UC San Diego Health System Perlman Medical Offices

I was referred by my Dr to go to UCSD from the beginning they couldn’t find my records that were faxed over twice to them. After confirming from my Dr it was faxed to them they finally found it in their office. From there I made my hytorectomy consultation appt in Apr waiting in pain during this time until my appt I stayed positive knowing this would soon be over. Two days before my appt I get a call to reschedule my appt, then they said they had no records of mine, I told her yes you do or I would not of been able to schedule my appt, I explained I needed to be seen on my appt date in a lot of pain, I need my consultation so I can schedule my surgery. The lady said I don’t have time for you go back to your Dr or go to the ER. After going back and forth with UCSD and my Dr confirming again they faxed my records to UCSD and spoke to another lady who was much more helpful and nicer confirmed UCSD did have my records and apologized for the other lady for being so rude. Long story short the rude lady did call back and gave me an appt now for June 24… that is how they take care of their patients @ UCSD. Not nice… To the lady that was helpful thank you so much for kindness and help it was much appreciated wish UCSD had more ladies there like you kind, understand and helpful.

This is a review for Perlman Ear Nose and Throat clinic for Dr Alexander and his nurse Donna in particular (although the entire office is amazing). I have suffered from a chronic ear condition for over 25 years. It requires me to have a procedure done to place a tube in my ear (like those that kids often get) quite often. I can say that every single time my tube has come out and I need it replaced, I can count on this doctor and his staff to assist me immediately. What isn’t a serious life threatening condition IS very uncomfortable for me when the tube needs to be replaced… the fact that Dr Alexander and Donna work with me to get the procedure done sometimes within 24 hours shows their compassion and hard work and dedication to their patients. I cannot thank them enough for all these years of treating me as an individual and not a number or burden. I truly commend your style of practice and appreciate you so very much.

Dr Gross was my OB with my first pregnancy and she will continue to be my Dr with my second. This is a great place to receive prenatal care. The NP’s, nurses, assistants and reception staff are all very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. They are very punctual when it comes to appointments– I’m never called in late. They make me feel very comfortable, confident and I always leave in a great mood.
The waiting room isn’t tiny, but not huge. However, they don’t pack you in there like sardines, so plenty of breathing room. Water and reading material is always available.
Note: you do have to pay to park ($ 5). Only drawback. And they are under construction so you must enter through the main entrance of the hospital.

I was diagnosed with a tear of the hip labrum and was referred to Dr Robertson by my insurance. She suggested arthroscopic surgery to repair the tear.
Scheduling was easy, the check in process was also a breeze. The office staff is efficient and courteous, as was the entire surgical team.
I had several good and informative follow up appointments, and I when I asked them to help with the state disability application, they were accommodating.
I am well on my way to recovery! Thank you, Dr Robertson and team!

I’m specifically giving a review on the reproductive endocrinology part of UCSD Women’s Health services.
The only reason I’m giving it two stars is because I liked the doctors. Everything else was awful.
My OBGYN is in the office and went in because I was having trouble getting pregnant. He immediately referred me to the reproductive endocrinologist in the same office. I had heard good things about them so I went along with it. I met with Dr. Agarwal who promptly ran a bunch of tests on me and my husband to see if there was anything wrong. He deemed us «unexplained infertiltity» and quick said I should do IUI. I didn’t know enough at the time so I went along with it BUT YOU HAVE OPTIONS AND I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU GO SOMEWHERE ELSE FOR IUI SERVICES. Here are my reasons:
1. If you have insurance UCSD is the worst at billing correctly. I had to spend hours on the phone with my insurance company and UCSD to find out why we were getting billed when we shouldn’t have been. Once I actually got a hold of the correct UCSD employees they were very nice, but it took 5 phone calls to get to that person.
2. When I went in for my first IUI appointment I was expecting Dr. Agarwal, but no, his fellow was going to be performing my IUI. He did a great job, however nobody communicated that I wasn’t going to be seeing Dr. Agarwal.
3. Half of the front desk staff is clueless. I called in to schedule my baseline ultrasound, which has to be done within the first 5 days of my cycle and she tried to schedule me a week and a half out. I clearly explained that is was for an IUI and had to speak to someone else because she didn’t know what she was doing.
I went through 3 IUIs at UCSD (2 failed and 1 cancelled) and decided to move on to IVF. I’m now starting my first cycle of IVF at San Diego Fertility Center which has been amazing so far.

