Just switched to an HMO run by B&T/Altais (subcontracted from Aetna). Their patient website sucks and offers very little visibility into the status of claims, prior authorizations, etc. And even minor referrals need prior authorizations. Standard turnaround of prior authorizations is 14 days. That's crazy slow!!! read more

I have never dealt with a more inept, unsympathetic, group of care professionals in my life. I went to the doctor and my claim wasn't paid. 5-6 calls later on the same claim and nothing. They keep telling me it's not even on my file. Absolutely just nuts. You call in and they don't help at all, they just say nope, i dont' see anything on your file even though I have a rejection notice in my hand. Just inept, terrible company and group of people. Best of all is they don't care. If dealing with Brown & Toland doesn't make you want to overthrow the insurance industry, i don't know what else will. read more

Brown and Toland no longer covers Sutter Health doctors. Almost all of my doctors are Sutter doctors which means that I have to find new doctors for several specialties and can no longer see doctors that I trust and have been seeing for years. It is very difficult to find good doctors and now I have to find five new specialists. Stay away from Brown and Toland if you can. read more

Horrible service. I have had to cancel two scheduled medically required procedures because Brown and Toland can't be bothered to authorize. I was told it would take months to receive the authorization for coverage. MDs did everything they were supposed to do regarding the submissions. This is unacceptable on the part of Brown & Toland, and is putting my health in danger. I have been doing everything required to prepare for the surgeries, including paying for related prescriptions. Brown and Toland are horrendously incompetent. read more

Atlais has ruined this place. My authorizations used to get approved within 10 minutes and now they are taking 14-21 days. Customer Service all gives different answers and no one knows what they are talking about. In network hospitals and urgent cares aren't even listed on the website. Everyone is going to leave for Hills Physicians read more

The reviews are true. Good luck trying to get through to a "customer service" agent. I called around 10 in the morning and remained on hold for 20 minutes before finally allowing them to "hold my place" in line. I thought I might get a call in an hour or so. Guess what? Someone didn't call me back until 3:51PM. Of course, by then I had given up and tried to resolve the matter myself. I am actively trying to figure out how to leave this group while being able to stay with my current provider. Look for care elsewhere. read more

Brown and Toland/Altais are awful!! Everything is wrong with them from rude employees to limited providers to choose from, an outdated provider directory and I can keep going. One example .. I waited 6 months to see a cardiologist my PCP referred me to due to a concerning result on an ECG. I waited almost six months to see the cardiologist and the day before my appointment the cardiologist office called and left me a message that my appointment for the next morning was canceled because they are no longer in network with Brown & Toland. I'd write a novel if I continue. I'm a retired healthcare provider and have never had this kind of trouble accessing care. read more

Do not use this medical group they are absolutely horrible and they give you zero options. Their communication is poor and they are rude, not to mention you can't even find a doctor under their plans. read more

I was scheduled for knee replacement and 3 weeks before surgery my primary doctor said I better check to see I could have surgery at a Sutter Health hospital. I did and found that the only hospital covered is Chinese Hospital in all of San Francisco. My surgeon doesn't practice there so I now have to keep hobbling around till 2027 when I will chose another provider. I've heard others got a notice in the mail. I never received anything. Shocking to me but this is the care you get. read more

Absolute nightmare. They took a month to approve a simple referral. Then I got a $499 bill for the video consultation with my doctor. When I called to find out why they said my insurance denied it. I called my insurance and they never received the claim. I spend 55 minutes on hold trying to get to someone at Brown and Toland and had to give up. They are a horrible company. Avoid them at all cost. read more

I'd give a negative 25 if possible. They are the absolute worst medical group in the Bay Area hands down! I've been a group member for 25 years. They were great until taken over by Altais. If you're looking for a medical group, I recommend you continue looking elsewhere! I echo a previous comment. Their website stinks at best. Can really only look up primary care physicians. Since they dropped work with Sutter Health, can't find a list of approved urgent care facilities, hospitals or specialists. You can no longer send an email message for help, so you have to call. Their customer service reps are responsive with the very limited control they have, but the group has absolutely no follow through. I have phoned4 times now to get a list of facilities I can use because I can no longer pull the information up on their website. I'm still waiting for the information! Adios to Brown & Toland. I'm moving on! read more

No stars for this group. April 15, 2026 this group was no longer partnered with Sutter Health. No notice was given. Their system is now more complicated. This group has no regard for the people they insure. Why did Blue Shield allow them to join? read more

On 4-15-26 B & T stopped their contract with Sutter health. I am in the middle of cancer treatments. B & T says they will allow continuity of care with Sutter but Sutter Health will not honor the care without contract. I need a letter of agreement between oncologist and B & T now just to get a blood draw. How is it that a medical group like B & T can drop contracts mid-year without giving even a notice? Where is the oversight board when you need them? read more

