Refused care to a cancer patient in need of a referral. Receptionist said it's standard practice…read moreto deny new medicaid patients, even though insurance sent me to them in the first place. In desperate need of an oncology appt. She wouldn't even bring the situations attention to the doctor to try to squeeze me in.

A practice with a Doctor who's never available. They need more than one Docto…read more I scheduled an appointment for 3 months away because "that's all that was available" they called 2 weeks be for the appointment and said the Doctor has to cancel, but I can reschedule for another appointment in March which is 3 months away. They sure make sure you pay your bill but are not in a hurry to see you.

The care both my parents received over a span of 25 years from Dr. Bershel was outstanding and her…read morecompassion is endless. My Dad has been gone for 13 years and my Mom passed this week. Without Dr. Bershel's care I think we would have lost her many years ago.

DAvis Square Family Practice must be what they call a "unicorn" --- one of a kind. Dr. Bershel is…read moreamazing, caring, thorough, smart, experienced, thoughtful and all the people there in the office are competent and put patients first. This is what health care should look like. Dr. Bershel used to call my elderly father up, way after hours. She also calls me with information, after normal hours. When I had some concerns about numbers in a blood test, they went back over 20 years, combing thru extinct medical records to get the information, which turned out to be very helpful. They go WAY above and beyond. Any one would be lucky to get their care there.

This was an awful experience, I've never had such an awful experience where the admin staff were so…read morerude. As a new patient I was asking questions and the admin staff person was getting upset as it appeared I was inconveniencing her that I was asking questions.

It's like pulling teeth to get anyone in the phone and once you do, they're RUDE. The associate is…read morelecturing me about a letter vs. a form needing to be filled out. If you don't like your job that much, QUIT. I was very kind, polite, and understanding until this woman was outright rude to me. She told me she needed to talk to her supervisor about an issue and then HUNG UP THE PHONE ON ME. Don't come here, not worth the headache just trying to get in touch with your doctor!

I am glad to have Dr. Gullapalli as my PCP, he has in short period of time; improved my declining…read morehealth with tips on nutrition, diet, body type with proper diagnosis and great follow ups! Because of his friendly nature, he is very easy to approach and discuss problems/health issues. I have found him to be a very reliable source for any medical needs and assistance. He is very option oriented, and with his in-depth analysis and knowledge I find very comforting on choices he plans out for me to make.

Great Doctor, great Advice at first Visit. Thank you, Dr. Anil Gullapalli, Md. If I could I would…read moregive Dr. Anil 10 STARS!!!!!

My 1 year old son and I both recently became patients of Dr. Tomkins on advice of a friend who has…read moreseen her for 10 years (and whose 1 year old has been seeing her since birth). She has a great "bedside manner:" friendly, easy to talk to, knowledgeable. I never feel rushed when she's with us (even if the office is clearly very busy). I love that Dr. Tomkins is open to and even suggests natural interventions before chemical ones. She is helpful in creating a modified vaccine schedule, and knows about alternative medicine. I've also seen Dr. Coffey at the office (Ball Sq. Family Health), and was very comfortable with him also. He is the only "Dr. Sears approved" doctor in the area! The other support staff are also very friendly and helpful.

Dr.Tomkins is the best physician around. She takes time to listen, has compassion, and great to…read moretalk to. She is open to holistic approach beside western medicine. She will give written information to take home that describes the diagnosis with remedies.

Staff makes it impossible to reach provider about clinical questions and could do a better job at…read moreunderstanding the administrative hurdles.

I've been going to this practice for about three years now and have had the pleasure of Dr. Parras…read moreTomkins as my primary physician. I have also seen Dr. Lee when Dr. Tomkins was on vacation. Both Drs. are extremely knowledgeable, compassionate, and helpful. My only other experience was with the Cambridge Health Alliance for which their Somerville based doctors have a strange system for booking appointments (on the day a week before). In comparison, booking appointments at the Family Medicine @ Ball Square is a breeze. They are open to walk-ins and I have called and shown up as early as 5 minutes later. They also take blood samples and the like for tests on-site, no need to go elsewhere. I have also been taking my 5 month old son (from birth) here and am very pleased with their attentiveness, ease at getting vaccinations and being provided with information, as well as the care of the support staff and nurses. There is very little wait time when going for pre-scheduled appointments. Family Medicine @ Ball Square is part of the Hallmark Health Medical Associates (Lawrence Memorial Hospital and Melrose-Wakefield Hospital) which also provides for a wide range of doctors and services that I have found to be excellent.

I had the most amazing experience with Tova Health. My baby was born this winter during a brutal…read morecold snap. I was so grateful to have Dr. Z come to my apartment to care for my newborn and me. Dr. Z is knowledgeable, kind, and flexible. The model of having the first two months of my child's care from home was so comforting- it allowed me and my baby to stay in the home and rest and heal after delivery. Meg from Tova health handled all the admin stuff. She made scheduling, paperwork, and setting-up the patient portal super simple. When it was time to transition beyond the first two months of care, Dr. Z and Meg helped us find the best pediatrician and make sure they had all our records. Awesome experience! Tova Health is the best!

I experienced a traumatic birth. One of the better things to come out of it (besides my daughter)…read morewas meeting Dr. Z. I was not able to get out of bed for over a week after the birth, so our first meeting was with her sitting at the foot of my bed. Thank goodness we chose her for my daughter's pediatrician because there was no way I would have been able to take her to an office. I really needed the fourth trimester care to help me process the trauma from birth, and Dr. Z let me cry and repeat the story over and over again. I'll never forget the time she hugged me and promised me something good would come out of it. She was also provided excellent care to my daughter. I will never forget our crazy first meeting and her kindness. She listened and provided me care when my own OB/GYN's office failed to do so. It is absolutely ludicrous the postpartum care we receive. This fourth trimester care model should be mandatory everywhere.

