La Jolla Medical Group

This place is why people drive to Mexico to get prescriptions. The doctors are never there, and the fax for your prescription refill was never there. It takes me at least a week and half of phone calls to get a prescription refilled. I’ve never seen the same doctor here twice. I like how I have to do so much footwork to get anything done, but yet I’m constantly paying «administrative fees». I only hope that going here hasn’t done some irreparable harm.

I recently started using La Jolla Medical Group as my primary care physician. I had a serious issue with two discs in my neck. I needed surgery, and there for needed a lot of assistance from my primary care doctor regarding referrals and labs. I also needed help with state disability paper work because I was out of work for a few months. Angela was my contact at the office and has always been extremely helpful in assisting me with whatever I was trying to accomplish. I will be returning to work in a couple weeks and am thankful for everything Angela has done to help get me back to work.

Worst experience I ever had in my life at a Dr’s office. Shame on you (Carolina Vasquez) for calling yourself a Doctor. The staff are extremely unprofessional and rude. They do not speak or understand english properly. They are very insulting and the sad part (Carolina Vasquez) backs them up and calls the patient insulting. I should have seen the reviews here before I made an appointment with (Carolina Vasquez). Please READ others reviews before going there. No wonder the office looked and smelled very unclean and there was no patient beside myself. Shame on you (Carolina Vasquez) for wasting my time and energy and feel so sorry for whomever who had to deal with her and her staff.

La Jolla Medical Group is the worst in every way! Where do I even start?! Never in my life have I received such horrible, negligent care. Absolute nightmare! It would be better to not have insurance and/​or go to a walk-​in clinic! It will be far cheaper in the long run and a millions times less hassle.
This clinic is so unorganized, have improperly diagnosed me, never sends in my refills, gives me referrals to out of network doctors, which I later find out are out of network only after the referral papers they send me say approved and I waste my time driving to the «referred» doctor and even go through the appointment, then to later owe money since it was out of network.
When calling, they put you on hold forever, say they will call back and won’t, or even have the audacity to hang up on you! Sometimes they will tell you to call back when they know there will be a recording or when it’s lunch, and there will be no one available, so they don’t have to deal with a problem which they’ve caused and don’t know how to fix. Ellen and Angel (receptionists) are the worst! One of the receptionists would always get up from the front desk and take my vitals. I doubt she’s qualified to do this when they’re incompetent at being a receptionists. I thought I was going to go crazy trying to get my medications… They made everything so impossible that I would give up and not even bother trying, even though I was in real need of care! I finally just started not using my insurance and just going to a walk-​in clinic, because it was the only way I could effectively receive proper care and get medication I needed.
Every month, my birth control refill is not refilled, and I can’t even explain the hassle it is calling a million times to the clinic & then the pharmacy trying to get this clinic to approve the refill. I tell them I will need it every month, but somehow it’s never done. I need this EVERY MONTH! How hard is that to understand? I’ve taken the same birth control for years! It’s not the pharmacy’s fault… It’s this clinic. I now go to Planned Parenthood to get it. It’s sad I have to do this, just because they can’t figure something so simple out.
I’ve gone in for serious problems before, and the doctor seems to not be paying attention, is distracted, has a heavy accent, and asked about my makeup I use, & name of lipstick shade instead of helping me with the serious medical issue, which I came in for.
Since this is a clinic with multiple doctors, I never consistently am able to see the same doctor. Therefore, it causes even more confusion, and no one knows what is going on. If they kept proper notes, maybe this wouldn’t be a problem, but they keep inaccurate notes/​patient files.
At one point, I was prescribed depression pills by this clinic after answering a few simple questions, but I had only requested to get a referral to see a psychologist. Of course, they wouldn’t write me a referral until I came in and paid $ 50 only to get from them a referral for an out of network doctor. So, I wasted $ 50, spent months trying to change it to one in network, but they kept sending me out of network ones, and guess what? I never actually saw one. The medication they prescribed me to take instead of being able to talk to a psychologist, caused my heart to race, and I felt completely jittery all the time. They said to come back and we could monitor my blood pressure and just prescribe me more medication to lower my blood pressure since the medication was raising my blood pressure. All I had really wanted was a referral to see a psychologist to discuss a few issues. I didn’t want to heavily medicate myself and cause potential extremely dangerous medical problems.
These are only a few things this clinic has done. They have not helped me in any way whatsoever! They have done nothing but cause me extreme stress, the inability to get needed medication, & caused me to remain sick many times. Funny how they so freely prescribed me anti-​depression pills, but when I needed a simple anti-​biotic when I was out of town and called, they refused to help at all and said I needed to make an appointment… I explained well I can’t because I’m out of town for Christmas with no in-​network providers in the area.
AVOID LA JOLLA MEDICAL GROUP AT ALL COSTS!
I have changed my insurance for the new year & can’t wait to escape this place! I’m quite confident that if anything serious happened to me & I was in need of urgent medical attention, I would probably either end up with a worse condition or die! They’re best tactic is to avoid patients… Maybe they have too many? I’m not sure. Either way, RUN FROM THIS PLACE! I’m skeptical in the medication they prescribe & their diagnosis. I’m not even sure they have real doctors. The foreign receptionist are incompetent. Where did these people come from!?! They should be shut down. Okay, I’m done venting, but I just want to help people stay away from this hell hole!

