Cesar Palana MD | CPMD Internal Medicine — Local services in Los Angeles

I had my first appointment with Dr Palana yesterday . It has been a long time since I have felt this good about the quality of my healthcare. I was previously with Kaiser. He was only one of three doctors who was accepting new patients out of the entire health plan and boy am I glad I chose him.

He had great bedside manner. He is conscientious and genuinely concerned about his patients.The intake process was incredible. They actually took the time to create a thorough medical history and profile to be able to develop a treatment plan for my diabetic condition. The staff is equally professional and courteous. The office was nicely decorated. I felt welcoming with something as simple as the lighting in the waiting room, not cold and off putting as some offices often feel like. Don’t be put off by the door bring locked. You will have to ring the bell to be allowed in, but I think it’s best because times have changed and safety is important.

Now I normally wouldn’t write anything , but I had to. I’m compelled to let everyone who is willing to take the time to read this what it means to me and how important I felt just knowing that these people were simply trying to do their job. Wow, what a concept, right? . l was nervous and concerned about getting a new doctor because let’s be honest-the healthcare industry has changed so and patient care isn’t what it used to be. We live in a world where unfortunately the patients are treated as numbers instead of human beings. It’s shameful.

Dr Palana has followed up with me twice already since I left his office yesterday. Who does this? I feel honored to be treated by Dr Palana because he takes the Hippocrates oath to heart and brings his A-game to his patients with care. Thank you Dr Palana and staff. Keep up...

I debated writing this review, but it’s important people know. There’s a commonality amongst the good reviews and I’ll let you figure out what that is. During a 12-minute televisit, Dr. Palana and I were discussing my health and eating habits. I told him I don’t eat poorly, so I was surprised my cholesterol levels were high but that I’d cut out red meat & other foods to address the issue. He then said how everything is fine in moderation and not to cut out everything because then you’d be miserable. We laughed. Then he said, verbatim, “Don’t worry, you can still eat the KFC.” You can take a guess what my race is based on that comment. I was floored. I never mentioned chicken at all, let alone fried chicken. I don’t even eat fast food. So why mention KFC? If the point was that I could still eat “bad” food, which I’d already told him I don’t eat poorly, why not say McDonald’s or Wendy’s? Would he have said KFC to a person who doesn’t look like me? Fried chicken is a stereotype associated with one particular group of people and he knows it. It’s disgusting, that as a minority man himself, he would be so ignorant, but it’s not surprising. This was a flat out racial microaggression and he should...

Dr Palana's rotation, as a medical student, stood out to me. He taught an evidence based approach to patient care, including using current guidelines to manage various conditions as well as appropriate documentation. I was anxious about not being adequately prepared for my 4th year electives, but I realized Dr Palana's rotation was exactly what I needed, including learning about GDMT for heart failure and using medcalc to check pretest probability for many diagnoses. Although I have lots of room for improvement, his microlearning has allowed me to manage small number of patients independently. If I needed a primary care physician, I would highly recommend him, because not only is he caring and knowledgeable, but he stays current with new studies and I can only hope to be as good one day. Btw, his new office is beautiful and spacious too,...