Ucsf Berkeley Outpatient Center

I signed up for a primary care (PC) doctor here ~ 4 years ago and they've consistently let me down. On more than 1 occasion my doctor failed to order tests I specifically requested. If they're only giving me 5 minutes of my doctor's time each year, the least they could do is pay attention and get it right. I'm not confident that Mychart messaging adequately protects patient privacy. They frame it as though you're messaging your PC directly however every time use this feature I either don't get a response at all or I wait several days to get a thoughtless response from whichever warm body non-medical person is available in the office to "sell" me an office visit when all i need is a sentence or two email from the doctor I thought I was messaging directly in the first place. I recently waited 1.5 - 2 months to get a 15 minute call with my doctor, but they cancelled at the last minute because I mentioned that I'm traveling out of state for work which I have to do quite frequently. John Muir Health policy is to only speak with you when you're physically in CA which in my case creates an unacceptable amount of time where I lack coverage. Needless to say, I'm looking elsewhere for a new PC.

The outpatient center is right next to my work so I thought I would find a PCP there for convenience. Had my first appointment in 2025 was told to come back for follow up in February 2026. I went to the appointment only to be told that my appointment was cancelled; I did not receive a single notification. Asked the front desk to reschedule, and they rescheduled me for a 15 minute check-in rather than an actual physical; an information that was only related to me the day of the appointment. When asked if I could make an appointment for physical with another provider but still meet up with PCP for my annual visit, I was told that an “annual visit” was not a good enough reason to meet with my PCP. I have since terminated my PCP relationship, which is a shame because she was actually nice. However, dealing with the front desk staff has left me feeling extremely frustrated and tired.

Hard to decide stars because I want to describe the awful experience I just had which was different than my prior experiences. So even tho this was a one star experience, I gave it 2 stars to acknowledge that I had better experiences before this. I went to Urgent Care after 2 weeks of diarrhea resulting most likely from exposure to sewage backup. The urgent care doctor ordered x-ray & 2 stool tests. The lab gave me an ABN (advance notice that Medicare will not pay for the $800 bacteria test as ordered.) When the doc reordered the test incorrectly a 2nd time, she then asked me to find out from Medicare how to order a test they will cover. When, after many efforts, including a call to Medicare, I was able to find out what was missing from the order (failure to mention the sewage exposure) and I asked her through MyChart to rewrite the order, I got a message back from another doctor that I must come back to Urgent Care again. The doctor made sure to leave a no-reply message so I was unable to ask why it would benefit me to return to the same Urgent Care where the doctor does not know how to order a stool test for multiple pathogens in a way that Medicare will cover, and then asks the patient to find out how to do it, and then when the patient returns with the answer how to rewrite the order, the doctor has some other doctor tell the patient to just come in and start all over again (now 2 weeks after the first visit with ongoing diarrhea) !

Go round to parking and we went up to 3rd level and parked right by door. Validated parking free. The staff were super friendly and helpful, everyone with a smile and a helping hand.

UCSF Laboratory at the Berkeley Cancer Center highly recommended. Dealing with health challenges is never easy, but the phlebotomy team here makes every visit significantly better. A special thank you to Michelle and Lee, who are absolute standouts. They are not only incredibly skilled and efficient but also bring a level of genuine kindness and calm to the room that is hard to find. They make the process quick and painless every single time. The entire phlebotomist team is professional, compassionate, and truly dedicated to patient care. If you have to have labs done, this is the best team to see. Thank you all for the wonderful work you do!