Kaiser Doctors and Obgyn's

Kaiser has a wonderful new Women + Children's Hospital in Roseville (1st for them in No. Cal). All rooms are private rooms (no roommates except the babies!) and quite large.

My daughter sees Dr. Benjamine that was mentioned by Bianca below. He now works out of the Lincoln office. We really like him. My older girls see Dr. Bowman, she is in the Lincoln office also.

I really like both of them. They take the time to talk to me and to my girls.

We really like Kaiser. I've been with them since 2006 and have never had a problem. Before that I was with them from 2000 to 2003 also no problem. We left them because we moved to AZ and there wasn't Kaiser where we lived in AZ.

I have been a Doula for the past 28 years. I have recently done several births at Kaiser and was skeptical going in. I was pleasantly surprised at the flexibility and caring of the staff. If you know what you are advocating for and what is important to you for a birth and personal health care, do not hesitiate to voice it. I found the staff listening and responsive. Kaiser has just opened a lovely maternity center in Roseville- go take a tour. I would highly recommend going with a midwife for both GYN and OB. Judy Nichols is wonderful. I understand Kaiser developed a whole midwivery maternity wing in Roseville for more family style birthing! Again, do take a tour and check it out personally before making your insurance decision. I know 30 years ago I did that and opted out of Kaiser--I am not sure I would make that same choice today.

Hi L.,
I am a long time Kaiser member and am happy. My son (almost three) has a great pediatrician in Roseville- Dr. Ursula Hempstead. My husband, my mom and I all see Dr. Alan Grove in Roseville and have been very happy with him. As for the birth experience, I gave birth in South Sac for my son and had my own room and my son stayed with me. The new women and infant center just opened up in Roseville and I will be delivering there in March. I was was just there for a visit and the rooms are large and very nice. My OB-Gyn is in Rancho Cordova, but is very much worth the drive. Her name is Dr. Susan McMillan and she is fantastic!I think you would be very satisfied. Feel free to email me if you have any more questions.

I was born into the Kaiser system and still have it to this day and I think they are a great hospital system. I have had both my children through them, 3 year old and a 9 month old. With the labor and delivery, at Morse Kaiser, the hospital is the oldest in Sac, so the rooms and everything are designed for a 1950's style birth, when dad's weren't allowed in. My experience, though cramped, was positive. My nurses were attentive and helpful, my dr's talked and answered questions, I felt cared for and that they were on top of it. You choose if you want your baby to stay with you or go to the nursery for the night. My babies, never left me once they were born. Everything is done right in front of you. The bath, the weighing etc. The new Roseville center is supposed to be phenomenal. Every room is private and big. The area is painted in blue's and greens' with an area for children etc. Hit the website and check it out. As far as Kaiser's reputation, all hospitals are how you make it and utilize its resources. I find that going through my primary care Dr. makes things easier. There is always an advice nurse when I call ready to make an appt. if needed. If I need a test, like an MRI, I needed recently, I had the appt. within 2 days, not weeks. I never have to wait for anything and I am sick a lot and have a pre-existing condition, which, contrary to other's opinion's, doesn't matter. If I have a bad experience I get a second opinion or call and get it taken care of. The good thing about Kaiser is it is all right there. It is all paperless now and efficient. I have never known another system and wouldn't know how to navigate through one. As for Dr.s, ob.gyn, Dr. Chiu is good, also Dr. Mahood is a good primary care physician. All hospital's are good and bad, Kaiser is expanding, the South Sac. is becoming a trauma hospital, Roseville is always expanding and updating, and Sac. is updating their radiology and old maternity wards. I think if you switch to Kaiser you will be fine. My sister has blue shield and doesn't like it. Oh, Dr. Rebecca Cunningham is a great pediatrician at Pt.West.

I, too, was skeptical of Kaiser, but I LOVE my OB/GYN, and I had a great birth experience at the South Sac location 10 months ago. My OB/GYN is in Lincoln (I, too, live in Roseville)--Dr. Heather Catich. She is awesome! I delivered in South Sac on her recommendation--at the time, the Roseville facility wasn't yet open, and Morse Ave is quite dismal. South Sac, on the other hand, is very nice and very mama-friendly. I had a lot of very specific requests in my birth plan (long story!) and they were great about honoring them. They keep the baby with you unless YOU ask them to give you a break. I ended up having a rather long, difficult delivery, but I do not feel that it was in any way due to Kaiser--they made it as easy as it could be. In fact, I feel lucky that they helped me to ultimately deliver my son naturally, rather than having a C-section.

