Moyce Andrew, MD

snarky and snobby

Great doctor, lousy location.
Dr. Moyce is knowledgeable and friendly. No nonsense. His office in Oakland, frankly, needs major work. There is no parking, the waiting room feels like it hasn’t been painted since 1965, and the receptionist is less than friendly. Their website is pretty good, but there isn’t an easy way to send secure email.
My recommendation? See Dr. Moyce at his Orinda office. Absolutely worth the drive. Nice neighborhood and FREE PARKING.

My first impression of Dr. Moyce was that he would be a very good ENT doctor but the series of events following my first visit led me to be very wrong.
Upon moving to California, it was important for me to find a good ENT doc because I have had chronic sinus problems my entire life and surgery to remove remove polyps (benign tumors) from my nasal cavitiy a few years ago. I didn’t wait long in the waiting room and the nurse ran through my medical history noting everything I said before the doctor came in. When Dr. Moyce came in he reviewed my history with me; I told him that it was a few years since my surgery and I wanted to double check that no more tumors had appeared, because people who have had them once are prone to them growing again. Also, I told him about a lump on my neck that my primary care doctor had found and said I would like him to determine the cause and if anything was needed, solution. He used a scope to check out my sinus cavity and said there didn’t appear to be any tumors, but that he would order a CT scan just to be certain. Regarding the neck, he felt it for awhile then asked if I had injured it recently. Obviously that would be something I would remember, so I said no and what would we do to determine the cause of the lump. He said it was probably nothing big and that we would return to the issue at a later date.
In the weeks following my first visit, I started to feel a little bit of pain associated with the lump and even some difficulty in swallowing. I had received the authorization for the CT scan of my sinuses, but still wanted something done about the neck. I called the office to request that they rush through an authorization for something to be done regarding it. Dr. Moyce told his nurse a soft tissue lump such as mine was best diagnosed with an MRI and after a few days of calling back and asking it be done sooner rather than later, he authorized it.
I went ahead and had the CT scan and MRI and made an appointment for a few weeks later to go over the results.
In the meantime, I visited my family out-​of-​state and told them about my recent frustrations with Dr. Moyce and that the neck lump was beginning to bother me more. I was also beginning to worry and get very stressed about it– I just wanted answers and Dr. Moyce was not very concerned about getting any. My parents paid out-​of-​pocket for me to see our family doc and my old ENT doctor; both immediately felt my neck and could determine that the lump was in my thyroid. They ordered bloodwork and an ultrasound to diagnose the problem. It was determined that there was a hard lump in my right thyroid with a very small percentage that it was cancerous. I had to return to California for the biopsy and surgery to remove my tumor, and immediately changed my primary care and ENT doctor.
I give two stars only because Dr. Moyce is lucky enough to have a nurse that understood my worry and concern, and she pushed to get the MRI of my neck authorized. He himself did not seem very concerned about the lump and did not take immediate steps to determine what the problem was. If I had let him wait, who knows what further complication I could have encountered. I had to request and push for what I needed with him– in short, just another doctor in the business who does not take patient concerns very seriously. I am lucky I have parents who could pay for me to get better medical care, and glad that I persisted to get results since I ended up having a true medical problem. I would not recommend Dr. Moyce to anyone since he could easily overlook or dismiss a true medical concern.