Acuity Eye Group - La Mesa (Grossmont)

This is NOT a ding on the physicians. This review is spotlighting the operational system issues behind Acuity Eye Group. My hunch is that this firm is owned by private equity and if not, it sure is run like one: limited staffing, run around for answers, 30+ minute long phone waits to chat with someone. Lack of follow through. My family member received a potential cancer diagnosis at an Acuity clinic and the referral didn’t come through for a specialist despite a wait of 7-10 business days. I called everyday for FOUR back to back weekdays during normal business hours to verify if the referral was sent by Acuity/ La Mesa. Only ever got a hold of the call center people each time, who also couldn’t get a hold of the actual clinic front desk. I got through to the front desk once and was asked to be on hold, which I waited for 35 minutes and hung up. I ended up advising this family member to drive 40 minutes to go in person to inquire, only to find out the referral had never been sent. 🫠 This was heart breaking to learn bc my family member already has loss of vision in one eye and seems like with potential cancer, timing matters. What gross negligence. This experience summarizes the classic profit over patients model. Cancer or no cancer, the wait and runaround is inhumane.

I am so impressed with the La Mesa office. The md with whom I had my appt was not on my plan. Within minutes I was able to see an optometrist who prescribed new glasses that were covered on my vision insurance which the found for me and I ordered new glasses, made appts with covered mds! All so incredibly pleasant and clearly committed to meeting my needs!! Great receptionist, optometrist and eye glass fitter!!

I had an appointment on July 9th at 1:10 pm. I showed up 20 mins before the appointment (they always requested you to be there 15mins before the appointment). They told me my app was 2 days ago & want to send me home & reschedule my appointment. I was able to provide the appointment card they gave me which clearly stated that I was correct & my schedule time was today. They then squeezed me in. I was there when only 1 person was in the waiting room. An hour later they still haven't call me in, as more & more people showed up after me get in. I asked them and they kept saying you are next. Another 1/2 hour go by and same thing, they kept saying you are next, but everyone who gets there later kept bypassing me. Then 2 hours after my appointment time, I still didn't get called in. Nobody was left in the waiting room at this time. I was so mad because I am now going to be late for another appointment. I threw a fit and I asked if they scheduled me at the end of the day & again they said no & you are next, as I saw another person just walked in & get called in. I was so mad & they finally get my chart out & looked at it & get me in next & my appointment took 5 minutes with the doctor. He only needed to check my eye pressure. With that quick of an appointment, I should had been squeezed in between patients, especially this was their fault. They wrote down a different appointment day on my card and scheduled a different day in the computer. Usually they text a reminder of appointment time to me, but this time they didn't because they had a new system. If they did then this mixed up wouldn't happen. The way they don't care about patients time is very unprofessional, and kept lying to me and said you are next is not acceptable!!!

Dr Zhao is a very knowledgeable competent doctor. I would just suggest that when he enters the room he walk slowly over to the patient, smile & say something welcoming then go to his computer to review the findings. After turn his head, look directly at the patient to give his findings. The same goes for his blond haired nurse. She could be more welcoming rather than trying to do things so quickly. A smile would help. No one cares what you know if they know you don’t Care. Thanks for trying to improve your services!!

I think the staff at Acuity Eye Group must have read some of the negative reviews and made some changes. I have left a negative review in the past because the employees were really unfriendly, but on my last visit in it was very different. The staff was friendly and polite. I have been going there for a year and up until my last Visio I always felt kind of annoyed with how I was treated by the staff. Nice to see some positive changes. The reason I kept going even though I didn’t like the atmosphere is that I love my retina specialist. He is excellent and the care I get is very high-quality. That’s what really matters the most.