MFA El Portal

Great office, front staff is great and is always ready to help. They're able to work with my schedule and get back to me in a timely matter. Robin is a great PA. She gives me the service I seek and listens to my needs no matter how silly they can be. Wait time is great, in and out.

Thank you, Maria, for getting my daughter's referral in at the nick of time despite all the mix ups and confusion.

Staff are great!!

Great service

I’ve had Dr. Rabago since October 2019 shortly after moving to Merced. He’s friendly which is why I like him. Some doctors are bitter and mean. Referrals and blood work are no issue. I usually request an early morning appointment since I walk from down the street. Only reason I rate 4 stars is that I notice most medical offices over-book doctors leaving only a few minutes with patients where you feel rushed. It’s nothing like you see with celebrities on TV having long conversations with their doctors. I would gladly recommend Dr. Rabago to friends and family. He accepts both Medicare and Medi-Cal.

As with most doctor's offices today, wait times are horrible. I'd be remiss if I didn't express my dissatisfaction with that very important issue as it pertains to the delivery of health care. That being said, I wouldn't change my doctor for anything. Doctor Paik-Tesch is awesome!

Most of the drs are great they show they care and want to help but good luck seeing them when you truly need to and good luck trying to inform you dr you need to see or speak with them the nurse will not pass on your message!

Staff have been great. However WITH an appointment scheduled the wait time is horrible! I'm currently pregnant and on my 2nd visit I saw how ridiculous this wait time truly is. My husband and I have been as patient as possible, but we have a 2 year old we must bring along to the appointment and waiting OVER an hour for a 6pm appointment is disrespectful and inconsiderate. I can't help but wonder if I'm going to have to deal with this for the duration of my pregnancy.

I feel the doctors are very over booked. I called today to see if I could see ANYONE for an earache and they said the best they could do is 2 weeks.
My Primary care doctor was nice and knowledgeable but she made false notes in her charting of things she discussed with me. I read the notes on the patient portal after the visit and it specifically stated "Discussed with patient importance of hydration and how many ounces she should drink" and this was never even a topic that was covered. I dont believe that's right.
I am switching clinics.

Reception should not be generating notes for patients when they are not even bothering to read into the messages or charts of what notes regard. Also got hung up on. Strongly do not recommend.

I noticed that other people have described the terrible wait times in their reviews and be warned, expect the same from MFA El Portal. My twins had a typical annual physical appointment scheduled for 10AM. We arrived at 9:50AM and by about 10:45AM I asked the receptionist why neither of them had been called to the back. She said there were still three people still ahead of my twins. In previous visits, my wife had taken our kids for different things and almost every time it was an hour or longer wait time when an appointment was made for a set time.
I fully understand that doctors and staff are busy but when it happens literally every single time then the problem is with the MFA appointment setting policies... or it is the doctors not paying attention to the schedule.
If something as simple as seeing patients in a reasonable amount of time for scheduled appointments is difficult then what else if beyond MFAs' capabilities in basic medical practice? What an absolutely incompetent staff and system at this MFA. I strongly recommend you visit a different medical provider- one that actually cares even one iota about the time- or has respect for the patients time.
Obviously, we won't be back to this place.

Half of my pregnancy I switched over to see dr Ramos he’s absolutely amazing and would recommend him 100x but you will wait 2 1/2 hours just to even be called in the back.
The receptionists need to do better at not scheduling 10 people at one time.

Let’s see where to begin. I had an appointment for my mental health and to get some paperwork filled out for work. I go in, answer some questions and wait for about 30 minutes for Dr.Yang to switch it to a telehealth appointment in the middle of it(who does that)because of what I came in for. I leave my paperwork with the doctors assistant and then she calls me later. Tells me she will fill out the paperwork. I call back ask about it a few days later and they don’t have any on file. Then I get another call back saying they have to see me in person despite telling me the paperwork was being filled out. I’ve never felt so failed by a healthcare provider. I may possibly lose my job and everything because they never filled my paperwork out and want to see me in person now despite never communicating that to me.

My experience with Dr. Rabago... To be fair, maybe it’s MFA to blame for overbooking and overloading doctors with patients. He was there for the birth of my daughter and maybe that allowed me to ignore earlier red flags. He is a great low-stress, NO-QUESTIONS-ASKED kind of doctor. If you want a little more explanation and guidance, he doesn’t have the time for you. He was recommended to us by a friend we trust. My last two experiences are what solidified my opinion of Dr. Rabago and MFA.

#1 - I have a dental procedure done while I am sick and I receive a nasal bacterial infection that lasts over a month. My wife is sick at the time we both see Dr Rabago but hers is a viral nasal infection. Now any doctor worth his salt can ask basic symptom questions to be clued in on which is which and provide the proper treatment. It is pretty common knowledge that the medical field is over-utilizing antibiotics and because of it, antibiotic-resistant strains are developing more quickly than they should. The solution is to reserve treatment for absolutely needed cases. Bacterial Nasal infections require it while viral nasal infections do not. Dr Rabago takes the lazy route and prescribes antibiotics for us both. When I confront him about it, in a rush, he snidely questions how I know which infection I have. I tell him because I’ve had it for over a month. He’s silent. And that’s pretty much the end of that experience.

#2 For those familiar with asthma... It’s not good to constantly use the albuterol rescue inhaler so they stick us on some form of “controller” thats safer to use on a daily basis. Well the valley’s air isnt getting any better so pretty good guess is I’m going to need the controller inhaler prescription for a good long while. Dr. Rabago agrees to prescribe me the Controller Inhaler i need for a year. Pharmacy calls me up after the year and says it’s expired on the doctor will not renew. I call the office and they tell me the doctor wants to see me before renewing again. That’s understandable, but the nearest appt with Rabago is over a month out. I schedule it. I tell them that I still need the controller inhaler from now until the appt. I’m told Dr Rabago will agree to write a prescription if I schedule the appt. I do it. Nothing happens. I call Costco. They say still being denied. I call the office, Rabago is gone until Tuesday... Best they can do is set an appt with a PA later in the week and I’m left with the impression the PA can only give temp prescriptions. Rather than go to 2 separate appts I give Rabago office a call on the Tuesday he returns to see if I can just get the temp prescription until the main appt a month out... They tell me just go to PA appt that she can give me a year-long prescription. Cool. Only I remeber I need to change the appt for another day in the week. I call. They blocked my call temporarily. Can't annoy a care provider with your valley-inherited asthma.

Terrible place for anyone, please do not ever go to MFA. The reason I’m saying this, cuz as patient I experienced disrespect, discrimination, rudeness and more, terrible terrible service, no kindness, no remorse of doing wrong!