Diablo Valley Perinatal Group

Will never go here again! Waited an hour past my appointment time to be seen, then felt rushed through the whole process. The ultrasound tech went so fast all I couldn’t get a clear view of my baby. I asked if I could FaceTime my boyfriend who is in the military a few states away and couldn’t make it to the appointment and she said «no, maybe you should have him come to your appointments if he wants to see» as if my boyfriend was just some scum bag who didn’t feel like going. This is the most unprofessional place I have ever been to!

There is an excellent technician by name of Erin. I have never felt more comfortable around someone that I barely know and this being my first pregnancy, Erin definitely made me feel at ease with the whole idea of pregnancy and the «unexpected» that comes with the pregnancy. I highly recommend seeing Erin.

No point of having an appointment.
45 minutes to 1 hr wait is considered normal.
When patients who came in after us were taken, I went to the front desk, without any appology, the receptionist gave me an excuse about they have different rooms.
On our previous appointment, waited over an hour.

Two weeks ago, when we made the appointment for the Nuchal translucency scan, we asked if they take our insurance, which is PHCS PPO, they said YES! They even asked my medical record number!
But today, after one hour traveling to this facility, and half an hour waiting in the facility, the front desk told me they called the number on my insurance card and were told this facility is not within our insurance network.
They explained they are in PHCS PPO, but not our specific PHCS PPO which is underwritten by Kaiser.
I called the same number to ask, but the insurance agent told me if they are under PHCS, they should take our insurance for sure.
If she and me called the the same number, why did we get different answers? So I doubt if she has made that call at all.
My insurance at last says they are not under PHCS, but the facility insists they are. We tried to ask who at this office made the appointment for us, the one who said YES to this insurance instead of MAYBE when we made the appointment, but nobody took responsibility.
Waste us the whole afternoon on this nonsense because nobody is taking responsibility.
During the whole time, nobody apologized or showed any pity or understanding! I see only cold faces.
This appointment has wasted me the precious two weeks, and leaves me only one week before I miss my 14 weeks timing!
Nobody says sorry! I feel I was tricked!

I had my First Trimester Screening here yesterday and it was a pleasant experience. There was a little bit of a wait, but it was only 15 minutes and the office was packed so it was completely understandable. The office looks new and clean. The front desk staff was friendly and nice and there is water in the waiting room which is a bonus. Dr. Won was very upbeat and nice. The ultrasound tech was a sweetheart and we will come back just for her– I think her name was Vanessa. She made us feel very special and made our session memorable. The ultrasound software is out of this world– and we felt like we were definitely getting the best service. We got a few free sonogram photos and a CD with more as well. We will be back in a month, and I hope we can get Vanessa again! :)

The attitude from the answering service is unreal I called on a Saturday to get info on how many people I could have in the room with me when finding out the gender and mid way through my sentence the lady cuts me off with the most attitude I’ve ever gotten… Saying «mam I’m just the answering service! U need to call back on Monday!» I’d give that a 0 star for the rudeness. The reason I put 4 star is because the actual office it’s self and the employees in it are amazing they know how to treat customers by making u feel at home. I guess I’ll just wait until Monday to call about the info I need which is fine but the lady I spoke to today could have been a tad bit nicer about it.

If this place had 0 stars I would give it that. This place feels like a public clinic. The DR’s here are not engaging and rush you out the door. The ultra sound pics are horrible and imaging is horrible. You cant see s**it on this thing, it’s a big blur. You will not feel like it’s a place welcoming especially if your expecting your first child. Trust me do not go here. Find a place better with more quality care and better technology. All these Dr’s and nurse or so called nurses are a joke. Smh.

