Barry J Broomberg, MD

WWW​.ENCOM​PASSMD​.COM
6515 La Jolla Blvd
858.454.7157
This Doctors office it HORRIBLE. Mena Mesdaq PA, who is not even an actual doctor saw me for the first time in an appointment I had set up. While we were speaking some guy from the office came in and asked her to hurry up because they were backed up so she cut my appointment short. She got online to google prescriptions and asked me which one I thought was best and would like. I could have just stayed home and got on WebMD for a better experience. Turns out I saw a new doctor who diagnosed me properly. The office always says they will take care of something and as soon as they get off the phone with you they totally disregard your concerns or issues. They do not do what they say they will. I also ran into insurance problems and being overcharged because they could not figure it out. They lost my blood work and wanted to draw more blood after charging me like it was not a big deal. I left that day knowing I would never return and called in plenty of times to speak with Mena Mesdaq who never returned my call. My appointments are ran short, they are not professional and if you are not feeling well I would highly recommend saving yourself the stress and anxiety and going somewhere else. Once they get their money they could care less about their patients. I am sure minute clinic at CVS can do 100 times better. They cause a much bigger headache then is needed and the office has not been the same since Dr Broomberg left. This office will shut down soon and the only good reviews are from when he was in office but he is now retired. I only gave one star out of being nice. Please research other doctors before deciding where to go.

I was a patient of dr broombergs since 1992 when I started working at scripps memorial hospital. he has been an outstanding dr and is so smart he knows his stuff. i had to leave to go to riverside county in 2000 so I had to change dr. i went to beaver clinic in banning ca. and drs there were good but I always missed dr broomberg, we moved back to san diego in 2009 and started back with him we were so glad to have him again as our dr, he retired by our suprise, he was there one month and next month when we went to office he had retired, was so sad to hear that and suprised. Iwish we would gave known ahead of time so we could have least asked him who he would recommend for a good dr when he left, but my daughter and I have been going to karen the np who works there and we love karen she is so nice and very thriugh, takes her time with you, i would recommend her to anyone she is very good. the staff there is very polite now and good to work with you not like before they were very rude before and didnt seem to care, and the billing dept was the worst never there to talk to and never let you know you had BILL UNTIL THEY WERE TURNING OVER TO COLLECTION AGENCY, but the staff is very good and plesant there now.

TRY ANOTHER DR FIRST. I started going here because it was close to where I live and I have been here a few times. As others have mentioned, I have never been seen at the time I have made my appointment for and have waited for up to an hour. Dr. Lazarus and the nurses are very nice and seem to know what they are doing. However, while I was there to get some lab results, it turned out they couldn’t find them, which took more than half an hour to fax back. Plus while I was trying to ask questions to Dr. Broomberg about my results he was extremely unprofessional and dismissive. After that I decided not to go back. Plus now I got a bill in the mail several months later for procedures that my insurance should have covered, apparently that was not processed correctly. NO THANKS!

1 star because Dr. Broomberg retired without notifying his patients!
I do want to give a 5-​star mention for Sondra (Sandra?) who did my echocardiogram and related sonogramming. She was kind, took her time and seemed to care about doing her job well. She had a good sense of humor, which I appreciate in a healthcare professional because they see us under some stressful, uncomfortable and generally odd circumstances, and she personally called me when the results came in.
I’m not sure who is technically the doctor there now because I’ve only seen a physician’s assistant the past two times I’ve been in. Mena (Mina?) is nice and listens, but she seems reticent to actually examine me rather than just let me tell her what’s wrong with me. It’s kind of like using WebMD, but being able to get a prescription afterward.
One other bonus, assuming the practice gets its doctor situation sorted out, is that it has its own on-​site lab so you don’t have to go to Lab Corp or somewhere else for bloodwork and other stuff.

DO NOT GO HERE. First off their staff is absolutely terrible. They do not return calls, they do not process results or work with insurance. I needed a Prior Authorization for one of my prescriptions to be covered by insurance and I had the pharmacy fax them 3 times and called them 4 times asking them to call my insurance to which they always promised to do and in 6 months it never happened. Because of that I had to pay out of pocket for my prescriptions that should have been covered. They also do not respect appointment times AT ALL. I have been there multiple times and I haven’t gotten in to see that doctor in less than an hour after my appointment time. This has made me late to work. Once you get to see the doctor (Broomberg has since retired with no notice to his patience) very little attention is actually given to your problem because they are just seeking to get to the next patient.
I cannot say this strongly enough. Do not go to this practice! It is a waste of time and money and your concerns will not be addressed.