I would give zero stars if I could. I was a research scientist early on and then I was in the medical field, so I feel pretty comfortable forming my own opinions.
I went to Perlman to have an Electrodiagnostic Study done to see why my Left Leg muscles were so weak while I had no problem with muscle strength in my Right Leg. The doctor allowed his Fellow student to do the testing on my uninjured leg (Right Leg), and I trusted that he would have only allowed a qualified person to work on me. However, during testing the pain was so excruciating that I told the Fellow to stop her testing and bring the doctor back into the room. (The doctor had done all of my previous testing and I had not experienced pain like this with him.) The Fellow asked me why I wanted the doctor to take over and said ‘he will get the same answers as me’ (I don’t know how she knew this!). The doctor came back into the room and finished the testing on my uninjured leg and did not recheck the nerves that were so pained by the Fellows testing technique.
Now, it was bad enough that a doctor would leave the room and allow an obviously inexperienced Fellow to perform testing on me without direction, however, the crucial point is that he used her results to draw significant medical conclusions about my condition. By comparing the left and right leg results (the doctor’s results for the Left Leg and the Fellow’s results for the Right Leg), I read his report as concluding that both legs had similar injury and the weakness in my Left Leg was not due to a nerve injury on the Left.
Now the significance of this conclusion is that in the future I will have difficulty getting the appropriate care that I need for my injured left limb. This is truly upsetting because I was told by a doctor at Mayo Clinic that I probably will not be able to walk in a few years because of weakness in my left injured leg.
On top of all of this what I call truly ‘awful’ medical care, I now have ‘pins and needles’ in my lower Right uninjured Leg where the Fellow had caused me so much pain. I did not have these sensations prior to her testing.
Having been in science and medicine myself, I know about ethics and the use of appropriate data in drawing conclusions. I am appalled that the doctor would base his conclusions on the results of this Fellow, results, which in my opinion are at least dubious if not down right false. Who knows, perhaps the doctor was influenced by the fact that I had had back surgery at Thornton years ago and that my left leg muscle weakness may be the after effects of that surgery. However, if my Right uninjured Leg has the same diagnostic results as my Left injured Leg, then the condition is not caused by nerves on the Left.
Case closed for them, electric riding cart for me?

Great experience here for me. I don’t like that you have to pay for parking and they do not validate either. Once you get on Campus and figure out where the heck you are going, finding the office is easy.
I needed to see an OB/​GYN specialists and had the very best experience ever! Dr. Lisa Bayer and Dr. Kathryn Pruzinsky Macaulay! The best Ob/Gyn’s. Kind, patient and very experienced. Especially in trouble shooting problems. I highly recommend these two ladies.
I can’t speak on the rest of the UCSD Medical System, only my experience here with these articular Dr.‘s.

Came here this morning for an Endo appointment and the two ladies working at the front desk were sooooo nice and helpful! Seriously! I have never met anyone else that happy on a Monday. The cute old lady working the laboratory check in desk was nice as well! She kept on apologizing to me because I had to wait for literally less than 2 mins. Highly recommend. The only part that I didn’t like about this place was that I had to pay 4 $ to park

I love the midwife team here– very professional and great listening ears.
This office handles everything, from routine checkups, fertility treatment, prenatal care, high risk pregnancies, and post menopause issues.
I haven’t personally seen any of the OBs, so I can’t comment on their interaction. But generally the staff is friendly and helpful. My only complaint is that each time I’ve come, I’ve had to wait for 20 – 40 minutes to be seen. This seems a bit excessive.
But overall, the care is excellent!

This is a review for the entire UCSD medical center and how they care very little about patient complaints and satisfaction on the executive level. The practitioners here seem competent, but the entire UCSD Med Center is really trying to rip off patients– so beware before you use their system!
I had some labs drawn here at the medical office and I get a bill for hospital services. Just to be clear, I never stepped foot in the hospital and only did mandatory labs for standard prenatal care. Apparently, UCSD has a contract that allows the hospital to bill for laboratory services received in the medical office — which they DON’T DISCLOSE to patients before hand – and you find out only after you get the bill for a ridiculously high (not affordable) amount.
Please don’t use UCSD unless you have no other choices. They are not willing to listen to your complaints. They don’t seem to care that a 5 minute lab draw does not warrant hospital fees. And they will only respond to your complaints by threatening to send your bill to collections.
This is the first time I have ever had any problems with a medical visit. Don’t be misled by walking into their medical office — what you’ll end up with is a hospital bill!
This may be an industry wide problem with hospitals and medical facilities, but I can only speak of my experience at UCSD.

