06/26/09

They did it for me

by Roch

I have been battling a weight problem all my life. I have tried it all. My girl-friend referred to me to Dr. Di Mello who diagnosed me when a thyroid problem. Why this problem was missed still baffles me. But I am glad I now know what the problem was ( plus my bad eating habits) I know also see Dr. Gisler for my GYN care. She started me on the Cleanse diet. Although I first fought it tooth and nail, I finally took the plunge and have now lost about 100 pounds. WOW. That is half of me. i feel fantastic and greatful to these amazing doctors

• Pros: Compassionate people
• Cons: They bill insurance out of network. Does Any doc ever bill?

05/13/09

TRULY TRUSTED AND UNIQUE PLACE

by JuliaButler

AKASHA Center for Integrative Medicine is a completely unique practice that offers the highest quality of medical care, individual approach to every patient and warm and caring staff. It integrates Eastern and Western medicine in the most harmoneous way. I am Akasha's patient for Bio Identical Hormone replacement. I drive from the valley all the way to Santa Monica because in my experience there is no better place for any kind of health problems, longevity expertise as well as preventative medicine! For me it's the most trusted place.

• Pros: Competency, wholistic individual approach, soulful staff
• Cons: none

02/11/09

Finally......

by victor64

A clinic where physicians see themselves as healers, front office staff understand the meaning of being scared about one's illness and the operations director (amazing woman) will do anything to get you properly and timely reimbursed. Their idea of getting a billig person to help you file your claims made it possible for me to pay them up-front. Not a bad deal considering that the doctor spent one hour and 45 minutes with during my initial interview. He then spent an hour for the susequent follow up. Having been a patient at Kaiser for over a decade and used to their stardant 5 minute visit, I initially thought the doctor were just being nice to me because I was facing cancer. Then I sent my neighbors and 2 familty members to them who reported the same experience. Thedoctor's East Asian backgrond ( He is from India) added a new touch and very effective approach to my treatment. Obama should include the Akashe Center as a model for patient-centered-less-is-more approach to medicine. My only complaint... Parking. So leave enough time to park.

• Pros: Healing place, amazing physicians, all under one roof approach
• Cons: parking and cost

02/04/09

Nice People, terrible business practices.

by peacegoddess

While it is indeed true that they are very nice at the Akasha Center, I have had an ongoing billing issue with them and the horribly rated labs they contract with for over two years now. Their inability to deal with the companies they hire is appalling. It's neglect, pure and simple. For this very reason I wouldn't recommend doing business with them, as I was told by members of their staff at the onset of my billing debacle, in September of '07, that I'm not the only one of their patients who's fallen victim to their lab's (Westcliff Medical Laboratories and Specialty Labs) questionable business practices.

It's just that, I find it rather ironic that Akasha Center is supposed to be a place of holistic, higher than average care and stress reduction, when it in reality has single handedly caused me more grief and stress than any other company ever has. Because of this I have not gone back.

• Pros: NIce Staff and Drs/ NDs.
• Cons: They contract with labs that are terrible, and don't solve their patient's billing issues.

11/25/08

a healing place for everything

by liber

I really like this place, its like a full service clinic, but with wholistic medicine and professionals, they have all kinds of methods of healing, from therapy to acupuncture, to meditation, herbs and most things i can think of, i do therapy in this clinic, and its great, the head of the psychology dept. is my therapist and she's great, i highly recommend this place for anyone interested in alterative methods of healing and getting better, whether is quitting smoking or cancer, they can help you out.

10/20/08

Amazing people

by VictorJoseph

I had had a cough and fever for 10 days. My other doctors (2 of them) had told me to go home, rest and relax. They said I did not need to be anxious for what I had was just a bad virus. But I knew deep inside that something was wrong. I called the Akasha Center - I had read a brief article on them 2 years ago. They were able to see me right away. The doctor showed me genuine compassion when I broke down and told him I knew something was wrong and that I was afraid I was not going to be able to take care of my 2 year old son. He sent me in for an xray directly from his office calling the radiology dept at Saint John's himself. I then returned t the clinic. He was right - and so was I. I had a raging case of pneumonia. My husband was called at work and came to get me. They served me tea and had me lay down on a beautiful acupuncture room till my husband got there. Then they said I would be OK and this time I belived them. I saw the true healers they were. Thank you Gwyneth Paltrow for letting people know about these great healers ( read the article on InStyle Magazine)

• Pros: Calming enviroment, all other one roof disciplines, loving people
• Cons: a bit expensive, no parking (but plenty of street parking)

10/08/06

Overrated

by walburgerz

I was a bit dissappointed with the service and overall care I recieved. They have a nice clean, calm lobby with running water in the background to ease your long waits. The front desk and staff are all very kind an curtious despite who you are........but that could be due the hefty, ridiculous fees they charge each session.

My first consultation meeting ran me $167.00 b/c the therapist had to get a full history in order to "properly treat me" which is OK if his cell phone hadn't gone off nearly 5 times during the initial intake before they finally turned it off. Then every sesssion after consisted of a string of excuses as to why they were late and in and out of the room during each session. Apparently they treat two people at once so you don't a whole lot of one on one attention with each therapit. I came in a number of times, spent a lot of money and I still wasn't cured. They like to tell paitents that recovery consits of a lot of tiny little steps so it takes time... but at $100.00 a step???!!! I know this is supposed to be a great Center but I think overall it's much too pricey for the average service they give. I've definatley had much better treatments for a lot less money. The only really good thing is that they have a number of different doctors under the same roof so they can conspire with one another if they need to to better assist you.

• Pros: Nice location......nice facilities.
• Cons: much too expensive

Editorial Review

by Contributor

Medical center offers a variety of procedures including naturopathic medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, reflexology and nutritional therapy.