Stanford Medical Group

the world according to noelle, 2013
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the quick details
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place: medical group
parking: parking lot
price: pricey
customer service: friendly
restrooms: yes
noelle’s favorites: my doctor
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my experience
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Stanford Medical Group is currently known as Stanford Internal Medicine. This once was located at the Blake Wilbur Building located across from the Stanford Cancer Center but it since has moved to a new location.
My doctor is fantastic but currently he is not accepting any new patients. I’ve seen other doctors at the Stanford Internal Medicine Group and they all have been good. The front desk people are friendly and helpful.
The Stanford Internal Medicine Group is located on the third floor of an older building which used to be the original Stanford Hospital ages ago. Do note they have valet and paid parking directly in front of the building. To make an appointment with any of the doctors it’s best to make a call because they are often booked in advance to see patients. I’m really have with the health care my husband, myself and other family members have received at the Stanford Internal Medicine Group.
The remodel of the building is excellent. I highly recommend anyone looking for excellent healthcare to book an appointment with the Stanford Internal Medicine Group.
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The new location
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Stanford Internal Medicine
211 Quarry Road, Suite 302
Palo Alto, CA 94 304‑1426
(650) 723‑6028
Map of location:
Info on the different clinics:

I am a person who believes in building relationships with people who I seek service from. That includes everyone: doctors, chefs, gas station personal or barristas at Sturucks (these are very important people in your life, by the way. You will remember my words if you need to wait (G*d forbid) for your loved one’s diagnosis at the Stanford Emergency Room and the only person around at 11pm is the Sturbucks barrista) With that said, getting treatment at Stanford Internal Medicine will require some initial work on patient’s part. Getting used to their appointment system, knowing who to talk to about various problems at first, how to get messages to the doctor and how to make sure you get your appointments when you need them. In my opinion there should be a college course on how to pick and deal with your Primary care doctor’s office. In case of Stanford Internal medicine the trouble is well worth it though. I have a grandmother who LOVES doctors and had numerous serious problems with almost every organ in her body, I have a grandfather who had a heart condition, a stroke and genetic problems and a mother who HATES doctors but believes in an annual physical check with all other checks that follow. I am happy to report that all family members are now fixed, satisfied and happy.
My family’s doctor is Dr. Kathleen Kenny and it was very hard to get my whole family as a new patient in her office. I won’t lie, trying to become a new patient at the Clinic takes many hours on the phone and a great deal of coffee (barrista ;) !) All the doctors and specialists my family sees are from Stanford, but the main doctor is Dr. Kenny. She decides what organ in the body needs tuning up, when it needs it and who will tune it up eventually. Because the whole family is getting treatment at Stanford, I had a chance to learn how their systems works in terms of getting appointments, financial issues and referral system. I won’t lie here again, the services are expensive! Many things depend on your insurance coverage and the services you are getting at Stanford.
Overall Office PROS AND CONS:
CONS:
— you will have to do some research on how to contact everyone, that includes nurses, physician assistants, front desk, manager if needed.
— the office has «send an e-​mail» system to the doctor when you call with a problem. this system has a delay time, sometimes by a whole day or two.
— getting direct numbers to call people you need will also take some time.
— waiting time to become a new patient can be significant! but keep calling if you know you want a doctor at this clinic.
— initial set up of the network of a pharmacy, a doctor a nurse and whoever else you need as a patient is time consuming, but later on it runs like butter on a hot plate (very smooth)
— not all insurance is accepted and services are expensive.
PROS
— Doctors are THE BEST in terms of knowledge and care, but you will have to pick the one that matches your personality and needs
— Dr. Kenny is excellent and is great with «tough» patients and elderly especially.
— As soon as you become a patient, all your wants and needs are satisfied. You will have to do some initial set up like i said before. Getting an emergency appointment is easy. All the doctors have an early morning window if you need them the same day. if they can’t help with that the office will accommodate for a substitute doctor or consult with a physician assistant on what to do. Either way, you will be taken care of. You will just have to speak up on what you need.
— The clinic does have an online health chart system where you can communicate with your doctor by e-​mail, check test results and find out about health whenever you want.
— The whole clinic functions on he idea of informing the patient about what is going on with them, what the patient can do about it and what options are available for treatment. The clinic and the hospital provides all the comfort the patient needs. Everything from décor, accommodations (if you do need serious long treatment) to doctor’s attention. They even have a harp player, a piano player, a massage service and free water bottle service at the hospital to calm you down while you wait.
— Doctors and staff are responsive.
There are many more things to add to either PROS or CONS, but the things that helped out my family in care and treatment are listed.
Overall, you will have to do some work and scream at a couple of people o get all the information and set up a system for yourself but the rest is up to the doctors and they are excellent at Stanford Internal Medicine..

