Saruwatari Lois MD

I think Dr. Saruwatari is one of the best in Hawaii. I understand why some people disagree though. She is straight to the point, she is thorough, and makes diagnosis more through test data (bloodwork, etc…) than subjective symptom descriptions. This fits what I want but some people will be put off by this approach. For my money it’s the best and most professional medical treatment I’ve ever had, I wouldn’t go anywhere else.

I do not recommend Lois Saruwatari.
Patient Care — She is not interested in what you have to say. Like others have said, she’d rather go through her own checklist, then be done with you.
I will add that she likes to bring in patients for unnecessary follow-​ups (and will CHARGE your insurance for every visit, of course). When I go in for my annual check-​up, she tells me I need to do my annual lab tests, but she doesn’t warn me prior to my appointment that I should have fasted for 12-​hours in order to do the tests there. Okay, no problem, I can go to a clinical lab on a weekend to do my tests. Then she wants to schedule a follow-​up to share the results. So I ask her, «could this be done over the phone? My OBGYN calls me with results all the time and I only need to go back if there’s additional exams or tests that need to be done.» NOPE. She doesn’t do phone appointments, probably because she can’t charge me for it. And at this follow-​up appointment, all she does is give you a sheet of paper with cholesterol results and says everything looks good. Why can’t that be done over the phone? It wasn’t as much of an issue when I worked downtown, but I don’t anymore so I have to use more of my leave to go see her.
Office — Neat and clean. Her office is located in the Pauahi Tower downtown.
Parking — Her office does not validate for parking, but she recommends parking at Alii Place across the street. The cost for parking isn’t too bad, about $ 1.50 per hour. Or you could attempt to find street parking.
Staff — Friendly, but slow. Be prepared to repeat yourself often.
I’ve been seeing her for several years now and finally found a different doctor to transfer to. If you’re in the downtown area, maybe she’d be okay because she’s conveniently located and you don’t have to pay for parking, but there’s probably someone better out there.

I’ve been a patient of Dr. Saruwatari for a few years and now I can’t seem to schedule an appointment. I think her staff intentionally picks up and hangs up the phone. I’ve called several times, no voice mail, just a pick and hangup.

I’ve been seeing Dr. Saru for about 20 years now. I find her to be professional and knowledgeable and she cares about preventive care, which is nice. She takes the time to listen to me and my concerns, then also takes time to lecture me about what I should be doing (kind of sounds like my mom at times).
She rarely runs behind time, which is nice because you don’t need to rearrange your whole day on the chance that you won’t get out in time.
If you’re looking for a warm and cuddly doc, she is not for you. But if you’re looking for a no-​nonsense professional who looks at the whole health picture, then give Dr. Saru a call.
Plus she has a great office staff.

This was by far the worst experience I’ve ever had with a doctor. It was so bad that I’m creating a Unilocal account just so I can post this to warn other people to NOT go see this doctor. All she cares about is flu shot. When I read Sarah’s review I thought: no way. But the exact same thing happened to me.
I went there to address a chronic health problem that I started treating with Kaiser until I made the huge mistake of switching to HMSA. So I brought my medications to show the doc. But the first thing she does after introducing herself was to ask if I’ve had a flu shot. I said no, then she makes the statement: You are getting one today. I said: no thanks. Then she lectures me for 5 minutes on flu shots.
So after that she says she is going to requests a bunch of lab tests, which I thought: good, it’s been a year. So I asked to have a lab test done that is not part of the usual checklist but I know I need, and she says: NO, you don’t need that. I say: how do you know that? So instead of asking me why I think I need the test or asking about my medical history she said that she decides what I need.
Then she mentions flu shots again, gets up and heads for the door. I stopped her and said: could we now talk about the reason why I’m here? She looks at me as if I had cursed her entire family and sits back down.
I try to explain my history and the different meds I’ve been taking for my chronic condition and she says: Oh no, I’m not prescribing that, that’s crazy, who did that? She then makes the decision to change my meds without considering that I’ve tried other stuff before and what I have is what works for me.
So she changes my prescriptions without my consent and forces me to go do the lab tests (they can draw blood and stuff there), I then told her I was suffering with pain and didn’t want to do lab tests at that time, and asked if I could schedule a day (I’m crying with pain at this point). Then the MOST ABSURD thing happened, and I’m not lying, I will testify this in a court of law if I have to: she turns around, walks towards her office and SLAMS the door.
This lady is absolutely crazy! I’m filing a formal complaint with HMSA because this type of doctor should be put out of business. She talked to me for 5 minutes about flu shots but didn’t spend a whole minute listening about my chronic condition.
It was the most unprofessional experience of my life. I don’t trust this lady’s judgment at all and I hope whoever reads this considers seeing another doctor.

After reading the two reviews posted here, I thought I’d add mine even though my experiences are from two years ago. For the record, my sister-​in-​law also sees Dr. Saruwatari and thinks she’s great. But, here’s my experience. I scheduled an appointment to see her for my neck, which had been a problem for at least 3 months at this point (i.e. it has no intention of healing itself). She walks in, checks out my stats (looks in my mouth and ears, talks about my weight), asks me if I’ve gotten a flu shot, to which I reply that I had not. She directed me to get one (without asking if I even wanted one) and starts to open the door. I had to stop her and ask, «What about the reason I’m here?» Her reply was cavalier, she did not really care about my neck even though it stated on the form that that was the reason I was there, but succumbed to my «pestering» and referred me to a physical therapist (who was wonderful and fixed the problem!).
I’d like to say this was a one-​time deal, but really, the level of service I received from Dr. Saruwatari over several visits was awful. She was right across the street from where I worked, so she was convenient, but I quit going to her because she treated me like she did not care about my health and found my concerns petty. That’s not what I’m looking for in a doctor.
She will get you in to see her quickly though and she is convenient to downtown Bishop Street.

For people that are wanting to transfer from Straub to a better doctor, I think Lois Saruwatari is your best bet. I thought a doctor’s office close to home would be convenient, but I was wrong. I had me searching high and low for someone that I felt good with and that’s when I found Dr. Lois Saruwatari after Straub Mililani was giving me too much of a headache. Dr. Saruwatari is able to get information easily from Straub since they use the same systems, she was able to see my medications.
My first visit to her was nice, she sat down with me and we addressed my concerns. She ordered various tests and I was to return in a couple of days. I returned for my second visit and we went over my results. She made everything clear and I was the only patient there both times that I went. She has someone that conducts blood tests starting at 730s most mornings. I went there and was in and out in 7 minutes.
I don’t know about parking, since it’s a 5 minute walk from my work. However, there is ample parking downtown – of course it depends when you go.
She also said if you call early in the morning she has same day appointments available.
I am excited for a doctor who is in to preventive medicine. Most I encounter don’t really care. I’m happy I found her.

Very good doctor. Very Thorough and complete with examinations. She can be tough at times when she sees things that concern her but it’s all in the best interest of your health.
Parking is hard because she does not validate but you can park across the street in the state parking lot for very cheap and she usually does not run behind!
Staff is very kind and courteous and she has in house blood drawing available which is convenient.
Recommend doctor saruwatari if you are looking for an internist in the downtown area.