St Mary’s Spine Center

St Mary ‘s Spine. Center reflects the general demise that the hospital is showing to have taken over the years. I referred my husband to the Spine Center confident that he would be well cared for my their doctors and staff as I used to be a proud employee of St Mary ‘s. Unfortunately, this was not the case. St Mary ‘s of today is trying to make up for its lack of patients by letting everyone who touches the patient have a piece of the financial pie. It has become their main focus now, collecting as much revenue from each patient as possible. This takes the place of providing stellar care to each patient. The office staff is vague about insurance coverage and drags their feet in getting preauthorization from insurance companies for surgery until they are a couple months into their care. Once they find out a patient doesn’t want to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket, the Spine Center drops them like a hot potato without an adequate referral. It is very sad to see what was once a great San Francisco icon going down the tubes.

This place is amazing because they have DOs who do osteopathic manipulation as well as pain management doctors and orthopedic surgeons. Getting the services of a DO under insurance is very difficult to find. I wish that Dr. Glassman would discuss my case with me more and give options — mostly he avoids that and focuses on doing the work on my back. Dr. Hattori is supposed to be amazing, although he showed up almost an hour late to my appointment, and the nurse told me he wasn’t even at the hospital yet. He didn’t pay attention to the details of my case as I wish he would. But generally, I think this is a great place and worth checking out if you have problems with your spine.

Dr. Ken Hsu and the support staff at St Mary’s Spine Center have given me back my life twice now. I had a complex 3 level cervical spine fusion in 1992, and after a 9 month recovery and rehab, regained my ability to walk again. In 2012, I had another complex 3 level lumbar fusion to rebuild and realign my lumbar spine, coming two weeks’ short of completely severing my lumbar spinal cord. A year and a half later, I am walking w trekking poles, swimming and riding a recumbent road trike. The staff is skilled, helpful and extremely well regarding within the Bay Area and state.
Don’t take petty complaints re: offices bring busy, doctors being brief and no nonsense, or physician assistants not returning calls as a reflection of care for one’s health. 21^st century health insurance companies drive costs and time spent in office visits vs surgery and hospital patient care. I’ve been seen at UCSF (a cattle call re: appts and hospitalization), local doctors at Alta Bates … I will never have anyone authorize spine or joint surgery w/​out running info and opinions through Dr Hsu, his assistant Janine, Peter the appt. scheduler and Dr. Hattori, a skilled, patient, kind pain specialist.

This place is unbelievably inconsiderate of keeping to a schedule or finishing appointments in a timely manner. I am a student and I explained to the scheduler upon making the appointment that I had a 1 hour time constraint due to an afternoon class– he assured me it would only take 45 minutes max. I made my appointment and he let me know that they were sending new patient paperwork to my house via mail (really? Mail?) to speed up my new patient intake process.
A week later I still hadn’t received my packet on the day of my appointment, so I arrived early to fill it out– the receptionist first grilled me on why I didn’t bring my paperwork, then hands me a book of stupid questionnaires to go through before I could see the doctor. By the time I was filling out my family health history for the 5^th time, it was already 25 minutes past my appointment. I handed my paperwork back and reminded them of my time constraint– and received the rudest response from the receptionist telling me that there was no way j would be done before the hour was up. I rescheduled for another day and was assured that I would be seen to immediately to avoid this issue in the future.
A week later I am in the office and promptly taken back, where the assistant asks me to remove my clothes and don a hospital gown. It took 30 minutes for the doctor to grace me with her presence, all the while I was freezing in the 50 degree office with a stupid backless gown!
Very long story short, I am still sitting here waiting for my 45 minute consultation to finish, and it’s been a full 2 hours and 12 minutes. Moreover, I was told I was getting an MRI and they only gave me some simple XRays and told me to go to a physical therapist.

5 stars Mihin PA
5 Stars Dr Zuckermann
–10 Stars front desk, appointment taking, insurance issues etc.
I had recent back sugary after years of pain. Dr Zuckerman is a no nonsense to the point surgeon who I felt was extremely seasoned in his business. Mihin his PA has been extremely helpful, she has helped me stay informed, calm and comfortable with the process — if this is at all possible.
The front office is extremely unprofessional, can be rude and is short staffed based on the volume in the office. To make an appointment you have to leave a message and hope they call you back. Forgot about it if you have questions regarding billing or insurance. I am on the younger rise of things it appears when i am in the waiting room and I am appalled as to how they treat the seniors seeking care here. Again, this is all related to the front office. My care from Mihim and Dr Zuckerman exceeded my expectations.