Not worth it. Avoid. It would be easier to get an appointment with Obama than with these people. Dr. Henri is good but it’s not worth it if you can’t get through to their offices. She referred me to a rhumatologist in her group but after AN HOUR of trying I never reached a live person. Now I’m trying again to get someone live just so I can get my records transferred somewhere else. They may well be the best drs around, but if you can’t get any of them in an appointment —how would you know… and what good would it do you? I shudder to think what would happen if I needed them in an emergency.

Waste of time. Tried to schedule an appointment, kept redirecting me to hundreds of departments, telling different information, switching doctors without letting me know, and then after i finally scheduled an apt, called me the next day to inform that the doctor is no longer available at that time. Ridiculous.

OK, you don’t get Marcus Welby, MD anymore, healthcare has changed. But over the last 25 years, I’ve tried lots of different option on the Peninsula for medical care, and I’m happy I live near Stanford, because these are the people I want caring for my health. They listen to patients, treat them with respect and they are thorough and professional.
As a new patient, you may have to wait for a regular checkup appointment, but certainly no longer than I’ve had to wait for other doctors or medical practices. Most important, once you are a patient, they see you quickly for health problems. My primary care doctor takes care of most things, but occasionally I need to see someone else for something urgent, and I’ve liked all the other doctors I’ve seen there. In several cases the doctors at Stanford have identified problems, quickly, that other doctors (at Palo Alto Medical Foundation) missed. The follow-​up here is thorough, MUCH better than I’ve experienced with other medical practices.
The complaints about scheduling other reviewers make are strange, I guess they just want drop-​in appts exactly when they need them! For regular patients (not that I go that often, but they are my primary care physicians) their scheduling system means that you can get an appt. THE SAME DAY when you have an urgent need. This is not true for many other practices who fully schedule out, then can’t see regular patients for urgent problems.
But if you are selecting a primary care physician and plan a first checkup in advance (as opposed to calling as a new patient with an urgent problem) and get into their system, they will take excellent care of you!
BTW, I’ve used the Dermatology group at Stanford several times, and I found them to be excellent as well.

Lousy Scheduling Department. Ridiculous scheduling rules. One cannot make an appointment in advance for 3p.m. or later appointments, UNLESS, you call in at 8 a.m. everyday to check if there is an opening for after 3p.m. They do not realize that people work and have to make a living.

5 stars. You got to be kidding. I am a new patient trying to see someone at SMG since March of this year. When I first called the group (
), they told me that they are replacing their computer system and cannot take brand new patients until June 1^st. When I called back today, I was told that they cannot take new patients period due to staffing issues and they have no idea when that would change. They could have told me that in March. Terrible. And yes, their website specifies whether a Dr. has an open or closed practice. Apparently that doesn’t matter at all. No new patients are accepted. So don’t waste your time like I did!

So after dozens of calls to prospective primary care physicians /​internal medicine specialists at UCSF and being turned down every single time, I was about to give up when I took a chance and decided to check with Stanford.
I wasn’t really expecting them to accept new patients immediately since UCSF stressed the fact that big teaching hospitals usually have a long wait (or in their case, indefinite wait at the moment). I was really surprised when the Stanford Medical Group was very accommodating and was open to new patients who had to see a doctor immediately. The schedulers/​staff members were very polite, friendly and made sure we were well taken care of when we registered as new patients. Even more noteworthy is their impressive flexibility in accommodating patient’s schedules. We were able to get an appointment at the same day we called. Talk about quality service!
You can visit
for more details. The practice is about a group of 12 Stanford internal medicine specialists who are also PCPs and whose other interests lie from sports medicine to women’s health.