Palo Alto Medical Foundation

I receive all of my care at PAMF. From my PCP to unexpected happenings in life such as surgery.

I actually pay more for a PPO insurance so that I can stay with PAMF.

No Kaiser or Stanford Alliance for me...

What on earth has happened to PAMF Sutter Health???

Broke ankle in January and podiatrist rescheduled on me last minute twice in a row and each time I go to the rescheduled appointments was late for more than 1 hour and was seen for like 5 minutes.

Had posterior vitrieous detachment of my eye and Ophthalmologist took 3+ months to book appointment.

Finally at my appt I sat in waiting room for 2hrs 20 min before I lost my patience, Stood up, politely explained to the nurse, and walked away.

I know my eye doctor is popular. I blame the hospital overworking him by overbooking
At the patients' expense. At least have the courtesy to call me ahead so I don't waste more than half a day for absolutely nothing!

PCP messaging challenges, exorbitant fees for video visits with Nurse Practitioners

I've been a customer of Sutter (formerly PAMF) for ~15 years, primarily because of a wonderful PCP who sadly retired last year.

Sutter's monopolistic pricing has really taken off these past few years.
See the 575M lawsuit settlement reached with the California AG in 2021 for price gouging.

I had my second bout with COVID last year, and I setup what turned out to be a less than 10 minute video visit with a Nurse Practitioner.
This was required just to obtain Paxlovid, which I'd already taken previously.
I was billed $247 for this visit, which was classified as "high complexity"!

In the past couple of years, messaging your PCP through MyHealth no longer goes to the PCP, but to any random physician, PA or NP who happens to read the question.
This despite specific directions that I wanted my PCP to answer the question!
(My PCP advised adding a strongly worded request to reach her, but it didn't work).

I now use an online telemedicine service with fixed pricing for well defined issues.
Otherwise, I'm looking for alternatives in this monopoly filled landscape.
The only positive: some of their physicians truly do care, and are frank about their own battles with their system.

I visited PAMF Urgent Care (Palo Alto) on the evening of 3/28/24, for extremely inflamed, bloodshot eyes coupled with white stringy mucus discharge in both eyes. The on-call physician informed me, verbatim, 'You have red eyes' and suggested I purchase an over-the-counter product named 'Refresh' for dry eyes.
I questioned him, as I did not have dry eyes; I clearly had pink eye in both eyes. The very next morning, 3/29/24, I saw another physician, NOT at PAMF, and was informed I had bacterial conjunctivitis, highly contagious, and was prescribed Tobramycin Ophthalmic Solution. Weeks later, I received a bill from PAMF Urgent Care for $850.00. I filed a grievance with PAMF Urgent Care for misdiagnosis and for not treating the symptoms presented.
I also included the notes taken by the second physician along with the prescription.

Unfortunately, my request was denied, as was a request to negotiate reducing the exorbitant bill. Patients visiting PAMF Urgent Care, beware!

Cannot recommend this place at all. Here's the latest. Mom seeing Dr Nguyen for cancer treatment. The case worker nurse paints a "what to expect" picture that is out of touch with real experiences.

We contacted the support person when my mom started experiencing more intense side effects. They said they would prescribe different medication. We expected they would use our carrier - Alto - so it would be delivered. However they chose to use the same pharmacy where they order the cancer pills. The cancer pills had been delivered so we expected the same. Not the case. The nausea and other medicine we needed falls outside the cancer medication area and is not delivered so I had to go all the way to palo alto (from mountain view) to pick up her medication from Walgreens - Do I even need to mention how this went?

We had called the Nurse back but she provided no further help beyond placing the order. An experienced and competent nurse would have know this and understood this would be an important piece of information knowing full well my parents don't drive and I have limited availability to take off work to pick up their medications. The nurses at Dr Nguyen's office are seemingly underqualified. Talking to this particular nurse was very frustrating because she tried to make excuses to point the finger elsewhere rather than just trying to solve the problem. My parents are both in their mid 80s and lack the energy and are quite vulnerable. I would hate to see how they would be treated and taken advantage of if I wasn't around to help and question the overall treatment received.

Here's another reason. Today we went to give blood and got there and Dr Nguyen's nurse made the lab work with the wrong doctor. She placed an order for doctor Shaw instead of Nguyen. So thankfully we had a very good person at the lab resolve an issue cause by the oncology receptionist. She was another example of someone they hired that had no reason to be heading the desk. She had difficulty making lab appointments 3 weeks apart. She made the appointments with the wrong cadence and we had to question her so that they were corrected.

These are by no means the only substandard experiences we gone through but over the past two days it was enough that I decided to write a review. I don't and won't use Sutter Health. It goes beyond Sutter as well. It's the overall system and single payer would further cripple the quality of care.

Palo Alto Medical Foundation Mountain View CA Tue 11/9/21
Booster Shot
®
Here for COVID booster shot. Everything fast and efficient. You get your online appointment, you Checkin into the system, you're directed to a vaccination clinic area, you're given your shot, you sit it out for 15 minutes, you're outta there. Done!

