Berkeley Parents Network: East Bay Family Practice

Berkeley Parents Network

East Bay Family Practice

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > Health & Medical > East Bay Family Practice

2500 Milvia, Berkeley

March 2006

To the ''scared first timer'' who is a patient at EBFP, allow me to recommend Dr. Janet Arnesty. She treated me through my pregnancy, which was easy, and handled my son's birth, which was not! I found her to be extremely understanding, supportive of alternative practices, and, when things went wrong, very strong and competent. The best thing was that she stayed with me through a very long night - long after she was ''officially'' on-call. I felt almost like I had a midwife. When I needed an emergency c-section she was very comforting as the surgeon did her work. My son was born and had to be resusitated and her competent handling of the situation was both comforting and reassuring. She is now my son's pediatrician and he loves her! I did see both Dr. Young and Dr. D'Andrea during my pregnancy and liked them very much also. Hope this helps! Anonymous

Re: Female Primary Care Physican Needed (March 2004)
You would probably be happy at East Bay Family Practice. Most, though not all, of the practitioners there are female, and the doctors do a good job, in my experience, of seeing their ''own'' patients rather than passing them around the group a lot. I have seen primarily Edie Silber, MNP and Janet D'Arnesty, MD. Both are friendly but pretty straightforward and businesslike (which can bother patients who'd prefer a more touchy-feely bedside manner, but I don't get the sense that describes you) and, while not exactly proponents of holistic medicine, are also not at all patronizing toward lay persons who ask questions about less-interventionist alternatives when appropriate. I can't comment on the cancer issues, but most of the practitioners at East Bay Family Practice have been there a long time and are certainly what I would consider ''experienced'' in general. It's a large practice and often busy; I've never needed a same- day appointment so I can't comment on how easy they are to get. But the staff is certainly friendly and organized; we've never had any hassles with charts, bills, or that sort of thing. They're located on Telegraph in Oakland near Summit Hospital, which is the biggest downside for me since moving to Albany, but it's reasonably close for you in Rockridge.

May 2003

Re: Pediatricians who take Cigna
Hi there, I have been going to East Bay Family Practice (telegraph avenue, oakland - near summit hospital) for the past 5 years now; we are expecting our first baby and our doctor is Dr. D'Andrea. She's extremely patient and caring. My sister in law takes her two kids (1 year and 3 years old) to the same practice, but they see Dr. Santiago (who also delivered the 1 year old). She's extremely happy with him. They (the practice) all take CIGNA.

Dec 2002

Re: Danielle Rosenman, M.D., of East Bay Family Practice. I want to say that my experience over 15 years with her has been good. I find her warm and caring, though maybe in an understated way, and never dismissive of my concerns or questions, though she is certainly straightforward when giving her opinion. And as one correspondent noted, she's definitely a sharp and competent doctor. There are other good doctors there, but she's my physician of choice. John

July 2002

I have been a patient of theirs for 5+ years and, though I have never seen the person who is listed on my insurance card, I have seen almost everyone else and like them - though my favorite doctors there have rapidly disappeared over the years. My current doctor and daughter's pediatrician is Dr. Audrey DAndrea..she has always been polite and proficient ( though she does not pronounce my or my daughter's name correctly) and I have never had to wait for very long in the waiting room. So I am continuing to go to them for the postnatal followup though I had what I felt was very poor support from them during labor. Though I was induced and the timing was planned and my doctor promised to be there, she did not show up through the whole 36 hour labor, the c section or even the following day. Records were not filled out fully for the hospital (Alta Bates which I cannot speak highly enough of...) so the evening staff physician came on shift and shut off the pitosin (spelling?) after 24 hours of labor. I was yelling obscenities that I didn't even know I knew. In the middle of the night, after 24 hours labor, I had to wait while Dr. Santiago- on call -was rousted from bed in SF and drove to their office to get the needed records and drove to the hospital. The c section was performed by Alta Bates staff and Dr. Santiago and fortunately turned out well. So in short, I think EBFP is ok but not the kind of place you would want to go to if you want personal care. I will not have another child with them attending. They are just so busy, they don't seem to have the proper attention to detail - like the assistant who referred to my daughter as "he" - even after weighing her naked...not a confidence booster....

I felt I had to add my comments to those already posted on East Bay Family Practice. We, too, left the practice after becoming increasingly frustrated with what felt like a "business over patient" mentality. I won't go into all the details - let's just say it was too many times of waiting too long, calls that took too long to be returned, and an attitude that I did not feel was accepting of moms like me who nursed past a year, favored alternative medicine, etc. The final straw was when I started getting bills for lab work I never had. I was never a patient, but my name was in the computer because my daughter was! If someone had apologized at any point, I would have understood - mistakes do happen. But it took several phone calls to straighten things out, and no one ever seemed very interested in fixing things. I will say the advice nurse was quite good, and I loved Karen, the front desk receptionist. We had Dr. Santiago - seemed like a nice man, but always was in a hurry. Good luck. Anonymous, please

I also feel compelled to respond to all of the comments and the inquiry about EBFP. I took my newborn daughter to Dr. Saper, who was great. I have now left the practice so that my children could be seen by a pediatrician. I was tired of the awfully long waits, particularly while I was with a restless toddler. They also kept making mistakes with obtaining the proper authorization for an ultrasound for my son. I am very happy that I left.

