North East Medical Services – Portola

Even though this place hasn’t been opened for long, many patients have gone here for medical help. Most of the pharmacists here were not very patient nor helpful. I feel like they are always in a rush to get things done. I was very disappointed. Yesterday, i made a phone call before I went to pick up medicine for my mother. The pharmacist, Desmond who picked up was so nice and very patient. Even though I asked a lot of questions, he remained patient with me and answered all my questions. If all of the pharmacists there was like him, everyone would get better service.

There are many options when one is sick: do nothing, take some random pills, or go see a doctor. While the first two options are the easiest and least favorable, the third option is not always so available. Choosing a clinic is hard enough and finding a good doctor can be a crap shoot. However, I believe that NEMS has the right combination that fill both needs. Fortunate for my family we landed on Dr. Audrey Lung’s lap at NEMS and she has been taking care of my two boys (6 & 4) since 2010.
Dr. Audrey Lung is everything one can hope for from a pediatric doctor. She is kind, patient, knowledgeable, approachable, and very professional. Kids get sick for a variety of reasons and each time we visit, Dr. Lung never questions why but just gets us the help our kids need. She has excellent ‘bed side’ manner and never gets flustered by our crying babies. Dr. Lung takes the time to answer all our questions, regardless of how ‘dumb’, and never rushes us during our appointments. We have been very fortunate to have Dr. Lung as our pediatrician.
As for NEMS the clinic, I feel the staff does a decent job in helping the people. While I have seen some not so extra friendly service, it is sometimes due to the rudeness of the people the staffs have to deal with. My overall experience with the staff at various locations in SF and on the phone is that they are doing the best to help me. I would recommend NEMS to anyone looking for a clinic that is local, supportive, and have great doctors.
Thank you Dr. Audrey Lung and NEMS.

(this is an old review, couple months back) Wow. After experiencing what I did today for nems, I can one hundred percent tell you that I am not coming back and to be careful if you decide to go to this clinic. My first experience at nems was good. Everyone was friendly to me and even though the wait was long, I actually enjoyed my experience. My chinese is not bad, but I preferred to speak in English and they had no problem with it.
Today, I had an appointment to go in to pick up my blood results because they wouldn’t post it right away on the quest diagnostics website. Fair enough, i thought. I went in, headed upstairs to second floor, and was told that if I needed lab results, to head back down to the lobby. When I went down to the lobby, the front desk person told me to go down to the basement to get my results. I thought this was kind of weird, but I went down a floor once again. There, I got my results handed to me by the nice lady who was super accommodating, and headed home. About half an hour later, I get a phone call from an unknown number and a message that said I was supposed to come in for an appointment. I was like, this is weird, I’ll give them a call back. After being transferred to a couple different people when I had explained what happened, the woman who I ended up speaking to was very short, kept cutting me off, and tried to claim that my doctor couldn’t speak to me over the phone due to hippa rules. I work in the healthcare industry, and know that a doctor is allowed to discuss these conditions over the phone, in writing, or face to face with the patients

I was feeling unwell so I called to make an appointment to be seen the same day. I was told to leave a phone number and they will call me back if they can accommodate me. I was able to get an appointment late afternoon the same day. I took the entire day off from work so I can be seen by someone and all I got was a 10 minute meeting with the PA. I was told they don’t know what is wrong and was given painkillers. I was told I need an ultrasound as well. The next availble appointment for the ultra was more 1 ½ month later. Terrific. I was told to go to the emergency room if my feel worse. I felt like I just wasted a day of time. I should of just head to a real hospital instead. I don’t think I will ever return to this clinic again.

I was a bit worried after reading all the reviews but it wasn’t so bad. The nurse was really sweet just as the doctor was. Dr. Chang answered all my questions and made sure I wasn’t left confused. This is my 1^st appt here, I’d say it went smoothly although the wait does suck.

I’ve been coming here with my health concerns in the last three years and have excellent experience with the facility and the health provider too. They are busy, but very friendly and helpful. The facility is super clean and equipped with the most advanced equipments. Parking is a little difficult, but it also depends on what time during the day do you come here. If you ever spent more than 10 minutes at SF general before, this place is an automatic 5 star!!!

Honestly, how you’d rate medical centers will probably be the same everywhere. It takes forever when you wait for your appointment and when you get called it, it only takes five minutes and you’re done. I really don’t understand how that happens. But, it definitely happens to me all the time. I just feel like I waste so much time of my day waiting and when I’m expecting to get more from it, they just send me home like it’s NBD. It’s street or residential parking here but thank goodness I live close by so I can just walk.

STAY AWAY FROM HERE AND THE STOCKTON LOCATION (especially if you have insurance). This is a clinic, and you will be treated accordingly.
I’ve been trying to give this place a chance, but every time I go I get angrier and angrier with their lack of service and LIES. I’m a OB/​GYN patient, and there is always a shortage of doctors, and they seem to enjoy shuffling patients around by making appointments in Chinatown– due to the ever revolving door doctors leaving, and LEAVING.
Customer service BLOWS. They failed miserably on scheduling my appointment, and call me to act as if it were my fault. They billed me for something they should not have billed me for, and when I called to discuss it, the «receptionist» acted as if she’d been in the exam room with me, and/​or performed the duties herself. I’m getting agitated just thinking about the incompetence of these people. The only doctor that I can honestly say I like is Dr. J. Wong. It’s going to be a great day on planet earth when he leaves this place in favor of his own practice. Until then, I won’t be seeing him! AVOID.

