My rating for Dr. Donaruma is 5 stars. My rating for the office staff is 3 stars, thus an average of 4 stars for the total experience.
In today's big-medical-system world, I get shuffled through doctors like crazy -- doctors transfer, retire, insurance changes, etc. With the many doctors I've had, Dr. Donaruma is the best one I've had in years. I chose him after receiving an ad in the mail and the knowledge it mentioned (I can't remember the wording now) is something I have trouble finding in doctors. It has to do with nutrition, dietary supplements, etc. So many doctors are clueless on this kind of thing. I could talk to Dr. Donaruma about these things and he knew what I was talking about and could give advice on them. One example is turmeric -- when I discussed this with him, he gave me some advice on it. Months later when I saw him again, he had updated information to give me about it even though it wasn't related to the reason I went in. Super!
He is friendly, caring, and listens well. I don't like authoritarian doctors that act like they own you -- they are the expert and you'd better just do what they say; I left my last doctor because that doctor was like that. Dr. Donaruma is not like that at all. He listens and seeks to find solutions that we can agree on.
The office staff (MedFirst Thousand Oaks) only rates 3 stars. They are nearly impossible to get on the phone. You can only leave a message, and they don't return messages after 3:00 PM (says so on the recording) but I am not available before 3:00 PM. The only way I've found I can communicate with them is via the online portal messaging system, which doesn't enable the immediate discussion that a phone call does. In general, they are not particularly helpful, but they are a lot better than my last clinic, CentroMed, where the office was completely disorganized and terribly frustrating to deal with.
Another annoyance with this office is that you cannot schedule an appointment online. They have a document/ad in their office that says you can, but it's *not true.* The system they are in, Baptist Health System, has an online portal for making appointments, but when I choose Dr. Donaruma from the list to make an appointment, it *always* says "Call for an appointment." It would be much more efficient for me to be able to make an appointment online.
I've been with Dr. Donaruma for three years, but unfortunately this office canceled the contract with my insurance company, so once again I have to find another doctor. Usually it's not that big of a deal since most doctors are just okay, but this time is different -- I'm really disappointed to not have Dr. Donaruma as my primary care physician anymore. read more