Bayside Medical Group

Another update — they don’t pickup their phones, they’re impossible to get in-​touch, or even schedule an appointment. Additionally on the last visit, my family waiting exactly 30 minutes in the lobby and 30 minutes after being called-​into the exam room. Your time is spent better elsewhere.

I have been extremely happy with my experience with Dr. Perlman, my daughter’s regular doctor, and the other doctors we’ve seen for last minute sick kid appointments. She’s calm when I’m worried about my daughter, and doesn’t push medication on us so I know when she prescribes something it’s really needed.
The front desk staff are always very friendly and helpful. We usually do have to wait a bit, but it’s worth it to know that I will get the amount of time I need to ask questions and get help when it’s my daughters turn.
Also, I love that Dr. Perlman always has student doctors/​nurse practitioners. It’s good to know future medical practitioners are learning from the best.

First of all, this is my first review on Unilocal.I am a first time mother and I am happy with the excellent service that the front office has been providing me for the last few months. My LO was referred to a specialist and the new referral coordinator was not responding to my calls and was very rude. I called Bayside Medical,“Q”(don’t know how to spell her name) at the front desk was able to get my LO the appointment that he needed. She is absolutely amazing at following up if you have issues and has excellent memory. The others are nice too but she is my go to person if I need anything from here on.

I am a mother to two elementary kids. We have been going here ever since we moved to Berkeley four years ago. I want to give a great review for Bayside. We have seen Dr. Linn or Dr. Perlman, and go here myself if I’m sick or for a basic check up. Since they moved their office to the second floor, the environment has greatly changed. The original office was small, dark, cramped and even felt a little gross. The new office is spacious and has some windows in some of the exam rooms. Overall, I have ALWAYS found the front desk staff to be kind, courteous and helpful. They have always answered the phone, followed through on vaccination record requests, and squeezed us in for a sick appointment. Don’t be late — the same way you shouldn’t be late for the start of school.
My kids find all of the staff incredibly friendly and cheerful. They love the sticker collection, and the nurse assistants have administered vaccinations with brevity and professionalism for my freaked out preschool child — especially Danielle (five+++ stars for her — she is a sweet heart and incredibly experienced with administering vaccinations to little ones). We go here because it’s in our neighborhood, but it has always been a positive experience for our family.

This is like the 3^rd post and Unilocal is not posting my comments; go figure! I am Unilocaling for the 3^rd time about bayside medical group now Stanford. I wanted to Unilocal them because the Unilocal on here are horrific and I have never had an experience like some people are reporting and I have been bringing my kids here FOREVER. I even decided to choose them for myself. The staff here are super friendly. Yes they are busy but when your good busy comes with it. Everytime I come in I am met with smiling faces. Sometimes there is a wait if an emergency comes up but someone will come out and inform you when things like this go on. I am a true supporter of this doctors office and I want them to keep up the good WORK! DONT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER !!!

Nevermind. My mom and I were running 15 late and they just couldn’t wait. So I had to cancel the appointment. UPDATE I don’t want to give anybody 1 star that takes car of my mom.

I hate the office staff here. It has gotten really bad over the years. I have been going her since I was born (27 years). They cant even find your X-​ray or lad results with out you calling and begging them to do something or you might even have to get them yourself. This is not just with me, my family and husband go here as well. This new ownership/​name changes is all downhill.
The best Doctor is Dr. Perlman!!! (5stars) She actually cares about her patients.

I’m torn on my stars (great Dr./ terrible front desk staff) but overall coming to this place is the biggest pain in the neck ever!
The good:
Dr. Perlman is GREAT! If I were just rating her she would get 5 stars. She is very kind and good with my boys (2yo and 4mo) And she is very open to our parenting style. She doesn’t ever push things on us that we don’t want. No complaints of her at all :)
The bad:
Don’t even bother calling this place. No one ever answers. And half the time the voicemail box is full so I can’t even leave a message. One experience in particular I just have to share. I just had a baby and needed to schedule my newborn check up. I called in and someone actually answered! However, I was then put on hold for 45 minutes!!! I finally got an appointment scheduled for a couple days later but when I arrived they didn’t have it on the schedule. I waited in the waiting room with my newborn baby for over an hour! Are you kidding me!
Fortunately we’re moving so I don’t have to deal with this ridiculous front desk staff anymore but we will miss our doctor!

