ER Direct

The biggest let-​down I’ve had in the past year. My husband hurt his hand and I was thrilled to see this service on Unilocal when looking for «Emergency Room» in San Francisco.
Exactly what happened to us is documented below. The 2 different receptionists’ names are «Siara/​Shara/​Shahara?» and «Sara/​Sarah?». I was not told who the on-​call, non-​responsive doctor is.
***Receptionist 1***
Me: «How much does it cost to see your doctor?»
Her: «Don’t know. I just answer the phone. You can go to the San Francisco walk-​in clinic and they’ll tell you.»
Me: «Do you know at least if there is a price difference between walking in and a house call?
Her: «Don’t know. I just answer the phone.»
Me: «Can you give me the phone number to the walk-​in clinic?»
[ She gave me number that went directly back to her.]
I finally gave up and decided to just do a house call. I gave her my information today (¹⁄₂₄) at 8:10AM and was told that a doctor will call me in 15 – 20 minutes (8:25AM-8:30AM)
Come 8:40AM no one has called me… So I called back again.
***Receptionist 2***
Proceeded to take down all the exact same information from me after I told her I am still expecting a call, and said that she’ll ping the on-​call doctor again.
Me: «So… is there a limit to how long this wait is? Like, is the response time at the longest an hour? Three hours?»
Her: «Don’t know. The doctor could be busy.»
Me: «Yeah I get that, but there should be a limit to how long a wait is right? At which point should I give up?»
Her: «I can’t say.»
Me: «Can you give me the address to the walk-​in clinic then? I think I’ll just walk in.»
[She gave me the address but told me she doesn’t know if it is open.]
Me: «This is an emergency service right? So it should be open 24/​7, no?»
Her: «I don’t know. I don’t see any information here.»
Me: «So you don’t know if your ER clinic is open right now?»
Her: «Don’t know.»
It has now been over an hour (9:21AM) of my time wasted sitting around waiting for something to happen and headaches listening to «don’t knows».
I am going to a local hospital. Will never try or rely on this service again and I suggest that you don’t either.

This may be a great service, but I’ll never get the chance to find out. I haven’t been able to get an appointment for 2 days straight.
Too bad, because this seems to have a lot of promise…

I think it’s good service and very comvienient. I had bronchitis and they sent a nice doctor within hours. I would say the price is affordable but still high. However, considering it’s same-​day house call, I think the price is still way below the market. I would still use this service.

That one night you spend in Vegas and you slam the taxi car door on your right thumb requiring it to get drained 4 days later because it was swelling like crazy?
–No this was not part of a Hangover movie series
After Unilocaling some Urgent Care clinics around the Bay Area on a Saturday morning I happened to find «ER Direct» information and within 4 hours, Rachel the PA was at our hotel door.
She was very knowledgeable, professional, provided amazing patient care, and she very informative.
Bill was worth the service she provided. She saved the remainder of our trip!

I have to give these medical service providers 5 stars and with a special 5 stars (that I would like to give to Rachel Baker.
Long story short: I was supposed to receive 6 medications through FedEx priority first overnight mail (meaning it was supposed to arrive at 8 a.m.). It didn’t and still hadn’t and since I pretty much am dependent upon my medications to live, work, and walk, I dreaded the thought of hours in the ER, feeling ill and in pain. Then I found ER Direct and Rachel saw me the same day, was able to give me a few days of all my meds, and she was so fast and efficient about the entire process. Plus, not only that – she originally billed me her personal rate but then saw that I had registered through ER Direct and they were having a sale, so she threw away her previous bill and rewrote a new lower one.
This home visit was far better than most Dr. office visits – and since we are away from our primary home (in Boston) we would have likely paid just as much (or more) if we’d gone to see a Dr. in an office – and certainly would have paid for more in the ER.
This is a great service. Since my husband and I are bicoastal, if we have future urgent care health needs, this is the first place to call.
Kudos Rachel and ER direct. You guys saved my bacon tonight.

This review is for the third time I’ve used ER Direct. I cannot recommend them more highly. I recently came down overnight with a high fever, nausea, vomiting, uncontrollable shivering, sore throat, and ER Direct came as soon as they opened at 8am. They gave me IV fluids, medicines to ease the symptoms and stayed with me until I was stable. They also wrote me a prescription. They care, are knowledgeable, quick to respond, and have wonderful bedside manner. I’ve seen Rachel, a PA, twice and Dr. Cesar once. They also have a billing office that will take care of sending the super bill to my insurance (although they are out of network), and they also opened up a new walk-​in clinic. Why go to the ER, wait around with sick people, and pay an unknown bill months down the road when you can get good service, medicine, care and upfront pricing with ER Direct.