I hear the Roseville birthing facility is awesome, but it just wasn't available when I delivered.

Good luck!!

Hi L.,

I used to have Kaiser Roseville and now have Sutter. I wish I still had Kaiser! My Roseville OBGYN was Dr. Frink, who is great, but I delivered in Sacramento because the new Roseville hospital was not open at the time. Your delivery doctor is whomever in on staff that day; I am not sure how that works with the new Kaiser Roseville or Sutter. My daughter stayed with me, but I did not have my own room.

I believe the new Kaiser hospital in Roseville has single rooms and you can choose to keep the baby or send them to the nursery.
Our insurance changed right after we moved here and delivered, so I did not ever see a primary care Dr., but my daughter saw Dr. Cerny for her 2 day checkup and she was really caring and supportive with me being a first time mom.

I wish you all the best, good luck!
S.

Kaiser is fine until you have to have surgery. then your life is in your own hands. Kaiser has extrememly dangerous policies about closing up a surgical site. ie: i had my son via c-section at kaiser morse ave in 1997. In 2002 I had to have a hysterectomy and the doctor who did the surgery (a UC Davis doctor as we had switched insurance by then) discovered that kaiser did not close my abdominal wall AT ALL and had pretty much piled my insides back in without regard to their original positions. He had to tack my bladder back into position, close my abdominal wall, and fix a hernia that he said would have been VERY obvious to the doc doing the C-section. I cannot even begin to tell you how upset i was. I had really like my doctor at kaiser and was shocked that she had treated me that way in surgery , let alone not saying a stinkin word about having a hernia. I should have been suspicious though, as during the c-section i heard her say to the resident (they also did not tell me that the resident would be doing the surgery) "why did you do that? where are you going to reattach that to now?" when i asked "what did you just say to her?" I was told "oh, it's okay, everythings fine." My UC Davis doc told me that not closing the abdominal wall is a common practice at kaiser because it saves them time and money. I really thought long and seriously about sueing them, but then they have so many suits against them it would be useless. I will say that I loved my nurses at morse ave. they also put a woman in my room who's baby was in ICU and refused to move her even though she complained and cried and pitched fits like you wouldnt believe because I wanted my son in the room with me. I felt sorry for her, but she needed to be in a room by herself. I would stick with blue shield.

I just delivered a baby @ Kaiser Morse 13 weeks ago. They've moved all of that facility now to the new women's and children's center @ Roseville. I understand it is exceptionally nice. My OB @ Roseville was Michelle Edwards D.O. I really loved her. The baby stays with you, though you can send it to the nursery @ 11pm if you want, and it comes back to you at 6:30am. Frankly, I wished they would have taken her earlier in the evening as I was quite ill with HELLPS syndrome and had to have an emergency C-section. I underwtand the new Roseville center is all private rooms....so much better than Morse!!

Good luck to you!! I highly recommend Dr. Edwards. If you go to her, tell her R. Blaylock referred you.

I used to be very skeptical of Kaiser as well, I almost didn't take my current job because they only offered Kaiser. I have been with Kaiser for 3 years now and I really don't have any complaints. Our Roseville Pediatrician, Dr. Jefferey Rabinovitz is amazing with my girls and it is very easy to get an appointment, even on a Sunday afternoon. My OB is also very pleasant but I would have liked to have seen her more rather than switching between her and a Nurse Practioner during my pregnancy. I gave birth at Kaiser South Sac because it was much larger and newer than Kaiser Morse, which were my only two options at the time. I had a very large private labor and delivery room and was later transferred to a double recovery room (which I was alone in) where I had the choice of having my daughter room-in with me. When I gave birth at Mercy San Juan it was the same thing. I hear the new facility in Roseville is amazing.

