Polak Imaging Pavilion

Finally made it in but had to have a person from another doctors office patch me through. That was a ridiculous, trying & long process trying to get an appt. Anyway, once I got in the staff & doctors were fantastic. Very impressed. Just a shame that making an appt is nightmarish.

Well not by choice I came here lol for an ultrasound and to my surprise it was very clean, I checked in at 2:15pm my appt was at 2:30pm and I was called in at 2:31pm not bad, got my ultrasound done quickly and by 3pm I was out. Great fast service.

Ok, tip #1, if you can swing an evening appt — they are open til 7pm M-​F. I arrived to an empty waiting room. Out of there tout suite!

I have had the unfortunate chance to come to this facility on more then one occasion. I HATE COMING HERE, but on the flip side the facility is SUPER NICE and spacious and I am GLAD it exist!
If you have to come here for some dreary x-​ray, CT, MRI or such because your doctors are trying to figure out what is wrong so they can feed you some FDA approved pills with a laundry list of side effects, to help you to LIVE with whatever it is then this is your place.
This is one of two sides in this building. The other side is for breast exams and such. I always find this place pretty nerve racking to come here. The staff has always been SUPER DUPER NICE and helpful! They generally call you in at your apt time so none of that waiting an extra 15 – 20 minutes for them to call your name.
The employees seem to understand how ANNOYING answering redundant questions are so they do there best to explain why they need to ask the same REPEATED questions over and over again. I sort of understand why they do it because no matter HOW MANY TIMES I have given the same info there is ALWAYS SOMETHING in my chart that I have NEVER SAID or BEEN THROUGH that needs to be corrected! Apparently hospitals and medical facilities have gremlins in there system changing things like at other companies. hehe! So be patient and make sure your records are correct.
I LOVE that ALL the forms you have to sign and initial are electronic and they will ONLY print them out if you ask for a copy so no EXTRA paperwork that I need to shred later because no one really reads any or most of that anyways unless something goes wrong!
They REALLY try to get you in and out for the most part. My ONLY negative is that it is SOOOOOO FRICKIN COLD in there! It feels like the North Pole! I get they are trying to keep down the germ factor but must I become a human corpse-​cicle for you to achieve that? Gee-​wilikers!
Overall nice place if you must have some test run.

Instructions state to come 30 minutes early for check-​in. I did as instructed, signed-​in 30 minutes prior. I asked the front desk attendant if I needed my doctors orders and if so I should run out to get it. She stated to wait for the «check-​in» person to instruct me as the doctors orders may already be on file. It took 30 minutes to then get officially checked-​in and to be told they don’t have my orders. One hour later and still waiting… Do most people have unlimited free time to sit around?

Had an MRI today and everything was handled very efficiently by a very friendly staff. Needed contrast and no ouch with the IV insertion! The nurse who conducted the MRI gave me very clear instructions and made me very comfortable with extra cushioning for my arms and legs before beginning the exam, so they were fully supported. I’ve been a patient of this facility before and previous experience was just as positive.
However, I want to distinguish between the imaging center and the breast diagnostic center because I’m seeing reviews here for both.
At the BDC, yes, the wait times are unacceptable and during my years of frequent mammograms and biopsies, there were times when my name was skipped over and I had to point it out to them, or they never would have called me in for my appointment. You have to be a squeaky wheel with this facility. If you have had cancer or are at high risk and are anxious for an appointment or results, plead with them and you’ll get a bit of preferential treatment. Otherwise, bring a good book and lots of patience. Also, if you receive a breast cancer diagnosis and you are told as I was that your treatment will be lumpectomy and radiation, do your research. That’s not your only option and should NEVER be presented as such by their medical staff.

This is the most expensive place you can get an MRI, X-​rays, CT Scan, etc. If you check out other facilities that are smaller and not connected to a hospital somehow then you will find out how much of a price difference there is. The front desk girl was so rude to me! I had to wait in the waiting room, just to wait to sign in and do paperwork. I had taken time off work for this and I was way later returning to work than I thought i would be. The X-​ray technician was very nice and gentle, no complaints about him at all. However, this place is shady. My doctor ordered me to have x-​ray of «Hands+wrists» as one x-​ray and «Feet+ankles» as another x-​ray. They did the hands individually and then did the wrists individually because «that’s how they bill them». Excuse me, but I am not an idiot and I saw the x-​ray of my hand, you could clearly see my wrist! They did not need to do my wrists and ankles separately — completely unnecessary and shady! So when the bill came it was $ 700 and I have good PPO insurance. What a rip-​off. Don’t go here. Do some research and find another place that will charge you way way less! Also, the billing department is RUDE and not willing to work with you on making payments if you «take too long to decide if you’re going to apply for financial assistance or make payments». I explained I had no job at the time and they said «you took too long to decide so we are sending this to collections at the end of the month if you don’t pay it in full» Whaaaaaaat!!! Horrible experience! Not going back!