I’d give ZERO if it were possible! I was referred to the office by not 1 but 2 people AND BOY WAS I SADLY MISLEAD! After researching the physicians in the office, I decided to call and make an appointment w/​Dr. Thomas Moore. His awesome credentials and reputation won me over, after all I want nothing but the best for the 2 little ones I’m currently growing! :) Long story short, after the VERY RUDE AND UNPROFESSIONAL treatment I received from the receptionist, I never made it to the office! I called and scheduled my appt on a Monday and later that week I received a phone call back from a lady saying my insurance wouldn’t cover services in their office. After contacting my insurance company and verifying that Dr. Moore’s office WAS INDEED IN NETWORK WITH MY INSURANCE & THAT MY PLAN COVERED THEIR SERVICES, I called back the following Monday to reschedule the appointment, I spoke to a different lady the 2^nd time who was very helpful said I could be seen right away! The next day, I received a rather upsetting phone call from the first woman I had spoke to when attempting to make the original appointment. THE WOMAN WAS VERY RUDE AND DISRESPECTFUL! She stated, «After reviewing MY nurses’ schedule, I recognized your name and remember calling you and I was very clear to you that you are NOT covered in our office» After explaining to her the information I had verified and requesting to speak with someone for further explanation of the situation, she quickly cut me off with «You called THIS DATE to schedule, I called back THIS DATE and let you know you weren’t covered, and NOW, I AM CALLING YOU TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR APPT IS BEING CANCELLED AND OUR NURSING STAFF HAS BEEN NOTIFIED THAT YOU ARE NOT COVERED IN OUR OFFICE!» I quickly contacted my insurance a 2^nd time just to be sure I wasn’t mistaken. The only mistake I made WAS CALLING TO SCHEDULE THE APPOINTMENT IN THE FIRST PLACE! I do NOT want to be in an office who treats anyone this way, PREGNANT OR NOT!
I am VERY MUCH looking forward to my upcoming appointment with DR. Williams at SAN DIEGO PERINATAL CENTER! :) SO SAD to see such a great physician like Dr. Moore associated with such a rude office! :(

I liked this place. Their customer service skills were great, and not only that, my Doctor (Dr.Homer) was very kind and helpful. Excited to be Starting treatment at your clinic after three yrs of TTC.

Avoid this office for several reasons…
When I went in for my well-women’s visit, the nurse brought me back to the exam room and said the doctor would be right with me. Nearly 30 minutes late, the doctor and nurse arrived and said that they had gone to lunch because they had forgotten anyone was in the exam room. Then they spent 5 minutes with me. Ridiculous!
Later, I was sent a bill for a co-​pay for my annual wellness visit which is usually free. I found out that they had mis-​coded it as a regular office visit instead of an wellness visit so they could make more money off of the 5 minute exam. I had to spend several hours on the phone getting this changed. I will never go back to this office!

Almost no one here but me, didn’t know the ofc stayed open this late

Dr. Ceponis is very kind and takes his time with me. He’s also very thorough. So far, I’ve had a really good experience here.

I had my first appointment with Dr. Ahadian (who came highly recommended by my chiropractor who has had multiple patients see him over the years with positive results) last week. I had only called the previous week and he had an appoint available so I scheduled it. Admittedly, I did have to wait a while in the room before the doctor came in, they did tell me they were backed up and short on staff that day, but based on the rest of my appointment I didn’t mind. Originally his medical assistant came in and did a thorough review of my medical history and reason for visit (I have fibromyalgia and a couple localized severe pain areas), she then did a thorough exam. We discussed a few things and then she went to talk to Dr. Ahadian. Just a few moments later he came in, very friendly, went over a couple things again that apparently stood out to him based on the medical assistants review, did another exam and gave me an initial diagnosis and treatment plan. At no time did I feel rushed or ignored during my appointment. They answered all of my questions at a level of understanding to me. To add to my elation, the very next day they called me to schedule my first procedure. I am very impressed with this medical team!

Well, I did not have nearly the problems that the other posters did. My doctor was Dr. Mark Wallace. He is an excellent doctor who always took times to answer my questions. I did need a referral from my primary care physician to see him, but had no problem getting an appointment, though it took something like 6 weeks to get in. Any repeat appontment also takes a long time to get. On the other hand, when I needed a steroid injection before leaving town and Dr. Wallace was not available, he bent over backwards to get me in with another doctor.
The reason I did not give 5 stars relates to the fact that the UCSD pain clinic is in someways misnamed. As I understand is the case for other pain clinics, the UCSD pain clinic exists to apply certain procedures, mainly, it seemed, steroid injections and radio frequency ablation. If they do not work for you, they did not for me, they no longer have any real interest in you as a patient. At my last visit, they actually sort of encouraged me to get off of vicodin, the only thing that works for my pain. (I say sort of, because their advice was a bit unclear.) They suggested I try cymbalta. I did, and it did not work. At the last meeting, they also gave me a prescription for lydocane patches, also mostly ineffective. But clearly, they thought they were done with me once the procedures did not work, and the last-​visit advice and prescriptions were to bring my matter to closure. I have since learned from my primary pain doctor, who also has chronic pain and is thus more up to speed than most such doctors on pain, that it is possible to take vicodin long-​term, but it is important to keep how much you take low. Dr. Wallace never told me that.
I was also unimpressed with the PA at the pain clinic, who one is often forced to see, but then I am usually unimpressed with PA’s.
So the UCSD Pain Clinic should be called the UCSD Certain Pain Procedures Clinic. If those work for you, great, you went to the right place. If they don’t, you probably want to find a primary pain physician who knows his way around pain meds. BTW, an option I will soon be trying is Savella. It is officially only authorized for fibromyalgia, which I don’t have. Dr. Wallace would not prescribe it for me, but my primary care physician has had good luck with it with other kinds of pain, and suggests I try it. Yet another limit on working with the UCSD pain clinic.
Finally, the other posters did not work with Dr. Wallace, so if you are going to go there, try to see him.

