, it’s pretty common for there to be brief interruptions during my visit. Yep, it’s annoying but at least it’s brief.
Yvonne Lin, PA — Yvonne is the Physician assistant who I have had follow up visits with. She is a very focused person who can bring a new perspective or idea to your case, which is very nice. She listens and offers reasonable solutions and if she feels Dr Harris needs to be consulted will say so. She is also the only provider at the office whose handwriting I can actually read.
Dr Mischa Grieder, ND — brings a holistic perspective to the office as the Swiss Naturopath. A very friendly provider who is AMAZING at helping when you’re health is in crisis. He is fast thinking and his broad knowlege of Chinese Herbs, Homeopathics and Pharmaceuticals is a nice thing to have available when there is a proverbial fire to extinguish. His personality will put you at ease and his follow up is very good. I have noticed that «crisis management» really is his wheelhouse which is his major strength but could be viewed as a weakness.
Dr Jennifer Sugden, ND — a new Naturopath addition to the office. I have seen her once briefy for a follow-​up and she seemed very nice and knowlegable, bringing yet another point of view to the case, which is always welcome. I can’t really comment more on her though, since I hven’t really been treated by her.
The Staff — Front Desk, Nurses, Assistants, billing, managers… everyone else is very nice. They are a fast growing practice and I realize with that comes growing pains. Sometimes the follow through leaves much to be desired but fortunately (or unfortunately?) I am relentless and after a few calls I get a response. After 3 years of very regular visits, I have gotten to know everyone in the office and it really has made a difference in my recovery to know that every single person there is rooting for you.
I feel very lucky to have found this practice and maybe I am a little spoiled because other interactions with other providers at other clinics don’t even come close to measuring up to Pacific Frontier Medical.
Bottom line — for teamwork in reclaiming your health, this is the place. If you want to be given a magic pill that will make your problems go away without any real work on your part, this probably isn’t for you.

Great staff. They take the time to listen to you. They think «outside the box» when looking for what is causing all of your symptoms. They are willing to work with your primary care doctor. There wealth of information on tick born diseases is amazing. They have been helping myself and my two daughters for a long time. The only downside is the out of pocket expense. If money was no object I think our treatment would be moving a lot faster, but because we are dealing with 3 people in my family with LD we sometimes have to go slow on our treatment.

Absolutely wonderful physician.
Super intuitive, and kind.
Smart as can be.
Cares deeply.
Helps me so much again and again…
and i’ve been on a long Lyme journey…
for many, many years before I met Dr. Harris.
I’ve been treated by some of the leading
Lyme Literate physicians on the east coast
for several years.
Reading the negative review by EA– inconceivable–
seems impossible to me.
All of the staff have been welcoming to me,
and incredibly kind and helpful.
I’ve been going there for over 5 years–
so, I know these folks really well.
They all care deeply. Not just there
because its a job.
I am doing so much better.
Dr. Steve Harris rocks!
Jeanne F

Worst experience of my life. Dr. Harris may know a lot about lyme and co-​infections but he is completely unprofessional and his staff is rude and unresponsive. There are plenty more doctors in CA who believe in chronic lyme and who will treat you for years, like Dr. Harris does, but are professional, confident (not cocky) and really know their stuff when it comes to lyme.
I was on a regimen of different medications which continued to make me sicker and sicker for more than a year. But I stuck with it because I believed there was a reason for this and that Dr. Harris knew what he was doing. One day, I questioned him. I asked him why I was taking one of the medications for so long and when he thought I might be able to stop, and so he BLEW UP ON ME. We were on the phone and he was SCREAMING so loud that I put the phone down on speaker, because those of you who have had lyme know that loud noises can be tough to handle, not to mention unreasonable yelling. He went on and on about how if I don’t trust him, I can go take a hike. I was hysterically crying at this point and had called my parents into my room to listen. We were all in shock and horrified. After a year of being treated by him and getting sicker and sicker, to have him yell at me made absolutely no sense at all, nor was it justified. As a patient, I should be allowed to ask questions about why I am taking certain medications. Dr. Harris didn’t like me questioning anything. So there I was sick, exhausted, in pain, and being yelled at by my doctor, the man I had trusted with my life for the past year. He never properly apologized. Instead, he sent me a huge bill for the phone conversation we had where he was screaming at me. He actually had the audacity to charge me for it.
Since then, I found another doctor who treated me for chronic lyme, babesia, and bartonella. I am now HEALTHY and happy, and able to function normally, like I did before lyme. And now that I am healthy again and on the other side of this, I can truly say that there is never any excuse for a doctor to scream at a patient. It is outrageous.

This office had changed immensely and I can no longer recommend it like I once did, I am very sad to say.