Jeanette Frei, MD

It bothers me that I’m giving my first one star review to a fellow health care provider.
I have been a patient of Dr. Frei’s for a few years. Last year she was thrown from her horse and suffered a concussion. Her accident occurred before my annual appointment. The office called me to reschedule. I was rescheduled not once, not twice, but THREE times (keep in mind the third rescheduled appointment was several months after the initial appointment). I completely understand that certain injuries take longer to heal from than others. However, what upset me was during the third rescheduled appointment I was brought into the room to change and I was told that a male physician was covering for Dr. Frei. No one mentioned in the appointment reminder phone call or when I checked-​in for my appointment that Dr. Frei was still not available to see her patients. The medical assistant almost pleaded for me to stay and said that the office is trying to keep Dr. Frei’s practice going. I felt torn, because I felt the office staff was deceitful for not telling me Dr. Frei was still unavailable to see patients. Also, I just wanted to get my annual visit over with. I reluctantly proceeded with the rest of the visit.
Fast forward to this year. I made my annual appointment and was contacted by the office staff a few days prior to my appointment and I was told that Dr. Frei had an emergency change in her schedule. This was the last straw!!! After everything that happened the year before, and then to be cancelled on again this year. I had enough. I have since switched physicians.

Circle of Life is absolutely the best Family Practice I have ever been too. Dr. Frei treats her patients with so much love and compassion that I would never think of going anywhere else. Dr. Frei spends time really trying to understand your concerns and identifies practical solutions and treatment regimens. She is definitely a «whole health» practitioner that respects the fact that medical treatment is well beyond a pill. If you’re seeking a quick diagnosis for a potentially complex issue, go elsewhere… Dr. Frei takes pride in making sure that you are receiving comprehensive care for the primary cause of your concern; thus if a referral is necessary for an accurate diagnosis than a referral you will receive. Personally, I respect a professional who understands where his/​her expertise is limited and can depend on a trusted colleague.
I have also seen Dr. Waterbury in Dr Frei’s absence, whom I also find to be very courteous and professional. I don’t see him often (as he is not my primary doctor), so my minimal response is no reflection of his abilities but rather a reflection of my limited, but positive interactions with him.
As for the staff, I mostly interface with two of the long timers whom I adore. The ladies are so personable and professional that they make visiting the doctor for a cough or sore throat not so bad.
The office is always neat and clean and I rarely have to wait longer than 10 – 15 minutes which is absolutely amazing for a doctor’s office.

This is the worst practice I’ve ever visited. They have an office on 2382 Maritime Dr ste 100 Elk Grove, CA 95 758 — the office staff is condescending and they do not show compassion toward their patients. Both doctor Frei and Waterbury have limited availability, expect them to cancel or reschedule with you. They don’t understand how hard it is for some of us to get off work, but be careful if you cancel on them… it’s a 50 dollar fee. The highest rescheduling fee I’ve ever seen. The reason why it is so high is to cover their overhead expenses as they continue to have patients leave their practice. My wife and two daughters went to this practice as well and they were all disappointed. Dr. Frei wouldn’t do back to back visits so we had to take one of the kids at 10 and the other at 1130, taking us from our work.

I have been a patient of Dr Frei for many years and I have always been treated with professionalism and kindness when I call and when I am in the office. She and her staff have always responded promptly to my calls and inquires on numerous occasions when I have had urgent health needs. In addition, I work in the medical field and have found to her to be up to date, knowledgable, with a strong and helpful desire to educate me and help me to make informed decisions about my medical care. I’m pretty happy to have found excellent care in the Elk Grove area!

I used to be a patient of Dr. Frei but I am now looking for a doctor that actually is available and responds to their patients needs. The staff at Dr. Frei is horrible. I had a simple question about getting blood work done and I was told that the doctor wasn’t in that day but they would get back to me. I have yet to receive a call back. A separate time I called just to cancel an appointment and I was put on hold for TWELVE MINUTES. I finally hung up and called back and when the staff member on the phone answered I let her know that I had been on hold for 12 minutes and asked if they still needed me to be on hold or if I could speak to someone finally. Her response? «Well I didn’t put you on hold.» No apology? No nothing? Obviously she was sitting near the phone where the line was indicating that someone was on hold but she did NOTHING. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE SERVICE!!! Plus Dr. Frei has recently reduced her hours, she now works 4 hours a day but as I said earlier she wasn’t in one day. This means she is working less than 20 hours a week. I suggest you find a doctor that actually wants to work and acts like she cares about her patients. You may blame the staff for the horrible customer service but she is the person who is in charge of the staff so the staff and her are one in my mind.
(Also this is her old address.)

so after looking around for another dr in the area we ended up staying with dr frei’s office. over the past two year her office has greatly improved. the billing of services is still very rigid, but as long as you stay informed about your coverage that is only a minor inconvenience.
i have young children and the office is very accommodating in getting them in when they are sick and need to be checked out. everyone in the office is knowledgeable and friendly. in the end i am glad we stuck it out with dr frei. she is an excellent dr. and although it seems no one else has posted good reviews on Unilocal,i do see pictures of a lot of happy patients on her bulletin boards and her office is filled with holiday greetings every year. so i know there are many other families out there that would agree with me that not only is dr. frei and excellent physician, but her family practice is a great place to get health care for the whole family.

I can’t believe someone thought my review was funny but whatever. Frei appears to have two different places for reviews on Unilocal.
Been waiting for my rx’s to be refilled since Monday afternoon. Many calls, faxes and calls from Walgreens, emails to relay health. Still. no high blood pressure meds since yesterday a.m. Almost out of albuteral for asthma. grrrrrrrrrr. Spoke to Isabella at 11:00 a.m. today at the office. she seemed totally oblivious to my plight. Gave her the meds again… walgreens again, even their phone number. I reminded her that I have been out of high blood pressure meds since yesterday a.m. 3:20 pm… still no refills.

Dr. Frei is wonderful and has a great family pracitce, Circle of Life Medicine, complete with Nurse Practitioner and Medical Assistants. She has been providing care for our family for 4 years as family doctor, OB-​Gyn and pediatrician for our son and soon to be born daughter. She has never let us down and is thorough, she doesn’t just «shoo» us away like many of the doctors out there nowadays. When our 2 ½ year old son was running a fever earlier this year without any other symptoms she didn’t just say «go home and give him Tylenol & Motrin», she sent us for blood work, x-​rays and a urine sample. Turns out our son had Pneumonia, I was grateful that she sent us for the testing as it could have manifested into something really bad had his fever been ignored.
I would recommend Dr. Frei to anyone looking for a quality family doctor.