Title: Gatekeeping, Poor Hygiene, and Unsafe Medical Practices I've been in the healthcare system for 35 years and have never seen a practice run as poorly as Dr. Ulin Sargeant's office (MIMPC) in Duarte. - Filthy Conditions: I was the first patient of the day, yet the bathroom was a disaster. Trash was overflowing and it clearly hadn't been cleaned from the night before. This is the same bathroom used for urine samples--unacceptable and unsanitary. - Impossible to Reach: They use "tech" and "telehealth" as a wall to avoid patients. My insurance approved a travel exception for my meds instantly, but I had to physically drive to the office THREE times because no one picks up the phone. I finally had to tell them I wasn't leaving until they signed it off so I could catch my flight the next morning. - Billing Over Care: It felt like every hurdle was just an excuse to force me into a billable follow-up. They are obsessed with telehealth and gatekeeping. - Medical Mismanagement: The doctor prescribed me heavy-duty heart surgery meds (Carvedilol) for simple high blood pressure. When I reported extreme fatigue and a dangerously low heart rate, she wouldn't listen. My new doctor at Cedars-Sinai was shocked and took me off them immediately. The staff is unfriendly, the office is dirty, and the system is designed to ignore you. Save yourself the headache and go elsewhere. read more

After years of searching for a physician that I could confide in and trust, a physician that would provide me with the best medical care, I was led to Dr. Ulin Sargeant in Duarte. It's difficult leaving a doctor(s) that's been taking care of your medical needs for years, but there comes a time when one admits that they're not getting the care that need and it's time to move on, and I'm glad that I did. With Dr. Sargeant, I find her to be patient and attentive. She has never talked over me, she listens to my concerns and with her knowledge she analyzes the information I've provided to her to come up with the best plan of action, including referring me to other healthcare specialists when necessary. Dr. Sargeant has never rushed me; she patiently listens to my concerns. Dr. Sargeant is very knowledgeable, professional, intuitive, caring and patient. Each time I visit I leave with a smile on my face, knowing that I've had the best care possible, I call her my guru of healthcare!! Dr. Sargeant's office and restroom is always clean and in order. Dr. Sargeant''s support staff, Gabby, Jazzmine and Kathryn are top notch; kind, pleasant and engaging. They schedule appointments so that the wait time is maybe 10-15 minutes, and often times less, depending on scheduling. Dr. Sargeant is a rare jewel in these days and times. I appreciate her expertise and her dedication to patient care. I highly recommend Doctor Ulin Sargeant to anyone seeking a change in their medical journey! I can't say enough about how appreciative I am finding a doctor such as Dr. Sargeant!! read more

ZERO STARS!! JUST HORRIBLE! I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE THIS DOCTOR IS ALLOWING HER STAFF TO TREAT PEOPLE LIKE THIS! JUST RUDE AND UNPROFESSIONAL! I had an appointment schedule for May 19th and was cancelled by the doctors office with no phone call explaining why they had to cancel and if i would like to reschedule with them. (By this point, finding a new doctor who is accepting new patients is quite slim) My options where rather limiting as there were no "GOOD" doctors available the following week. I decided to take my chances and rebook with Dr. Uline Sargeant for May 24th. I went to their office at 9:47am and was told to wait in my car and that I needed to finish the intake form. "They will call me when the doctor is ready for me." I get a call at 9:58am from a rude front office lady stating if I don't finish the form by 10am (2 MINUTES), she would have to cancel my appointment!!!! WHAT!!??? Is she being serious? I waited over a week to have this appointment and she thought it was acceptable to call me and state the importance on getting this form done OR ELSE I wont be seen!! ha! They should have picked up the phone like any professional establishment would have done to inform their customers/patients the importance of completing this form prior to the appointment. A day prior would have been nice. In fact, the form was in my spam folder! If this is a good doctor, she is diminishing all that because of her lack of ability to find decent professional people to manage her office! HOOOOORRRRRIBBLEE!! read more

