VA Palm Desert

When Laurie was here, this clinic was pretty good. She left and the clinic is awful. Appointments are cancelled and you are accused of being a no show. Doctors sit at their computer terminal going over your blood test and typing exam notes of their exam that never took place. Wrong diagnoses are placed in your record and you can’t get them to change it. Requested speciality referrals are not made and your record is noted you refused treatment. Nothing works to correct anything, they just deny everything and fabricate facts, exams, and events. The clinic is no healthcare facility. It is a dangerous, uncaring, and incompetent facility of no merit whatsoever. The staff is depressing. The only good word I have for this place is it is convenient, but not worth it. This clinic epitomizes the VA healthcare crisis. Go to Loma Linda and don’t sign up here for your care. Repeat DO NOT SIGN UP HERE FOR YOUR CARE. If you do, you may not be able to get out. Presently they are holding me hostage while I am trying to get everything transferred to Loma Linda. It is really that bad.

This clinic is consistently understaffed making wait times for appointments longer than you would like. Closest VA facility is 1 hour away.

Not great at keeping appointments on schedule.

Laurie is an awesome provider. She’s understanding and easy to work with.
Palm Desert VA makes refilling meds very easy. I had a tetanus shot today and I don’t like them. However, the nurses there are awesome and very good :)

For those vets (like me) living in the Coachella Valley and wanting a clinic nearby, this is much better than driving an extra 30 minutes just for a regular doc appt, blood draw or meds.
LL is there for all the specialty stuff. As a disabled vet, I like that Sundial takes me there (and back) for a *lot less* hassle and $ than LL. AmVets is great for transportation, but you have to go early and come back late. I can’t deal with that. There’s always the ER at Desert Regional if it’s immediate, or LL ER if you can wait.
I’ve found the staff and docs at PD CBOC to be very attentive (almost to the point of annoying, a good thing), parking (if you drive, I don’t) to be easy, and the office is clean, personable, and timely.
I’d highly recommend PD CBOC.
CJ

I’ve been here twice. Once to transfer my enrollment, and the second time for my yearly physical with my new primary care provider. The navigation system in my car doesn’t like their address (keeps insisting they’re a block down), so I was pretty late for my second appointment. However, while I was waiting in line to reschedule (the place was packed!!!), a nurse came out and called for me. Very nice.
Anyway, this is a small outpatient clinic with a very limited set of services. Their mental health doc just left actually, so now they are limited to «social services», whatever that is. In addition, they offer primary care and lab services. Prescriptions are delivered by mail (but fairly quickly). I’m under the impression they do quite a lot of hearing aid business as well.
They also offer an AA meeting on Thursday mornings for veterans only.
In the past, I was always greeted with a check (for travel reimbursement) when I arrived for my appointments in the San Diego region. However, here I was required to fill out a request form which was to be sent to the main facility. No check yet :(
Everyone I have spoken to has advised me to use the main facility (Loma Linda) instead, but I rarely need to see a doctor…

Better than most.

For Veterans. Loma Linda VA is better.