Dr. Poree is the best pain management doctor I've ever experienced. After Dr. Poree and Abbotts-St. Jude replaced my neurostimulator generator in 2016, it was life changing. Since then, my regular pain management Dr referred me to someone else to replace the dead generator. It took my life changing experience back to where it was prior to Dr. Poree. I'm in severe chronic pain, and the CDC has scared off every pain management doctor so bad, that I can't get relief. Where are you, Dr. Poree??? You're needed! read more

Proceed with extreme caution: This review is on the front desk staff and the intake procedure as I never saw Doctor Poree in person which I am eternally grateful. I am sure he is a very smart guy but they need some serious work on their intake and front desk procedures. First off, I called and was sent a lengthy packet of paperwork to fill out stating that if it was not returned within 14 days it would be reported that I failed to do the required intake to my referring doctor. Being a long time chronic pain patient. Paperwork can be stressful but I understood and drove it to their office two days after receiving it to ensure I got it done and on time. I was told I would get a call soon. After a week I began to call often getting a full answering machine even during hours they are supposed to be open. . The message states all calls will be returned in four hours. Of course this assumes you can actually leave a message. I called 10 more times over three more weeks. Three times during open business hours again, the messages machine was full. The other times I left clear messages to please return my call and let me know the status of my intake. I left my name and number of course. Finally approximately a month and a half after dropping off my paper work, a woman called. She stated she had gone over my paperwork and thought I would be a great candidate for a spinal cord stimulator. I am not. I have bladder issues from peripheral neuropathy which make me a very very poor candidate. I was a bit shocked that before I even meet a doctor someone is already telling me what I need. I did not even know if she was a nurse, a doctor or just front desk staff. I explained my situation and what I was looking for in a new pain doctor. I was told I would get a call back from someone else the next day. Someone more knowledgeable. That call never came. Again I left message after message daily. Still often getting the full message machine. Considering what they charge surely they can afford an answering service manned by humans. Three months after dropping off my paperwork I got my second call back. This woman said this was the only message she had heard and apologized. She also stated they lost my paperwork!! After a short conversation, one that could and should have happened on day one, it was clear this doctor was not for me. They are too busy , poorly managed, extremely costly if you do choose to get treated there, and wasted three months of my time, not to mention the stress. This experience made it clear to me that this was the last place on earth I would want managing my chronic pain. Reading other reviews on other sites, this seems common place and a longtime issue they care little to fix. read more

I'm really surprised to read the negative reviews below. I am not the patient but rather the patient's girlfriend and we had none of these experiences with Dr. Poree or his staff. There has always been someone available to us by phone and we always felt listened to and consulted in his care This office is affiliated with UCSF, a teaching hospital, so I was expecting to have less experienced doctors on the team, but these doctors have been very competent and Dr. Poree is always available when needed. We have been kept waiting after our appointment time once in a while, but have never been rushed out of an appointment in order to keep a schedule. In all I'm very happy with Dr. Poree and his staff. read more

I was referred by my ENT to Dr Poree for a serious painful condition. My ENT Dr, who performed the 2nd surgery (1st one was done in FL) for an invasive infection that damaged the trigeminal & optic nervic in my face, then referred me to Stanford where I had 2 more surgeries. By the time I got to Dr. Poree I had been through 4 years of fighting infection, becoming allergic to meds, and worst of all, in severe unrelenting pain from the damaged nerves. I needed a local pain management Dr. since I could not keep driving so far to Stanford. I was assured by Dr. Poree's staff 3 times over the phone before I saw Dr. Poree, that he could possibly refill the pain medication that Stanford Drs prescribed, as long as he agreed to it. I told his staff what I was taking and that I was running low and would bring the bottle of medication to the appt., but wanted to make sure he could handle my pain care, assuming he agreed to it of course, before I made the appt. The staff kept assuring me that Dr. Poree does write prescriptions for opioid pain medications when he deems them necessary, and that he did deal with my particular condition. So I got all my records together (no small task), filled out his very long NP questionnaire & made the appt. By the way, Dr. Poree was listed as the ONLY local Dr who could deal with my condition for pain management. At my appt., Dr Poree walked into the exam room exclaiming that he already had spoken with a Stanford neurosurgeon and they both agreed I might be a candidate for an experimental brain surgery and to go there. At the end of our very short appointment, I said I would consult with the Stanford Dr, but made no promises for the surgery. Then, showing him my bottle of pain medication, I asked him if he was going to manage my pain. He said "Oh, we don't write prescriptions here for opioid medications". WHAT??? I was incredulous. I asked who in the world would manage my pain then? The condition I have creates such severe unrelenting pain that it is known in the medical community as "the suicide pain". He left me with no one and no alternative but the ER when I ran out. He is a PAIN MANAGEMENT DR!!! He has no compassion whatsoever. His staff was most unhelpful, and unfriendly. One person in particular was downright rude and hung up on me when I asked for a very small reduction in my bill since I was led astray by the staff, and left hanging by Dr. Poree. Unbelievable! Avoid this practice - they simply do not care! read more