It completely blows my mind how this facility remains in operation. I have left about 4 voicemails, and have only been returned a call ONCE; I’ll add that the return call was at an inconvenient 6PM when I was out running errands. About ten calls after reaching nobody at the office, I am seeking another facility for treatment even though this place is the closest one. This place is either grossly understaffed, or the staff is extremely undertrained.
My advice to the facility/​owner: hire some competent administrative staff that are capable of picking up the phone and fielding patients. I was literally ready to pay out of pocket for your services, but now see that I made a wise decision to look for treatment elsewhere.
If they can’t even pick up the phone for a patient, what makes you think they have the competency to take care of you during your treatment?

Be your own advocate and tap other resources as needed. The Spine Center is very disconnected. I finally figured out how to manage my own care inspite if their problems. I had assumed the center would care for my problem in its totality. They don’t.
The biggest problem is with the medical staff. It’s tough to get health related information.
So far, I have not had a problem with the administrative staff. I’m referring to the front office as well as my doctor’s assistant.
This office is not the only one that has problems with patient care administration. I am surprised the physician assistants don’t return calls very often.
While I have only given them a three star rating, I do trust the skills of my surgeon and anesthesiologist. I will continue to seek treatment if my condition deteriorates.

Great experience with dr zucherman he is an amazing surgeon. Had to have a lumbar disk replaced, recovery was surprisingly fast. Nursing staff during recover wad excellent.

While I’m sure that the doctors here are skilled and knowledgeable, I won’t be back to see them.
It is almost impossible to make an appointment here. They have one person making appointments for multiple doctors and if you’re not available to answer your phone when he finally calls back, you’re SOL. I tried calling numerous times and was told that he was on another call and that I could NOT hold until he was done with his current call. Forget getting up to use the restroom if he’s calling your work line; you’ll have to stay glued to your desk for several days or you’ll miss him. It took me over THREE WEEKS to speak to someone to book my first appointment while I was experiencing acute pain. (When we finally did connect, it was around 7:30 in the evening — not when I generally expect to hear from my doctor’s office).
After consulting with Dr’s Hsu and Silverman, an MRI was recommended. When I asked about what my insurance would cover, I was told «Don’t worry! We absolutely won’t do any procedures until we have gotten approval from your insurance. We don’t want you to receive any surprise bills». I felt reassured, and this was true for my MRI — it cost less than $ 100 with coverage — however, a subsequent EMG slapped me with a $ 375 bill after insurance. Needless to say, I was, in fact, surprised. Unpleasantly so.
Because my MRI looks so bad (I have severe spinal stenosis), I was told by Dr’s Hsu and Sullivan that I should be monitored and to see them every two months for the next year. This was fine by me as I was actually able to make appointments when I was physically present in the office.
I made two back-​to-​back appointments for my follow-​up, to see Dr. Sullivan and then Dr. Hsu, but I mistakenly only entered the time of the second appointment on my calendar, so I was running late the day of. I realized my error and called the office and was told that as long as I was no more than 15 minutes late, I would be seen. I arrived 12 minutes after my appointment time, out of breath from running across two parking lots and through two buildings, pointed at the clock and said «I just made it — I have a 9am».
The receptionist shook her head and said I was too late to be seen. I mentioned the 15-​minute policy that I had been quoted only minutes before (by HER) and asked her to check with Dr. Silverman. She reluctantly (and slowly) did as I requested, came back over five minutes later and said that I could not be seen as it was over 15 minutes past my appointment time.
Forget it. Can’t make an appointment and they don’t honor their own policies. I’m still dealing with the $ 375 bill.
****UPDATE: After seeing Dr. Rayshad Oshtory, my standards have changed and these guys are looking much better. I added a star because it just wouldn’t be fair to rate them both the same, no matter how messed up St. Mary’s office is.

