Pacific Women’s Obstetrics & Gynecology Medical Group

Not sure where to begin. My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for 2 years. Before seeing Dr. Lofquist, I had Kaiser. I had 3 miscarriages already and I was starting to feel discouraged. I had started a new job in the same building as Dr. Lofquist. My office knows Dr. Loftquist and they referred me to her when they found out I was looking for a OBGYN that took my new insurance.
I’ve seen so many doctors in the past and Dr. Lofquist was the very first doctor that made me feel that patients came first. Sure some of her appointments are fast, but she’s the type that gets straight to the point. I love that about her since I do work in the building and I schedule my appointments during my lunch break.
During an ultrasound it showed I had an ectopic pregnancy. We tried medication first to see if the cells and tissues will leave my body a natural way because I did not want surgery at all, but Dr. Lofquist said it was necessary. She respected my wishes and gave me a methotrexate shot hoping it would stop the cells from growing. During that time when I was on methotrexate, Dr. Lofquist checked up on me so many times. I had seen her about 3x a week and had about 4 ultrasounds. My HCG levels were slowly going down which was a good sign. But one night I had bad abdominal pain and guess what? Dr. Lofquist was right. I had surgery that evening. She never once said she told me so. She was actually off the Sunday night I went in to the ER, but drove all the way to the hospital at 12:00am to perform my surgery. Dr. Lofquist was the first one ready. While the surgical team was setting up, I had an oxygen mask on and I told Dr. Lofquist I was scared. She held my hand and told me she will be there the whole time performing my surgery. The look on her face had so much compassion.
The surgery was a success and after two days I’m able to walk and believe it or not, I’m not even in pain!
I am so happy that I work in a doctor’s office that refers our patients to her. I know they’ll be in great hands!

STAY AWAY! I had an appointment with Dr. Bason-​Mitchell and she was awesome at the time. She told me she found a polyp and that it was nothing to worry about so she snipped it off. 2 weeks later I get a bill stating I had to pay for «same day surgery». I went in for an annual appointment and I’m being billed for SAME DAY SURGERY?! Apparently I had a choice to have the polyp snipped off but I don’t recall being given the choice when a doctor tells me «it’s not a big deal but I’ll just send it to pathology to be sure». Now they are telling me that I have to pay because it’s my insurance’s fault– not theirs. Had I been given the choice and notification that by having the doctor snip off the possible cancer growing on my female parts would cost me then I wouldn’t be so angry at paying for what was supposed to be an annual preventative measure!

Dr. Sarah Hebl with the PWOG is awesome. Her warm, superb bedside manner and professionalism are greatly appreciated and rare. She is the best OBGYN Dr. I have had in decades. Thank you Dr. Hebl. You truly are amazing.

Front desk staff and billing are hard to work with. Frustrating to try and get appointments. Bills can’t be paid online. Sent back in the form with credit card info, never got processed. Got another bill 5 months after my one appointment. Finally called and gave my credit card over the phone to some centralized call center. Bill itself was confusing (had a listed procedure that wasn’t done but was comp’d, for example). Staff on the phone, both in person receptionists and call center billing staff always sound exasperated and are generally unhelpful.
First pre-​natal visit ended up waiting ~1.5+ hours to see Dr. Hebl, who was late due to an emergency procedure of some kind. She herself was very pleasant and followed up with us on test results in a timely manner. (Only reason this review is 2 stars instead of 1.)
I thought that being closely associated with CPMC would make things easier. This wasn’t really true since this means they share CPMC resources and everything outside of seeing your doctor is done separately. Ultrasound had to be scheduled separately and was in a different building — I didn’t realize this, and was pretty disappointed I didn’t get to see a sonogram of my baby at the first prenatal appointment. Also had to schedule the lab work separately and give blood at a different department within CPMC.
I ultimately chose to go to Golden Gate OBGYN, and had a MUCH better experience. The staff were very helpful and made everything easier. Everything was onsite — had an ultrasound in the exam room, and walked down the hall where I got blood drawn. The technicians and nurses are all super helpful and organized. They did things like pre-​fill most of the paperwork for the genetic testing /​blood samples. They took the time to explain the process and procedures. They gave me my flu shot the first time I was there, which wasn’t mentioned at my prenatal appt at Pac Women. Dr. Callen herself is very experienced, well regarded, and lovely. Everything about the practice is thought out and I felt like I was in good hands at every step. Very easy to make appointments and I get callbacks quickly.
I don’t feel great giving such a low rating, which isn’t reflective of Dr. Hebl’s skills, but it’s just not worth it. The rest of the experience is so much of what you have to deal with during your pregnancy.

