Berkeley Primary Care

This is a review of the office as a whole and is not at all specific to of reflective of Dr. McGlaughlin, who is a very good doctor. The office support staff, the billing, scheduling, etc. is just horrible. Am literally on hold with the office right now trying to resolve a bill that I fully paid months ago. Had to start going elsewhere out of sheer frustration. Sorry Doc, but it was not your fault.

This is the WORST practice I have ever encountered in my entire life. The shittiest care, no follow ups, they lose information, and never contacted us on results from tests or anything rather.

Horrible. Receptionist forgot to set my appointment once I’d made it, and then hung up on me later when I called to say I was going to be late. Stay away.

Probably one of the worst medical offices I’ve ever experienced. I scheduled one visit, a day later they cancelled it because they were closing the office for the day. I rescheduled it for another day, showed up, only to find the office closed. They said they called but I had neither a voicemail, email, nor text message. The administrative team is terrible. I often have to call multiple times to get any information. And they take a two hour lunch making it hard to reach them during the day.
Avoid this medical practice.
Would give zero stars if possible.

I’m actually relieved to see that other people had the same issues I did with this doctor’s office. To start, their administration is chaos. You never get a call back, no one follows up with you, no one calls to tell you your test results, anything you need you can bet they will not help you. It’s startling that a doctor’s office can employ such an inefficient administrative team to run their business.
I saw Dr. Kuruma twice and Dr. McLaughlin once. In my experience, Dr. Kuruma was not bad — two stars for her. She made an accurate diagnosis the first two times I saw her and generally seemed empathetic. I tried to make Dr. McLaughlin my primary care physician and it was a nightmare. In the initial appointment, he asked me nothing about my history, etc. He never followed up with me and refused to speak to me over the phone regarding the physical therapy he had prescribed. Then he told the medical assistant to send me to get another set of xrays on the exact same spot because he forgot we already did that.
Furthermore, their office looks like you walked into the 1970’s. Nothing is updated and they use paper cups for urine samples. Also the rooms are so tiny that I thought I was in the nurse’s office at a kindergarten.

I was a longtime patient of Dr. Powell, and since she retired I’ve been bounced among several new doctors, with varying success. I don’t have any complicated or unusual health problems, so I’m not really giving anyone’s medical degree a workout and I can understand a certain degree of «phoning it in.» Likewise, I don’t require a lot of hand-​holding from my physician. However, I have found Dr. Kuruma to be lacking in both skill and empathy to an almost alarming degree. I now find myself going back over the past couple years’ medical history, wondering if everything was as it seemed.

I have been very disappointed with my care here. They don’t listen to you, nobody follows up with you and there is zero communication among the staff. I have seen Dr. Karuma and would NOT recommend her to anyone!!!

So sad! I have been going here for years and always had great care. Since Dr. Benner, who was fantastic! retired I am looking for a new pcp. I had seen Dr. Kuruma once and spoken to her on the phone once, both very negative experiences, but thought I would give her another try since I did not know where else to go. BIG mistake! Should have learned my lesson, but DON’T go to her. She does not seem to have good medical knowledge and gave very wrong advice on a medication I was taking, not to mention she is rude, unhelpful and generally not interested in helping. On one occasion she even complained about HER back pain, which was not even why I was there!!! I am very disappointed that this practice is no longer what is used to be, but look elsewhere for good primary care! On another note, Dr. McGlaughlin does seem to be very good! Problem is, if he is not there you will be stuck with Dr. Kurumu, so not worth the risk!

The doctors are quite good, but the quality of their front office is horrible.

I have been very impressed with the care the my elderly mother has received from members of this practice over more than 15 years. She usually sees Dr. Kuruma who is both caring and very respectful. She takes the time to answer all questions. We have always been pleased with other providers in the practice, except for one who was there only temporarily.

Drs Powell, Fiedler and Karuma have been fine for my wife for 18 years!
Unfortunately we just moved to another state. I hope her new doctor is as good!

A really great practice. Just moved to the area and had to see a doctor. My aunt goes here and recommended it and they got me in an hour later! The admin assistant is so nice and so was the rest of the staff. They take my insurance which is great and there is a parking lot underneath the building (pay by the ½ hour). The dr. gave me the antibiotics I needed. Making this my primary care practice.

I moved to the Bay Area recently and selected this medical office based upon Unilocal reviews of a Dr. who is no longer practicing there. There appear to be no reviews of the facility itself which is odd.
Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT go here if you are diabetic. I can’t speak to other aspects of their care, but here is my experience as a type I diabetic.
The foot exam, which is a standard sensory test for neuropathy, was conducted with my socks on. The doctor stood as far away as she could, then squeezed by big toe with 2 fingers. The doctor repeatedly asked me «what machine do you use needles in». WTF? I use needles to inject insulin. I know she was probably asking about my BG test strips, but she was staring at the sheet I’d brought with me that clearly listed out everything I use. She just seemed to be completely unfamiliar with what she was looking at.
When I began care there, I brought them all of my medical records which were thorough and easy to read. (I’m not a doctor and they’re quite clear to me)
I had stocked up on insulin prior to moving so I didn’t need to refill prescriptions for a while. When I did finally need an insulin refill, they called in a vial instead of the pens that are clearly in my records and her prescription was for the wrong dosage. I had to argue with the pharmacist when I refused to pay for it.
If I were older or muddled from bad BG control, following her prescription without question would have placed me at risk for diabetic coma.
So … in case you didn’t get the message… do NOT go here for diabetes care. Or any other for that matter. It’s not like diabetes is a rare condition.