Yes, a two-tier Chihuly glass sculpture centerpiece welcomes you into Mountain View Center of PAMF.

If it reminds you of something, it's because another hand-blown glass flower display, by the same artist Chihuly, The Fiori di Como, graces the ceiling of the enchanting lobby at five diamond Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

Brief history on PAMF and its many locations. Palo Alto Medical & Research Foundation was once a non-profit Medical Foundation of wonderful doctors and nurses who practiced healthcare in downtown Palo Alto on Channing Street. Created by founder Russel Van Arsdale Lee, M.D. in 1950. New state of the art campus was built in 1999, 22 years ago, on El Camino Real, now known as Palo Alto Center.

This PAMF in Mountain View was completed in 2007.

However, over the years, large management groups such as Sutter Health, Dignity Health, and similar networks, had began to acquire smaller medical practices, and that's how various practices all over the San Francisco Bay Area and later, further North and down South, became combined under the same PAMF roof, managed by Sutter Health, headquartered in Sacramento. So don't get surprised when you see a PAMF building in a Northern Califirnia urban setting, suburban neighborhood, or a rural community, from Santa Cruz to Alameda, from SF Peninsula to Monterey Peninsula, from Central Valley to North Coastal Area. Anywhere you go, chances are you're going to find a location near you!

* Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine
I'm begging of you please don't hesitate,
Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine,
'cause once you're dead,
then that's a bit too late

Two-tier Chihuly glass sculpture, stunning! @Palo Alto Medical Foundation Mountain View CA, Booster shot Tue 11/9/21

Palo Alto Medical Foundation Mountain View CA, Booster shot Tue 11/9/21

Review #658 posted with 4 pictures on November 9, 2021

This review is for the San Carlos Optometry department, and in particular Siavath Assar, Optometrist. I am alarmed at how wrong his diagnosis was.

TLDR: I found Siavath Assar to be an utterly incompetent optometrist. His diagnosis was completely wrong by a huge magnitude. He had me try on a single soft contact lens, and when I couldn't see clearly with it, he simply concluded that I am not able to wear soft contacts to correct my vision, and my only option was hard contact lenses or glasses. After going to an actual, competent optometrist at Stanford, I was fitted with a much different soft contact lens prescription and am seeing 20/20.

Details: Assar is not knowledgable about contact lens fitting, and did not take any time to properly evaluate my case.

I've had LASIK/PRK, but still need glasses or contacts to correct the residual refractive error. Assar gave me 1 contact lens to try on in his office, a +1.75, and when I said I could not see clearly at all with this prescription, he promptly concluded that I would not be able to see clearly with soft contact lenses, period. That I should just get used to wearing glasses anyway as people would need them as their eyes age. At no time did Dr. Assar try a different prescription on me before his erroneous conclusion. To boot, he had the audacity to charge me for a "contact lens fitting," when he did none of the work! His false diagnosis was devastating as I find wearing glasses all day everyday quite uncomfortable and annoying.

I went to a different optometrist at Stanford, who, on his first try, gave me my proper soft contact lens prescription of +0.50. With this right prescription, my vision is extremely clear and crisp, and I could comfortably wear the soft contact lens all day.

I'm so glad I did not trust Assar. His diagnosis / prescription was so completely wrong. As you recall, he had me try a +1.75, when I only needed a +0.50 to see 20/20. The degree to which he was wrong is alarming.

The customer service people give me a call back and asked a lot of questions about the unpleasant experience at the Internal Medicine Department at PAMF Mountain View. They told me the doctors and nurses may be rude or not supportive enough but what they did didn't violate their policy or protocol. Okay fine, if that's their protocol, just let the market decide if it is acceptable or not.

I have been a patient, on and off, since last millennium :) and my children were pediatric patients when they were young. It would be unrealistic to expect that everything would be perfect over so many years and so many providers, both general practitioners and specialists, so, 4 stars and not 5.

But most doctors are simply wonderful, the labs offer very convenient hours (especially the Mountain View lab which is open from 7AM to 4AM on Saturdays and Sundays) and short wait times, the COVID vaccinations were handled very efficiently at the San Carlos clinic back when that was relevant, and My Health Online is a trove of convenient features.

The medical bill from this hospital is problematic!
Earlier this year, when I received treatment and underwent several tests here, the hospital didn't ask me for any payment other than the copay.
But recently, when I went for another visit and test they didn't inform me about the cost, and after they sent me a bill to pay. They didn't ask me to pay anything during my previous visit, so why do they expect payment this time? Moreover, they didn't inform me in advance that I would need to pay out-of-pocket. I called the hospital, and they said it's an issue with the insurance company. However, my insurance has already reached the out-of-pocket maximum, so I shouldn't be responsible for any charges. Everyone should be cautious of this hospital!