We just waited an hour in the waiting room for my elderly mother to see the PA. I had my two young sons with me and I asked several times how long it would be and the staff were dismissive and never once tried to apologize. It is a shame when a great MD like Dr. Broomberg is let down by rude staff with no customer service. When you know a person is waiting an hour you should be polite, apologize and let them know what is going on. Front desk staff can ruin an experience even if the clinical staff are nice and competent.

Lousy staff and forgetful nurse practitioner, Karen. I went in for a Women Wellness Exam and asked for a list of referrals to specialists (podiatrist, orthopedics, and dermatologist). At the end of my exam I didn’t get any referrals. I notified the front desk about not receiving my referrals. They told me they will give it to me 2 business days later. The nurse or the staff should have informed me about the wait for the referrals instead of leaving me in the dark.
Blood and urine sample:
Uninformative staff. Didn’t tell me when and how I will be informed of my results.
In a positive light, I didn’t have to wait long for my appointment time and for the nurse

I love doctor broomberg and their staff.
The only down fall is that you have to wait awhile to get in but worth waiting for.

I have been going to see Barry for at least 12 years. Barry has lost the plot. He sees way too many patients. I just left there after sitting there waiting for him for 1 hour and 40 minutes. When I said, «I am leaving and want my co-​pay back», the staff looked dumb-​founded as to why.
The time before this visit he had 3 – 4 African gals going from room to room who had no business being inside a patients room… very strange practice. Don’t care if they are in training to be in training.
Magda, I think it is time for Barry to retire. I question whether Barry wrote that post himself, labeled Magda. Everyone in the office was waiting for over an hour.
Oh, and I was in there just to a scrip renewed, per Barry! And I left without it.

Dr. Broomberg has been our family’s doctor for probably 15 years now! My biggest fear is what will happen if he ever decides to retire! He’s the kind of doctor who really explains things to you without being condescending, his diagnosis are always dead on, and he really cares about our family!

Dr. Broomberg knows what he is doing and can help you a great deal… when he gets around to it. Either they have too many patients or I am not important enough. It seems when I go there they say I will get tests and referrals, and over a month later, I have yet to receive test results. He never wrote down the referrals and so I did not get them. and its been a week of me calling everyday to get my necessary prescription filled. I may have to go to another doctor to get it.

On February 10, 2009, I received Botox injections in my occipital muscularskeletal cells on the left and right side of my neck. I had episodic migraines for years, off and on, and I have since learned that they were caused by hormones, and should have been corrected by hormones. Which they have. Botox has only been approved by the FDA for chronic migraines. I did not know this, and I was not told this by Dr. Broomberg. He told me there was no possible negative risk from this procedure, and I have found out since is only recommended to be administered by a licensed specialist in neurology. He is a family practice doctor. It is also a known fact, I have since found, that there are SEVERAL serious risks to Botox injections in the skeletal muscles, and there are/​were, documented cases of patients who had severe muscle damage from poorly administered injections. Dr. Broomberg told me he had experience, and was qualified to do this procedure. After the procedure, he told my mother, privately, not to tell me that he had never, ever done this procedure on anyone before me. It was too late for me to do anything about this uninformed consent. For the first 90 days, I felt some strange side effects, and a lot of numbness in the injection area from the occipital Botox injections, which makes sense because Botox deadens all nerves in your cells for about 90 days. Incidentally, my migraines had already stopped several months before the treatment due to a change in my birth control pills, which turned out to be the cause of the migraines after all. By May 2009, I had lost all ability to use my neck muscles, and the pain and disability grew progressively worse over time. I saw neurologists, an internal medicine doctor, a doctor in rehabilitation and physical therapy and the head of the spinal disorder and neurosurgery dept. at Cedars Sinai Hospitals over the next few years. Now, three years later, I can only lift 10 pounds, without neck pain. I can’t hold a full time job that involves any lifting, carrying or possible physical strain, which limits my income potential. I can’t lift a baby, so it’s not advisable for me to get pregnant, or even adopt, which is very hard, as I’m of reproductive age and want to have a family. My physical lifestyle is very limited. The fact is that my neck muscles were severely weakened because the cells that hold up the head and neck were all killed by the Botox serum, and subsequently, the rest of my skeletal and surrounding muscles were severely weakened in the long term. Three years later, after trying several pain medications recommended for muscle weakness, and a year of rehab with Spine and Sport medicine in La Jolla, I’m still only able to live a limited physical life. I even had severe pain on my Fall 2010 wedding day. There is no way to medically determine/​predict if my neck will ever have 100% mobility or strength again. I continue to work daily on strengthening exercises as prescribed by Dr. Renee Hause of Spine and Sport, La Jolla. Though the science of Botox is not altogether definitive in neurology, the science of what caused this sudden, progressive weakness in my skeletal muscle cells (especially given that I was able to bench press 70 pounds and do cardio kickboxing etc for years before my skeletal cells were destroyed by Botox), has been confirmed by top doctors, as mentioned. I also paid for the Concierge membership for the full year of 2009, and was denied a refund by that company for the 6 months of June-​December, although I explained to the Concierge service dept. why I no longer was seeing Dr. Broomberg after June 15. These are the facts.