My experience is with Dr. Zucherman and his office, and that experience was excellent. In both office visits, Dr. Zucherman was patient, attentive, gave in-​depth and caring advice. His staff was pleasant and welcoming.
The Spine Center does have a separate office for making appointments and a separate office for billing. I found those offices to be highly efficient and friendly too.
Some of the complaints on Unilocal might have to do with particular doctors, but some of them don’t make sense such as the one from the person who didn’t check to see if a doctor was in his insurance network and then expected to get free medical services.

I had one of the worst healthcare experiences of my life here. The level of poor patient care extends from the clerical personnel to the medical staff.
I saw Dr. Hsu first, he was not too bad, pleasant enough, but not very helpful. I had a spinal fusion in 1984 and was fine for 20 plus years, then I started having pain and sciatica. Dr. Hsu saw me for 5 minutes the first time, did a cursory exam and ordered an MRI. On the second visit he reviewed the scan and told me I had «worn out my back.» He said I did not require surgery yet. I asked about PT and epidural injections and he said they might or might not help, so I decided not to bother. No other treatments were offered.
A few months later I decided to try an injection as the pain was getting very tiring. I called for an appt. and was told Dr. Hsu no longer did them and I would have to go to someone else. I was told Dr. Zucherman did them but Dr. Hsu’s asst. did not offer to set this up with Dr. Zucherman’s asst. I spent 4 days calling and leaving messages with both the office manager and Dr. Zucherman’s asst. The following Monday I emailed my primary MD about my inability to get a call back and miraculously Dr. Zucherman’s asst. called me that afternoon.
She said Dr. Zucherman had reviewed my scan and determined I could have the injection.
I arrived 15 minutes before my appt. time to find the spine center closed for lunch. 35 minutes later when they reopened, I was told I was supposed to go to the department next door. Another gentleman followed me out upon hearing this, he too had not been told to report next door.
By the time the nurse called me in, it was 50 minutes after my appt. time. It was freezing in the procedure rooms and I remarked on it. Her reply was «It’s always cold in here.» No offer of a blanket.
She took me into the x-​ray room, these epidurals are done with the help of a fluoroscope, and introduced me to the tech. The tech asked me to get up on the table, which was high, requiring the use of a stool. The flouroscope machine was in the way and I struggled to squeeze under it, unsuccessfully. Suddenly the tech says «Oh, wait a minute,» and with the flick of a lever she moves the table forward, out of the way of the machine. I am now starting to seriously wonder whether I should proceed with it.
I had never met Dr. Zucherman and wanted to ask him some questions, specifically what level or levels I was going to have injected because my scan showed problems at several. When he came into the room, I was lying face down on the table but I propped myself up so I could greet him. He entered the room, never looking in my direction, turned his back to me and started shuffling through some papers.
The nurse introduced me to him, but he never responded. Both the nurse and the tech seemed extremely uncomfortable in his presence. The atmosphere was very tense. Still with his back to me, he shouted «Who said you could have this shot!?» I was dumbfounded. I completely forgot that I had been told he had reviewed my scans. I told him I had discussed it with Dr. Hsu.
I tried to ask him some questions, but he was very uncommunicative. He did not explain the procedure to me at all. The nurse and I mentioned my prior fusion, but when he came over to start the procedure, he acted surprised to see the scars on my back and asked when I had the fusion. He obviously had not heard a word I’d said. I was ready to jump off that table and get out of there and in retrospect I wish I had listened to my instincts and done just that.
He injected the local anesthetic but without waiting for it to take effect, just jabbed me with the spinal needle. I yelled «Ouch!» It hurt like hell. Absolutely no response from him. A few minutes later he asked me what I felt and I said, «It really hurts.» Again no response. When he was finished he just left the room.
While I was getting dressed I heard him yell for the nurse. A few minutes later she came back to discharge me and told me the gentleman after me had fainted but no worries, it happens all the time. No doubt.
There was no follow-​up, no one called to ask me how I was or if the injection had helped. (It didn’t) I also ended up with a terrible headache for 48 hours after.
Then there was another clerical error because my insurance company got a request for authorization for spinal surgery, something I had never discussed with anyone.
I also found out they don’t like doing the injections because they feel the reimbursement rate is too low. They billed $ 3,849 and my insurance paid $ 2,794 which sounds like a pretty generous sum for 10 minutes of work.
I have since gotten a referral to Dr. Charles Cobbs and my experience there was the complete opposite of this. I also saw Dr. Savala, a pain management specialist for a facet joint injection and he was absolutely wonderful as was the Presidio Surgery Center where I had the injection.
I’m lucky I found such better options.

