Steven M. Krems, MD

I would almost rate only four stars for how long I had to wait except for once it was my turn, he spent over an hour with me. He does stop you to finish his thought if you interrupt him, but I find if you let him finish he’ll already be answering your question through intuition. I tend to interrupt myself and while he wasn’t allowing it, it was done respectfully. The reason he operates this way is to have the most efficient visit. If you get an appointment with him you will get the most comprehensive plan for your health. There are so many factors that come into this balance and he addressed them all. His vibe isn’t super compassionate, but more razor sharp medical knowledge, direct and to the point.

Arrogant
Dismissive
Smug
Watch out for the up-​sell
Find a person who cares

Dr Krems is a nice guy and probably could be a good doctor, but he just doesn’t seem to care about doing a good job. I ended up paying around $ 400 for a half assed physical; the staff didn’t get back to me with my test results until I kept bugging them, and I found out that I probably don’t have thyroid issues but was clueless what the source of my fatigue was…

This review is not about Dr. Krems but instead his office staff. It’s impossible to get a hold of anyone or get your phone calls returned. Forget trying to schedule an appointment. You have to leave a message with his assistant and she never calls you back after multiple attempts. It’s a very frustrating system and I suspect he’s either understaffed or overrun with patients. I wonder whether Dr. Krems knows his staff is ignoring calls to set appointments or see him; I suspect he doesn’t since I’ve heard great things about him as a practitioner but accessibility is important and he’s not.

Dr. Krems has been my primary care physician for the better part of 20 years now, and a review for him is long overdue. From the first visit all those years ago to now, Dr. Krems has been thorough with my care, and takes electronic notes at every visit. It is great to have my entire medical history with him at the ready. As others have said, Dr. Krems is patient and listens. His recommendations are thoughtful, and I have never felt rushed.
Appointments are generally easy to come by, and if it’s urgent his staff will try to get me in as quickly as they can. Dr. Krems does combine traditional medicine with holistic alternatives, which I appreciate. Medication is helpful but sometimes other options make more sense, and I like that he is open to them.
There have been a handful of times where I have required urgent care, and Dr. Krems has made himself available, which I very much appreciate. If a specialist woikd better help me for a particular issue, he has recommended some great ones.
All in all, I highly recommend Dr. Krems. I don’t live nearly as close to his office as I used to (35 miles away now), but I put up with the drive to keep him as my primary care doctor. That tells you all you need to know about the quality of his care.

Dr. Kremes is the worse doctor I have ever seen. He is arrogant. He talks down to you. He barely lets you speak. He pushed testosterone and estrogen on me and I had so Many side effects and I told him I don’t want to take it any more and he got very upset. I was in my 30’s at the time and did not need any of that stuff. I now found out through another doctor that it was dangerous for me to take the testosterone specially and I am a female. If you want to be treated badly and talked down to, go ahead and see him. I know a few patients that feel the same way about him. He keeps you waiting in the room for 45 minutes. After being in the waiting room for 30 minutes. His staff is very rude too.

This review is not about Dr. Krems it is about the unprofessional staff and service at the office. If you want to make a simple appointment it would take multiple calls and voicemails just to do so. I needed to get my blood results and weeks go by without hearing from the dr. I leave multiple messages and not once do I reach an actual person. Do not go to this office if you don’t want to hear back from the dr or speak to an actual person.

If you are searching for a doctor who will spend about an hour with you on your first visit to take a full and comprehensive health history and ultimately offer both western and holistic alternatives to any ailments — Dr. Krems is your man.
It’s rare to find a doctor who makes it a priority to spend the proper time getting to first know a new patient — which speaks volumes about his overall approach and work ethic moving forward. I do appreciate also knowing that he gives alternatives to the traditional western medicine and approach — without pushing anything on you, he will inform you of various vitamins that can be taken as an option to consider for any given problem.
Traditionally it seems there is a bit of a wait in availability when scheduling new patients — but his reception staff is equally awesome and totally willing to make it work whenever it can.
Such a rare find overall!

