Joseph J Walters, MD

In these days of ever changing health insurance rules, it is reassuring to find a doctor who practices with skill and integrity. When our family doctor retired from practice at the end of last year, my husband and I were left with the daunting task of finding another doctor. After many exhausting weeks of searching, we were very pleasantly surprised to discover Dr. Walters, who took us in as new patients on next day appointments. We found Dr. Walters to be very kind and knowledgeable, and of all precious things in a doctor, patient and pleasant to talk to. The staff of any doctor speaks volumes about how the office is being run. Dr. Walters’ staff is very helpful and well informed. We look forward to being under Dr. Walters’ care for many years to come.

I took my father, who is 83 yrs old to Dr. Walters office on ⁹⁄₁₈. My dad just moved here to the area. Dr. Walters helped us, and answered all of our questions. Oh yes, his staff is a wonderful compliment to a doctor visit. The entire office visit was very positive and I highly recommend Dr. Joseph Walters.

I am the type of person that will avoid the doctors at all cost. In the past I have had too many bad experiences with doctors. They are either rude or they rush your visit or they barely look at you at all. Dr. Walters and his staff on the other hand, changed everything. Dr. Walters and his staff are patient and caring. The nurse at the front desk is very warm and welcoming. She really puts you at ease even when you might be a little nervous. She is very nice and strikes up small talk. Dr. Walters is also extremely amazing. He really takes his time. He sat down and had a conversation with me so he can really understand what was wrong with me. He made sure I understood what was being said and wanted to make sure he answers all my questions. At no point of time did I feel rushed or just another patient.
I would recommend Dr. Walters and his staff to anyone and everyone who is looking for a place where the staff genuinely care and make you feel comfortable and gives you knowledgable information.
Thank you Dr. Walters!

This is a smart, caring doctor. In the years I’ve been his patient I have found that he always takes the time that is necessary. I don’t want my review to read like a yearbook entry. I just want to assure potential new patients that this doctor is a very capable and decent individual who I suspect you will very much like. I sure do.

Let me preface this by saying I really don’t like going to the doctor. I mean, who really does? Anyway! I was referred to Dr. Walters through Good Sam. This was a follow up after the discharge.
Reception: I don’t understand why people are basing their review on the administrative aspect of this practice. I get what they are saying, but predominately no one cares about administration, at least not me. I’m concerned with the medical aspect first. The administration is fine. The receptionist handled my complicated health insurance just fine. She went the extra mile to do the leg work on my policy. Which I really appreciate because most receptionists/​assistants won’t give you the time of day once they see your insurance sucks.
Anyway! Moving on to the medical practice itself:
Honestly, I was a little worried about my injury. Anyway, I haven’t had an actual primary care doctor in a long time. Meaning, I just always used my OB/​GY to kind of double up, just because I couldn’t find any doctor that I thought was decent (trust me, I’ve been to a couple of incompetent doctors). I say this with the utmost respect, not all doctors are smart, unfortunately. I call it when I see it and I don’t mean to offend them as it’s a noble profession that I respect very much.
Don’t worry though.
Dr. Walters is smart.
And he was on time. Very important when you need to get in and get out and move on to taking care of other things.
You don’t have any issues with competence when it comes to this doctor.
He’s been practicing medicine for a while. He is the first doctor to bother asking a bunch of questions besides my OB/​GYN.
I know it was just a follow up, but he really took the time to ask the right questions.
He didn’t rush me out like other doctors who don’t know what they’re doing or don’t want to spend the time to understand any complexities and just look at the surface and want you to get in and get out and get to the next patient.
What impressed me was he is not quick to diagnose or assume.
That’s very important attribute that I look for in a doctor. Believe me, nowadays it’s incredibly rare.
You know how I knew he was good?
He measured my blood pressure and didn’t assume I had hypertension. I’ve had scores of incompetent doctors try to prescribe me with hypertension medicine and think I’m in denial. No! I am anxious. Only one other doctor who has over 30 years of experience identified this as the issue.
That’s the measure of a decent doctor in my opinion because most are tripped up by the numbers they see. They go by the numbers and don’t analyze other internal issues that could be going on. Don’t go to that kind of doctor. Go here.
This leads me to my final point– I was told by my referral at Good Sam that Dr. Walters had good bedside manner.
That is also important for me as I can get anxious sometimes, and for valid reasons.
Well, I can confirm he does. So go to him… you won’t regret it. I guess the silver lining in ending up at Good Sam is that I now I know a decent primary care doctor. I haven’t said that in 10 years. And I did have PPO back then and still did not find a doctor who I thought was capable of managing my healthcare.
I’ll be back! Well, you never want to go back… haha but you know for routine stuff…
I have to add one more thing: he’s compassionate. Brownie points! Thank God! Believe me, with my situation I really needed someone to understand.
Whew, this was too dang long.
But hey, I had to address this as well as some of these questionable negative reviews here that seem to be irrelevant.
I would recommend him to others if they needed someone and especially those who may have complicated issues. I think he is more than competent to handle those kind of cases than most primary care doctors.

