Brown & Toland

Was very displeased with this service, in fact the worst I’ve endured from any health care practitioner and I’ve seen a bit. I called to get an appointment and was given a time and date, two weeks later for a pretty serious issue. When I arrived they said I had no appointment. Granted this is for a paid health care insurance via Anthem. I’m pretty confident I wound up with the worst possible package from my employer and then the worst possible primary care physicians with this group here, at the Valencia street location. I went in with a diagnosis from an ER doctor and told the primary care physician, Dr. Wali with Bay West Family Health Care. (Writing corresponding review there as well). The doctor debated the previous diagnosis and thought it was something unrelated and did not give me the necessary treatment for MRSA — antibiotics. I went to the ear specialist and again, he also misdiagnosed and when the tests came back guess what the hell it was??? Three weeks of time wasted dealing with these folks. Apparently you need to spend more than 4-​minutes with your patients in order to diagnose more proficiently. Send ‘em back to school doc!

Wrong review. Wouldn’t let me delete it

I work in the insurance field and this is one of the worst practices I’ve ever attempted to work with in terms of claims filing on behalf of clients.
I don’t normally bother with reviews, but dear god, these people do not play well with others and seem to care very little how that impacts patients.

I’ll never forget this place even though my appt was 12 years ago.
I had been suffering for some time and this was one of the doctors I went to trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I actually saw Dr. Brown because at the time it wasn’t this big group.
He refuses to listen to my list of hundreds of symptoms and litterally told me… what you need to do is quit smoking and lose weight.
I actually had a major bloodborne illness and still do in part because they weren’t advanced enough to discover it.
Be careful guys. The reviews are all true. All they care about is money.

i have been with brown and toland for about 10 years. they have always given me very professional health care. i like my doctor and my podiatrist. however something has changed lately and not for the better. i am a senior with a partial right foot amputation and have to use a walker. my old walker (10 years old) finally gave out and i need a new one. i have gone through hell for the last month and still do not have a new walker. years ago when i obtained my old walker it took 1 day. i just picked it up at st. francis hospital. now you have to go through so many hoops it is virtually impossible to obtain one without the patient paying for it on their own. b&t does not provide the durable medical equipment any longer i have to go through a co called apnia and they want payment from the patient up front. since i did not have the funds till i received my ss check i have done without.
the system is now set up to harass, intimidate, frustrate, and decimate the patient so they no longer want to struggle on any longer.
i am bi-​polar and more than once in the last month i have thought about just calling it quits.
i will do without a walker and if i have a bad fall it will be b&t’s fault.
the few reps i spoke to who deal with patients were trying to help but their hands are tied by the people at the top the ones who make $$$$$$.

This Brown and Tolland is the worst HMO. The lowest of the bottom in the healthcare industry. There’s a lot of better choices out there. You only need to use your common sense.

This is related to an issue I had with their billing department.
My Health Medical group billed my vaccination under the wrong physician and therefore I lost out on $ 250 when my health plan considered it out of network… they were not proactive at all in identifying or fixing the problem. Thus I have spent over 8 hours of my time calling their multiple billing departments, receptionists, supervisors, etc. to fix the billing issue and it still has not been solved as of today (which is 5 months after my visit). The care is average but the service is absolutely horrendous and confusing… worst service I have experienced from any medical care provider

These people are leeches and deceivers… BEWARE! I cannot wait to get the hell out of these greedy ykw people. What a rip off! Don’t trust ‘em, they are good cons. Some folks who knows who is making decisions on your life without the benefit of you having knowledge of this. This includes the greedy doctors who participate in this deceitful HMO!

I can’t wait to drop Brown & Toland (& Anthem) as my headache providers since they sure aren’t providing adequate healthcare! In fact, it appears that they could really care less about providing healthcare. Even if you jump through all of their bureaucratic hoops, you still have to play the waiting game of getting referrals, waiting for authorizations of approval, only to get delayed treatment and denied claims. Make healthcare your priority & avoid them at all costs!

Do not get trapped in one of these awful groups. This and Hills Physicians are the worst. The doctors that are a part of these groups are great don’t get me wrong but the health insurance plan as a whole is evil. Also I hope you never have to call their customer support line as a physician or as a patient as they are horrible to deal with and This company really should be put out of business. The way they practice and how they treat their doctors and patients should be considered malpractice and I’m sure they are constantly being sued for their services. The only positive reviews on here are from people who either don’t have their insurance or Do not have to deal with these people in any capacity.