This place is located along skypark and on the right before medical center drive if going in the direction towards Madison street. They have separate entrances for the imaging pavilion and the breast diagnostic center. They have a huge lobby and clean restrooms. Make your appointment for this location! Just be on time or you may have to reschedule.

OMG I got here 20 minutes early for my mammogram appt, it took them 45 minutes to call me to desk just to sign paperwork. They didn’t call me into room until over 1 hour after I arrived ! Totally not acceptable people have things to do. Front desk crew definitely needs to shape up. Technician was great no complaints once you get to see someone! I would definitely go elsewhere next year.

Need your brain imaged? I“ve had CT scans and MRI scans done here. The techs are really nice, really made me feel comfortable, despite putting your head into a large magnet that is many times stronger than the earth.
I work with some of the MRI-​rated magnets. One mistake while holding them and they fly across the room from a table and smash together, possibly with your hand between them.
I probably shouldn’t have told you that. Now you’ll be afraid to get an MRI. (c:
buwahahahahahahahahahaha. sucka.

Really nice, spacious, and up to date facilities. It was a very prompt appointment, no waiting. It was pretty early in the morning so not sure if they were not backed up, but everyone seemed to be going in not long after they checked in.
I was in two different rooms and both were slightly warm, which I think is great since most of the time you are in there for procedures which require you to be in varies stages of undress. At least you’re not chilled.
Parking was a little difficult. Too many more cars and it would have had to overflow to another lot.
Bring your paperwork with you or have it faxed over prior. The fax actually goes right into their file system so it quickly ends up in your online file and not lost in the shuffle.

GET A PRICE FIRST! I have PPO insurance and out of pocket this cost me over 1K! to get an MRI of the brain. Sure the facilities are nice and all but they charge $ 9,000 for an MRI of the brain with and without contrast. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. Crooks, shady, underhanded crooks. They know my insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield will pay up to 10K for an MRI so they charged 9K. I have been getting these tests for years and its easily over 5K more than I have ever paid before. Robbery plain and simple.

I had a very pleasant experience here the other week.
I was «prescribed» to get a chest x-​ray here from my general practitioner. Making an appointment was easy and the availability was great. I called in the morning and they asked if I wanted to come in that day. I went in the next day, 30 minutes before the actual scheduled appointment (which they tell you to do) to fill out paperwork. To my surprise, I was called in to have the x-​ray done BEFORE my appointment time! That’s how efficient the employees were. I’ve NEVER been seen before a scheduled appointment ANYWHERE… and definitely not at a doctor’s office/​hospital/​etc.
To top it all off, every single employee I came across was extremely nice, and the entire facility appeared very very clean and organized.

These people are great.
It seems a little weird to me to give a review for the place I got my xrays done (dang basketball injury!) but everyone I met or spoke to here was down-​deep-​to-​the-​bone helpful and pleasant.
Great customer service can be found just about anywhere.

My mind reels with the possible cute witticisms I can plug in here but I’ll just refer to one staid old truism: «Life is like a box of chocolates…»
To rule out the possibility of a malignancy, I was referred to the Polak Imaging Pavilion (pronounced «pole-​lock», I had to ask twice if this was the correct title thinking it might be a racist Coney Island-​esque joke or something) by my hematologist and was requested to show up ½ hr early to complete some paperwork. An annex of the Torrance Memorial Medical Ctr, I arrived at the appropriate hour and entered into a very open, clean and friendly-​looking pavilion (for lack of a better term) full of light cascading brazenly down through the open skylights with but a half-​dozen other patients scattered about a large sitting area. The desk attendant had me sign the standard medical releases and I was ushered into the X-​Ray Dept by my technician, a man who’s friendly, red-​faced and bearded appearance reminded me of a Santa Claus in Aloha shirt and I prepped for my chest x-​ray.
The x-​ray room itself was another example of forward-​thinking human-​factor planning with soft light to reduce the angst many people justifiably feel at a moment like this and the two playful paintings of a multi-​colored bicycle and a lawn chair resting on a beach added a touch of humor to the seriousness of this event. I took two poses on the ultra-​modern x-​ray unit in total comfort and I was done. «Santa Claus» said the results would take a few days to get over to the hematologist and I was out of the center with no more than 40 minutes of invested time. I love efficiency and I was impressed here.
This center also provides PET/​CT, Diagnostic Breast Imaging and Ultrasound Imaging and I’ll be in for an abdomen ultrasound this week if I can just fast for the required 12 hours first. I’ve never been an easy patient.