Elaine Constantz, MD

I have absolutely nothing but praise for Dr. Elaine Consantz. She has been my primary physician for 6 or 7 years, has always been supportive with a wonderful bedside manner, and is very knowledgeable and thorough. She is the one who diagnosed that I was a «full-​fledged» Diabetic, and placed me on three medications the same day I had my first appointment with her. I seldom get sick and only saw her for annual exams or when my prescriptions required refilling.
On the other hand, the office staff is the complete opposite. Like other patients on this thread, I also had problems with appointments, and being told that either they had not received my phone calls (which some would revert to voicemail), they had no «record» of my calls, or that I had made a mistake and «thought» I had left a message. In essence, I was being called a liar or that I was forgetful. I am neither.
Additionally, I would like to know just who hired these girls and just how much medical training (even for office staff) they have received. They have absolutely no patient empathy, and wouldn’t care less if a patient dropped dead.
I know this for a fact because two years ago, I called to make an appointment to see the doctor, to have my blood work done, and have my prescriptions refilled. Again, like others on this thread, I was told I’d have to wait about 6 or 8 weeks to see the doctor. When I told the «receptionist» I only had a few pills left and I could not be without medication for such a length of time (all my paperwork states I am not to stop taking my meds without a doctor’s OK), the girl said they could not prescribe any medication until after I saw the doctor. Six to eight weeks without medications! The results could be fatal! Yet, the girl wouldn’t budge and would not allow me to speak to the doctor. She didn’t care! In all the years I’ve been coming here, none of the staff have ever called me with my blood test results. I had to make another appointment with the doctor in order to obtain this information.
Fortunately, I had the sense to speak with the head pharmacist at my pharmacy, who agreed I couldn’t stop taking any of the medications, immediately called the doctor’s office and who, apparently, chewed out the «receptionist». The head pharmacist called me back and told me all three of my prescriptions had now been filled.
This past week (May 4^th) I had a similar occurrence. Again, my prescriptions needed refilling and, again, I couldn’t have them refilled until I saw the doctor on the June 22^nd — eight weeks later. I made the appointment, provided the name and number of my new insurance (I had been paying 100% out of pocket all this time) but neglected to tell the «receptionist» to please refill one prescription because I only had 4 pills left. So, I called back to rectify this. Imagine my shock when the «receptionist» stated that the doctor had a meeting with everyone in the office, and that my insurance was not accepted at their office. I asked if my one prescription could be refilled, because I didn’t know when I’d be able to find a doctor who’d accept my insurance, and I was told «No» and to call Urgent Care. Again, no empathy and no caring if a patient drops dead.
I called three urgent care offices in my area and none would accept my insurance.
As I stated previously, Dr. Constantz is wonderful and is a doctor any person would be lucky to have. However, she really deserves competent office support personnel who are well qualified to perform their duties, while professionally handling the doctor’s patients with empathy and care.

After waiting over a month for an appointment, I received a phone call with less than 24 hours notice cancelling my visit. Actually, they didn’t even leave a voicemail. I happened to call back and they then told me they were cancelling. They offered to reschedule in ANOTHER month. I’ve only had one visit with Dr. Constantz and she had an excellent bedside manner and was very thorough and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, I made the appointment because I’m dealing with a rather pressing medical issue and don’t want to wait 3+ months to resolve it.

Never ever go here. This place is a disaster. Dr Constanz always felt like a good doctor to me for the 3 – 4 years that I saw her, but I stopped going a year ago and I’m STILL dealing with cleaning up billing messes. The staff is incompetent, always blaming someone else or saying it’s not theirs to take care of. Completely unprofessional.
They do not use computerized systems so appts are in a pen and paper book and they have trouble finding information sometimes.
Trust me and never go here, you will regret getting tied up here and will be dealing with it for far far too long.