Dr. Ulin Sargeant is an exceptionally dedicated and attentive professional. I have consistently felt valued and heard under her care. I presented her with a list of ambiguous symptoms potentially indicating various health concerns. Dr. Sargeant, alongside her team, committed themselves to thorough investigations, including an extensive range of blood tests and specialized referrals. It should be noted that they appear to experience staffing challenges, which I believe may be attributed to the inherent constraints of our healthcare system. Nevertheless, Dr. Sargeant and her staff consistently strive to mitigate this issue and provide exceptional care. read more

This review is solely based on Dr. Sargeant' office staff. Completely unprofessional and the only reason I will NOT be going back. To tell the patient it is their job to call and remind her staff to follow up on their status because "you need to call to remind us, you know, we have a lot of patients" and many other examples which I won't list. And for full disclosure this was not just one time, this was over a 3 month period. Me chasing them. Overall disappointing as the staff is 100% reason I will not return to what was a decent experience with the doctor. Having said that, the flip side is, it is the doctor's obligation to be in touch with her Staff and their interactions with her patients and how things are handled. If you are going to work out of an old beat up office, you would at least hope that you provide 5 star service to compensate. read more

This review is long overdue! Dr. Ulin Sargeant is a hidden marvel in the City of Duarte! I wish I had known about her sooner than this year, so I wouldn't have had to go through the exhausting process of switching-out my PCPs on a nearly yearly basis through Healthcare Partners in Arcadia. I am pleased that my boss referred Dr. Sargeant to me as my process from the time I established contact with her office has been stress-free. I was able to make an appointment for a physical within 2 weeks versus waiting MONTHS. The level of involvement and engagement Dr. Sargeant has in my questions and symptoms is out of this world! She is genuinely concerned and does not make me feel rushed throughout the process. I highly recommend Dr. Sargeant to any individuals who want an honest answer and don't want to feel like they're just "another number". read more

I really wanted to like this doctor, she sounded like what i was looking for and had ok reviews. Only "saw" her once, telephone visit. She was okay, but all her reviews made it seem like she was actually, caring, for lack of a better word. I felt my appointment rushed and very impersonal. Don't bother providing your insurance information in the intake form- they don't run it and send you the full bill. Also, don't try to leave messages for the billing department. Ms. Pacheco does not call back, tho front office staff says she is on top of stuff, she can't even change her voicemail greeting to say her name and over one week to return calls, does not seem to be on top of stuff. Several messages later, i finally got a hold of her, she did not call me back, i got lucky and she answered. I'm already annoyed at this place, so i'm nit picking now. but as soon as i was transferred, she had my info up, didn't verify anything (cuz who cars about HIPAA). very unprofessional, did not introduce herself, was very short -"yes/no" type answers- basically standoff-ish and did not even answer my question. I understand our healthcare workers have gone thru the ringer this year, but so have patients trying to find medical care and feel comfortable with these new implementations. Very unprofessional, I would not recommend this facility to anyone. read more