All in all I have had a very nice experience with Kaiser. I love that I can talk to an advice nurse 24 hours a day and can usually get an appointment the same day or the next. Wait times are very minimal and the Roseville facilities are very nice.

Good luck!

I LOVE Kaiser! I've been with them most of my life and the few years we had to leave (lost the option due to a job change) were a nightmare -- billing hassles, incompetent doctors, you name it. A lot of tears during those awful years with Western Health Advantage. I hated being outside of Kaiser so much I convinced my husband to get his employer to offer it (and they did).

I delivered our second child at the now-closed Morse facility and had a positive experience. I had a surprise complicated face-first delivery and they got the head of the dept. in the room ASAP to handle it. The staff was great. I did have to share a room after delivery and got stuck with a loud teen mom and after complaining, was moved to a room with another quiet, experienced mom. Despite this experience, I never felt anything was impersonal. The baby is in your room most of the time, but can go to the nursery as you wish. I was so happy to have the nursery option after being up for almost 36 hours straight due to going into labor at night. I was in no position to care for a newborn at that point.

The new Roseville facility has private rooms only and is supposed to be state-of-the-art. The description sounded wonderful. There's even a bed so your spouse can stay, which wasn't available at Morse.

My OB is Lukas Hartman. My previous OB moved to the Folsom facility recently, so I've only seen Dr. Hartman once so I can't really offer a strong opinion. Both of my kids see Dr. Rodney Barron and we really like him. When my daughter came down with a freaky rash the day before a plane trip, he squeezed us in between other appointments. I've found him to be really responsive to e-mails, as well. When we've had to see other pediatricians in the group on weekends (yes, they have weekend appts, a real treat after my time with WHA), they've all been really nice and competent.

You can definitely feel good about the move to Kaiser. You can find bad experiences with any medical group (my grandpa had bad care at Stanford's hospital and it's supposed to be stellar). If you check Kaiser's patient satisfaction ratings, you'll find they're higher than any other.

Good luck with the transition!
M.

I have Kaiser and I LOVE it! You don't have to deal with getting a referal for specialists or getting it approved by your insurance. If your dr tells you go down the hall and have this test... you go down the hall and have the test.

I had a great birth experience with Kaiser. Labor/Delivery/Recovery all happened in one birthing center type room. Huge private room with shower, pull out bed for husband or visitors, couch, rocking chair, table and chairs, tv etc. Lots of room to walk around. The staff was great, caring very kind and supportive. When my son was born they put him directly onto my chest to towel him off and had him nurse and snuggle before they bathed and weighed him. The only time he was out of my room was when he went with his dad for circ. and hearing tests.

They came into my room for any checkups needed. His body temp dropped to low, so they brought the incubator into my room. They didn't even suggest taking him away.

There is a "respite nursery" where you can send your baby if you WANT to, but I didn't and they never suggested it.

My OBGYN, Jo'dan Downes is great, but she's in Sacramento. Roseville has a brand new "women and children's" center. I think they may even have birthing tubs in their birthing rooms.

Go check it out, take a tour, see what you think.

HTH

T.

I really do not think that Kaiser is much different than many many other programs. That said, my parents, both health professionals, were horrified when I went back to Kaiser the minute it became available. I really like how quick the labs are, the ease of getting an appt. even if it's not with your doc, the access (I live in the south, Pt. West is near work, and my OBGYN is in Roseville.)

Roseville: My OBGYN doctor is Dr. Robert Azevedo. I cannot recommend him more highly. I travel from S. Sacramento to see him when I do need him. Oh, and no one else can recommend a better doc at Kaiser either, since he's head of all Kaiser OBGYN in Northern California. I wish he had delivered my daughter, but I did not have Kaiser when I had her and I liked that doc as well (Dr. Timothy Phelan in Folsom). Now, Azevedo's hard to see since he only has office hours on Monday and Friday, but luckily, he is good with Email. In fact, so is my pediatrician (too far from you, but Dr. Mary Chu Yee is amazing, at Kaiser South.) In fact, so is my PCP, Dr. Eric Wang, who I haven't even seen since 2003, back when I started with him; He's been managing me by lab work and email etc.
I left in 2003 and came back to Kaiser in 2008 after stints flirting with Pacificare and Blue Cross.