Simply put, I love Dr. Krems! I love how he takes his time during appointments, performs thorough exams, thoughtfully answers my questions, and makes me feel like he genuinely cares about me, my health, and my future. He has repeatedly impressed me with his willingness to go the extra mile to provide me with excellent care. It’s evident to me that this is not just a job to him — he sincerely cares about his patients. I am so grateful that I found him and recommend him without any reservation!

Calm, kind, listens carefully, has that ability to tell you that you need to eat better/​exercise more without embarrassing you or being condescending. If you ask (but he doesn’t push it if that’s not your thing) for non-​medical alternatives will make recommendations. Doesn’t overcharge or do extra workups just to have more to bill your insurance company. He (and Dr Barone who shares the office) are real gems.

The best western doctor experience I have ever had. Detailed, attentive, holistic, and knowledgable. Highly recommend.

Dr. Krems is a nice guy, if you get to meet him.
I’m not sure how he has a 4.5 star review from 25 reviewers. those reviews are what got me to pick him as my primary doctor on my previous HMO health plan. Let me tell you my experiences about Dr. Krems and you be the judge:
Previously I had a awesome doctor in the same facility. She was great. but my insurance changed and I had to pick someone on my new United Healthcare HMO plan. Dr. Krems had the best reviews so I picked him.
I made an appointment straight away to meet with him (thinking he would want to meet me, check my vitals, schedule routine preventive appointments — the stuff my previous ppo dr. used to do.)
1. I show up for our first meeting and he looked confused as to why I was there. He asked if I was sick/​ill/​in pain… I said no. I wanted to schedule a meeting since he’s my Dr. now… I got the vibe he doesn’t operate like that. Don’t get wrong, he’s a super nice guy. He just didn’t seem to understand I was expecting preventative health measures. He asked what medications I’m on… and he wrote me enough refills to last me the year (that was very cool), but when it came time to check my vitals (i.e. blood test, etc.) he said, «You dont want a blood test do you? It’s so painful, and time consuming…» the tone of his voice lead me to the choice of, «No dr. I dont need a blood test I guess…» My previous Dr. Checked my blood, urine, vitals each visit. So I was kinda confused by that.
He never scheduled a follow up. He basically said when i’m sick or hurt then to come by. So no preventative work here… ok.
2. A few months later, I got sick. My previous dr. told me I was borderline diabetic. Since Diabetes runs in the family I was concerned over some symptoms I was having. I called in to his office to make an appointment. His assistant takes my info over the phone. She calls me back a few hours later and says, «Dr. Krems doesn’t think you could be having any real issue here. He reviewed your blood results from 8 months ago and it looked fine then. you should be good still. Just drink lots of water.»
So… he diagnosed me via his assistant, who took my info over a phone… and based his opinion on blood tests from 8 months prior?
3. about 6 months later I got a migraine. The first migraine I ever had. I’m 40 years old. I see Dr. Krems. To his credit he did help me. He gave me an injection of an anti-​migraine drug and wrote me a prescription. Friends of mine asked, «how did your MRI turn out?» I’m like «I didn’t get one.» Each of my friends who has migraines couldn’t believe it. They told me it’s like standard procedure for a first time migraine, especially when it hits you when you’re older. So I call Dr. Krems’ office and ask the receptionist for a referal to get seen by a neurologist. She once again takes my info, talks to Dr. Krems and calls me back to say «He doesn’t think you need that.» I had to argue and fight to get seen by a neurologist just to make sure that nothing bad was going on. I was fine, but hey, I’d like to know that.
4. So I came to the end of a full year with Dr. Krems… guess how many visits he scheduled with me? 0 Guess how many times he took blood tests? 0 Guess how many times I’ve been billed for seeing him? about 8 times! Yes, his billing team bills me for visits I had with him a year before that I paid for 4 times over.
5. About 2 weeks ago, I had a pinched nerve and wanted to be seen by him. He and his whole staff were out. The person on duty told me to go to a urgent care… which was about the same quality I got from him. :(
The upside: He’s nice. He gives you all the pills and prescriptions you need. Because he’s hands off.
The downside: He doesn’t like to see patients (at least not HMO ones) He tries to block you from tests (blood, mri, urine, etc.) He isn’t into preventative medicine. At least that’s all true in my case while I was on my HMO plan.