I’ve had a horrible experience at this place. Word of mouth tells me that CPMC is a good place to have your baby, so I decided to choose a doctor here for my first pregnancy. They didn’t have an appointment till my 10^th week. On my 9^th week, I started bleeding and they told me it’s ok with slight bleeding. The next day there was more bleeding and it took them forever to call me back. I left work and called them again and asked if I can just sit in the waiting room to wait so I can just skip in when they have an opening, and they said don’t come, the doctor is probably trying to fit you in somewhere. So instead I went to the emergency at st. Lukes. While I was at the emergency for an hour, they called me back and asked if I can come to do an ultrasound and I told them I am already in the emergency and they said that is fine, because they will probably do an ultrasound there. She said sorry she was on her lunch. That was from 10am-​2pm! I eventually saw the doctor at my original scheduled appt., but I had lost the baby at this point… The doctor was very nice though. Afterwards I’ve been trying to call them and they never call back. I have to call until the assistant is there and I only get to talk to the assistant. It’s been two weeks now and I’ve been trying to get a doctor’s note and so far have to bug them everyday. The receptionists are unknowledgeable, the assistant keeps saying oh the doctor isn’t here today, the form person isn’t here today, I’ll have to ask the doctor. It’s so annoying and a waste of my time. I feel like they don’t even care. It’s ok to be busy but please take care of your patients and call back when you say you will.
Update:
I’ve been telling them that my work is asking me for my doctor’s note to go back to work, but they are in no hurry to work on this despite me calling them almost every day, sometimes more than once a day. Last week the assistant (her name is Johanna by the way) told me it’s sent in the mail… to where? Don’t know. Checked my email, nothing. Waited a couple days for the mail, nothing. I asked if they sent it to the job, the assistant said probably. They should sent it there. I told them the headquarters are in the east coast and I’m not sure if my boss will receive it or when. She said she will follow up with the person in charge of the forms but that person is not working today. Again tells me she «will call me back tomorrow.» Of course she doesn’t. I called the next day, she didn’t answer so I talked to the receptionist who said she will check and what do you know, the forms are on the desk waiting for the doctor to sign! So either Johanna was just saying that it was sent so I would quit calling, or she has no idea what is going on and making up stuff, which either way is horrible. If the forms are waiting for the doctor to sign, that tells me the doctor didn’t fill them out, because why would she fill it out and not sign it? If the doctor didn’t fill them out, why did Johanna tell me last week one of the days that the doctor was out and couldn’t fill them out? This office is so inefficient. I don’t understand how they function.

The billing department is terrible — invoices are very hard to decipher and sent more than once with different medical codes for the same procedure. If something has changed from the previous three invoices you received last week don’t be surprised if completely separate procedures are now combined in a new invoice with no explanation of what the heck you’re looking at, no reference numbers to make the paper trail understandable. If you are say, expecting a baby and have a ton of appointments and tests, it can be almost impossible to make sense of what’s going on, then you have to call and waste hours of your life having them try to figure it out with you. If they just took the time to make invoicing clear (like Alta Bates… completely different experience!!!) none of this would be necessary! Dealing with insurance is bad enough, I need a medical billing department that knows what they’re doing & makes my bills easy to pay… I work full time like a lot of moms & don’t need any more complications in my life! :(

My wife and I first went to this office to begin the process of family planning. Dr. Bacon-​Mitchell was recommended to us… and thank goodness. She is professional, approachable, and can even put up with a control freak with a thousand questions like me. I would send ANYONE to her. My wife is so happy with her. We just had our first child, and I have to say that I was very pleased with all the doctors we encountered (doctors on call). This practice is very popular, and very busy. But they always accommodated us. If you are looking for the best care, I can recommend Dr. Bacon-​Mitchell without hesitation.