I’ve been a patient of Dr. Walters since 2010 and I have to say that I love the guy. I don’t understand what these negative reviews are about, but I have had great experience with him.
He has admitting privileges at Good Sam which is great since that is where I usually go whenever I have some sort of massive need to go to ER (pretty often). He listens very well and will answer all of your questions. He is very straight forward, and that’s what I love about him!
The office staff is pretty great too. Once in a while I’ll get his medical assistant or file clerk, whatever she is, and she tries to boot me off the phone really fast. I have to say she is really nice. Whenever that happens, I’ll call back and wait to get his regular receptionist, Caroline, as she’s a little more thorough and much more friendly. Caroline has a great memory too!
I highly recommend Dr. Walters and his office staff!

When I first met Dr. Walters, it was at Los Gatos Community Hospital. It was for my father who’d almost died the previous year from a mis-​diagnosed bacterial blood infection in 2006. I had been trying to get him properly diagnosed for 6 weeks, but I could not get any of the doctors to listen to me!
Finally, Dr. Majunder, an infectious diseases doctor, was put on my Dad’s case and long story short, my Dad was put in a nursing home on 3 months of IV anti-​biotics. It is a miracle he didn’t die! Following Dad’s release Christmas 2006, Dr. Majunder told me that if my father EVER got ill again, that I was to immediately order blood work looking for a bacterial infection.
Fast forward: Dad got sick about a year later, and Dr. Walters was the physician on call in ER that day. When I told him Dad’s history, unlike previous doctors, he did not make little of it, he didn’t make excuses, but rather, he received what I had to say and immediately ordered the bloodwork! I was so happy that he listened to me that I now have him as my own doctor! Although i am fairly healthy, when I’ve gone in to see Dr. Walters, he has always been very professional, listening to what I have to say, and responds in a kind and thoughtful manner. I highly recommend him to you.

Not a positive experience.
The office itself and location is nice, but this doctor seems to be lacking in knowledge and expertise that other GP’s in the area excel. I guess it speaks volumes that my first interaction with Dr. Walter’s involved him making a quip about how annoying some of his other patients are. I don’t think this guy is well-​suited to working with people and helping them to find solutions to their medical needs. If you’re tired of doctors diagnosing you before a thorough evaluation, avoid this one.
My other complaint is with regards to the billing practices. Bills are charged as «Patient Balance» and «Insurance Pending» — the latter being a made up figure to hypothetically be charged to the insurance carrier. Well, after making a phone call to my insurance carrier, they deny any such claim for the amount. They were eager, however, to give me a full break-​down of what was paid to Dr. Walter’s office (as per my insurance paperwork). In other words, the insurance pending is just another way of bumping up the «patient balance» into smaller, easily swallowed payments. I prefer my bills to be straightforward and upfront.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being double billed. And I certainly won’t stand for it if the doctor is not competent enough to fulfill the role he has elected for himself. I decided to write this up because I don’t want anyone else reading Unilocal to make the same error as I. There are lots of doctors around, pass on this one.

This practice is a disaster. I took off work to go in for an appointment at 12:15 pm. The receptionist told me that their office was 10 mins from mine, so I left at 11:50 to get there. Once on Saratoga, traffic was thick, so I called them to tell them that I might be a couple of minutes late. No joke, the lady responds, «Hold on, I’ll see if we can still see you.» Hold for 7 minutes, «No, don’t bother coming in.» I asked to talk to anyone, and they said no. I arrived there anyhow (given that I was taking off from work) and got to the counter in time to hear her tell the lady in front of me that they were running behind (did I mention that I was exactly 5 minutes late?). They let me stand up at the counter for another 15 mins and then ask what I wanted. I said I was there for my appointment and they began by admonishing me. I apologized, said that I called, and then asked if I could see the doctor. They said, «maybe at 1:30.» I told them that I’d take it and reminded them that I was only 5 mins late and the lady kept after me. I finally said, «look, there’s no need to be so weird about this.» She hurried off while I filled out forms. I was shooting the breeze with the old ladies in the lobby when the door opens and the doctor himself appeared to tell me that «they can’t help [me] here» and that I’d «need to find someone else who can.» The old ladies waiting with me (who had seen the entire exchange) stared in disbelief. I looked at them and one of them said, «take your social security number of this place.» I did, and I’m better for it. This doctor never once asked what my ailment was, nor did he in any manner exhibit any professional or personal courtesy — the staff (at least the woman I was dealing with) was detestable.