While my experience with Dr. Sargeant herself was pleasant enough, I cannot in good conscience recommend this place. The office staff and doctors are fine but the billing and medical care provided are suspect. If you don't want to be charged $100 for 10 minutes of "service" - stay away. This is based on 4 separate encounters as detailed below. VISIT #1: (Supposedly) free annual wellness check Incoming patients call a phone# on the door since the office is locked. No instructions to do this, mind you. You just figure it out because they don't answer when you knock. You wait for them to call you back in your car. It took 45 mins until I'm finally allowed in. Some pros? Staff and doctor were attentive. Dr. Sargeant asked get-to-know-you questions which made the visit more personal. She advised on some of my specific questions, which is nice (BUT beware as anything out of bounds will be surprise charge later on). They did blood tests, physical exam, vision check, and urinalysis. That last bit is not covered under the "free" wellness check - which they do not tell you until a bill came months later. They automatically signed me up for a follow-up appointment for my lab results that hiked up the cost, as well. What gets me is it's presented as if part of the free wellness check service I specifically asked for but nope, just an opportunity for a surcharge. VISIT #2: A friend was refused service the day of clinic visit I liked the doctor and recommended a friend here. She saw on ZocDoc that her insurance was accepted, so she made an appointment and provided an intake form including insurance info. The day of the visit, after waiting outside for 45 minutes, they call and say they cannot take her in. Why? They have not updated their site and don't actually take her insurance and didn't update the website. She was instructed to get the insurance to call them to see if they can make an exception. Her insurance, baffled by this suggestion, called the clinic anyway who told the guy they don't know what she's talking about. My friend took time off, submitted all the necessary paperwork, and scheduled in advance - plenty of opportunity to communicate yet they didn't. They wanted her business and tried hard to keep it at her inconvenience. Needless to say, she will not be going back here anymore. VISIT #3: Follow-up Phone Call "Appointment" Those are in quotes because I don't consider a late 10 minute phone call in which they read me the results of the labs. I log into the portal which shows the results anyway, so I know what is high or low. The call was 30 minute late from the designed time and when she finally calls - it's simply a reading of what I already know. She says my cholesterol is high and to try to avoid foods with high fat. She told me to research and Google foods to avoid - ok, I can do that. I did see that on the health summary and is something a previous doctor has already told me to manage. This is just to interpret the results of the tests during the wellness check, right? It should be free as with anything related to the physical, right? Nope. $100 charge for absolutely nothing. VISIT #4: Unhelpful Billing Department Support I see details on my statement and notice and $8 charge for the 1st visit and $93 charge for the follow-up. Called billing and reached VM, got a callback hours later. I inquire what the bill was for since the wellness check was supposedly free. Ms. Pacheco (I believe her name is) proceeded to condescendingly explain how a doctor's diagnosis of my condition is the service charge I've incurred. Yes, she means the 10-min call in which the doctor read me the results I've already seen online. And told me to research what foods to eat. About a condition I've previously been aware of. Nearly $100 for something she says "you could have refused". Wow. In the 10 years of a standard check-up, never have I been charged with a related visit that merely read the results. A small fee, I would've understoo. But $100 for THAT? The doctor did not even suggest any concrete remedies, just to "research" what's good for me. This is the most frustrating visit. Billing insists I should have refused the appointment (which their nurses automatically scheduled me for) to review the standard labs if I'm "comfortable reading my own results". Yes, Ms. Condescending, I could read what's high or low. And if it saves me all the surcharges, I can Google what to eat per the doctor's suggestion. In her 30 years, she said she has never seen a free lab reading. Well, if that's the standards they abide by - then we have to part ways. It's such a shame to write this review because I did like Dr. Sargeant. I tried to give it a fair chance, but let this be a warning for anyone so they are not blindsided by a nasty bill like I did. If you go, it must be because of the medical personnel alone and not the greedy business surrounding it. read more

I came to Dr. Sargeant for a physical since my PCP was always booked up. Dr. Sargeant is like a hidden secret gem since she's available when you need her in terms of scheduling an office visit that's not already booked 1 month in advance, no wait time (for me, at least), and is easily accessible. You can reach her directly if you wanted to, which I feel is very rare for a doctor. She's very personable, communicative, and a personality! I called her office for my lab results, and she called right back in a couple of hours. I didn't get to ask as many questions as I would like about my conditions when I came in, but I'm going to try messaging her. read more