Let me start by saying I signed up for Unilocal just to review this business. I would like to give them zero stars. Well actually, I would give them –927 stars, one for each dollar they have billed us for.
TL;DR: Male physician needs to improve interpersonal skills and they have questionable billing practices. The ultrasound techs and female physician are good. Average wait in the waiting room (15 min or so behind schedule)
I will start with the BAD: We were referred here by our OB to get the nuchal translucency ultrasound and anatomical ultrasound. When we registered with the front desk on 9÷23÷2015 they asked for our insurance card (Blue Shield) to verify our coverage, and to fill out the registration forms. We are told everything is fine.
We do the nuchal translucency ultrasound (which came back normal). The male physician comes in for less than a minute, makes zero eye contact, and says it all looks fine then leaves. So we head home believing it was covered by our insurance. The time comes for the ultrasound to check for anatomy, and a transvaginal ultrasound on 11/​10/​2015. The front desk «verifies» our insurance once again, and we are told everything is fine. We do the ultrasounds, get the dvd and printed images and go on our merry way. Once again thinking everything is fine.
11/​18/​2015 (after we have completed TWO visits to the location) we receive a bill for the full charge of the nuchal translucency ultrasound, which is $ 306. They mention on the bill that it wasn’t covered by our insurance (we later find out the provider wasn’t in-​network. Would have been nice to be told that BEFORE being seen). Then we get another bill for the second visit on 12/​21/​2015 for $ 621. Again full amount because it wasn’t covered. Well, did they verify our that our insurance would cover these procedures BEFORE the first visit, or figure it our BEFORE our second visit? Nope, at least according to their «office manager» who my wife called today. She was told «it isn’t possible for the front desk to verify insurance at time of visit. They just look at the card and see if it is a type of insurance we accept.» WTF? I worked for few years in a registration and billing role for a south bay medical group, if I did this I would be written up and fired if it kept happening. IT WAS OUR JOB TO VERIFY THE INSURANCE FOR EVERY PATIENT AT THEIR FIRST VISIT, AND ANYTIME A CHANGE IN INSURANCE OCCURRED, for this exact reason. I have a Master of Science degree in Healthcare Administration, and my wife is an Assistant Patient Care Nurse Manager for a large hospital, so we have some understanding how healthcare works. To me this is questionable business practice at best, and downright unethical at worst. Wouldn’t it have been ideal to verify insurance first, then if it wasn’t covered tell us before being seen TWICE? Making matters more frustrating, the $ 927 is nearly the same amount as our yearly out-​of-​pocket maximum of $ 1000.
Now we get a bill saying if it isn’t paid in full we will be sent to collection. Keep in mind that after we found out it wasn’t covered we submitted an inquiry to our insurance asking to check into it (which they denied because it was out of network, but of course didn’t get back to us until AFTER the second visit), and called our OB (they «refer all patients here and «some have to pay a small portion of the bill,» but they didn’t verify anything either before referring us).
So we ask if they have a different rate for non-​insured patients and were told «No. same rate for insurance and cash paying patients.» Which is also different than multiple medical groups and physician practices.
Now for the GOOD. The ultrasound techs and female physician were very polite, efficient, and spent time answering any questions we had. The wait was what I would consider average for healthcare; we were taken in about 15 minutes after our appointment time even thought we arrived early as requested.

I had an appointent today I got taken right in. The tech was super nice and showed us our son. I was in and out in about 10 mins which is ok i guess. I get home to show my grandparents the ultrasound and the usb does not work. Now i have to go back to walnut creek to get a new one !!! ugh kinda mad

The 2 times I have come here were great experiences the technicians both times explained everything that was going on in my belly and what was what and best of all they told me I was having a little boy !!!

Review for Billing & whoever else screwed up my records–
On January 5, 2015 I had an emergency C-​Section at 36 weeks gestation, 10 days later my son died after he lost his battle in the NICU. My insurance will cover this 100%, however I continue to receive bills almost a year later because someone typed in the wrong date. They put my C-​section as January 5, 2014 (wrong year). Initially I was sympathetic to their mistake because it was the new year, but now after a year of this BS I’m really upset. Still grieving my son, this is not what I want to be dealing with! I have spoken to the billing department several times and they still haven’t fixed this HUGE mistake. Correct the date of service and re-​submit to my insurance, seriously how hard is that?!

