Prima Medical Group Terra Linda

Wished I had believed the lousy reviews here before switching primary care providers to Dr Habis. True to reports, I was treated like a cog in the Prima Machine. Habis was 30 minutes late for both of my appointments (with no apology); missed noting items on my blood work that cost me extra time and money at the lab; did not care about my history (eg, comparing current cholesterol results to past years); did not question me when I mentioned side effects I experienced from medications; and left as soon as possible to visit his next wallet — um, I mean, patient. See ya, Prima.

I really wish I would have checked the Unilocal reviews of this place before I went. And I should have known this was a terrible place when I was on hold for 20 mins before I spoke to someone to make an appointment with a doctor. Filling out the paperwork once I arrived for my appointment was nothing out of the ordinary. I met with Dr. Ullah. I felt like the whole time I was with her, I was wasting her time. I insisted that I had a sinus infection. I still know that I have a sinus infection. Dr. Ullah said that even though I had sinus pressure, post nasal drip and my lymph nodes are swollen for more than 4 days that it wasn’t a sinus infection. She also asked me the last time I had a z-​pack for a previous sinus infection. My answer was 4 – 5 years ago. To which she responded that she didn’t want over prescribe antibiotics to me and I should wait a few days before calling her back to let her know my symptoms had not improved. I hardly consider a person who has taken medication 4 – 5 years ago an abuser of antibiotics. Well it has been a week since my visit and I still have the same symptoms. I called back to try and have Dr. Ullah provide me with a prescription only to be told by the call center that I would need to wait for someone to return my call tomorrow. This is by far the worst experience I have had with medical group. It seems to make sense to me now that Prima Medical Group Terra Linda is the only place accepting new patients in Marin. If anyone has a recommendation for a Dr, please send them my way.

If you don’t mind being treated like cattle by being shuttled in quickly and prodded out just as quickly then by all means make an appointment at this very impersonal office. Being basically a healthy person, I had not gotten around to getting a GP so after my injury, the hospital recommended a number of offices and I mistakenly chose this one. I had developed an infection following a running fall two weeks prior– that was why I had previously been at the hospital. But let me not digress, I went to see Dr. Ullah to have her follow up with my injured ribs and take a look at the infections on both my hand and knee. She was cool and efficient, compassionate, no. Caring, no. All business, yes. I went out very soon after with a prescription for an antibiotic. Seven days into the antibiotic, after increasing drowsiness each and every day of the treatment, I suddenly developed a strong negative reaction to the medication. I developed a fever, chills, sore throat, my body hurt all over and I broke out in a terrible rash that had me swollen and itchy all over. I called the office at 7 am and left message with the answering service (live person) that I had a developed a bad reaction to the antibiotic. He told me that he would contact the person on call and would have someone call me. No call! I went to the pharmacist at cvs and showed him my prescription, he recommended benodryl, I took 3 tablets, no improvements. Did I mention that this was on my face as well? Finally at 11 am I called the office again, got the nurse, told her the problem, she said that she talk to Dr. Ullah and they would call me. No call! I called again at 1230, got the answering service again, hung up. I went there at 1 pm, office closed til 2 for lunch. No kidding! Finally, I had the sense to go the walk-​n-​clinic nearby, and got prompt caring treatment and was finally given the steroid prescription that I obviously desperately needed. Long story, sorry but the short morale is: STAY AWAY FROM THIS OFFICE AND DR. ULLAH. They just don’t give a s – t.

This place has the most incompetent staff in the world. Every time I make the mistake of working with one of the doctors here either out of a lack of time or availability, which they have plenty of, I end up regretting it. They’re usually available, because most patients have the good sense to stay away from this office. Just today I asked for a refill of a medication. I call them midday as there’s been no response — they didn’t get it. I ask the pharmacy to send again, and follow up with the office. It’s approved! but they didn’t bother sending it to the pharmacy. Now it’s after 5PM and the clueless morons from the answering service are there, and really reluctant to bother the on-​call doctor, who I’m sure is very tired of covering for the idiot staff who can’t do their job.
All in all it takes 10 phone calls to deal with a minor problem — a moderate one? You’re better off with Marin General, except it will cost you a small fortune. All because some dimwits in an office can’t do their job.