I am in a bit of an insurance Snafu. .. Blue Cross somehow dropped all the participating providers in my area. So after self treating a rash that wouldn’t go away I found ER Direct (thanks Unilocal!) The folks there couldn’t be more friendly and helpful. They offered to come out right away, but I opted to make an appointment for my day off since I wasn’t an emergency. Rachel arrived exactly on time for my appointment — at my house! I have prescriptions in hand, and hopefully will have a little relief until the new year when Kaiser will kick in. The cost of the visit plus medication is MUCH less than I would have paid for a visit to an Urgent Care Center or Emergency Room. ER Direct is a wonderful service, and they speak Spanish (for the millions of people in California whom Obama Care doesn’t cover) Spread the word!

What an amazing service !! This review is for the service as well as Jennifer Collins.
Woke up on a Monday morning unable to move neck towards my left. I started spasming and the pain kept getting worser. My roommate had already left for work and every movement I made caused a new spasm so hailing an Über/​Lyft to go to a hospital was not possible. I was all set to call 911 when I discovered this service. They quickly got my details and in minutes I got a call back from Jennifer Collins enquiring about my situation. She said she could reach me in 90 minutes but came much sooner. She was such a gem. She quickly assessed my situation and gave me a muscle relaxant and some pain killers. She wrote a prescription and also had all the necessary supplies with her. She left after making sure that my spasms were reducing and did not rush into the process.
The charges were surprisingly less than what I had thought they would be considering it’s a an emergency house call. I had to pay upfront but the bill would be submitted to my insurance by the ER Direct representative for reimbursement.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend or use it again if needed.

Backstory: my boyfriend had a busted lip from an accident at a basketball game and he needed stitches. Poor guy went to three hospitals in San Francisco: SF Gen, St. Mary’s, and St. Francis. All three of them had emergency rooms that were PACKED and given the rather non-​urgent nature of a bleeding lip, my boyfriend would not have gotten care until after several hours’ wait. Here’s where ER Direct comes to the rescue. It’s late — like 10 pm — and my boyfriend needed to go to work the next day and I didn’t want him waiting in an emergency room all night.
I called ER Direct immediately but it was 10 minutes before their closing time so thankfully I was able to connect with an operator who paged a physician’s assistant. Her name was Jennifer Collins and she was a gem. (Especially since the operator warned me that I might not get a response since it was pretty much the end of the work day and at the end of the shift for them.) Jennifer came right away and was wonderful.
Here are two things that stood out to me as excellent service and great care:
1)Jennifer was likely on her way back home when she got the page asking her to take our case. She could have easily ignored it since it was after-​hours. BUT she decided to help us out by going back to the office, getting her suture kit, driving out to our place, and sewing my boyfriend’s lip up. It put her way overtime (probably without overtime compensation) and yet she still showed up to help, even if it meant she returned home ~2 hours after she intended to. Talk about putting the patient first. Most of the people I know can’t wait to go home after their shift is done. She went the extra mile and we’re really thankful and impressed she did that.
2) On the phone before she arrived at our apartment, she recommended my boyfriend clarify to the various ER rooms he went to that he wasn’t «checking-​in» in anticipation of treatment. This is because she didn’t want him to be charged for checking into a hospital when he wasn’t planning on staying the 4 of however many hours he would have had to to be seen by a doctor. I didn’t know that merely checking-​in gave the hospital the right to bill you. She gave us the insider-​scoop in order for us not to have to pay unnecessarily. This demonstrated that Jennifer cared about whether we were going to billed — and as recent college grads without a ton of cash in the bank– I noticed this and appreciate this. It’s not a secret that many seek to work in healthcare because of the $$$. Thus It’s refreshing and all the more special to see a healthcare professional who was cognizant of the expenses patients are made to fork up — and able to take the extra step of warning us when it’s not worth it.
We’re still waiting on some application documentation that we can submit for an insurance reimbursement. I hope it’s going to pop up in my boyfriend’s inbox soon, as that will really be the cherry on top of the sundae! We’re not sure if we’ll be reimbursed 100% but anything helps. Our fingers are crossed.
Thanks ER Direct, and thanks Jennifer!

2 stars for: knowledge of medicine & coming to my home
Basically, after returning from a trip from Europe with an infected foot (a dime size blister on my ankle), a frantic nurse/​doctor came to my house, spitted a lot of medical jargon at me, telling me ‘everything was bad’, and that I should go to the ER. Within 15 mins, I paid $ 275 (its usually more), for someone to scare me into going to the Emergency Room.
I ended up waiting until the next morning, made an appt at a clinic and was in-​and-​out withinn an hour and a half with antibiotics and no more fear of dying.
NOT WORTH THE TIME OR MONEY

After the first review in which I mentioned the problem that ‘they ask information on the phone first without even asking for the reason of the call’, they acknowledged it and fixed it immediately. I appreciate their proactivity and their concern for the satisfaction of their customers on this. I wish them all the best.

We were visiting SF and my wife needed some basic medical attention on New Years Day. Sean was great. He explained his process in detail and was very patient. The convenience of having a medical professional come to you is a luxury worth the cost.