Everything is fine at this location besides the wide-​eyed confused looking receptionist at the front counter when you walk in. I walked in and asked about getting tb shots and what is required to make NEMS my main doctors office. My mistake that I spoke to you in Chinese… She stated at me wide-​eyed and said «second floe» and pointed at the staircase behind me. I then asked if she can help me check if my registration was still valid from about 10 years ago. She stared at me again confused and said «second floe».
Uh.ok…
I proceeded to the second «FLOE» and a nicer receptionist was able to help me out with everything.
This place has MANY nice doctors that know what they’re talking about. Just beware of the skinny wide-​eyes in the front that would stare at you like you’re an alien if you speak a speck of English to her. Bai Chi!

came here for a check up. i was scheduled to come in at 245 but i didn’t get here until 3ish and i apologized but the receptionist gave me the tudes. dot dot dot.
then she made me wait in the waiting area. about 30 minutes later the receptionist called me in to an office to make a NEMS health card with a picture. the process was quick and fast but when i got the health card, i noticed my picture has a scratch mark so i asked her but her response was, oh i’m sorry. she didn’t insist to remake my card. what a lousy receptionist!
then i went to the 2^nd floor to register and pay my fee. few minutes later, a nurse called me in for weight check, height check, blood pressure, and asked some health questions. about 10 minutes later, my doctor came in and she was quite nice to talk to, she seem understanding and acknowledge about her patient. everything went well. i hope she will continue to be nice when i come back for my future visits.
btw the doctor’s name is, lorky libaridian.

I haven’t had to wait super long to get an appointment and a human answers my call pretty quickly when I want to make one. My average wait time is about 10 – 14 days until the doc’s next opening and I’m cool with that.
My first visit was with Dr. Pan. Avoid her. She began our appointment by insulting me before she even said hello. She was combative from the beginning, a poor communicator and absolutely unpleasant. She ordered a fasting blood panel to get a baseline picture of my health and ordered me back in two weeks.
When I came in to get my blood drawn I asked the phleb who she recommended. Her diplomatic answer was that all the doctors are good but perhaps I would like Dr. Li.
I DO like Dr. Li. He’s got a great manner with patients. He listens well. He’s made insightful comments and given me some good advice. He asks intelligent questions and speaks to you with respect. I’m really, really happy with the care I’ve received from him. So far I have seen him to get the results of my blood tests, discussed a blood disorder I have, and to have him check out an injury to my leg.
Yes, he has been late for our appointment and I’ve waited 45 minutes or an hour from arrival until I see him. However, it has been worth it and it seems to me that it is because he’s trying to give every patient a few extra minutes. I’ve gone to other clinics like NEMS and it’s universally the same in my experience — the docs just run late.
A tip if you want to visit here:
Schedule the first appointment or the last appointment of the day. I have had Li’s last appointment of the day every time and the result was a 30 minute appointment when I’d only been allotted 15! An appointment this long is rare and wonderful. He stayed late because he wanted to get the full picture and get my problem resolved as well as possible during the visit. What’s not to like about a doctor like that.
Yes, expect to pay $ 10 out of pocket each visit. Wha. Deal with it.
Cootz OUT!
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This clinic is horrible! NEMS is a sham!
They do not care about patients at all. It’s all about money to them. My friend is a doctor who used to work for them. They only want patients to come in so they can bill MediCal and MediCare a ton of money for a short appointment. That’s why you have to come to their clinics for everything and they never help you over the phone.
Dr. Hongyu Laurie Pan is cold, careless, heartless and incompetent! She had never greeted me or examined me even though I had been there over 6 – 7 times. She ridiculed and misdiagnosed me. I felt so ill that I had to go to the ER and was diagnosed and treated correctly and now feeling well.
Avoid!!!

They speak English. You wouldnt think it from the clientele but safe to say you can communicate easily.
Dr.‘s Chen and Libaridian are friendly, funny and actually care and follow up with questions I had.
Keep up the good work.

I wish I could give this place a much better rating but after the service that I received today, I can no longer do that. This review is only for the internal medicine department on the 2^nd floor.
I’m all for having more clinics and health services available in the southeastern part of San Francisco (which is lacking major hospitals compared to the northern part of SF), but from my experience here (at the internal medicine department), the service is extremely slow and inefficient. The customer service needs major improvement.
Two weeks ago, I had a yearly check up appointment and a blood test. The staff at NEMS told me to make an appointment to come back within two weeks to see the results of my blood test, which I complied thinking it’s only going to take 10 – 15 minutes or less – and something the nurse can just tell me about. I took my lunch off early today from work to go to my appointment at 11am – hoping to finish by 11:20-max. I spent nearly an HOUR waiting to just see the results of my report when NEMS could have A) mailed it to me, or B) had a nurse go over it with me in less than 10 minutes and NOT waste my time.
To add an even more unpleasant experience, I was charged $ 10 just to get my yellow card back. This was NOT a check up so why would I have to be charged? I saw the doctor for less than 2 minutes – yet my combined waiting time was nearly an HOUR. During the time that I was waiting, I hear the nurse staff in their area behind the receptionist chatting and laughing. Talk about inefficiency!
During my check up two weeks ago, I was charged almost $ 70 for my visit which included the check up and blood test and today just to see my results I was charged another $ 10. Outrageous. I feel that even though NEMS says they are a non-​profit, they are still just trying to make a profit. At previous clinics that I have been to, I have NEVER been charged $ 10 just to see my test results because presumably, it was paid for during my last visit – when I had to pay for the blood test. I was «required» to make an appointment to see my test results but this appointment was very unnecessary, inefficient and time consuming.