I have had her as my primary physician for a couple of years now. I only come here for my annual exam and sometimes I skip it, so I have seem her 3 or 4 times.
Pros: She seems to be very experienced and will listen to you and take the time to do a nice check up. She is also pleasant.
Cons: The staff is rude, disorganized and clueless. If you need to schedule your annual exam, be ready to wait 2 months for an appoint. If you need to see her because of a medical condition that you are concerned and needs to be addressed in a couple of days, forget it, you are on your own.
I rarely get sick and almost never look for a physician when I do get sick. I had shingles (at the time I did not know what it was) and I tried to see her within a couple of days, but nothing was available (I explained that I was in pain), I ended up going to the emergency after a few days.
Every time I did my lab exams they never bothered to call to explain anything or even send me the results. On Nov/​20/​2015 I did my annual exam again (too lazy to try to find a better primary care physician) plus the lab tests and again they did not call me or sent the results. This time I decided to find out what happened to the results (they billed the health insurance US$ 413.00) and in my first phone call they told me they had no records of my visit in 2015. My second phone call, days later, they told me they found my visit, but I had not done lab exams. My third phone call they said they would send the results by mail. Two weeks later, no results. My forth phone call they still said I had not done the lab exams. After lots of arguments and the proof I was billed for the exams they claimed I did not do, the girl on the phone told me that they had a 3^rd party lab working with them at the time, but they are not working with them anymore and I should contact them directly. I complained and told her that was their responsibility. It took a lot of barking until she called them and said they will fax the results and she will mail them to me. I probably will have to call again to complain.
If your life needs more drama and stress, go for it!

I had a regular visit where blood work was required in last 2014. I submitted updated insurance information to the office staff during this visit because I had a new insurance policy. In late March of 2015 I received a notification that my insurance had been denied. I contacted the office and it was determined that they had submitted my old insurance information with my claim.
Months later (the middle of 2016) I started receiving confusing bills from the lab Dr. Contantz used for my blood work. They of course received the outdated insurance information from the office and intended to collect the full payment for the blood work from me personally rather than from the insurance company. Dr. Contantz’s office was no help with regards to the lab and the matter ended (by my own fault) in debt collection which was only recently resolved.
I trust a doctor with my health and since this doctor cannot seem to manage the clerical side of things I don’t feel secure or comfortable trusting the doctor with my health any longer.
Another thing I’d like to note is that, for a doctor, the office seemed a bit dirty during my last visit. A dirty bathroom and a dusty office doesn’t inspire confidence when I’m trusting you to stick needles into my arm.

Dr. Constantz seems to be a knowledgeable Doctor.
The grievance I have is definitely with her office appointment practices. NOTE: You will be asked to sign a document stating that YOU HAVE TO call 24hours ahead of your appointment time confirming you are COMING. If you do not call they will cancel your appointment. 24hours before your appointment, not to tell them you are NOT coming/​cancel but that you ARE. If you do not do this and miss your appointment you can call and get a re-​scheduled appointment a MONTH later. If you don’t want to reschedule for whatever reason, you will be CHARGED.
I’m sorry but I have never heard of such a backwards way of working and scheduling. Funny too, is that the 3 or four times I have been in this antiquated office I have seen another patient like ONCE. It’s not like they are overbooked!!!
Also, always get a receipt for payment! They sent a notice to my house 2 weeks after service/​payment with a «second notice» on it. I was told they send bills to collection after the third bill.
psThere were ants crawling on some of the equipment in the storage area where I was sitting. Just a few.

Almost 2 yrs of mystery illness that other MD’s just we’re too much in a hurry to stop and LISTEN to me. Dr C would listen to everything and even reminded me of things I had forgot. She was relentless in finding the diagnoses and she DID! She has reinstalled my faith in the the medical field. On top if that Camiell in the office is the BOMB!!! My very expensive reflux meds aren’t covered anymore so she hooks me up in samples. Angels that’s all I can say! Thank you Lord!