I prefer this kind of a system to those. I have a chronic issue that my two docs are helping me manage, and I prefer not having to go in every 5 minutes when I have a question that might be interfering with my problem.

I have a feeling that Kaiser is more "ahead" of the curve with some resources, and a bit behind for others. They cured a friend's mom of ovarian cancer (yes. they did.) and they apparently make "so many mistakes" they are covered in the news (however, I doubt the objectivity of the people covered in the news and as I said before, bad stuff happens in medicine. It's the nature of the beast, sometimes you get horrible news.)

Best thing you can do to survive any surgery, no matter where it is, is to NOT SMOKE. That has been the biggest complaint of my father, a General Surgeon. People who do die from basic surgical treatment tend to be smokers; they do not heal like normal people. As for the C Section issue below, that could happen at any teaching hospital, which doesn't excuse it, and it's sad it happened (it's also super weird, and I hope she filed a suit!)

I must say that I have delivered two children at Kaiser--south sac--and have had escellent experiences. The staff was very friendly and helpful. They had the babies stay with me in the room. They try very hard to give you your own room. I believe the new maternity unit in Roseville gives everyone their own room and it is top of the line. We have an excellent pediatrician at Point West--Dr. Rebecca Cunningham. I know you are looking at Roseville but she is an awesome doctor!! Good luck with everything

Hi L.,

I know what you mean about people not liking Kaiser. I hated it until I finally found a couple of great dr.'s who actually listen to me and are willing to work together to find solutions to problems. Anyway, my OB is Mark Seaver and he's at the Fair Oaks Blvd. office and our Ped. is Tom Fitzpatrick and he's at Point West near Cal Expo. They are both very worth the drive from Roseville. I am still on the hunt for a great Primary Care Dr. Ours isn't great. The other thing I've learned with Kaiser is that once you find a dr. you love then to get your password for the website and you can email your dr. directly and I've found that for getting more immediate appointments or getting more thorough answers to my questions that email is so much better. I am also really upfront with my docs about what I expect from them. I figure that if I'm paying crazy premiums then I should get the care I want and deserve! My OB was great with this when I was pregnant. I was not willing to see a nurse practitioner (sp?) and only wanted my appt.s with my Dr. (usually they make you switch off between the two) and he was fine with that and all of my care was done with the same dr. As for delivery, when you get close all you have to do is talk to your dr. about their on-call schedule and take that info. with you to L&D and if he/she is on then the will call your dr. for delivery. For having more babies I am so excited to be able to go to Roseville! The rooms are beautiful and all are private. So much better than Morse was. Good luck to you!

Hi L..
When I was working my husband and I were covered under Kaiser. My OBGYN in the Roseville Kaiser was Dr. Sanjeev Khurana. He was absolutely an amazing doctor. He made me feel very comfortable. He answered all of my questions and didn't rush through any of my appointments. I highly recommend him. Early on, when I first found out I was pregnant, I had seen a doctor at Sutter Roseville. She scared the daylights out of me saying the pregnancy was ectopic because she couldn't see anything with an ultra sound. I switched to a Kaiser doctor after going through a nightmare with my husbands insurance not covering me. Dr. Khurana saw me almost every week. He even called me one evening and told me that if I would drive out to the Morse hospital he'd see me at the end of his rounds to do an ultra sound. He went above and beyond to ward off my fears.

My sons Pediatrician was Dr. Benjamine. He worked out of the offices on Sierra Gardens over by social sercurity. I don't know if he is there anymore. He was a young doctor, but he took time in the appointments to answer questions and concerns. He took his time checking my son over.

My husband and I didn't have a primary care doctor. We just made appts when needed and went to offices off of Cirby and Riverside.

After I quit work to stay at home with my son, we lost our Kaiser insurance. We now have a peditrician through Sutter. Needless to say, my husband and I both prefer Kaiser over Sutter. We feel that we don't get the courtesy from the sutter doctors that we got from the Kaiser doctors. With my sons appts at Sutter I feel like every appt is rushed, like the doctor has more important things to do than to see my child.

I hope that this was able to help you in some way. I'm sorry if I repeated anything anyone else said. I just clicked on respond.

Good luck with your search.