I will just paste the complaint I sent them:
«I don’t know where to begin.
I have been attempting to get an appointment with Dr. Ahadian for almost a year, maybe longer. I have CMS/​LIHP and had to be referred by my primary physician. I have severe back issues which leaves me in pain 24 hours a day so I thought there might be a breakthrough since I finally got my appointment with a PAIN MANAGEMENT PHYSICIAN. Little did I know he (the dr.) would offer me nothing. Zero, zip, absolutely no follow up or suggestions.
Making this appointment was not only frustrating for me but has added to my pain (physical activity usually does) and likely costs thousands of dollars. For nothing? This is stunning!
I called 858−657−6035 to speak with the „practice manager“ regarding an „immediate concern“ (the lack of any help) and was on hold for 31 minutes before I was disconnected.
I then called 888−309−8273 for „assistance contacting my physicians office“ and a woman named „Cynthia“ took my call and offered no help until I asked her who I can contact to make a complaint. She connected me to your extension (she didn’t offer to give the direct number to me) and that is how I got this email address.
To say your organization provides a lack of professionalism would be a severe understatement. Thank God my handicapped placard saved me from the horrible practice of having to pay for parking at such an abomination of an organization.
Aside from my complaint I am wondering if you might be able to tell me why I was offered nothing. I know what has helped in the past and asked for that specifically and know why I was not offered that, to an extent. Since my mother had abused alcohol up until around 30 years ago I am considered „high risk“? This sounds fictitious to say the least.
I have also never shown any signs of addiction throughout my entire time of using other rx drugs (THIS INCLUDES 6 YEARS OF MEDS!!) since my initial diagnosis in ’05.»

I am appalled by the level of service here at UCSD! On the first day to my prenatal visit, I was greeted by a female doctor, which I wont get into about her dreary appearance… Anyway, they told me that they were having electrical outage for the past two days. So when the doctor was entering my information into the computer, the computer went out and what do you know, my data got lost. She was so pissed off that she screamed «FUCK!» with her two hands up in the air, as if she had the tourette syndrome! She scared the bajeebahs out of me and my husband!
I mean no offense, but it just seemed like a bunch of UCSD students worked here and when you needed to call them for something, these people just couldn’t wait to get off the phone with you! They were giving me different directions and information, snapping at me. no one knew the right answers… customer service was definitely lacking!
And 4 freaking dollars for parking? That is OUTRAGEOUS! I have to see the doctor for almost every week in my 2^nd and 3^rd trimester so yeah, this is going to be a big deal to me!

So everyone hates going to the gynecologist. But you do it anyway because well, cancer sucks, and at this point, so do babies. So to get my birth control, they make me submit to this torture once a year.
My current HMO has a limited selection of primary care doctors, none of whom seemed too appealing, until I saw UCSD listed! I can see ANYONE in the UCSD system without having to change my insurance, woohoo!
The Perlman campus is easy to access from the freeway, clean and spacious. I saw Dr. Rachel Palma for my last visit and loved her! She is young, friendly and makes you feel comfortable about talking about anything. She gives you a heads-​up on each part of the exam, so no surprise speculum violations. She also asked me about all aspects of my health and life, trying to get a well-​rounded history, instead of just doing my Pap and sending me out the door. Finally, after 27 years of life, someone was able to deal with all of my minor medical issues (sinus headaches, exercise-​induced asthma) in one visit.
My only small issue was that she forgot to prescribe 2 of the 3 things she said she would, but their system is electronically linked to whatever pharmacy you choose, so all I had to was ask to remind her, and my scripts got automatically filled at Target, woohoo! No phone calls, no driving to pick up little pieces of paper that I will lose.
Love Dr. Palma and UCSD!