When I made my initial appt to see Dr Constantz as a new patient I was told that I’d have to wait 2 months to see her. I cannot speak to their reason for the long delay, but I was injured and 2 months is a long time, which I told the person to whom I spoke. During that long period, I called once to ask if there had been a cancelation that I could take. I was told, rather curtly, that I had to keep the appt assigned to me. Okay. Then, on the very day before my long-​awaited appointment, one of Dr Constantz’s office staff called me to say that she needed to move my appt up in the day. The time that she wanted to move me to was not available in my schedule. I work freelance. So, she said that she’d have to reschedule me. Excuse me? I’ve been waiting 2 months for this appointment. I told the woman that it seemed she was more concerned about her boss’s needs than about mine and reminded her that I am suffering from an injury (which had pretty much faded away by this time, or so I thought). She then admitted that a couple of hours in Dr Constantz’s schedule had opened up because of cancellations, so they were trying to tighten up her day. So, why is that my problem? I told her that I had been told a while back by her colleague that I had to keep my original appt, so why wasn’t it the same for them? And why am I, somebody who did not cancel on them, paying the price for those who did? At this point the staffer just became unpleasant, so I returned the favor and then let her know that she now had another cancelation. I will not, ever give this doctor my business. By the other reviews here, it looks like A) I’m certainly not the only person to be mistreated by the staff, and B) Dr Constantz cares more about herself than she does her customers.

Dr. Constantz, This place was a mess from the get go. My wife had scheduled a physical and blood work. When she called to confirm her blood work appointment, they said she wasn’t on the list for that day. I had to call to make them look harder. They eventually found her name and said she doesn’t need an appointment and can come any time. When my wife went in, the person told her that the person who drew blood wasnt there and would have to come back, so muchfor anytime. The second visit, The nurse or assistant taking the blood was rude and talked down to my wife.
When it was a day away from her 7 weeks long wait for an appointment, she got a call at 3.30 saying that her appointment was cancelled. When she returned the call, they said they left her a message the day before (which they did not) saying that they were going to cancel her at 3 the next day if she didn’t call back. What a joke. They offered her an appointment 2 months down the road. Again, what a joke. This was unfair and the office is run like a joke.
Please don’t waste your time.

I can’t believe some of these reviews. Dr. Constantz is as good of a Dr. as there is. She doesn’t just go through the motions. She cares and takes the time to listen, take copious notes and address the ailment. Granted, in the past, «waiting» some has been present but is much more tolerable now. If you’re looking for an empathetic physician; one who keeps up to date with the latest in medical advancements, pay Dr. Constantz a visit.

UPDATE 4÷24÷13:
Apparently my insurance has no record of the doctor’s office ever trying to send my bill to them, and now I have to wait for it to process. Who knows what will actually happen, now i’m afraid they’ll send it to collections before anything gets processed. Good lord.

Absolutely the worst front office staff ever! Received a notice from a collection agency stating I owed this doctor 38.00 dollars for an office visit my copay and insurance would have covered. Contacted my insurance and they said they would handle it. They first contacted the collection agency and then the office and let them know that never was there a bill received from this doctors office and I was not responsible. Who runs this office?! I will be filing a formal complaint against them. PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!

I received excellent care from Dr. Schwartz. His manner was firm but friendly – sincerely one of the best medical practitioners I have interacted with in my life, and I don’t visit doctors often. Perhaps this is where the problem begins – I tend to avoid doctors after spending nearly a decade (the better part of my 20s) uninsured. Now that I have a job with good insurance, I’ve grown accustomed to paying a co-​pay and receiving a bill later on. That is not the practice here, and that is why I can’t give a higher rating. There is an 8 ½×11 piece of paper posted in a window that discloses this business practice, and apparently it was listed in documents I signed before receiving care; still, I was a bit upset after I sat in a chair for ~20 minutes, walked out, and was asked to fork over +$ 200.
Lesson learned; going forward I will always ask the following questions when scheduling an appointment:
1. What do you normally charge for a first-​time visit?
2. Do you expect payment at the time of the visit?
This rant is probably unnecessary for people who use healthcare regularly, but I was annoyed when I was asked for $ 205 at the time of service.