The office staff here are horrible. We really like our doctor (Dr. Perlman), but unfortunately to get to the doctor you have to deal with the staff. I had to reschedule an appointment for my baby to get a flu shot, so I called in, left a message in the morning, and had to wait until late in the afternoon for a return call. Called a second time, and got the message system again. Isn’t the office staff supposed to be taking calls? Anyway, arrived at the appointment and they kept me waiting for over a half hour in the waiting room. When I finally asked what was going on, the office manager said I should have been seen right away and said that the staff person responsible to notify the RN about my appointment left the office early. I was really upset (and still am)! I would not recommend this place and we will be looking for a new pediatrician’s office!

Dr’s are great. But hopefully you don’t have a run in with the receptionist, Desiree. She will ruin your whole experience and might just change your preference in offices. Just ask for someone else!

This is an update to the below and I am changing from one to three stars for what it might be worth. I was messaged by their «patient advocate» to apologize. That is a great first step just to know that they are working on the issue. When I wrote the below, I was pretty angry, this happens when you are in pain and not able to get timely information out of your doctor’s office. I will give them the benefit of the doubt that once they are settled into their move that things will be significantly better. I want to reassert that the doctors etc. have always been quite good although perhaps overly taxed. In the past I generally have received calls back in a reasonable time frame so I am hoping that their system will readjust itself.
Nonetheless I am trying a new doctor and I wish them all well.
Dr. Eichel has always been attentive, the nurse I love dearly, the others that I have seen over the years have all been perfectly fine. But their current state of disorganization is so severe that I just registered my first Unilocal account just so I could warn others to stay away. I realize they have just moved, they are switching systems or whatever is going on but to be repeatedly lied to over the phone, put on hold indefinitely, etc. Too much. Unbelievable that they have no online reservation system in the 21 century. I’m going to my wife’s doctor Dr. Nurre. Apparently with their office you can see all of your medical records online. Make appointments online. Email people. Who knew this technology thing might work out after all…

This place nearly forced me to be hospitalized twice due to the thoroughly incompetent and downright nasty front office employees.
I visited this office once. I was told my prescriptions, which I live on to manage my juvenile diabetes, would be refilled right away. When I went to refill my script for my blood sugar test strips, however, I was told that there was nothing on file. It is true there was an error when the pharmacy initially sent a request to the wrong doctor. It is also true that after the problem was corrected it took TEN DAYS for my prescription to be called in, despite my repeated calls. I was hours away from going to the emergency room when the prescription came in.
To add insult to injury, when I spoke to the front office staff, they were dismissive at first, telling me repeatedly that the prescription would be called in in the morning. After this happened several times, it seemed as though the front office staff was enjoying my situation. I overheard one female say to the other through giggles «tell him we’re out of prescriptions.»
As if this weren’t bad enough, a couple months later it became clear that I had been getting insulin filled from an old script and when that ran out — of course! — this office had failed to call in my insulin prescriptions as well. I had to go through a similar process again. The behavior of the office staff at Bayside is simply unacceptable.
Be discerning about your physician choice. Look at the reviews here. You will see that most of the positive reviews come from once-​only patients or after a first visit (planted by the office themselves perhaps). If you plan on seeing your doctor more than once, and especially if you have chronic conditions that create a need for good care, take my advice and stay far away from Bayside Medical.

I have to say that people should exercise discernment when reading Unilocal reviews because one persons experience may not necessarily be the same for other people, and this was definitely the case with Bayside Medical Group.
I started reading the Unilocal reviews a week prior to my son’s first visit with Dr. Gerwein. I started to worry because a lot of people were complaining about the front office staff, how unfriendly they were, how they never followed up, and how one had to wait for hours to be seen by the doctor. I have no issue with waiting because having grown up in the third world, I am used to waiting for hours to see the doctor, even with an appointment, so I always come prepared with snacks for my kids, enough coins for the parking meter, a book to read, and games for my kids to play. But I would be concerned if there was a problem with follow-​ups and an indifferent and/​or unfriendly front staff. Also, my kids are under Medi-​cal and not a lot of doctors accept Medi-​cal patients, so I was worried that I was going to have to settle for bad service or at best, a mediocre health provider until we could get better insurance.
Well, turns out I worried for nothing. The day before our appointment, I received a call to remind us of my son’s appointment. Then upon arriving at the clinic, we were met by smiling faces at the front desk. I was prepared to spend 15 minutes filling out forms because it was our first visit, but because they had all my son’s information from a prior appointment in their Oakland office, I only needed to fill out our change of address. Waiting time was 5 minutes, tops. Maybe it was because we came 10 minutes early, or because it was a Thursday morning, or we were just lucky.
However, I have never come across a friendlier and warmer staff; from the front desk, to the nurses, to Dr. Gerwein herself. Everyone was so accommodating, took extra effort to make my kids feel comfortable and relaxed, and everyone took time to know us well, our family history, and any concerns we may have health-​wise. I didn’t feel rushed or felt like just another number. Dr. Gerwein was very warm and knowledgeable. I truly feel like my children are in good hands being under her care.
I have never felt more welcome and more at home than in Bayside Medical Group, and we’re definitely staying for the long haul. So my advice is, always check out a place anyway, no matter what the reviews say, because you can’t always judge a book by its cover.