One of the worst experiences I ever had with the health care system. I have Blue Shield and I cannot see my primary doctor as B&T computer drops my name from their system as if I do not exist. This happened once in January and yesterday. I was on the line with Blue Shield and they called them and said they will fix it. I have called them 3 times and every time they say they fix it but still not done. Their staff are unprofessional and there is no accountability what so ever.

I saw Dr. Aristotle Mendiola, who is part of this group and had a terrible experience. Went to Dr. Mendiola, got test results back. By week two post-​labwork, having not heard anything, I called and left a message. Nothing. Week three, again. Nothing. A month later I finally got someone on the phone. That day I got a rambling voicemail from Dr. Mendiola, telling me my results and apologizing it took so long. The next day I got a new symptom, after hours. Called the emergency line and spoke with the Nurse Practitioner who told me she’d call Dr. Mendiola. She ended up being the middle man, and going between us. I never spoke directly to Dr. Mendiola. He essentially told me to go to the emergency room — specifically the one he was affiliated with. I mentioned to the Nurse Practitioner that I was an hour away from that hospital. She insisted I had to go to that one. So we went. Two hours, and $ 250 later, I was told it was just cramps and I could take ibuprofen. The ER doctor told me that I essentially was told to go to the ER because it was after hours and Dr. Mendiola was just «covering his ass.» Great.
Bottom line:
Dr. Mendiola may be knowledgeable about what he does, but you’ll likely never know because the communication is terrible.

Currently in the process of trying to get my mother moved to an acute rehab facility. Am quickly learning this is a medical group that does not care about a patient’s health, only the bottom line. They will refuse you care and deny you your best option in favor of pulling a profit. Be very, very careful if you are picking a doctor from this group. Yours will only be an uphill battle. Dr. Caluag is with this group and while we love her as a doctor, we have learned that this medical group is notorious for putting your health at risk so they can make a buck. You’ve been warned.

I haven’t even seen any of their doctors and they’ve already scared me. I saw two doctors listed on my medical card with another physician group. Now I’m getting a bill from Brown & Toland saying my visits weren’t covered and I owe them $ 792 for 3 visits. I didn’t go to their medical group, the doctors are with another group. I asked the doctor and medical group where I had my visits if they are affiliated with Brown & Toland and each said No, they are not part of B&T. Looked on B&T website to see doctor list and found there is no list? How did they even know about the appointments and my medical records, who is looking at them? What about the HIPAA privacy LAWS, is this a violation? Most puzzling why didn’t they list their phone number on their letter like any well intentioned person, entity, corporation?

Brown and Toland sucks, and I have not even seen a Doctor yet. After being laid off from my job I signed up with Healthy San Francisco, and chose a medical center that was fairly close to my apartment so if necessary I could get there by bus, cab, or walking. Brown and Toland was the provider for that medical center (I’m not listing the center name because this complaint is about B&T). Mid-​August (a month after signing up) I finally get a letter from B&T with my assigned primary physician, who is located out in the Sunset District, nowhere near where I live and nowhere near the medical center I had chosen. I called B&T to find out why I didn’t get a physician at the medical center I chose, and found out they only had TWO physicians to chose from, one in the Sunset, one in the Castro. I asked to be changed to the Castro location as it would be easier to get to that location. B&T changed the physician and said I’d get a replacement card with my physicians name on it within a few days…
Fast forward to today… three months (and many, many phone calls) later, I STILL don’t have the card. After the first few calls I finally verified the address with them, they had been leaving off the apartment number; which is odd to me, because the original card was sent to the full and correct address. One of the customer service reps said my apartment number was listed on one screen but not another. Supposedly they corrected that omission, but I’m still not getting my healthcare card. Last week I talked to one of their reps who gave me his direct office phone line and told me to call him if I hadn’t received my card by Friday October 25^th. It didn’t show up, I called his direct line and left a voice mail letting him know the card hadn’t arrived and to please call me. I never heard from him, so I called again today and left another message on his direct line, then called the main number to see if anyone could give me information. Found out the guy was off today, so I was transferred to a supervisors voice mail. I left a message, and when the supervisor called back he was very defensive. He was saying they’ve tried sending the card so he doesn’t really know what else to do, he also told me that the guy that I left messages for last Friday and today was «entitled to take a day off, you know!» I told the supervisor that I was entitled to a healthcare card, and so far my first quarter of membership with HSF I’ve had none. The supervisor then said that «we’re both at fault here»; when I asked him exactly how I was at fault he said «well, obviously we’re mailing the card but the Post Office isn’t delivering it», to which I repeated «and how exactly is that MY fault? My other mail gets delivered.» The supervisor said again that they’ve done all they can do, he could try mailing it again or I could go to their office in person and get my card, the office being out by AT&T Park. I asked if he’s ever heard of FedEx or UPS, and he agreed to try sending it by UPS for delivery tomorrow.
If I’m having THIS much trouble just even getting my healthcare card, I can only imagine the nightmares I’m going to have trying to get physician referrals or prescriptions… Brown and Toland, you really, really suck.