I would NEVER TRUST THESE PEOPLE AGAIN! during my first pregnancy I went for my 16 week ultra sound. They saw 4 abnormalities and failed to even say they had concerns. I went on with a reveal party after I was told I was ok and started to buy things for my baby boy. Went back for my 20 week where they confirmed 4 developmental abnormalities and said at that point they saw them at 16 weeks but weren’t sure. They had me do an amnio and my pregnancy ended in a D&C at 23 weeks. Unacceptable and will never ever recommend or go here again.

I would give this practice, and Dr Jeffrey Traynor in particular, zero stars if that were an option. The only good thing I can say about this practice is that the facility is clean and new. I had the misfortune of visiting in mid June 2014, and the experience was so traumatic that it is only now (18 months later) that I can put it into words. My hope is that this will prevent a similar experience from every happening again. My apologies in advance for the length…
My husband and I were expecting our 3^rd child, and were looking forward to what we expected to be an uneventful NT scan. Given our age (almost 40) we had also scheduled time with a genetic counselor. Now, I acknowledge that no matter what practice/​doctor we had seen for this visit, it was never going to end well. However, Traynor made the visit unbelievably horrific and unnecessarily traumatic.
Like many other reviewers, we too had to wait almost an hour for our scheduled appointment, but that was ultimately the least of the problems. When we were finally seen by the technician, she didn’t say much, just: «The doctor will be in to discuss the scan».
Traynor came in all smiles, asking if we had other children. It went downhill from there. He asked if «I worked for a living, or was a full time mom». Now, as a working parent, I found it incredibly insulting to imply that I was a «part time mom», so my response was: I work, and I’m a full time mom. Then he asked how old I was. Given that my birth date was at the top of every form I’d filled out, I knew this was a bad sign.
Then Traynor says, «Well, I’ve got good news and bad news*. The NT is fine, but there is an anatomical issue. This is a major deal.» He then went on to explain that our baby had an omphalocele. Basically, the intestines (and possibly other organs) were on the outside of the body. This often indicates a chromosomal problem. As you can imagine, this was shocking and scary to hear. We agreed to do a CVS test, which would answer the chromosomal issue definitively, but the results would take a few days. We should have gone home then, but we were too stunned to do anything but carry on with our meeting with the genetic counselor.
The genetic counselor was a perfectly nice, young woman, but clearly inexperienced. Had she been experienced she would have counseled us to go home, try to rest, and await the results of the CVS. Nonetheless, she proceeded with the text book genetic counseling session. Right up to the point where Traynor burst into the room, waving a thick medical text book. The genetic counselor gasped and started to shake her head, but he was having none of it.
At this point, my husband and I were simply confused. We knew he didn’t have any additional test results to go over with us. So, you can imagine our shock and horror when he slapped the book down in front of us, open to a page with several full color pictures of babies/​fetuses that suffered from omphalocele. I won’t go into detail, but if you take a few minutes to google these images, you will have some sense for how disturbing these pictures are for anyone, let alone a couple who had just learned their baby was afflicted with the problem. I can still vividly see these devastating images in my head a year and a half later.
All I could bring myself to do was look Traynor in the eye and ask in a completely monotone voice, «What am I supposed to take away from this?» I think he realized how far he had crossed the line, because he immediately started back tracking (both verbally and physically). He stammered that he wasn’t sure we fully understood the problem, and he thought it would be good to see it in 3D. Wow, really?
To this day, I can’t wrap my head around Traynor’s behavior. I cannot fathom any scenario in which his actions would have been helpful or beneficial. At best it was unnecessary, at worst cruel and sadistic. I would not wish Traynor on any patient.
*Just a side note, if Traynor reads this, there was no «good news» in this scan. This just further reflects his callous disregard for the patient’s feelings.