Okay … WHERE do I even begin about this HORRIBLE and UNPROFESSIONAL place? apologies in advance for a novel of a review but I have had ENOUGH of this office and all they have NOT done to help me after numerous visits to get help over some serious issues. Seriously, it’s beside me how a doctors office can get away with this and people are still going there! I can’t even give this place a 1 star, it is that terrible. Pay attention to the other reviews people! I am DONE and more sick than ever after coming to this place!
Lets start back a couple years ago with Dr. Tang who is my «primary doctor», I went in for a check up because I was getting incredibly sick (throwing up, breaking out in hives, I. B movements) and couldn’t figure out what was causing it but I knew it was something I was eating that was giving me a horrible reaction to. Dr. Tang hardly gave me 5 mins of her time before simply saying «oh you just ate a bad egg in your salad, you’ll be fine». Well after still getting sick and almost making a trip to the hospital to regain nutrients and fluids I would lose from getting so sick, I went to a homeopathic doctor by the suggestion of a family member. She was a GEM! Knew right away I was suffering from food allergy/​reactions and sent me to get some lab work done. Sure enough, I was suffering from a dairy allergy, and a very strong specific reaction to milk proteins. The next time I went to see Dr. Tang I made it a point to tell her what I had found out about the allergy because she should have taken care of it. But did she care? No, she simply said «oh great, glad that worked out». and that was that.
Another HORRIBLE issue I have had and am still dealing with her and that god awful «office assistant staff of hers» is in regards to my asthma. I have asthma. She wants to prescribe me a medication that my insurance stopped covering. However, I have been on it before and it is the only medicine that helps and I do need. I am told that I can have her send an authorization to my insurance where they will have to authorize me to take it since it is the only one I can tolerate. Great, sounds relatively easy right? NOPE. The office staff and Dr. herself informs me they will send the authorization in and it will take 5 – 7 business days for it all to go through. Well a week goes by since they said they will take care of it and I get a call of the office staff ONLY calling to «verify my insurance information before the contact the office» … UHM excuse me? yeah, during that week period I was told they were going to contact the insurance, they didn’t contact ANYONE and just then called me to verify my insurance? The same one is has been for years? The same one I said a week ago was all the same and the one you need to contact? … Yup. And this is after playing phone tag with them because they DO NOT RETURN CALLS/​MESSAGES/​and they call you 5 mins before the office closes for the day leaving a message to just have you call them back. So here I am, now having to wait another week for this authorization. So two weeks have passed since I was told about the authorization process meanwhile, I am still struggling to breath, I am getting sicker and having a harder time with this. I still hear nothing back from anyone, no one in that office of the doctors staff can call me back or answer any questions, so I go see another doctor in there — «Dr. Habis (who I DO NOT recommend at all, he doesn’t care, doesn’t give the patients the time of day and doesn’t listen) — and I am firm with him, tell him my issue and firmly say I need you to contact the insurance and put the authorization through. He just says «oh I’m not sure why Dr. Tangs staff didn’t do, I will try and send one today for you to get it moving».
WELL … you guessed it! 3 days pass and I haven’t heard anything. I finally go ahead and call my insurance and come to find out, NO ONE IN THAT DOCTORS OFFICE HAS EVEN CALLED MY INSURANCE FOR THE PRE-​AUTHORIZATION !!! … yup going on 3 weeks now and there is no indication that anyone has tried to make any effort. I am beside myself and furious. Bless the lady on my insurance call who can see I am in tears and so frustrated and went ahead and faxed the form to my doctors office because she had the information and said I need to call my doctors office and make sure they fill it out and send it back ASAP! So I did, and of course they are on their 2 hour long lunch and the guy just says «Yeah, no one will be checking the fax machine or messages until some time after 2 I can tell you that, so nothing I can do for you call back in a couple hours». I am so frustrated and exhausted from dealing with this place. I have yet to get a hold of someone to help me get the medicine I need so I can breathe before going to the hospital. DO NOT GO HERE !!!

The receptionist is rude and unprofessional. I was actually hung up on. Their automated menu is long and when I pushed the number to ask a billing question it rerouted me back in a circle. The Doctor never calls back, only a receptionist that can’t answer your questions anyway. Very frustrating to interact with this office. I would strongly advise finding another group.

Wow! I never thought I would miss Kaiser. The biggest mistake of my life was switching to Covered California Blue Shield and landing here. Like everyone else says, the phone system is awful. There is no advice nurse and no way to reach the doctor without going through the front desk and speaking to someone with no medical knowledge or critical thinking skills whatsoever. The doctors are nice and so-​so as far as other doctors I have seen but because of the experience I have had in it’s entirety I would never recommend this office.

I have no complaint about the doctors, however the front office appears to be run for the convenience of the administrative staff. Any type of urgent, non-​life threatening medical need or request is met with eye rolling & an attitude that your suffering or concerns are a nuisance. if you like auto-​attendance, voice-​mail or want to be condescended to by receptionist, this is the place for you.

