Kaiser OB - Oakland

I haven’t met Dr Katz but I had some difficulties at the beginning of my pregnancy and I couldn’t get in to see my regular OB. In the end, I saw three different doctors and I switched to third, Dr. Schechter. You’d have to be comfortable having a male OBGYN, but he is one of the best doctors I’ve ever had in any specialty. Kind, funny, reassuring, up-to-date on the newest research, and incredibly empathetic. He was wonderful throughout the ups and downs of the entire pregnancy.

Dr. Katz is rad. I just started prenatal with her for my second pregnancy. Highly recommend. 

SallyMae - you actually *can* get in to see anyone, even if they aren't taking new patients.  And once they've seen you, you are on their patient list and you can book future appts with that person seamlessly and you'll see them listed as a member of your care team.  You just can't choose them upfront in the Find a Doctor tool.   This is how you do it:

1.  Work the system" through www.kp.org.   Set up an account with your member ID if you don't already have one. 

2.  Login.  Choose appts.   Choose that you want to be seen for a women's health service, and that you aren't pregnant (yet!).   

3.  Then you can choose a date range.   You can scroll through the options until you finally find an appt with the doctor you find the best.   

I had to go 2 months out find a first appt with my OB/GYN (at a crummy time like 10am on a Wednesday too!), but once I saw her, I became her patient, and it was no issue to continue seeing her.  Having had an unexpectedly complicated pregnancy, I am *so* glad I spent a couple months getting set up with a provider I loved, so when I became pregnant, I had that provider in my court.   Hope this helps you get in with the provider you really want, and that doing so gives you peace of mind throughout pregnancy when you reach that season!

Hi, I'm not certain she's taking on new patients, but I highly recommend Dr. Miranda as a Kaiser OB. I started seeing her with my first pregnancy in 2015-16, and I credit her with saving my daughter's life when I developed a condition that called for early induction. I'm now 38 weeks pregnant with baby #2 and have appreciated Dr. Miranda's care throughout this pregnancy as well. Sorry that I don't have any feedback on Dr. Katz, but thought I'd pass along this info on Dr. Miranda in case it's helpful. 

Best of luck!

I recently switched to Dr. Katz after my long time OB left Kaiser Oakland. I have had two visits with her so far (not related to pregnancy though) and she is very warm, easy to talk to, knowledgeable and thorough. I would highly recommend her. 

I just signed up with her, but I needed non-pregnancy support.  I had a good impression of her at my first check up. I figured that I would be able to tell more by meeting her in person and see if I felt a rapport and if she was a good listener, etc.

Dr. Katz was my gyn (*was* because I switched due to negative experiences). I wasn't pregnant, so no specific experience with that. However, I would absolutely not recommended her. She did not listen to my concerns (when 1 of my 2 primary concerns is infertility, birth control is NOT the appropriate treatment for my other concern. And I shouldn't have to repeat that a dozen times). I needed a referral to a specialist, it took 2 appointments and me insisting before she would consider the referral and any treatment other than birth control. When I finally got the referral, she scheduled it as a phone appointment rather than in person, though she told me I'd need an exam so seemed aware I'd need to be there in person. I then had to spend most of a day on the phone trying to navigate the kaiser departments to get it changed to the right kind of appointment. When I finally got that appointment, the first thing the Dr said was "you're in the wrong place" and "I'm not going to be able to help you". Thankfully that specialist got me referred to the right clinic that Dr Katz should have referred me to possibly months earlier. So unless you want birth control, I'd keep looking.

If Vanessa Kaleb is available, she’s AMAZING! Good luck!

As a Kaiser physician, I would caution you in using Kate85’s methods. Yes, while you might be able to get into see any doctor that way, s/he may not be able to continue to see you for any number of reasons (sometimes our panels are truly closed and it’s beyond our control) and the availability of someone with an open panel is going to be much better.