My mother changed her insurance plan specifically to see Dr. Sargeant. She has called repeatedly to see when Dr. Sargeant would be able to see her in person. After months of waiting she resolved to schedule a phone consultation and was given a 30 minute allotted time. The day of, hours before her appointment, it was rescheduled for hours later and altered to only give her a 15 minute allotted time. As she's a new patient we were disappointed she'd only be given 15 minutes. After 1 hr past her rescheduled time my mom contacted Dr. Sargeant's office, as she never received a call. She received a text saying they'd look into it and she should be receiving a call from Dr. Sargeant soon. 3 hours later still no call. That evening she received a text from the office saying the Dr. Sargeant had called multiple times and was sent to voicemail. There was no indication of any calls on my mother's call history. I responded and asked them to verify my mother's number. The next day she received a text - they did have my mother's correct number. I'm confused why Dr. Sargeant or her office would feel the need to lie. Also the decorum and timing of the texts were unprofessional. Weeks later, after another attack of severe pain my mother decided to try again, and through the website booked an urgent in person visit. By email she was notified that her appointment was cancelled and an over the phone consultation for 15 mins was scheduled instead for today 1:30 PM. Again no call. Incredibly disappointed I called the office to understand if Dr. Sargeant is on a leave and out of office. I find it hard to believe that a Dr. with such amazing reviews could make such lapses in professionalism. A woman answered asking if I'd like to leave a message. I explained the past incident and the appointment today that was also missed and asked if there was an issue with Dr. Sargeant, she said she didn't know and that she's just an answering service and if I'd like to leave a message for those in the office. Very weird, since I had called the number on the website listed as the office. I asked that if I left a message would I get a response that day and be able to fix the appointment or if no one was in and I'd hear back in a few days. She said she didn't know she's just an answering service. I asked if there was a direct number to anybody in the office I could talk to, again she ignored by question and asked if I'd like to leave a message. I asked if she was just a 3rd party contractor, I thought that could be why she had no knowledge of the actual business, she ignored by question again and repeated if I'd like to leave a message. I again asked if she was a 3rd party contractor, maybe she just didn't hear my question, again no answer. To that I said I didn't want to leave a message and hung up. My mother's just trying to see a Dr. not the Director of the CIA for someone that touts optimum patient experience and transparency my mother's experience has fallen below the standard of basic decency. read more

I enjoyed my visit with the doctor. She was very personable during the wellness check. Her staff was also very polite and patient. The only thing that disturbed was the unprofessional look, and inaccuracy, of the tape they use to measure height. It looked more like something you'd see taped to the wall of a child's room or a daycare. I have never seen such a thing at a doctor's office, and to make matters worse, it was not accurate. I remeasured myself elsewhere and they were off by two inches. I'm sure the fact that it wasn't completely taped straight to the wall netted these false results. They really need to step it up since we do shrink with age, and it would be nice to use more professional means for height measurement. read more

Great service and short wait time. Dr. Sargeant is so sweet and easy to talk to. She makes you feel comfortable and addresses all your questions. I came in for a number of reasons and she was kind enough to evaluate all of the things I was concerned about. read more

Dr. Sargeant was extremely helpful and informative. She made me feel at ease and explained everything very well. I would recommend going to her for all your treatment needs. read more

Dr Sargeant was very kind and helpful, I got an eye infection and looking for urgent care. I called the office at 3.40pm which they were ready to be closed but Dr. Sargeant still took my appointment at 4pm and took care of my eyes. I'm really appreciated and will recommend her to my friends and family since she has such high responsibility. Thank you Doctor!! read more

She has been the best internal medicine doctor I have ever had. I love her. Thank god for doctors like her who like what they do and actually want to help people get better. No doctor is perfect, yet she really listens and cares about her patients. The best! read more

My new doctor has been the ONLY doctor that has sat down with me and asked me questions about my pain. She's the only doctor that actually gave me a physical exam. She was kind, she was very very nice, and very knowledgeable. After continuously struggling to find a decent doctor, I've ended my search. This is the doctor for me and I'm very excited and hopeful about getting the help that I need. read more

One of the best doctors you can see in La area. She listens you she cares about you. She does anything to find a cure or treatment for you.

Extremely thorough and addressed all of my concerns. She is an amazing PCP and is a rare gem. She actually cares for her patients and their wellbeing. Highly recommend. read more

Dr. Sargeant will take care of you well and quickly. I saw her earlier this year for urgent care and plan to make her my primary care physician. She is personable, explains things clearly, takes her time, and has degrees from such prestigious institutions as Boston and Temple Universities and did her residency at Yale. In addition to her MD, she has a Masters degree in Public Health. Her office is mostly paperless, which really streamlines the process. Try her! You won't regret it. read more