I have been a patient of this practice for 20 years, since I was a teen incredibly anxious for my first visit. Over the years my experiences dealing with this practice have declined dramatically. Dr. Basen-​Mitchell was a great dr. When i was a young teen, but after the first couple of years i was never actually able to see her for my appointments and exams. The front office staff changes frequently and is consistently disappointing. Multiple times i had my appointment canceled hours before it was scheduled, sometimes missing the call and showing up to be chastised for not realizing they had cancelled my existing appointment. It is impossible to get an appointment so to have it cancelled day of is absolutely unacceptable. Last week i decided i would no longer be a patient here, the office staff seemed bothered by my check in and when I used the bathroom in the office there was water, paper towels, and little water cups
Filled with urine strewn throughout. It was the final straw in a string of disappointing experiences. If anyone has a great GYN rec I am very much in the market for a new doctor. Hey PWOG you just lost a patient of 10 years, buh bye.

Horrendous! Nickel and dime everything. Tried to make me pay $ 3000 7 weeks prior to my c section. Without the bill going to insurance! My insurance strongly advised me not to pay it, while the office manager was insistent. Office staff seems miserable. Office manager very unprofessional. Dirty office and smells like urine in the hallway. Disgusting. Screw the steak dinner, gonna go to UCSF! I know they are professional and competent!

I recently went to see Dr lofquist. I am 43 years old and want to have a baby. She told me insurance will not pay for anything until i try on my own for year. unfortunately i listened to her and I tired for one year, no sucess. I went to see others and did a lot of research on my own. It turns out my eggs go through a rapid decline around age 42 to 43. And looking back, how could a OB doctor recommend a 43 yr old to try a year without doing some basic test at least to check baseline hormone level to see if there are signs of infertility?! A year later, blood tests show i have low follicle count. I wish i did not go to Her. If i knew i had low follicle count then, i wound have started IVF sooner. Very poor knowledge

Hi. I would never go to this medical group, or see the doctor (Frederica Lofquist) again.
The story: I went to this group because I needed an IUD. My experience was bad in two ways (and the second is the serious issue).
Bad #1: I had recently had a baby and was periodically breastfeeding. After I had the IUD insertion, I asked the doctor how long it would take for it to be effective birth control. Her answer? It would be effective IMMEDIATELY. After the appointment, research turned up at reputable medical sites, however, indicated that since I didn’t know where I was in my cycle, or when my cycle would begin again, that answer was false. So, I would NOT rely on her medical opinion!
Bad #2: The insertion hurt INCREDIBLY, way more than at my previous IUD insertion. And I had way, way more bleeding and more pain than at my previous IUD insertion. And I called Dr. Lofquist’s office a week or two after, expressing concern about the degree and length of time the pain and bleeding were lasting. I was told that was normal. However, a few months later (having switched medical plans to Kaiser), after continuing to have intermittent bleeding, it turned out my IUD had left my uterus and was wandering around my pelvic area. I had to have SURGERY. And after the surgery, my new (and wonderful) doctor told me that her suspicion was that the issue came up when it was inserted.
And that certainly seems consistent with my severe pain and bleeding post-​insertion.
So, see this doctor at your own risk.