If I could leave negative, I would. We are still relatively new to the state of California and needed to find a doctor. My husband had not been feeling very well for the past months and I finally convinced him to go to the doctor. We both took the afternoon off of work in order to make it in time for the appointment. Prior to going in the office, I had explained to the receptionist exactly what I wanted, blood work and general check up. I must have said blood work in the conversation about 5 times. Anyway, we finally show up for our appointment and start to feel relieved that we will find some answers. Unfortunately we left worse than when we arrived. My husband explains his issues and Dr. Habis interrupts him and tells him «ok, I’m sorry, we don’t do blood work here. Before you continue, go get blood and then we can talk» Leaving my husband a little confused. I mentioned that no one had informed us about not doing blood work on site then asked him what we needed to do in this case. He said «go to the front desk, someone will give you some sheets and then whenever is fine» The worst thing was that he DID NOT EVEN ADDRESS the rest of the issues we mentioned. I left way more upset than my husband because when I made the appointment, they could have told me what the procedure was. Today I end up making an appointment to the place they sent me to go get blood work but I honestly did not want to deal with the same doctor. I called into another office from Prima Medical, explained the situation without even complaining. Just mentioned I was a little confused on the procedure and that I rather move to another office. This is what the woman responded
«you have to choose a doctor, you can’t be moving around. What do you want? an appointment or are you going to get blood work»
I literally just told her never mind.
We moved from Houston and NEVER EVER have I experienced such a terrible medical procedure. The worst is that they collect a great amount of money from our insurance and we as patients are still confused. PRIMA MEDICAL GROUP ARE THE WORST IN THE BUSINESS and I will be reporting this to BBB. How can we trust in doctors to help us with our health with someone like this in business.

This office uses a third party system to share lab results, electronic communications, etc. I first logged in to this system (FollowMyHealth) in January. And I get emails occasionally that state «You have an important update regarding your health from Prima Medical Group. Please sign in to view this secure message». yet when i log in, there is nothing there. Following the troubleshooting guide, I checked my connections, and it shows the connection «Pending» since January. I spoke with someone in the office, they couldn’t help me. They finally called my home and gave me an 800 number to call… it’s disconnected. I called the office, they’re closed from 12:30 — 2:00 PM. The answering service was EXTREMELY rude, told me the office was closed (DUH) and only took a message after I insisted they take one… I doubt they got the information straight. This office is HORRIBLE for communication. I like my doctor OK, but the Prima Medical Group is so inefficient. Another example: I was referred by my PCP to an OB-​GYN, also in a Prima Medical Group, but not the SAME group… they can’t even see each other’s records. Waiting for MediCare and going BACK to Kaiser Permanente.

I saw Dr. Joseph Habis. He seems like a competent doctor, but the communication and management of urgent situations is poor, particularly among the support staff, who are all you will talk to outside of seeing Dr. Habis for an appointment.
Dr. Habis diagnosed me with IBS, and sent me on my merry way. He did do other tests to rule out other things, like celiac, but gave no guidance on how to manage IBS, or even where to start. He just gave me some meds. I did a lot of research myself and found some diets that I’m trying.
Unfortunately, a few days after seeing him, my symptoms got bad. So I called and left a message, letting him know. I got a call from some girl awhile later informing me that Dr. Habis sent me in a prescription and if things didn’t improve, I should get an ultrasound. This was the convo:
Me: So when will I know if things are not getting better?
Her: He just said if they don’t, get an ultrasound
Me: Ok… when would I notice if there is an improvement or not?
Her: I don’t know, everyone is different
Me: Ok, I’m trying to figure out what he means by «if it doesn’t improve», by when?
Her: Well he gave you 5 days worth, so probably by then
Great — lots of help, thanks
So then my symptoms got even worse so I called again and they said they would schedule me an ultrasound and refer it out. This is how that convo went:
Her: We’re sending out a referral for an ultrasound
Me: ok, thank you, where?
Her: I don’t know, you have to tell us
Me: Ok… I have no idea where to get one
Her: It would be anywhere that takes your insurance
Me: Ok, where do you usually send them?
Her: Marin General or Novato. Wherever you want us to send it
Fair enough, I get that it is an outside referral — but I would’ve appreciated her even letting me know ahead of time, when I first called about the ultrasound, «Heads up, you may want to research some spots where you can have an utrasound done, we’ll send it wherever you tell us.»
So this morning, my symptoms were terrible. I was in a lot of pain and had extreme nausea. So I called again to let them know, and also tell them that the soonest I was able to get an ultrasound appointment was next Wednesday. She said she will talk to Dr. Habis and get back to me. So she calls back a few hours later:
Her: Dr. Habis sent in a prescription for you to Rite aid at 11am (it was 11:46am, and I didn’t realize their response would be that he sent me more drugs, I thought it would be inquiries about the new developments)
Me: Ok, I’m in the city today working, can he send it to the Walgreens close to me?
Her: He already sent it
Me: Ok can it be cancelled?
Her: Well you can pick it up at any Rite Aid
Me: There are none near me
Her: Yeah, I don’t know all the Rite Aids in the city
Me: Ok, I’m saying, I’m near a Walgeens, can he send it to that?
Her: Sure
Had I known there was a chance that they’d be sending more drugs, I would’ve asked them to call them in to a pharmacy near my office.
Bottom line: Communication at that office is poor and their staff is way too inexperienced. Makes for a bad combination. I’m seeing a new doctor tomorrow morning.