This guy actually used to be a decent doctor — listened to problems, refilled prescriptions, and yeah, there was a wait for visits, and he was always running late, but they returned calls, and everything was in the realm of reasonable.
Then last spring, I realized that I basically had no doctor anytime when the LA Clippers were playing, because, oops, even appointments that had been booked a month in advance would be bumped at the last minute.
Which then lead to a two-​month wait for the next available appointment.
I have an HMO so switching my GP means switching my entire healthcare team. It was annoying but how often do I need to see a GP anyway? I would call my pharmacy, they’d send over my refill requests, I’d pick up my prescriptions, done.
Except now he’s stopped refilling half of my prescriptions. No explanation as to what’s going on, no attempt to contact me – and there’s no rhyme or reason as to which prescriptions he is and isn’t refilling, either.
Every time the pharmacy calls, the office says «Oh, we’ll get the doctor to look at that right away,» and then we wait. No returned call, nothing. This has been going on for over a month. I’ve basically given up.
Today I finally learned that he’s started offering a «concierge» priority service. This apparently means that if you pony up enough cash, he’ll let you call him after-​hours and you’ll never have to wait for an appointment.
It also means that if you’re one of the plebeian masses crazy enough to think your health insurance is good enough to warrant actually receiving healthcare, you’re out of luck. He’s not going to even bother to refill your long-​standing prescriptions.
So according to his website, he’s still accepting Blue Shield Access+ HMO insurance, but the reality is, he’s not actually providing any service for it.

Awesome doctor!

Dr. Krems is amazing. He takes his time and actually talks with you and is very knowledgeable and helpful. I do not like to take a pill for everything, so he offered me traditional western medications as well as herbs and lifestyle changes I could try to help.
The only negatives are it can take a while to get an appointment and you have to pay for parking, but that has nothing to do with the care he provides. Also, if you can’t get in, he will most likely call you to discuss your symptoms and call in a prescription.

DR. KREMS ALMOST KILLED ME
In August of 2003, I went to see Dr. Krems regarding an incident of spitting up blood after vacationing in Costa Rica. He took X Rays, told me I had an lung infection and told me that it should clear up with time. He did not prescribe antitbiotics nor did he deal with the symptoms of the problem.
Within a few weeks, the infection spread from my lungs to my brain. I began to have seizures and was rushed to the emergency rooms of my local hospital. Subsequently I had to have a brain abscess removed and was pumped with antibiotics for 3 months. At one point in time after the surgery, my temperature shot up to 109 degrees.
I cannot say absolutely that Dr. Krems lack of administering antibiotics subsequently lead to my near death experience but his inability to seek proactive treatment and simply rely on a homeopathic approach was extremely negligent at best.
My wife called Dr. Krems in order to complain about his approach shortly after I was transported to the hospital with a brain infection but he did not have the decency to return the phone call.
After I saw his picture on the wall of respected doctors at Centinela Hospital in Marina Del Rey it made me very upset that a doctor of such low caiiber should be shown as representing this good hospital.
I will forever have awful memories of this doctor whose lack of prescribing antibiotics could have contributed to my death. Thank God I received better treatment from different doctors after Dr. Krems initial damage was already done. I strongly would not recommend this doctor to anyone who wishes to have top notch service with a wise and reputable physician.
Marc

For the first time in my life I had a new doctor actually go over a thorough patient history and allow me to share my ailments without feeling rushed or hurried to do so. Dr. Krems was a very attentive listener and actually asked me to elaborate on some of the items I brought up. In fact, he even provided reassurance that after 35 years, he would be able to identify the problem and provide me with options for living a healthy, normal life without fear of the dreaded IBS. Dr. Krems recommended several supplements that I should take on a daily basis and after one month met me for a follow-​up. We made a few tweaks to some of the supplements and he told me to call him if I got back to the place that I was. That was over five months ago and I’ve not had any issues. Dr. Krems told me that he could fix the problem and he did. 5 stars from me!!!