Pormina Kaul HORRIBLE DOCTOR!!! She sent me a letter firing me as patient two weeks prior to surgery just because I asked alot of questions about my upcoming surgery and complained about being rescheduled for surgery 3 times. She is unprofessional, unethical and did not perform her due diligence and lacks sensitivity. She does not like alot of questions and never once apologized for the stress I was under having to deal with 3 rescheduled surgeries and possible ovarian cancer.
On a first office visit in Aug 2012 she performed a vaginal exam. Then after experiencing alot of discharge problems I went in again 4 mo’s later in December 2012. She then discovered a Polyp (which was missed in August and after surgery turned out to be a Fibroid so she misdiagnosed). I then went for a ultrasound to find out the size and location of the polyp. The ultrasound also found a cyst on one of my overies. I then went for blood tests to determine if the cyst were cancerous. One blood test was fine the other she said she was concerned about. She said the cyst had to be removed along with the polyp. She was never gentle about delivering the news the ovary could possible be cancerous and did not explain things completely. She did not seem to acknowledge the anxiety, fear and stress one would have hearing news of possible cancer. She lacked patience and sensitivity.
At one of my office visits with her I was asking questions about the surgery and at one point she said me «you seem like a person that has to be in control and you have to trust me». I was surprised she made a negative personal character remark in response to my asking questions but I let it go. (We all have the right to ask questions about any surgery we will undergo and our medical status).
She could not perform the surgery till the end of January in 2013 due to her upcoming vacation but said I could ask one of the other obgyn’s to do the surgery. So the next day I called the office to schedule surgery with another obgyn in hopes to get the surgery over with asap. The office scheduled surgery for Jan 18 and also schedule a preop visit for Jan 14 that I had to go in for to talk about next week’s surgery. But when I got there the staff was confused and did not have a record of any surgery date. So I went in for nothing and they suggested that I wait for her to return from vacation.
When she was back from vacation she returned my call, and I explained the run around that her office scheduled me for surgery with another obgyn per her suggestion, but when I went in on the 14^th they had no record that the surgery was scheduled for the 18^th. So she rescheduled the surgery date again for February 4^th.
I went back to her office and took a breath test to determine if I had any cancer gean carrying breast or ovarian cancer. She called me back and said we had to reschedule the Feb 4 surgery because the breath test did not come back. I got upset since this 2^nd reschedule (which affected other people’s schedule who had to take time off to care for my 1yr old son since I would be unable to pick him up for two weeks) and told her I was stressed about all the rescheduling and surgery. She got defensive and was unapologetic towards me when she should have been kind and gentle to me as her patient and apologize for all the rescheduling. She should have shown some care instead of behaving abrasive.
I then meet with the Oncologist since he now had to be involved in the surgery. He scheduled the surgery for Feb 20^th and his office called her office to coordinate schedules to perform surgery. (Because an oncologist needs an obgyn as an assistant and he always goes back to the referring obgyn)
But Poornima Kaul declined to assist him in the surgery and I then received a letter from her in the mail, quote «After careful consideration I have decided that I am unable to be your doctor. The style of patient care that you expect is different from my style as a physician. I feel that your needs would be better served at another medical practice». So basically I don’t want you as a patient go somewhere else because you ask to many questions and got mad and I don’t want to deal with you. Wow two weeks prior to surgery. What doctor does this? Now the oncologist had to scramble to find another obgyn to assist him not to mention an obgyn whom I’ve never met.
What does she mean by «the style of patient care that you expect is differnt from my style»? Patient care being kindness? That’s what I expected. And I expected her to answer my questions. Is that to much to ask for? Her office is unorganized and although she says «trust me» she obviously can’t be trusted. She is capable of turning her back on a patient in the middle of care during one of the most important times of a person’s life. Possible cancer.

My first encounter: Rude, unengaged front desk staff, too busy eating chips to help patients while we stand there and wait for her to check us in and give us paperwork. Only thing getting me to return was that the Dr. (Loftquist) was very friendly, helpful, smart, and approachable.
My second encounter: I was just on hold for 10mins then hung up on. I called back and was on hold for another 8mins until someone picked up and spoke with me. Again, the front desk staff at this place is horrible! If it was my office, I would fire them and get people who want to work and enjoy their jobs — especially in customer service!
If you can stand to get through the horrible front desk staff, the Dr is worth using.

It takes something really special these days to get me to do a review, but I had too!
This is a big THANK YOU to Olga! She saw me today for a bit of a «lady emergency» and she was so sweet, understanding and didn’t make me feel rushed at all.
I think finding the right Dr. is one of the most important choices a woman can make when it comes to reporductive health, and Olga reminded me today why I trust this office with a part of my life that is so personal and so important. Thank you Olga!