June 2002

Re: RN for Ob/Gyn
My guess is you don't actually want an ob/gyn office but a family practice or women's clinic, where the primary care is typically done by RNs and/or MNPs. I'm at East Bay Family Practice (on Telegraph near Summit Hosp.) and until my pregnancy my appts were with Edie Silber, the MNP there. I recommend her if you're interested in a fairly businesslike approach and don't mind a large practice; she's competent and caring, if somewhat ''corporate.'' She was my primary care provider and she, or other doctors there (most of whom are female), did see me occasionally for minor problems unrelated to the annual pap. I've also been to the Women's Health Clinic (or some such name) on Ellsworth in South Berkeley and had satisfactory experiences. It's smaller and has a more hippie-ish environment, if you know what I mean. It's been a long time and I don't recall the individual names of anyone there, but all the staff is female. Holly April 2002

I was perusing the UCB Parents Web site, since I am shopping around for a Family Practicioner. I noticed that many of the comments for East Bay Family Practice vary wildly, and that some of those comments date back to 1998 or so. Does anyone have any current pros/cons of this practice? Thanks in advance

We have been patients at this practice since 1995, yet in all that time, averaging about 2 or 3 visits per year, I have been seen by my "primary care physician", Janet Arnesty, only once. At that visit she chided me for not having come in for annual exams, although I had no idea that such visits were encouraged by the practice. For all of my sick visits I have been seen by a physician's assistant, Steve Bryzman, whom I liked. I've found the staff to be somewhat impersonal but nothing I can't put up with. In short, I can't wax enthusiastic about the practice, but I find it perfectly adequate -- although I must say we opted for a separate pediatrician when our children were born. It's a bit far for us since they moved from their downtown Berkeley location, but the parking situation is very good at their Telegraph location. Pamela

I am pregnant and am being followed by the FPs at East Bay Family Practice, and have seen many of the providers there so far. I highly recommend my physician, Audrey D'Andrea. A newer doc, Dan Santiago was also very nice. Both have wonderful bedside manner and are well-trained. They've been my favorites so far.

I perused the comments about EBFP on the website, and found them to be pretty up-to-date, actually. I was *crazy* about Audrey D'andrea (nie Heffel), but had a lot of problems with the front office, and always waited an unbelievably long time to be seen. When I transferred my prenatal care to a midwife, I was told I had to pay a $25 fee to get my file copied and sent over (which was wrong). I told Dr. D'andrea to her face that the long waits were the reason I wasn't choosing her for my prenatal care. I loved working with her, but as I looked to the future and imagined all my well-baby visits taking 1-1.5 hours minimum, I just had to choose to take my business elsewhere. (Oh, and their current office is the 3100 Telegraph address on Pill Hill.) Hope this helps. Jennie

My family, which includes myself, my husband and my 2 and 4 year old have all been with East Bay Family Practice for 3 years. We are actually in the process of looking elsewhere at this point primarily because we are frustrated with their continuous focus on business over quality patient care. We actually like our primary treater quite a bit, Daniel Santiago, but he too is swept up in the clinic's managed care setting of packing the patients in which means on an average 1 to 1 1/2 hour wait in the waiting room to see him. The turning point was recently when I was late getting to an appointment (I had a dead battery) for my bronchitis with one of their nurses who was available on an urgent need basis and called them en route to explain to them that I would be 10-15 minutes late. Feeling quite feverish and with my two young ones along I was told that the nurse could not wait for me and I would have to reschedule. That did it for us. Good luck in finding a quality family practice and please let us know of their name when you do. Diana

I have been a patient of Dr. Polly Young at East Bay Family Practice for about five years and am very happy with my care. I find Polly to be caring and capable, interested in me and my wellbeing, and willing to make referrals if she or I deem it useful. She also cares for my husband and toddler and it's nice to be at a practice where it's all integrated and we're all known. I find the front office to be professional, if not terribly warm. Marge, the woman who handles referrals and provides phone advice, is very knowledgeable and helpful and kind. I have also been seen on occasion by other MDs or NPs there and have liked them all.

My husband and I had perfectly good though somewhat impersonal care at EBFP until our daughter was born. She had some problems in her first month or two and we were in the office frequently to check on her progress. That was a turning point: the staff all got to know us and showed lots of concern about the baby. Now when I take her in they make her feel special and marvel at how she's grown. And when I go on my own, I'm greeted in a friendly way. That makes me feel comfortable with things like pushing for a better appointment time or asking followup questions about confusing insurance matters, so I think I get better treatment because of it.

As with probably most doctors' offices in this era of managed care, there are time pressures. I sometimes wish my visits with Polly were a little longer, but if she's heading for the door and I tell her I have more questions she always stays. In addition, getting through on the phone can be a bit of a hassle, as I often have to wait on hold for a while. But I suspect these are common complaints everywhere these days.