First impression — dingy waiting room. Front staff polite enough. Wasn’t impressed with the interruption to our office visit by front staff member to speak to the doctor… seemed to be some static there.
Dr. Katya Gerwein was recommended to me when I was searching for a pediatrician who would be respectful about our views on immunizations (we decided to delay). I had also read an article on the web which included a contribution from Dr. Gerwein in which she stated that while she believed in the benefits of vaccines, she respected parental choices and would treat children regardless of their immunization status.
I’m conflicted on how to write this review, because I think that as a pediatrician, Dr. Gerwein was exceptional. She sang songs to my infant son, was extremely gentle and efficient, asked great questions, and took the time to listen to my concerns.
When it came to the topic of immunizations, it quickly became clear that like most pediatricians, Dr. Gerwein falls firmly on the side of pro-​vaccination. I will say that for the most part, she seemed to be making an effort to remain neutral and respectful, but it was also apparent that she was uninterested in anything I had to say and finished by telling me she was considering removing all unvaccinated and under-​vaccinated children from her practice due to her perceived threat they posed to her other patients.
While her concerns are debatable from my perspective, I respect Dr. Gerwein’s stance and understand where she’s coming from, and the fact that she feels this way doesn’t make her any less of an excellent pediatrician… simply not the right one for us. We would not have gone to seen her had we known this about her, and she definitely presents as vaccine friendly in the beginning. I wanted to write this review to make it clear to other parents seeking a vaccine-​friendly doctor that they may want to look elsewhere. Our family will not be back, but I believe Dr. Gerwein would be an excellent pediatrician for any family who chooses to vaccinate their kids.
Updated to say that this practice has moved offices (we’re seeing a different pediatrician who so far seems to respect where we’re at with the topic of vaccines) and the new lobby/​offices are quite lovely. I did have trouble getting through on the phone and wish they would better manage that system.

Horrible front office staff — they put you on hold and never come back.
Doctors are OK. Avoid!

This review is mainly for Dr. Linn. Our son has been seeing Dr. Linn since birth (7 yrs). Dr. Linn has recently transferred to this office as he used to see patients in Pinole. It is very hard to find a good pediatrician. Once you do get one, stick with them if at all possible. We are now traveling 25 – 30 mins from home to continue seeing Dr. Linn. This should say something about his services. As for the office… they get us checked in, and out. Its not a 10 star high class brandnew facility with marble flooring and gold toilets but the job gets done and even better. we get to see Dr. Linn and he cares for our son!

This place accepted me as a new patient and gave me an appointment the same day I got accepted. I got all my shots and immunizations I needed for my employer in 15 minutes with paperwork and signatures. Unfortunately my employer did not recognize a vaccine listed on my paper work so I called the clinic, came in, and they wrote me up the right paper work in front of me in two minutes! Couldn’t ask for better customer service! Thank you so much Bayside Medical you’re helping me realize my dreams of becoming a physician.
Shout out to Lanita and Brittany at the front desk for being patient with me and taking care of me right away. Y’all are awesome.

The place is just OK, adequately pleasant nurses and front desk people if you get the right one, though some are worse than others.
I stuck around because my fiancée and I both really loved Dr. April Fredian, but we will be patrons NO MORE. 1) Dr. Fredian has left; and 2) I had to pay $ 251 for my last normal, run-​of-​the-​mill office visit.
$ 251 was the negotiated rate folks. The average in this area should be around $ 120 and it was in 2012 BEFORE Lucille Packard took over (bought?) Bayside Medical Group. My EOB in 2012 shows $ 112 as the negotiated rate for an office visit. $ 251 as the negotiated rate is ludicrous and actually pretty offensive. I work in the insurance industry and this is the first time I’ve seen a negotiated rate for an office visit this high.
No more.