I was referred by my Doctor to get a ultrasound. My OBGYN faxed them my paper work and I just called and was able to get a fast appointment. Got there and did have to wait a lil (20 mins or so) because they didn’t have my paper work for some reason and had my doctor fax it again, once all that was cleared I was taken in pretty fast and the ultrasound tech was very friendly and was explaining everything as she went and I was even given a disc with a few of the images. I’m father along in my pregnancy (34 weeks) but the lady was nice to even include a few 3D. She did explain since I was father along its harder to get good pictures but baby was cooperating so we got 3 good ones.

I, too, had an uncooperative baby that did not pose for cute keepsake images, however, I recognize that this is first and foremost a medical practice. Dr. Traynor and Dr. Won are two of the most talented physicians that I have met. They are constantly juggling the happiest moments of peoples’ lives with the most devastating as they give bad news about unhealthy babies. Physicians are late to appointments because they are spending extra time with other patients who need more of it. I felt so reassured by Dr. Won’s warm smile every time she told me that my baby was healthy because I knew that if there was something wrong with him she would have found it.

At my 20 week ultrasound I had a tech that was so rude and not personable at all. He was short with me and did not explain what was on the screen. I was hoping to see hands or feet or maybe my baby girls face. He showed us nothing. He was frustrated and impatient and complained that our baby was the worst he’s ever had to examine. I left without one photo or even being shown any part of my babe. Very disappointing considering that this will be my one and only ultrasound.

The good: Got some great shots on my kiddo on the screen. This is my 2^nd pregnancy and it was cool to see the baby moving so smoothly already– something I didn’t see on the ultrasound with my daughter. The wait was horrible, maybe 15 mins after my scheduled time.
The not so good: The tech that called me back totally chopped my name… not a biggie because that’s common. When I told him how to pronounce it, he just laughed and said «okay whatever». Kind of rude IMO. But here’s what really grinds my gears… when I get there and check in, the receptionist told me I would get 5 complimentary photons on a disc. Well he gives me the disc and when I get home, I notice there were only 2 photos… and one was completely blacked out! I was pretty annoyed. Called but of course they were closed so hopefully tomorrow they will email me the photos or mail me a new disc. But based on the reviews I’ve read, I’m guessing not.
Will update my review based on what they do about the disc.

I am surprised by some of the negative reviews here.
Whenever I visited, I’ve never waited for more than 20 mins.
And Dr Won. is the most friendly dr. that I ever experienced in my life. She is always so cheerful and the nurses there are very kind as well. The only drawback is that the Cds of my babies pictures offered by them never been opened in my computers at home. (I’m using both mac and pc). I talked about this to them and checked again at the center and it opened there. We couldn’t find what the problem is but their format is not fit to any kind of computer I have.

Our ultrasound technician had no interpersonal skills. She looked like she was reading a script and was trying to complete the procedure as fast as she could. She didn’t connect with us one bit.
When we complained to doctor Won and asked that the 3D image be redone, she said that 3D is only offered as a courtesy and that they’re «not there for entertainment». To her credit, she did try to take another 3D picture but the baby was not in the right position.
I can’t comment on the medical competencies, but this place is missing a big point: In trying to get as many patients through the door, they end up doing the strict minimum, and in the process, they rob expecting parents of what should be a pleasant experience of seeing their baby for the first time.

I’m expecting identical twins, so I have to come in every week for an ultrasound to keep a close eye on my girls. I book my appointments early because they can get backed up. BUT the reason they get backed up is often when there is something wrong. I had a 7 am appointment and there were only 3 women in front of me. I saw the tech right away, but all 3 doctors were held up because each woman had an issue (or so the tech told me). I was happy to wait an hour knowing those babies and mommies were getting the attention they needed. I also like that the doctor checks in with me every week. I’ve had two other babies and had a different ultrasound place where the images from the tech are simply sent to a doctor to be reviewed with no interaction.
The doctors and techs do a thorough job and care so much.