Very thorough, knowledgable and good at diagnosis. I felt in extremely capable hands with Dr. Krems.
Not only the above but an MD who recommends astragalus? a doctor who has even heard of astragalus and has a sense of humour too?!! Wonderful holistic view, he was very thorough and the staff and nurses were all very sweet and nice.
So happy to have found out about Doctor Krems hopefully I wont be sick again for a long time but if I ever am I will definitely be making an appointment there and would happily recommend him to any good friends looking for a doctor in the Marina Del Rey area with an inspiring knowledge of the best of West meets East.

I’ll start off by saying I think Dr. Krems is a knowledgable doctor and he has a kind staff. I like that he has solutions that include alternative medicine, vitamins, etc. Guy knows what he’s doing.
Now I’ll say that even though yes, he did spend a lot of time with me on my first visit which was great (and I love that he keeps notes on a laptop and not on a notepad or anything), just SOMETHING about his bedside manner…
I seriously never left his office feeling good. I always felt l was BOTHERING him. Once I came in for a cold. They squeezed me in and he seemed so PISSED! I hated the guilt trip he gave me… the «Is that all? This wasn’t a planned appointment and I really need to go.»
But then other times he could be OK… like the time he completely forgot to give me the results of an exam. I left a voicemail and he called me back personally to walk me through the results and was apologetic for not calling.
Listen, I know he is a busy guy… just honestly it wasn’t good for ME to hate going to see my doctor. I went to him like 4 times and I’m done at this point. I just wanted to feel like he cared. It’s a little wishy washy sounding, but my medical condition scares me. I want to feel like someone is on my team and not like my existing stresses him out.
If you can get past his lack of patience when he’s stressed out then yeah, he’s great.

Once again, Dr. Krems has helped me so much!
After having what SMELLED (sorry, that’s really gross) and FELT to be a pretty bad sinus infection for over a week, I finally broke down and called Dr. Krems to see if he’d call in a prescription for my awful condition. I haven’t taken antibiotics in DECADES, so I was putting this call off because I didn’t want to start taking them now — but this was going on so long I just had to.
Dr. Krems’ assistant, Keisha, called me back and said that he would rather see me than just call something in — so she got me in the very next day. When I saw the doctor, he said that since he knew I was averse to antibiotics, he could x-​ray me and see if the condition was not so bad, because he could try something else before resorting to antibiotics.
This was great news — I seriously had thought that antibiotics were my only way to go! Since my x-​rays looked pretty good, he gave me a sinus inhaler to try for a few days and then a prescription for a short course of antibiotics (a z-​pak: Zithromax) in case it didn’t get better.
Since I was also getting bloodwork done to check the thyroid levels he likes to keep an eye on, he also suggested a blood test for Vitamin D deficiency, because 95% of his patients that he’s checked are deficient. We’re apparently all so up on shunning the sun and using our sunscreen now that it’s created a lot of Vitamin D deficiency, which can lead to a not-​so-​strong immune system.
I’m usually a hard blood draw, but the nurse, Al, who drew my blood was some kind of SUPER NINJA EXPERT blood drawer! He hit my vein on the first try, and I barely even felt a thing.
Note: this is coming from someone who has had to get stuck 4−5x and even between my TOES in the past!
Come to think of it, I have never had a bad blood drawing experience at Dr. Krems’ office at all!
To top that off, the front desk girls were all really nice, and I found street parking around the corner so I didn’t have to pay for the lot (they unfortunately don’t validate).
Yay, Dr. Krems saves the day once again!