Feltman Joan, MD

It has been some time since I have seen Dr. Feltman, but after the Kaiser ‘revolving door’ and a series of mediocre doctors, am considering the long drive to Santa Monica to go back to Dr. Feltman. She is so smart, she listens, she doesn’t ridicule or question your symptoms as my Kaiser primary care physician did (and ended up making me panic by a misdiagnosis which a specialist confirmed was nothing for me to worry about). It’s so hard to find a competent, knowledgeable doctor especially in Los Angeles who’s not half-​listening with glazed eyes and pushing pills on you and rushing you out the door. She is a gem and I recommend her wholeheartedly (she was referred by my friend and I am glad I took her recommendation!)
The only CON is the parking situation in Santa Monica medical places in general. Oh well.

Dr. Feltman seems to run a busy office and her manner is no nonsense. That being said, when she is in the exam room with you, she listens and tries to get to the heart of the issue.
However, I am dismayed by the lack of professionalism and responsiveness of her staff. I have repeatedly been treated rudely both in person and on the phone. I am ignored when I walk in and wait several minutes until someone acknowledges me, I am not given the necessary information but have to ask and prompt when I know what to ask and prompt. My children were with me on the last visit and told me that one of the assistants put a person on hold so she could badmouth him to her co-​workers.
Most recently, I have called repeatedly trying to get test results and have been told someone would call me tomorrow. They never call. In the two weeks I tried to speak to someone about my test results, I called at least 6 times and only after the 5^th call did I get a call back. Unfortunately, I missed the call because I was in a meeting. I never received another call. I finally, had another doctor request the results so I could find out what they were. While the staff may not think test results are very important unless they indicate someone is dying, to the person tested they can mean a great deal.

I’ve been a patient of Dr. Feltman’s since 1997. She is truly one-​of-​a-​kind and I owe my 35-​lb. weight loss to her. I was in a bad frame of mind where I was depressed & eating my way up the scale FAST. She put it to me in a powerful way what would happen if I didn’t lose the weight, told me to go to Weight Watchers or whatever I needed to do & monitored my progress closely for the eight months. She’s motivating, yet empathetic. Also, I’m needle-​phobic and she has the best nurses to draw blood.

My doctor, and the dr for my girlfriend and family for years. She is a busy lady, the nurses are good at giving shots (you barely feel it), getting an appointment isn’t too bad, but may be hard without a referral perhaps… tell them Unilocal sent you. I give it 4 stars because i’m a talker and if I go into an appointment I want some good quality talking about whatever ailment is on my radar. Recomended for fans of health.