I love Dr. Poornima Kaul, she was there every step of the way through my pregnancy. She was attentive, available, and most importantly trustworthy. Any concerns I had during the process she always responded with an action, like when I was afraid the baby would be large she ordered an ultrasound, or when I didn’t feel the baby kick as much, she ordered an ultrasound and sure enough we needed to induce. When many Dr.‘s go the route, «let’s wait and see», Dr. Kaul does not follow this old rule, she is so proactive that it help ease any worries.
With all the support she gave me, the one thing I am extremely thankful for is that she stayed throughout my delivery and delivered my baby. I know after talking to a lot my friends their delivering Dr was whoever was on staff that night. Dr. Kaul went the extra mile and stayed and did the delivery even thought it wasn’t her night to do so (I know she did that for all her patients that night). She was there at the very beginning to the very end.

Based on personal experience with my closest family member, Dr Moy at Pac Women’s OBGYN has been an all around disaster. She was very unavailable and very rushed in all the appointments, she was unaware of some obvious fertility issues and does not involve patients in their care. On the contrary, she showed up to all meetings at least 30 mins late and usually more like 45 minutes.
She would spend about five minutes in the exam room and was quick to write off prescriptions for some pretty powerful medications without explaining the side effects. She talks down to patients, treats them as if they were stupid, and seem to be intent on just cramming as many people as possible into an hour. She has ZERO bedside manner and comes across as harried, cold, and thoughtless. Her medical assistant, Jennifer, is basically incompetent. She couldn’t even spell the word «semen» correctly even though this is a gyn office. (!) The only competent ones are the billing people who are indeed very happy to collect your money. Your body will suffer at the hands of somebody this careless.
I urge you for your own best health, AVOID DR. MOY and her office at all costs. Your health is a great asset, and to put it in the hands of people who only care about money and not about patients is a major mistake.
In my opinion this doctor should return to medical school for retraining, in particular to learn how to deal with patients as people.
The staff members are generally totally unhelpful, except when they are collecting your money. They are both quick and persistent about that.

I’m writing this review as I wait on hold.
I’ve been a patient here for at least five years. I love my doctor. I love her staff. But that is really only after years of going here and understanding that it’s not so much the quality of care you need when seeing your obgyn. When it comes down to it… Do you want a doctor who is friendly, easy going, and makes you feel comfortable? Or do you want someone who is smart as f***?
Yes, it’s annoying how busy they are. PWOG needs to hire some extra hands. Believe me, there are plenty on staff. But they could use a few extra doctors and several more receptionists to deal with the number of patients they see and the volume of phone calls they take. But, think about it this way… If a restaurant always has a line out the door, wouldn’t you assume the food would be amazing?
It’s annoying that every time I call I’m risking being placed on hold for who knows how long. That it takes forever for someone to call me in a prescription or return any of my phone calls. But my doctor has degrees from Stanford and Yale and did her residency and internship at UCLA and Brown. And I guess it’s okay that ladies going into labor are taking precedence…
My priorities may be aligned differently than yours. But when it comes to my health and the homegirl downstairs, we want only the cream of the crop. I would HOPE that my doctor would blow off other people’s phone calls if I were having a freakin kid.

