Victorian Care Medical Center

had an appointment at 11 and it took them an hour for finally call me… they more people they move to slow

This clinic was the primary care provider that Medi-​cal/​LA Care Health Plan first assigned to me. As soon as I got my card, I made an appointment. I needed some meds and a few minor things; at most, a wellness checkup.
When I got to the office, the receptionist asked why I made the appointment. I started to answer, but then she interrupted, telling me that I was getting a physical. It wasn’t what I came for, but as long as my other needs were addressed…
My appointment was for 12:15. The waiting room is tiny, with not enough chairs for all the patients who were also waiting, and the TV constantly blaring. A few others and I had to stand for a while. Patients got called in at a glacial pace. At 2:30, the nurse finally called me in to take my vitals and other routine things. During this time, I asked if the wait was always this long. «It’s usually worse. Today is a good day,» was her response. Another alarming thing was that this nurse answered the phone while she was in the middle of prepping me to draw blood. At 2:50, she put me back in the waiting room, because all the exam rooms were full.
I took this opportunity to strike up a conversation with another patient who’d been waiting even longer than I had. This patient said that this was her fourth visit, including her trips to the clinic’s Crenshaw office, and that the wait was always this bad. All the patients were forced to wait for hours, apparently all given noontime appointments; I saw no new patients walk in the door after 1:00.
It wasn’t until 4:00 that I got put in an exam room. I asked the nurse how much longer I’d have to wait– another hour! «We didn’t expect so many physicals!» At 4:40, nearing five hours after my scheduled appointment, the doctor came in.
My total time with Dr. Vicki Anakwenze was about 20 minutes. Only about halfway through did she finally ask why I came. When I started answering, she looked put out and seemed to not know about the medication I was asking for. When I tried to explain, she interrupted, curtly, «Well, you know I’m not gonna give it to you today, right?» That shut me up. I didn’t even bring up the other minor things I needed. As she continued her examining, she tried to make conversation by asking me about «the dish» on me and my family. At 5:00, without a word, she walked out, leaving me alone. Several minutes later, the nurse fetched me. Five hours, really the entire day, wasted.
The next day, I called LA Care Health Plan to change doctors and file a grievance. Even though the care was below average and the overall service was poor, I complained solely about the unreasonable wait time, in the hope that they could remedy this easily-​solved problem. The resolution came back, full of not-​apologies («It’s unfortunate that your perception…», «…regret that you were dissatisfied…»), barely mentioning the wait.
But their poor service doesn’t end there! My new PCP wanted my records from them, so I filled out the form to get them faxed over. When I went to the new PCP to get the lab results for a specialist, I was told that Victorian still hadn’t responded (two weeks). So, I called Victorian to see if I could come by and get a copy. They didn’t just keep me on hold for 20 minutes, they bounced me from person to person, each one cutting me off and putting me on hold before I could even finish asking the question.
Victorian’s care might be adequate, but the service is unacceptable. If you get assigned this doctor and clinic, immediately change doctors. Don’t wait to find out. If you, too, have had to put up with this abuse (yes, making patients wait hours for scheduled appointments is abuse), switch and file a complaint. Things will not change until their patients demand to be treated better.