I have been a patient of Bayside for the better part of 25 years. It pains me to write this but I feel I have no choice.
I started as a child and was treated for years by Bud N. Shenkin. He’s the highlight of the offices. Because of certain poor health experiences in my youth I had a hard time seeing any other doctors. I continued to see my pediatrician into my early 20s and he was fine with giving me checkups and handling random illness when I came a calling. He really is an amazing human being. As a child he would bring his children to visit with me in the hospital during several stays. I can’t say enough about Dr. Shenkin.
I know, so why the 2 stars? At some point Dr. Shenkin said it was hard for him to continue treating me and suggested his colleagues at the Berkeley office on Telegraph ave. I agreed to transfer my care there and have remained off and on for about 10 years. I’m not terribly sickly, but occasionally everyone needs to see a doctor.
Here’s the problem: whenever I’ve gone to this office I’ve felt like they’re rushing to get out of the room. I’ve seen several doctors in that office and in each case the visit was very brief, I felt like they did the least amount of work and jumped quick to prescriptions. Specific cases:
I hurt my knee during bay to breakers last year. Came in to see my doc who insisted it was soft tissue damage. I told her that it was more significant I couldn’t walk for 2 days, and I was a competitive athlete all the way through college. No referrals, nothing, ice and Advil, which I had been doing. After a couple weeks I went to see a specialist went to rehab etc. The knee problem persisted through all of this. I went to see my primary for an unrelated issue and mentioned the knee and how I had a cortical shot before my wedding and honeymoon. The question was this: «did you do it in this office?»
«No, I saw a specialist.»
«Oh, just so you know, we do it all the time here.»
Shouldn’t the natural follow up be «did it help? how do you feel?» Really? You’re more concerned that I went to see a sports medicine doc instead of bringing my business to your office.
Not long after that I had a lipid panel and was expecting a call back. I had to call the office 3 times to get someone to call me to give me the results and explain them. The whole time I felt the doctor was trying to end the call as quickly as possible. I had questions and he did a really awful job of answering them, like I still don’t know what all my numbers mean or what to do about them. I wonder if they would’ve ever called me unless I had called and harassed the office. They waited until the bitter end of the day to place a five minute call.
The doctors in the office wanted to put me on meds for borderline high blood pressure. I was never advised to go lose weight until I refused the medications. I know, stupid me, I should’ve known better, so I dropped 40 lbs and within the first 17 my blood pressure normalized and I regularly test ¹²⁰⁄₈₀. My diet has never been discussed, it doesn’t come up, nor the fact that it may be good for me to lose more for cholesterol. Why don’t they have a dietician on staff? They are quick to prescribe but slow to consult. It’s really quite sad to me given the fond memories of my childhood.
I won’t go back to this office. I’ve a new doctor in the city and the problems continue. My new office is unable to get my medical records even though I’ve filled out all the necessary forms. It’s really quite depressing. I think they mean well but if they can spend so little time with each patient, maybe they should stop accepting new patients and provide adequate care to the ones they have. I simply am tired of feeling like a nuisance every time I go into that office.

I went to Bayside for vaccinations for a trip abroad in February. At that time, the service was great, and I was very pleased. Had that been my only experience, I would have given 5 stars. However, I just went back to supplement the prior vaccinations, and the doctor who saw me was extremely rude, unfriendly, unhelpful, and she did not give me the most basic information to make and informed decision about the vaccinations. When I phoned to ask follow up question (because she neglected to address the issue of malaria and hep B) the same doctor was rude, sarcastic and completely unfriendly.
So now I have to go yet again to get further immunizations — however, I will DEFINITELY not be going to Bayside. There are plenty of other wonderful doctors in Berkeley. I guess this one is doing so well, they don’t have to be polite. Also, the women who work at the front desk are great, and very friendly but they must be under stress from their doctor bosses because they were so concerned with getting my payment prior to the shots that they did not even tell me where to go, what to do or anything while I was waiting for the doctor to see me. Extremely insensitive service.