41 phone calls till date in 2026 and still no care or even a message or any response from PCP. Kept on dodging calls. Garbage customer service. Dreading my decision to go with Anthem and B&T read more

while all U.S. health insurances plans are scummy, there are no words to describe how EVIL B&T is. i work with many seniors, many of which were taken advantage of vulnerable people and roped into Medicare Advantage B&T. they DENY EVERYTHING. DELAY EVERYTHING!! you can't get a hold of anyone, especially their supposed "amazing" care champions case management team. i have seniors who have DIED or have had their conditions WORSEN waiting for things to improve. yall can rot in hell. read more

Absolutely unreliable and greedy medical group. Stay away from them if at all possible. They dropped almost all of my providers the day I was diagnosed with cancer. Getting any appointment or bloodwork approved has been a nightmare. They don't give 2 craps about patients. Just a greedy impersonal machine. Terrible for the doctors too. read more

HORRIBLE!! Every physician/hospital we tried to get into, once they heard Brown&Toland, they would immediately say "we don't take them" if you need ABSOLUTELY no medical care, they are for you. Otherwise you are screwed, do not sign up with them!! Waste of time. read more

I do not understand when I was referred to a doctor in network for a common procedure that procedure was denied because the facility was not in network. Shouldn't the doctors offices have resources to ensure my insurance would be accepted. Brown & Toland is passing the buck back to the DR office without giving any explanations as while the authorization was not issued. read more

Everything needs AUTHORIZATION!!!! Brown & Toland has approved or 'in network?' quacks that provide care and refer patients to specialists.... Even though they are all 'in network' some kind of authorization is required for each provider. ? My question is... even though all these entities are 'in network' how is it there is no trust between the parties? Why is an authorization for each step? When a qualified physician has made the decision??? WTF? read more

From a medical billing point of view this is the worst payer I have worked with. Not helpful at all when calling for help with claims payment. Going to recommend that doctor stops taking patient's with this group. read more

6 weeks to get in and they charge $800 an hour for physical therapy. After insurance that's a $700 bill out of your pocket for just one hour. read more

One star, only because zero is not available. After several weeks I finally received authorization for a neck and lower spine MRI. The day before it was scheduled, I received a call that B & T no longer contracted with the MRI provider and it needed to be rescheduled. Silly me- I assumed B & T would do this. After two weeks I called to check and was informed that a new request had to be sent in, which was sent the same day by my neurosurgeon. After two more weeks and worsening symptoms, I called and was told that there was no request on file. I asked the representative to look harder and he found the original request. I asked why, since it was B&T that specified the provider, why the physician needed to reapply. He explained that it "was policy". After my explaining that I was becoming worse daily, He spoke to a supervisor who was going to change the provider and that I would be called back later that day on early the following morning .At 1:30, I'm still waiting, but now have lost balance. read more

Spend 6 weeks trying to get them to return a call or message so I could book an appointment. Never heard back once. This place feels like a scam -- I would avoid at all costs. read more

Ever since B&T sold out to Altais, referrals have been marked by deny, deny, delay, delay. My neurologist is exasperated with them. He strongly recommended home physiotherapy and after two denials and two successful appeals they then referred me to 3 providers each of whom said they had no contract. Avoid Altais like the plague. They're aiming for maximum profits, like United Care. read more

I believe they were recently bought out by another corporation. Their service is almost non-existent. You call to request info needed for your medical care and they tell you they will email it but don't - and this has happened four times now, You then ask to speak with a manager and am told one will call back but they never do. It is apparent they have decided to maximize profit over members' care. read more

If I could give them zero stars I would. I was on the phone with Anthem for almost an hour to then get transferred to Brown and Toland to be told that I needed to contact Sutter Health and then call Brown and Toland back. Other companies would call the other providers and link us so everyone is on the same page. Useless customer service and I am very disappointed that Anthem uses them. read more

Impossible/rude customer service. Limited doctors. Avoid them like the plague. It seems almost criminal the way they try to deny service.

the worst...they don't do anything to help you.. i am finished with them, as a cancer survivor, i am not getting the right care

While Brown and Toland offers insurance in the north bay, it only offers services such as PT & OT in the east bay/SF with even some procedures as far away as Stanford. I'm sorry but I'm not driving all the way to Stanford for a colonoscopy! Medical staff seems to drop the ball with referral requests and the phone bank - customer service - is a long wait & doesn't know basic terms such as "Continuance of Care". This is a waste of money. I may as well cancel the insurance and just pay out of pocket. It would probably be cheaper! I'm sorry that Anthem Blue Cross forcibly assigned me to this group. read more

The absolute WORST customer service! complete incompetence! They have no idea what they are doing! being a provider they are idiots! kept telling me my patien was covered under a whole different plan! run do not pay these people to mess you up! read more

The office of a physician in this medical group directed my mother, who had severe mobility limitations at the time, to go to an appointment that turned out to be a meeting for her to be provided with a piece of equipment. My mother had already notified the physician that she had obtained this piece of equipment and was using it. A complaint was made to the Better Business Bureau against Brown & Toland; Brown & Toland did not deign to reply. read more