Horrible experience. Worst doctor’s office ever. From beginning to end and everything in between. I signed up with a particular doctor through my HMO, but when I made the appointment I was informed that that doctor owns the office but is never there. They had the nerve to tell me the doctor that I chose and is listed as my doctor on my heal is never there, would never be there and that doctor works at UCLA and would never work at a place like this. Front desk is completely incompetent. They call one if their doctors a doctor when he’s not a doctor. He’s a P.A., which in and of itself is not bad, but the problem is that when you think you’re seeing a doctor, they tell you you’re seeing a doctor but you’re not seeing a doctor. Also, trying to get ahold of the front desk is like winning the lottery. Finally when you do get ahold of them, they put you on hold without telling you they’re putting on hold. This is compounded by the fact that they don’t have hold music so you don’t know if you’re on hold or if they hung up on you. Then you’re on hold for at least 10 minutes. Do not go to this place.

This was the most impressive doctor’s visit I’ve ever had. All of the staff were extremely caring and professional. I was seen after zero waiting time and I felt the visit was very thorough. The outcome was initiating the referral process so that I could see a specialist. I was told by my HMO that this process could take about a week, but within 10 minutes after leaving the doctor’s office I had an approved referral and was able to book an appointment with the specialist immediately.

The care they provided was horrible and inconsistent. It always took them at least a week in a half to schedule an appointment for me whenever I tried to come in to see a doctor. I am asthmatic and their lack of availability resulted in several trips to the ER. I always had to wait at least an hour to see someone when I did have an appointment scheduled. Rude front desk service and impossible to get a hold of doctors. All around, it was a terrible experience.

Very rude front desk receptionists. They always put me on hold for at least 10 min and forget that I’m even on the line and this past time they had me on hold for 20 min (not exaggerating) and then they hung up on me. Never able to reach them but when I do I go straight on hold. They’re phone always goes straight to voicemail. I don’t get it!

This was my first time to this doctor and I have to say that it has helped to restore my faith in western medicine. I saw Dr. Monya De and she actually took the time to talk to me in detail about my symptoms and history. Her approach was more holistic than any other western practitioner that I have seen in a very long time as was the time she spent with me. I waited for about 30 minutes in the waiting room, but once they took me into the exam room she came in to see me immediately and spent at least half hour with me in addition to the 15 minutes I spent with the nurse who took my vitals and blood work. The assistants at the counter were in such a cheery disposition as well which added significantly to my experience. I will definitely be going back here.
As a side note, parking is not validated but I was able to find a meter right off the street for a reasonable price.

So there are definitely some extreme pros and cons about this place. It was the first doctor I have seen since moving to LA 5 months ago and coincidentally the one I randomly chose to be my primary care physician.
Cons:
–Parking is valet only, very little street parking, and its expensive. About $ 10 each time you go (but I didn’t ask if they validate so maybe its different I don’t know)
–Nobody called to confirm my appointment
–The waiting room is tiny and dismal
–They switched doctors on me last minute which I wasn’t expecting
–I waited a whole hour to see my doctor since there was only one dude seeing everyone who came in.
According to him, Masha Livhits is the lady who owns the office but is a surgeon for UCLA Medical and is rarely in the office, hence why the different doctors, so that’s understandable.
Pros:
–Pretty good at communicating compared to other doctors offices
–The level of care I got was extraordinary. They sat down and got to know me and my medical history and the ins and outs of how I was feeling for a really long time. They really took care of me, from the ladies in the front office to the doctor who would explain things to me.
–I learned a lot about the ins and outs of how my new health insurance works
–Mostly I felt really comfortable here and the doctors are very personable people. They make you feel like you aren’t really going to the doctor’s office but for something a little bit more personal. They got to know me as a person and really knew my story which was incredibly useful in the way they helped me out.
This isn’t a highly efficient doctors office with gleaming glass windows and people who get you in and out quickly. They are more of a small family who will give you really high quality care and take their time diagnosing things properly.
Would I recommend to other people? Not necessarily, because its not for everyone.
Will I go back? Probably not.

I dont go here for fun, I have to see a doctor and that is never a great event. I got in quick and out fast. I also want to say that parking was easy but I ride a motorcycle and I found no pay street parking. I will be going here more frequently and will update as I go.