As a licensed nurse for almost four decades I have referred many people to Dr. Broomberg. Why?
For starters, he is smart as a whip, funny, on top of his game, and compassionate.
I have other health care but I pay out
of pocket to see him when I can.
He has saved my life a few times when my HMO misdiagnosed me as not having cancer and pneumonia.
He is as good as it gets.

Last time I visited this doctor he was asking personal question with the door open. . He was also talking about the patient in the next room and how bad his cancer was, unprofessional! I spent an entire day in the doctors office to learn that I was basically misdiagnosed, they couldn’t find my file either.
On top of that it takes forever to get a hold of the front desk. They are closed from Noon — 2pm apparently.
Last time I went I was informed that Dr. Broomberg was out of the office for at least a month. His replacement came in and wreaked of cigarettes. Very reassuring.
Not good.

I love Dr. Broomberg. When I moved here from the Bay Area in 2000 to attend UCSD I was so happy to find such a great doctor! Luckily I lived next door to his office so when I stumbled across him when I was sick it was so nice to have a doctor who cares, and has such a good bedside manner. He has been there for me when I needed him the most.

Dr. Broombergs office has really figured out a system that works. The long waiting times are gone! I get to see the doc with 15 mins and there is not a lot of people in the waiting area. He really knows his stuff and is sympathetic to my needs. The entire office staff is helpful and friendly!

I went to Dr. Broomberg after seeing great Unilocal reviews. What a MISTAKE! This was a horrible experience. The doctor was degrading to his female MA/​PA students, he asked me personal questions with the door open and people walking past, he couldn’t adequately examine me asking if I still had certain organs cause he couldn’t feel them, and he wrote me a prescription despite not having an infection saying «just take this until you see the specialist to find out what’s wrong». The office does not protect PHI (protected health information). I was put in a room with other patients files and a view a computer screen with a letter being written regarding another patient. This is NOT ok and I have found another doctor!

Dr. B is okay but he has too many patients. It’s hard to get an appointment. When you call you are always put on hold for 5 – 10 minutes. When you do see him he barely spends any time with you. Prescriptions requiring a prior auth to your insurance provider… good luck.

Gotta admit I love Dr. B
How many doctors genuinely care and take the time to really listen?
I know the answer: not many.
Dr. Broomberg is an old school doctor who truly cares about every patient.
I can’t say enough good things.

I picked Dr. Broomberg because he was close and my insurance required a Primary Care Physician referral for everything. I got so lucky with him, he is really friendly, knowledgeable and approachable. His office is busy, but they have taken me same day as long as I was willing to go «standby». He is down-​to-​earth and that is a great quality in a GP. He has cool paintings in his office by his wife an daughter and he took the time to show them off to me. I don’t need a referral anymore with my new insurance but I will definitely go to him when I need to.