Dr. Zucherman has been the most informative doctor I have seen so far out of 5 spine specialists. He spent the time to really explain my MRI results with me and answered all the questions I had. I have been injured for 4 years and he was the only doctor who could read the new MRIs now on computer disc. We ordered two new test no other dr even mentioned, Nerve study and a Discogram. I have more answers about where the pain is coming from and how much nerve damage is in my legs.
My experiences have been satisfactory with both the doctors and office staff. I have always gotten into see the doctors in a timely fashion.
Mrs. Chi Chi… I posted on my husbands Unilocal

Not a good experience. Not if you expect a call back from the office. Not if you expect to be seen promptly at your scheduled time. Not if you expect the Dr. (Dr. Hsu) to spend enough time with you to explain the results and disucss treatment options. Not if you dont want to chase the doctor around who is running between rooms to see patients. Not if you expect an actual physical exam for your injury — Dr. Hsu never touched me during my visit; no exam, nothing, he based his opinion entirely on imaging; ultimately without the physical exam his conclusion was incorrect. Not if you expect some options for treatment; his option removal of tailbone; oh, by the way the only doctor he knew who did that is in Phoenix.
I found my own answers and a chiropractor who specializes in coccyx treatment. Guess what, 3 months later I was pain free for the first time since my injury; and I have stayed pain free.

I’m not even sure where to begin with this place.
I will edit this comment in the future but right now I will just list out some thoughts because I’m pretty unhappy with my experience.
1. Staff — The doctor’s are extremely short and uninformative during the time you get to spend with them. This is especially frustrating with back/​spine injuries due to the impact they have on people’s lives. You are usually stuck talking to a «doctor’s assistant» who a. can’t really do anything for you except read back to you all the information you have already read and b. ultimately doesn’t know what they are talking about
2. Delivery — If you like to get bad news in a really uncomfortable and ultimately degrading manner — sign right up. Dr. Hsu will be more than happy to ensure you feel as uncomfortable as possible when receiving your unfortunate news.
3. Time — You will wait once you’re there for an hour most likely. They won’t call you back if you need to get in touch with them so just keep calling. You have to schedule your own follow ups also — so make sure you know when you are supposed to do that. Good luck.
4. Prescription — So I can have Vicodin and Flexeril, but I can’t have physical therapy? Not everyone wants pills.
5. Just don’t go. Seriously, save yourself the time, tears and frustration of both you and your family. Just go somewhere else. It’s not worth it.

Having been seen by Dr. Vo for several years I was beyond disappointed when I arrived 8 minutes late (difficult parking and the staf kept me at the front window asking questions and having me fill out forms) to hear that he refused to see me. His staff told me and I never saw him. He had my MRI that I wanted him to read (which he had in his office for over two weeks) and wouldn’t even see me to tell me what was on the MRI. I have gone there for several years and waited many times for him to start my appointment. There was no talking or flexibility. I like him as a person but something is very wrong. Put your efforts elsewhere.

