Geetinder Chattha, MD

No New Patients! Thanks for nothing

In spring of last year I had two congested hair follicles removed from my scalp. They run in my family, and I had the procedure done before and will probably have it done a few more times in my life. No big deal.
There being no reason to suspect any abnormality, I requested that they not sent to the laboratory. I’m a single parent and have to watch my expenditures. I was told that it was a policy but I asked not to proceed with it and that I would assume responsibility for omitting this step.
After a few months I received a bill for $ 250 from the UCSF Dermatopathology Center for analyzing two hair follicles! This in addition to the $ 283 I was charged for the procedure.
I find this outrageous and feel very irritated by it. I asked the insurance if this was justified or if they would pay for it, but they said it was a completely unnecessary expense and that they would not cover it.
I’m shocked at the ignorance with which my request was disrespected. I thought doctor and staff were super nice at the time of treatment, but I don’t think it’s ok to overwrite a patient’s request, especially if it creates a $ 250 bill (they probably get a referral fee for that).
I was also very surprised (actually, shocked) to see that they perform Botox treatment in their practice. In my book doctors take a pledge to do no harm… Botox is a toxin that causes a long lasting inflammation in the tissue it’s injected into. Hence the puffing up… it’s a defensive reaction of the body towards a toxic substance, and solely cosmetic. For a doctor to administer it is unconscionable… but hey, it makes good money…

Wow! What an amazing experience! She LISTENS to your concerns, addresses them, and thinks of the body as a whole. She understands that an issues with your body might be a combination of concerns or just one. She is very knowledgeable and I appreciated her friendly welcoming attitude.
Great doctor!

I’m a little bit torn about this review… Dr. Chattha is absolutely wonderful and deserves 5 stars, but I have never had such a horrible experience with a receptionist.
The wait time for a first appointment is a few months, so I was disappointed when my first one was canceled by the doctor and I couldn’t make the date they offered as a make-​up. I had to wait another month! I was stuck in traffic on the way up to Sebastopol from San Francisco and was 10 minutes late to my appointment. The receptionist was talking to someone else when I arrived, so I picked up a magazine and read for a few minutes.
Imagine my shock when the saccharine-​sweet receptionist told me they had a policy of canceling first-​time appointments after 15 minutes. I pointed out that I was not 15 minutes late (even as she was telling me this, my accurate watch had me at 14 minutes late, and I’d been sitting around already for a number of minutes). She claimed that her clock said I was already 15 minutes late.
The reason given was that it takes 15 – 20 minutes to fill out paperwork! (I have never had it take remotely that long.) She claimed all patients were told of this rule when they made the appointment, which may have been true when I did make the original appointment 3 months ago, but certainly wasn’t repeated (I checked my messages when I got home).
I was finally able to persuade her to let me see the doctor anyway, but she let other patients in ahead of me since I had «missed» my appointment, and told me I was being rude when I asked to fill out the important paperwork (which took all of two minutes). I was absolutely shaking at HER rudeness and absurdity.
I gave serious thought to leaving then and there, but had already waited 3 months to see a dermatologist about a funny mole, so I went ahead and was totally charmed by Dr. Chattha. She’s friendly and thorough and a little conservative, but that’s probably a good thing where skin cancer is concerned :-)
I will go again, but if I have more trouble with the receptionist, I’ll find someone else. I’ve never had an experience like this before, and don’t typically rant on Unilocal,but I was really shocked by the receptionist’s behavior. (On the way out, I checked my watch against her clock, and unless she moved it back, my watch was actually FAST, so she was clearly just giving me trouble.) Dr. Chattha deserves better, and so do her patients!