We arrived in SF at 3pm, checked into our hotel, and started researching Urgent Care options for our child, whose arm was itching and swelling and hot. I was amazed to see this housecall service; a godsend considering we knew nothing about where anything is located in SF and had no car. I made the call at 5pm and at 7pm we had a Dr in our hotel room. We were really happy with the Dr and the advice and help he provided. At $ 375 it was not cheap, but worth it.

So glad we had a chance to experience this unique, personal and excellent service. My husband and I were up in SF for vacation and my husband fell ill the night we arrived in SF. We were not familiar with the area and didn’t want to go to the ER at a hospital that we were not familiar with and did not want to have to wait all day to see someone and also not knowing what type of service and care we were going to receive. We also were travelling with our 2 children (a 4 year old and a 9 month old). So ER did not seem feasible to us at the time. So did a search on Unilocal for other options and came upon ER Direct, Inc. and read all the raving reviews. So I went ahead and called and was greeted by Dr. Sean Parkins. He was so polite and friendly and very attentive over the phone as I explained our situation and he answered all the questions I had. My husband and I decided to use their service. Dr. Parkins told us he would be there in an hour as he was attending to a patient at the time. He came as promised to the hotel we were staying at and examined my husband right in the comforts of our hotel room. He was so patient, kind, and attentive. And got the best personal care we ever had with a medical physician.
My husband and I want to thank ER Direct, Inc for this wonderful service and also thank Dr. Parkins for his time and care. And thank you so much for the call the next day to just check in and see how my husband was doing. So personal and really felt cared for. :)
So sad that we don’t have this kind of service where we live. Actually we would love to have ER Direct, Inc in our city (Los Angeles). Cause we would use them all the time! haha.
Again such a great service. I highly recommend it! Thanks!

What a relief! After calling around various private physicians, clinics, etc., I finally found ER Direct. I was able to make an appointment asap, and the doctor was wonderful. Calm, patient and kind, he handled my issue immediately, and treated me with respect. Too often I find that doctors are hurried and hardly listen, and I come home feeling like a scolded child. If only all medical experiences could be as easy and stress-​free as this!

Had symptoms of a UTI on a Saturday night when most Urgent Care centers near by were closed already. Wasnt able to make it to my own Dr. until Monday and absolutely could not deal for two more days. So glad that I stumbled upon ER Direct, very friendly and polite ‘Dr. Rachel’ was available for outcall and treated me quickly and efficiently. She was extremely knowledgeable, answered all of my questions, and left me wanting to write this great review immediately! I highly recommend this service to anyone and everyone who is in need of urgent medical attention in the area. Will be calling them again if I ever do need to. Pricing is VERY reasonable, way less expensive than walking into an ER or hospital. Also, much more comfortable, interactive, and convenient. Thank you so much RACHEL & ER Direct, Inc!!!

I think that ER Direct honestly is, «as good as it gets!
I have used ER Direct on 2 occasions. Both times the response has been nearly immediate and I have felt that the levels of competence and care have been impeccable.
The first time I used ER Direct, I had bronchitis and a newborn baby. Sean Parkin came, diagnosed me, brought medicine and resolved everything within less than 30 minutes. He is polite, friendly and knowledgeable. He made sure that the medication I took would not be harmful to my daughter, who was still nursing.
Sean came again recently, after I had an accident with my foot. As before, ER Direct was responsive, and Sean was here soon after I called. He was able to look at the injury, explain to me what might be wrong, what that might mean, then wrap my foot and set up an appointment for x-​rays before leaving my house, all while my toddler ate her lunch beside me!
The level of service is exceptional!
Thank you.

Why aren’t all medical services in this country like this?
Easy, efficient, inexpensive, personal… the high quality professional care you receive is reason enough, but coupled with an exceptional bedside manner, I’ll call ER Direct before going to the emergency room.
We have Kaiser insurance, which I should note I’m quite happy with. They charge us $ 100 for urgent care, but I’d rather pay an extra $ 200 for the added convenience of not having to leave my home or office — plus, you don’t have to spend hours in a germ-​infested waiting room! A real bonus for families with young children.
I’ve met two health professionals from ER Direct, and they’ve both been top notch.
I hope this is the beginning of a new trend in healthcare for this country!

I am so thankful for ER Direct and would definitely recommend them. I called (415) 671‑8100 and within an hour Dr. Caesar Djavaherian came to my location. I was in pain and very uncomfortable but Dr. Djavaherian worked quickly and politely to diagnose and treat my symptoms. I could tell he was very concerned with my well being and was shocked when he requested that I follow up with him the next day to update him on my medical condition. I have medical insurance but would still call ER Direct and pay the extra money because I was so happy with my experience with their service. Thank you so much!

I have never been treated with more respect, concern for my welfare or quality of medical care received than I have with ER Direct. Dr. Sean C. was prompt, thoughtful, courtesy and focused. If you are in need of care and don’t mind spending the extra cash, you will not receive better care elsewhere. Thank you so much for seeing me and taking care of my back! This was money well spent.