They have changed the Phone service, I tried calling 6 times yesterday. AI answered 1 time and I said needed a live agent waited 4 minutes and it hung up on me. When I finally go someone I explained the issues. Did not mention my BP issue. it got a lot higher today. Today I tried called the Dr because am having BP problems, it has been high for over a week. same issue, it took me holding and holding to finally get the call center. She said she would notify the office and call me right back. Well that was 5 hours ago. No One called. I needed to know if I could take an extra BP pill in the middle of the day. I have no Idea. So this office issues is not good if you have an emergency. They have changed total staff also. I hate looking for a new Dr but this has to change or I will have to. I have been blessed to have the service of Fab and Alma and what they do for us. I pray they realize this issue and get it fixed soon. I like the Dr. read more

If you have AmBetter health insurance, be very cautious using this medical center. Their customer service via the call center is poor. When I originally booked my appointment, I asked if I would receive an email confirmation. They said a text confirmation would be sent out. I marked my calendar just to be safe. The day before the appointment, I never received such confirmation. So I called the day before to confirm my appointment. The call center lady said my appointment is on the calendar. I arrive the day of the appointment at the designated office the call center girl confirmed, and the front desk lady (separate woman from the call center) said no appointment is on their calendar. I looked and felt like a fool. If you need to go to the 98 location, I recommend going in person to schedule an appointment with the front desk person, and then ask for the best number to call back in case you need to reschedule. If you call the 863-644-3585 call center, you'll most likely run into problems. Maybe the actual doctors are okay, but the customer service via the call center is bad. Be cautious. read more

While my health care provider no longer accepts my physician of five years,they recommend Vivian Virella Guzman MD. In January and February of 2025, I went on the doctors website and filled out a new patient form, and waited for an email reply for an appointment but never got a reply. Today, 3-5-25, I had a gout flare-up/attack and went to Advanced Internal Medicine Care where Doctor Guzman has an office. As I approached the receptionist, I gave her my I.D. and insurance card and told her that I filled out the form online and that I needed to see the doctor that is listed on my insurance card. She then said I could have an appointment on May 7th. I told her I needed to see someone right now because I was in severe pain, and she said that wasn't gonna happen and if I needed help to go to an urgent care or E.R. read more

Called to set up a new patient visit. Receptionist was so rude to me while I tried to make an appt, no thanks.

Below, is a letter that I wrote to Dr. Virella. She responded via her assistant who told me that I should perhaps consider another doctor to take care of me. I felt like a fired patient. In my opinion, Angelina was uncaring and negligent, but apparently that does not matter to Dr. Virella. Medical professionals who care about their patients follow up and don't hang up on patients. Doctors who care about their patients don't dismiss their legitimate concerns. My God, I needed surgery. Dr. Vivian E. Virella, M.D. Advanced Internal Medicine 5425 S. Florida Ave. Lakeland, Florida 33813 Dear Dr. Virella: On October 20, I paid you a visit concerning my XXX. I told you at the time that I had had the XXX for a number of years and that it periodically caused me a great deal of pain. Only by lying down did the pain subside. You gave me a brief examination and referred me to Dr. XXX for surgery "STAT." Your office filed with the XXX to cover my visit to Dr. XXX's office, and because my application was STAT, you asked me to call Angelina on October 23, the following Friday. I did as you requested and called Angelina on Friday. She told me then that she had not heard anything concerning my submission. She said that she would let me know as soon as she heard something. After waiting more than two weeks, I began to get concerned, so I called Angelina on November 5 to inquire if she had gotten approval from XXX. Once again, she told me that she had not received a response. I asked her this question during our conversation: During the more than two weeks that I have had to wait, how many times did you call XXX to inquire about my application? She said that she had not called once. I reminded her that you had labeled my case STAT, but she said that meant nothing to XXX. She dismissed my concerns. The next day on November 6, she called me to say that my application had been approved. I thought that it was rather odd that Angelina would call me the very next day, so I called XXX on November 10. I asked them when my application had been approved, and they told me that it had been approved on October 22--a mere two days after I had visited your office. I was informed that the confirmation had been faxed to your office on October 22. I called Angelina yesterday to tell her about what I had learned, but she said abrasively that she did not have time to argue with me."I know the whole story", she flippantly said. When she called me on November 6, she intentionally did not disclose that my approval date had been on October 22. She led me to believe that it had just been approved, which was not true. She also said that I had been approved for surgery, but, that too, was a misrepresentation because I have only been approved to see Dr. XXX. She claimed earlier that STAT meant nothing to XXX, yet they processed my request expeditiously. While I was sharing my concerns with her, she abruptly cut me off mid-sentence by placing me on hold. Instead of her voice, I listened to music until I finally hung up because I knew then that she was not going to return. In my opinion, Angelina does not care about your patients. She certainly did not care about me. If I had not called her on November 5, I might very well still be waiting for approval to see Dr. XXX. I have never had a medical professional intentionally lie to me, or hang up on me by placing my call endlessly on hold, so I am sure that you can understand why I was taken aback by Angelina's behavior. I can't tell you how bad I feel to be treated so poorly. Because my case was labeled by you as STAT, Angelina had a total disregard for my well being. You need to employ someone who is honest, caring, and responsible and does not routinely dismiss the concerns of patients. read more