I saw Dr. Zuckerman’s assistant, Milinh who was very nice and sensitive to my back problem of scoliosis and sciatica. She recognized that even though my x-​rays looked awful, i was not at that time exhibiting the pain, that normally one would exhibit with the severity of my pictures and did not think surgery was necessary at that point. So she reccomended that i see their osteopath Dr. there, Dr. Vo, but would have to wait 4mos. before even getting an appointment. Figuring this might be the cure of my aching back and sciatica i proceeded to make an appt. an wait. Well now i saw Dr. Vo, he’s very nice and seemed to think he could alleviate a lot of my aches and pains thru realignment and other processes we would discuss and go thru together. However, his office staff is intolerable! When i was done with my initial appt. everyone was at lunch, so he said he’d have them call me that day to schedule my 1^st appt. for alignment. Didn’t hear from them so, I ended up calling them around 3pm getting voicemail saying they would return my call that day. They did not! Called again around 1pm the following day, hoping to catch them after lunch, as i was at work and was limited in making phone calls due to my job as a flt. attendant. Can’t make calls in the air! So once on the ground i only have so much time to make contact. I called and again got voicemail, and left a msg explaining my job the situation, how busy Dr. Vo booked up fast, and pleeeeaze call me back immediately, so i could schedule something. Didn’t call back, till we were in the air again. Needless to say, this continued all week long. I finally did talk with the head of the office and they told me that they never answer the phone, but return calls to patients. That they’re busy faxing, copying, filing, etc… and called patients back when they had a moment. That did it! I was not about to go to a Dr. whose staff 1^st priority was their work and not the patient. I couldn’t believe that this was how they operated. So if you happen to go see Dr. Vo, who is very nice, be prepared to deal with his office staff THERE, because you won’t be able to reach them over the phone, and if you do… your very, very, lucky. Going to see a Dr. Shodoan, who they referred me too, will let you know about him.

In February of 2008 Dr. Zuckerman installed 2 ‘X-​Stop’ devices in my lower back. This procedure literally changed my life for the better. Before the procedure, I could walk unaided for maybe half a block before having to sit for a few minutes waiting for the pain to subside before continuing. Due to my spinal stenosis, my back had a permanent 20 degree forward tilt. My choices were: major back surgery, a wheelchair, or the ‘X-​Stop’. A heart murmur made the first choice potentially dangerous, the second choice was obviously less than ideal, so I tried the ‘X-​Stop’. After less than an hour in the operating room, whlle wide-​awake, the X-​Stops were installed, and I was up and walking within a couple of hours, without pain, and standing straight. After almost a year with the X-​Stops, everything is still great. Many thanks to all at the St. Mary’s Spine Center!
Update: 10÷22÷14. Six years later and the X-​Stop devices still work perfectly. I still have some pain after walking a few blocks, but still far less pain than before the X-​Stops were installed. I’d do it again for sure.
When Dr. Zuckerman first told me about the X-​Stops, he made it clear that after a few years they may have to be replaced with slightly larger X-​Stops, since they tend to seat-​in after time. By «larger» I mean a few millimeters. I’m considering having this done in the next year or so, and if I do, I’ll update this review.

I would not recommend Dr. Zuckerman. I was referred over by my primary care physician for my bulging disc and sciatica problem. I waited over an 1hr before being seen. When I was finally seen the Dr. seemed to be in a hurry. I had to stop him in his tracks to get my questions answered. He literally had one foot out the door while answering my questions. I felt like he didn’t care and was rushing my appointment to get to the next patient.

My primary-​care physician suggested I come here to deal with some chronic lower back pain. As is customary, when I made my first appointment, I asked them if they accepted my insurance (Health Net). They said yes.
After four appointments with Dr. Silverman, their billing office called me and said I was responsible for a $ 500 bill, since my insurance company rejected their claims. It turned out they were out of network, and thus I was responsible for covering the cost of all the appointments.
Needless to say, I’m not willing to pay out of pocket for a doctor who I’ve never even met. Thus, I always ask about insurance coverage before setting up an appointment. This was the first and only time the doctor’s office failed to actually verify things with my insurance company before scheduling an appointment.
Now, faced with this situation, a doctor has two options: she can accept that she (or her staff) was mistaken, and eat the cost of the bill– not unheard of for any office which wants to maintain a good reputation. Or she can do nothing. Dr. Silverman knocked $ 100 off the total bill and stuck me with the $ 415 remainder.
As far as the medical treatment itself: not so hot. Initially, Dr. Silverman claimed that she was considering several possible causes for my back troubles; we would try them one at a time. She claimed I would notice improvement within one month. A month later, at the next appointment, she said it would be noticeable in two months, then in six. We never tried any of the other approaches she alluded to. However, over the span of several months, I did go to 4 different physical therapists through her references, each of which offered conflicting viewpoints for treatment.
Disappointing? To say the least. Possibly the most frustrating, expensive, and unprofessional medical office I’ve had to deal with. So yeah. Don’t go here.