I used to be a patient at PWOBGYN for approximately 6 – 7 years. They were the first Gynecological office I went to as a young woman at the tender age of about 16. Since then I am now at Kaiser (for about 6 months now — which sucks by the way for Gynecology)
My first doctor was Dr. Laurie Green, who was WONDERFUL. So patient, personable, caring, informative and relatively easy to get an appointment with.
Then, my dad altered our insurance and I unfortunately was no longer able to continue seeing Dr. Green. Having had such a great experience with her, I really wanted to stay within the office. This is when I became a patient of Dr. Moy.
Out of the 3 – 4 years I was her patient, I saw her maybe…2 times. She’s basically impossible to get an appointment with unless you’re actually GIVING BIRTH or having your annual pap. All other office visits that aren’t made with 6 months notice are going to be referred to the nurse practitioners, who happen to be quite lovely, thankfully.
The times that I *did* see her, she was brief, always over 20 minutes late, passive, seemingly ambivalent, cold, curt and she had uncomfortably cold hands as well. I didn’t like her at all. One time she even forgot to inform me a pretty important health issue, that I later happened to find out 6 months down the road after one of the nurse practitioners mentioned it to me in passing when I was in for a minor appointment. I was PISSED. Would I have ever been informed of this important information if the N.P. didn’t mention it to me? The N.P. (I forget her name) was basically my Gynecologist throughout the 3 – 4 years I was a «patient of Dr. Moy», and she was awesome like Dr. Green. Courtney I think?
Then, to top it all off, I receive a rude-​ish and abrasive letter in the mail from Dr. Moy about 3 months after I left the practice hounding me for a $ 25 co-​payment that somehow slipped through the cracks. I moved, so I’m sure they were unable to get ahold of me, which is why I was late to respond. A whopping $ 25. Yea, Dr. Moy. I have intentionally been jipping you out of $ 25 after years and years of being a patient of PWOBGYN. I think this was the *first* letter I ever received from her in the history of being her patient. It was insulting. What a joke — after barely ever seeing her over the last 4 years and being left out in the cold about some relatively imperative health info *this* is the cherry on top of the experience I went through as her patient? I wouldn’t recommend Dr. Moy to my worst enemy. She should move to Kaiser — she’ll fit right in!
Stick with Dr. Green! She’s the best!

I am very thankful to Dr. Poornima Kaul! She may have in fact saved my life. (*.*)
With her knowledge /​skills in ordering certain lab work she was able to refer me to an Endocrinologists. Not many gynecologist check your thyroid count. In fact I don’t know any at all, besides her! But because of Dr. Kaul, I am well on the road of getting treatment for my hyperthyroidism. Who would have thought…
However that’s not what brought me to see Dr. Kaul. After suffering from terrible, chronic, reoccurring yeast infections for the majority of this past year, she was the ONLY Dr. to finally be able to CORRECTLY diagnose and TREAT me. Trust me ladies it wasn’t just as easy as changing to only cotton underwear, taking probiotics, acidophilus, eating tons of yogurt, and using monistat … I needed this Dr. She spent an enormous amount of time with me during my visit. She and I have even communicated twice via phone since my appointment.
I felt at ease sharing with her embarrassing topic’s that I’m dealing with. She is young and I am relieved because she in fact will know all the latest technology. During my visit with Dr. Kaul we also discussed seeing an urologists. (like I said I was at ease enough to share embarrassing issue’s) To think I will be able to run, jump, and dance… Something I can’t do now, but know 1 day I will.
During my examination Dr. Kaul felt my left f. tube was a tad full /​swollen. She ordered me to have a transvaginal ultrasound. It came back I have a teeny-​tiny cyst. Nothing to worry or panic about, but something definitely worth keeping an eye on. More than likely it will go away on it’s own. But seriously, she was able to feel that during my examination !!! This Dr. is good.
I click with Dr. Kaul and I really like her. I have only seen her once, but she is the only Dr. who has done MORE for me in 1 visit than any other Dr. I have ever had before.
Now maybe you too will understand why I started this review with how she just may have saved my life.

Excellent.
I’ve gone and dealt with Janice (nurse practitioner) three times in the past month. She is VERY informative (#1 priority), thoughtful, warm, and diligent with keeping in touch. Every interaction with Janice has been a comforting experience. She had Dr. Green call me to evaluate the results of my USG (less than an hour after I had it done) and she set follow-​up appointments immediately after blood tests and others. I never had to wait more than 5 minutes after arriving for my appointment and checking in. The receptionist and the lady at billing are both very kind as well.
Funny that when she asked me how I found out about them, she asked whether or not it was through Unilocal reviews of Dr. Laurie Green. It wasn’t — in fact, at that point I hadn’t thought about checking Unilocal at all for medical referrals. (I was a n00b.) It was initially
which led me to
, where I found her impressive academic resume: Harvard College (BA summa cum laude), Harvard Medical School, an internship at Stanford, and a residency at UCSF. I was sold.
Seeing that I had such a positive experience with everyone at the Pacific Women’s, I thought it prudent to write a review.