If these guys can find a reason to say «no» that’s what they do. I have never had more claims denied and more requests from my doctor for tests denied than when I was part of their medical group. Now I’m with Stanford, and if my doctor thinks I need something, I can get it. Stay away from these guys if you can.

I just got the first of two ambulance bills: one to the hospital and the other between CPMC Pacific Campus and the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF). As of January 1, 2013 ambulance co-​pays are now $ 275, up from $ 175 just last year (3 years ago they were $ 180). That is a whopping 57.1% increase from last year to this year!!! This is a Health Net Policy so it doesn’t matter if you are with Brown & Toland or Hills Physicians… that will be your ambulance co-​pay. Justifiable??? Eek! Methinks not.
Also, previously, your inpatient hospital/​SNF stay had a $ 250 per day co pay for the first 7 days, and now it is $ 320 per day for the first 5 days (that’s a 28% per day increaae over last year the first 5 days). We stayed more than 7 days, so we will pay $ 1600 versus $ 1750 under the previous rules, so that is a little plus to defray the higher cost of the ambulances. Please also note that at days 21 – 100 you start accumulating co-​pays of $ 75 per day up until you reach the total maximum annual out of pocket expenses of $ 6700 (almost doubled from last year’s max of $ 3400).
But let’s say you go to emergency in an ambulance, are admitted, and stay 3 days, (and based on our experience, they will do their utmost to get you out in 3 days or less, even if you are too weak to walk). Your co pays last year would have been $ 750 for the hopital plus $ 175 for the ambulance for a total of $ 925. This year it will be $ 960 for the hospital and $ 275 for the ambulance for a total $ 1235.
That;s a total increase of $ 310 versus last year or 33.5% more than last year! God forbid you take an ambulance home or to a SNF… another $ 275 on top of that!
Buyer beware… something greedy is happening at Health Net this year and Brown and Toland will attempt to make decisions to minimize their portion of the cost sharing and maximize your portion!!! Please see previous review and update below for the rest of the sad state of affairs with this health insurance provider and their Medical Group B&T.

They do not have any physical therapy providers near SF Downtown, South of Market, or China Basin. In addition, their own online database (incorrectly) shows that they don’t have any physical therapy providers at all in SF.

If I could give negative stars I would. I tore my Achilles tendon April 1^st and had surgery April 3^rd. The Dr. prescribed a knee scooter as an alternative to crutches. It has been an absolute nightmare dealing with B/​T. The surgeon referred me to an out of network vendor, and stated he did so because B/​T would not approve this device, he also stated getting a cast/​boot would cost me at least $ 200 because of B/​T contract with Hangar. I had to nearly beg the Dr. To submit an auth request, which was eventually did and it was denied. Needless to say I an hopping around on fu!?&@ing crutches with a boot that was given to me be the emergency room. Brown and Toland is terrible.
I see homeless medi-​cal/​medi-​care folks get better treatment. Not that they shouldn’t but the working class stiff who pays for «health care» shouldn’t have to go through this!!!

I picked B&T because they have physicians all over. Great! Convenient!
A year later, I had my first need for referrals. Even though my primary physician is in Burlingame, the nearest physical therapy I could book was deep in Financial SF. For XRays and Orthopedist, I had to go almost to the Presidio.
Other complaints have more to do with the member practices of B&T, but there seems to be a common cut-​rate thread about them: horrible access for injured people. For physical therapy at UltraHealth, parking was a block away from office. For my orthopedic visit, I had to park in a parking structure on the 4^th floor with no elevator. On crutches. WTF? Orthopedics = cripples, hello?!