As for the query about a lesbian-friendly practice, I don't have direct personal experience, but EBFP doctors seem to be openminded and have a generally feminist outlook and I suspect they would be fine.

I have been with EB Family Practice for more than 10 years and I can't say enough GREAT things about Audrey D'Andrea, Janet Arnesty and EBFP! Dr. D'Andrea is EXTREMELY knowledgeable, warm, funny, answers questions thoroughly and is just an excellent OB AND Family MD. I was seen by both Dr's Arnesty and D'Andrea with my second pregnancy in 97-98. My husband really liked how she was sensitive to both my needs, as well as his, during and after pregnancy and she always gave us many choices on how we could approach things that came up for us. I had a very uneventful pregnancy so I can only speak from that side of the fence. The best part about having either of these Dr.'s is that they handle pediatrics as well, so both my kids were seen by their pediatrician AS SOON as they were born. Both my kids (5 and 2 1/2) really like her and she really enjoys seeing them. I highly recommend her..... good luck with your decision. Trish

I'm glad to have the chance to recommend Dr. Audrey D'Andrea. She was my OB as well as my general "family" practitioner -- my son sees her as well. And in fact, I had my annual exam with her just yesterday. Dr. D'Andrea has always been totally "present" with me. She is caring and compassionate, and when there was a complication with my pregnancy and the Alta Bates docs were pressuring me to choose Option A, she was the only one who said, "Of course, you have a choice, and here are your choices." I think the people at East Bay Family Practice are great. A hearty recommendation. Letitia

I would like to also highly recommend Dr. Audrey d'Andrea for OB care. She was my OB for my first child and now for my second pregnancy also. Audrey is very warm and friendly. She was very supportive during the pregnancy. She is open-minded about alternative medicines (e.g. she suggested I try acupuncture for nausea), but is also an excellent and clear-headed traditional doctor. Audrey is very flexible regarding the mother's preferences for how to manage labor and delivery. She was very positive about my hiring a doula (Erin Crowe - excellent), and they worked very well together. During labor and delivery, Audrey encouraged me to do things the way I felt would be best for me. After the delivery, which went very smoothly, I had some serious complications, and I was very impressed by Dr. Andrea's competence and dedication during this time. She remained calm and supportive, she clearly knew exactly what to do and remained in complete control of the situation. She came to visit me herself in the middle of the night, even though that medical situation could have been handled by the on-call hospital doctor.

I also really like East Bay Family Practice, and have been going there for 17 years for my personal care. My only bug with them is that they are chronically running late. However, if you make sure to get early morning appointments (ca. 9 am) you won't have to wait. Kathy

From: Deborah

Re: Internist I highly recommend East Bay Family Practice on Telegraph in Oakland (near Summit). Great practice. I've seen Janet Arnesty and Audrey Heffel there.

From: Laurel

I go to Dr. Audrey Heffel, who is a member of the East Bay Family Practice in Berkeley. She is a family practicioner and is the careprovider for my husband, me, and my unborn child. She is really warm, thoughtful, and caring. She followed through within hours when we had a question regarding a genetic disease being passed on to our baby, and she has always been helpful. Also, I have heard wonderful things about Janet Arnesty, who is in the same office. East Bay Family Practice is asssociated with Hills Physicians Medical Group and Alta Bates Medical Group.

From: Anita

Dr. Janet Arnesty at East Bay Family Practice (540-8200) delivered our daughter this year and I was very pleased with her warm manner and medical ability. She took a low- intervention approach to pregnancy and childbirth which is what we wanted. She and Dr. Audrey Heffel in the same practice are family practice doctors rather than ob-gyn's, but do deliver babies. (They and the other doctors in the practice all do regular gyne work as well).

From: Patricia

I just want to reiterate the recommendation of Dr. Janet Arnesty of East Bay Family Practice as a wonderful family doctor and ob/gyn. She uses low-intervention with delivery, has a very warm manner ....especially bedside, and is GREAT with kids. Not only will she be delivering our 2nd child, but she our pediatrician as well. The practice, in general, is wonderful.

From: Beth

We've been reasonably happy with East Bay Family Practice, but they've just moved to Oakland by Pill Hill, and thought we should investigate practices closer to home. We like the idea of a group practice so that there's coverage when your family practitioner isn't available. We also like their Saturday hours, the fact that they cover family planning, well baby visits, and the whole range from pregnancy to geriatrics. We've been reasonably happy with Audrey Heffel (within the limitations of allopathic medicine), and she's been great with our son Chris and my mother who has had a triple bypass and the whole gamut of complications post-op, including infections and a pacemaker. The reason I've given this much detail is to solicit references from you for a reasonably comparable, but more closely located to us (North Berkeley near Kensington) family practice, with competent and reasonably open-minded family practitioners (Nurse practioners ok, too). (I will use a midwife when I get pregnant with our second child, but would go to the family practice for well-baby care).

From: Cathy

I have been going to East Bay Family Practice for years. They are very good. All the doctors are women (I believe there are currently 5 in the practice). One of the physician's assistants and one of the nurses are male. They just moved from Berkeley to Oakland and are now located at 3100 Telegraph. Their phone is 645-9900. They are members of the Alta Bates Medical Group.

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