Terrible insurance provider/ network. I haven't been able to see a specialist for years because of them. They say they have all these providers on their website but it's not true. read more

I'm a Medicare patient, so I can go almost anywhere. However, I needed a GP and was recommended to one who is a member of the B & T group. He's excellent; the group sucks. Reaching the reception requires infinite patience, because the staff are permanently on the phone. If you reach voicemail, forget it. The mailbox is either full, or no-one responds to your message. I doubt that anyone even listens to it. If and when you do get through, the staff are helpful and friendly. It's the system that's shot: 1. Possibly they're short-staffed - B & T are notoriously cheap. 2. They use MyChart but are the only organization i know that doesn't allow you to message the office. Again, probably because B & T won't pay for the service 3. No email addresses are offered as an alternative. 4. Driving to the office is about the only sure way to speak to someone. 5. Finally, they won't accept prescription renewal requests from pharmacies - too busy on the phone. I'm trying to make an appointment for my annual physical. If I succeed. I will tell my GP that either he fixes the system (which I'm sure he can't/won't), or I will go elsewhere. read more

If I could give it no stars, I would. They obfuscate the medical needs of ailing patients by delaying approvals for legitimate, Physician ordered treatments by weeks, if not months. Who the hell are they, anyway? A bunch of sleazy lawyers who scrap dollars off insurance companies and actual medical treatment providers, while delaying the obvious. Considering a lawsuit, seriously considering. read more

DO NOT GO WITH THIS I.P.A.!!! HORRIBLE selection of doctors, apparently the vast majority of whom are only located in the city of San Francisco--so why would any doctor in the EAST BAY ever sign on with them? (I'm stuck with them because my neurosurgeon is with them--but I'm trying to talk him into either severing ties with them or adding another I.P.A. so I can dump this crap group. I doubt I'll succeed--Sutter bought him out and now owns him, so he's stuck with what they tell him to do.) I requested to go out-of-network for acupuncture services because their only acupuncturist near me was unbelievably unprofessional (including leaving the door to the exam room, which is immediately off the waiting room, wide open and then walking away while I was lying on the exam table in just my underwear!!), and the next nearest provider would take me over an hour to get to (because I don't have a car). Yet Brown & Toland denied me because "they have in-network acupuncturists"--and then referred me to the same two clinics again! In other words, they didn't even bother reading what the doctor sent them as the reason for my wanting to go out-of-network. So now I need to appeal to Anthem HMO, and if Anthem gives me a hard time, I have to go to the DMHC. And all this time that I'm not approved, I cannot get the medical care I need--meaning Brown & Toland profits by not having to spend any money on my care. $$ CA-¢HING!! $$ STAY AWAY IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. I've learned (from myriad medical professionals up here) that the I.P.A.s and medical care in general in the Bay Area are, at least compared to Los Angeles (where I lived for 32 years before moving up here 6 years ago), a complete joke. But this is truly ridiculous. read more

Medi cal assigned me to these jokers. They don't even return phone calls. Not even for requests for counseling, for mental health. Not even when you call twice. read more

WARNING! Do not get involved with this group. I purchased a Medicare Advantage plus plan from Aetna, not knowing that Brown and Toland would be administering my plan locally in the San Francisco bay area. They still owe me over $1,000 dollars for unpaid claims they their customer service rep told me repeatedly that all the proper paperwork was in and would be paid no later than December of 2021 OR (and that negate the "no later than") January of 2022. Nothing but lies and obfuscation and false promises. They should be put out of business. Every one of my providers told me they were the worst at paying claims of any group they did business with and my primary care physician stopped being a part of their group because of that. read more

Frustrating experience. Ended up with them through Cigna which seems to outsource their Northern CA HMO plan to B&T. So none of the physicians on Cigna's website are actually in-network since you have to go to B&T doctors. I even went to a PT and they treated me for 2-3 sessions until they figured out they are not in-network for B&T. Just a frustrating mess. Also B&T's website sucks - it's hard to find a PCP that's nearby. Lots of clicking around and calling doctors to see if they take new patients. Then our PCP just dropped B&T without telling us (and B&T didn't know about it either). Now we have to start the whole process from scratch again. We'll make sure we get off this network when we have the chance to get a new plan. read more

I joined the SCAN HMO offered under Medicare because providers were located at the Seton medical center about 2 miles away. SCAN is using Brown and Toland providers. I left a phone message a week ago requesting an appointment with my assigned PCP. I sent an email to the PCP a week ago asking them to call so I can set an appointment because my back is killing me. Earlier this morning I left another phone message requesting an appointment and also left a message at the Brown and Toland website. As of this writing, no response and my back continues to ache. Am I expected to sit around at an Emergency Room with a $90 co-pay? Not sure as I'm not hearing a thing after a week. Draw your own conclusion. read more

beyond dysfunctional. how they have a medical contract is stupefying. I called and was cut off . . . they are amazingly terrible. read more