I have never been so unhappy with the way a Doctor’s office is managed. The standard of good health care practice does not exist at this office. The front desk staff is moody at best and not at all responsive to the patients needs nor friendly. I was literally out of medication and needed a refill, I felt that the staff did absolutely NOTHING to make me feel comfortable and certainly did not try to help me in any way. I repeatedly had to keep calling to follow-​up. Funny how that works. The office also over charnged me for several office visits. It’s now going on month 7 that I have not received my refund. In the 7 months, I have been chasing them down for my refund. I keep getting the run around from them and simply asked on several occassions if they could call me to provide me with an update. Not once have they called me and I still havent received my refund. For their lack of accountability and poor patient service… I never plan to return to that office and recommend that anyone looking for good service to look else where.

She is my general doctor and I always get good care from her. Her office is small but it makes getting in and out very fast.

I came to see Dr Constantz for the first time last week and she was great! I really don’t know why the one reviewer is such a nagg! She is the best doctor I have ever been to! She knows her stuff and she made me feel so comfortable! I was previously with a male doctor and never felt completely comfortable, I did some research and found dr. Constantz and Im so glad I went. The staff is great! They were very friendly in my opinion. And I also love the office, it is very cozy. Highly recommended doctor!

While I agree that the facility needs updating I really like Dr. Constantz. I can’t say enough good things about her. She genuinely cares and takes as much time as necessary with her patients. The staff actually have to put timers outside the exam room so she keeps some type of schedule. I have to give five stars, even with the obvious improvements the office needs, because I’m 40 and have found one other doctor in my lifetime as caring and competent as Dr. Constantz is. She’s rare.

Since I recently moved to valley recently from OC, I had to pick a new primary care physician. I chose Elaine Constantz in Pasadena because she was on your find a doctor listing and she had a few good reviews on Unilocal and the office had free parking lol.
I went in to get blood drawn one week prior to the physical I scheduled. Upon entering the facility, I immediately noticed it smelled like a hospice care center and the waiting room appeared dusty and rundown. Once they brought me back I was shocked to find the entire facility was CARPETED (and it looked like it was from the 80s too), including the bathroom. There were visible liquid stains on the carpet and color fading. I think the average person knows that it is unsanitary to keep carpeted floors in a medical facility, and in ANY bathroom. The chair that I got my blood drawn in was rickety and had fingerprints all over it. When I went into the bathroom to take a urine sample I was instructed to use the cleansing wipes first… well there were no wipes to be found in the bathroom. No toilet seat covers, and the trash was overflowing. Again, MORE liquid stains on the carpet. I was so horrified I decided to go to another doctor for the physical, because who would want to be examined in a dirty exam room?
I can’t be more straightforward, there was truly something wrong with this place. I am not high maintenance. I am your average citizen just trying to get quality, routine medical care. I have been at all types of facilities over the years, all have which were NOT carpeted, and appeared to have the appropriate sanitary requirements in place (toxic waste bins, clean bathroom, etc)
I requested my blood results to transfer to another doctor, and they refused. I tried everywhere to get the lab results, and they would not release them. I told them that I wanted to cancel my physical. They said I would just have to get blood drawn again at another facility because «[theirs] wasn’t good enough» as the receptionist phrased it. Her tone of voice was so rude I was glad I didn’t end up proceeding with treatment there.
Looking back I should have trusted my gut feeling and not let them draw blood on me. I was so shocked with the surroundings that I completely forgot to pay attention to what the nurse was doing, (if she pulled the needle from a sanitary sleeve, if she wore gloves, if she disposed of the needles in the proper toxic waste bin) I just hope they are sanitary when it comes to equipment, needles, etc. I will never again be afraid to speak up for fear of being rude when my health is on the table.

I love this office. Everyone here is attentive, polite, readily available and I have gotten the most excellent GP care of my life from Dr. Mykita. She’s really willing to talk details about your health and figure things out, rather than just throw the first treatment that seems applicable at you.
She also seems very knowledgeable and forthright about what she doesn’t know, which makes me feel very comfortable accepting advice from her.

I’m a patient of Dr. Mykita’s who works with Dr Constanz and have been very happy with my care. The staff are friendly, I never wait more than 5 minutes for my appointment, and Dr. Mykita is always willing to spend extra time to answer all of my questions. I NEVER feel rushed and she generally spends 20 – 30 minutes with me. It feels like an old-​school small town doctor’s office with personalized care and a great staff.