I wish there was something lower than 1 star! I went in the office with a friend as moral support and I was blown away on how the visit went down. I was confused when the appointment started by a young Dr introduced himself and then introduced the "head dr" (Dr. Poree). Thru the whole appointment Dr Poree spoke down to my friend cause she was not answering his questions with a yes or no or 1 to 10 answer. He did not want to hear where it hurt how long and what are her options. The whole time the other Dr had just became the secretary making notes on the computer. I could feel my friend tensing up from the way she was being talked down to. This Dr has no people skills and then drug management into the conversation and wanted my friend to make a complaint on staff not telling her to bring her images to appointment. Who does that. Don't drag a patient into tour issues! What a mess. Then to find out this Dr has an office 2 hrs closer to our home town and that was never mentioned. So much for patient care. All around disappointed and couldn't believe how my friend was so set back she almost thought "that didn't just happen!" Stay clear of this place and keep looking. read more

Don't go here. If you are a chronic pain sufferer you've already got enough misery in your life. Dr. Poree would rather perform invasive, excruciatingly painful procedures with a small chance for success than prescribe medications that would help you manage life with a chronic incurable condition. And if you have found medications that help you, do not, i repeat DO NOT, use Dr. Poree as your new prescribing doctor. You will NEVER get those meds, even if they are as innocuous as lidocaine patches! Don't come with any ideas about what you think might help or that you have read works for others with your condition- he will shoot them all down. Spare yourself agony and wasted time and money and see a pain psychiatrist, even if you have to pay out of pocket. I've needed to make a dozen phone calls to get this doctor to make one simple phone call on my behalf. And after all the time and money I've spent at his clinic, and the torture i've endured, that's the least he should be able to do for me. Most of the things he says he's going to do for you don't happen, and when you call his staff or the other clinics involved trying to get the procedures/scans etc. that he said you would get, they will have no idea what you're talking about or who you are. I even went to the wrong clinic and got scans that weren't covered because Dr. Poree didn't communicate correctly to me, his staff, or the correct clinic. The only things he does "make happen" for you, as I mentioned before, are expensive procedures he can perform himself at his clinic- where he can rake in the dough. And if those procedures don't work for you, he acts like you've dropped off the face of the planet, despite the existence of plenty of other options a good pain management clinic/doctor would then pursue with you. read more

I regret having gone to this doctor for care as he did me far more harm than good. He didn't listen to me during a procedure and gave me a cortisone injection in the wrong location after becoming impatient that we couldn't find the correct location. What he should have done was to remove the needle when I reported not having pain in the areas he was stimulating. My pain level went from a 3 to a 7 to 10 after this procedure. He did not show any human warmth or concern when this happened despite the fact that it greatly interfered with my quality of life. In fact, his first was response was to say that he had nothing to offer in the form of a solution. In addition, I had to call his office repeatedly to get a response from him when I had a severe systemic reaction to the cortisone shot. The front office told me that there was a 48 hour response time on ALL calls, regardless of whether or not it was an emergency and he didn't even get back to me within that time frame. He had to be texted at home after that time frame expired after I begged for help! In addition, he is rude to his staff. I observed that he ordered them around without ever saying please and thank you. The office is in violation of statutory requirements by failing to respond to refill requests from my pharmacy and they still haven't gotten me the medical records I requested one month ago despite repeated requests and promises that they would be coming. I am in the process of filing a complaint with the medical board. I have never received such poor treatment, and at a time when I needed effective, caring treatment the most. Please save yourself the grief of going to this doctor. read more

This doctor needs to get a better staff! He is great, talented and very nice! ALL of the ladies in reception and billing are very rude and mean! I would give their names just to shame them but I guess I'm better than that. This review will suffice... They act like you killed their family and they want vengeance! You would think for a pain clinic, patients (people who are suffering from chronic pain every single minute of every single day of their life) would be treated with compassion and kindness... Unfortunately that is not the case here... Very sad. They are like this in person but even more so over the phone because it's easy to hide behind the phone I guess. Dr. Poree, I really hope you read this and take this into consideration because you deserve a better staff. After all, this is how you make a living and it is your reputation on the line because of your staff. Their positions are easily expendable and you can easily find kind and compassionate replacements who would be happy to work for you. I know that this can't be something personal towards me either because they don't even know me. The majority of my relationship with them has been over the phone. I have never been rude to them, I'm very patient with them returning my calls (which they don't!). So it can't be just me, I guess I'm just the only one speaking out about it. Maybe the reason you don't have any positive Yelp reviews is because of them and people would rather not post if it is negative. At least that is how I usually work with posting reviews but not this time. I am so offended and hurt by the way these so called "Professionals" have treated me on multiple occasions, that this was the only way I can get it off my chest. Like I mentioned before, this review is NOT for Dr. Poree himself, rather than for his entire reception and billing staff. All of his medical assistants and nurses are great as well, I have had nothing but pleasant experiences with them. I'm not trying to divert potential patients away from seeing this doctor, this is more of a warning if you do go to see him. Beware and be ready to get treated like garbage while waiting to see him. read more