Tried this practice/doctor for a year. As of this writing, I believe the annual individual fee is…read more$10,000. I do not recommend them and did not renew for several reasons: * Dr. Donahue is not terribly responsive. There were several occasions where he said "I'll get back to you" and then never did. * Relatedly, I would have to call and follow up every time test results came in-he/the practice never reached out to me. Even the boring ol' dermatologists and ob-gyns of the world (in non-concierge practices) let you know your test was negative/positive/whatever. For $10k a year...can't Dr. Donahue or his staff do the same? * Inability to schedule online (every time I emailed to ask about an appointment--even for telehealth--I was told to call in to speak to someone live just to schedule the appointment). Every time they wanted to see me, they would email me and say "please call in to make an appointment." Couldn't you just have...sent some appointment times in that very email? Or call ME? For this (alleged) level of service and fees, I'd like the ability every hairdresser and nail salon has had since 2010: let me schedule online! Offices can certainly review and reject appointment requests, as these other professions do. * Dr. Donahue is relatively scatter-brained, to put it politely, to the point that it will affect your care. I experienced this a few times across my year in his practice, including in minor ways (e.g., promising to get back to me after he reviewed an article I'd sent him), but the most egregious example is that we had a entire appointment (reviewing test results and recommending actions for me) that he subsequently forgot about. I checked in with him about a month after the appointment to follow-up, and he emailed me to ask me to take a variety of tests before we met...which tests I'd already taken and discussed with him the prior month. When I mentioned the date of our prior meeting and the lab results, he sent an email apologizing. Still: if I were less meticulous--or forgetful myself--I'd have undertaken a whole new round of tests (not covered by insurance, natch). At various points throughout the year, I actually wondered if he might have early-onset Alzheimer's. * Dr. Donahue runs a LOT of tests--many of which are not covered by insurance--the results of which are not terribly helpful. For example, one relatively expensive test for 'food sensitivities' revealed some for me...I asked if I should eliminate those items that showed up in red on the test, at which point he told me the test could be revealing a sensitivity OR just picking up on stuff I'd been eating a lot of lately. That....would have been helpful to know before the test, when I might have modified my diet; when I mentioned this, he said that I could always eliminate something concerning me and then retake the test in a few months. * Dr. Donahue would frequently say things--especially early on, going over my medical history, etc.--like, "now THAT'S interesting!" if I presented a medical quandary or something bizarre or troubling. This language happened a few times, when I presented new issues or we got new test results in. Conversely, I got the sense he was a bit zoned out when we talked about your regular 'run of the mill' medical issues (e.g., high cholesterol), and that overall, the only way to keep his interest would require an ongoing litany of unusual troubles...like he's "House" or something. *At our first meeting/physical exam appointment, he cheerily pointed out a few times that he could do my ob-gyn work, too! I have a great gynecologist, which I mentioned--and he re-mentioned, again, later, that he could do it, too. I thought it was odd that he mentioned it first (I hadn't brought up ob-gyn work because I already have that taken care of) and more than once. I was attracted to the practice because I felt that Dr. Donahue's experience as a doctor in a more rural community may have given him the knowledge/wisdom a kind of old-timey house call doctor would have. Instead, what I got was part absent-minded practitioner, part woo woo medicine dude. No, I don't want to order oregano oil from your Personal Health MD dispensary at Fullscript.com, where you make a commission (and where everything you prescribed costs more than from GNC, Amazon and other online stores). Jeez Louise. That kind of stuff makes you feel like you're in a multi-level marketing scam rather than a pricy concierge medicine practice. If you definitely want to be part of a concierge medical practice, you can find several others in the area for much less money and with more responsive, professional doctors. If you're still on the fence about signing up for concierge medicine at all, I'll say this: you're in the Boston area, and there are no shortage of awesome physicians to choose from who are just part of the regular ol' conglomerates we have. Whichever way you decide to go, this guy ain't it.

If you're not aware of what 'Functional Medicine' is make sure you google the background before you…read morecommit to being a member of this practice. While I do support and believe in alternative therapies, when they make sense. I believe in them after traditional medicine might not work, such as acupuncture or massage therapy and the like. I Don't subscribe to the idea that Supplements or Molecular and numerous Genetic testing should be used as a Primary approach to health care or in lieu of traditional medicine first and foremost. That's what Functional Medicine is, lab tests that your standard insurance carrier will not cover and will reject the claim as 'Experimental' because it is which might also explain the high annual membership cost. If you're looking for a physician who isn't interested in 'your' input regarding your medical needs and would prefer to 'tell you' what they thinks is best, than this is the practice for you. If however you want to have a meaningful dialog to work on a plan together such as discussing past comprehensive medical history or being 'asked' if you're familiar with a certain medication or protocol 'before' making assumptions and decisions...this is 100% definitely NOT the practice for you. The membership fee is very high and while you usually don't have to wait long for an appointment. The trade off is not having a traditional GP/Patient relationship. A traditional GP wouldn't sell me a $140 bottle of CoQ10 because my whatever enzymes were low for instance. Or some vastly overpriced liquid fish oil to help with joint pain, because we all know joint pain is based on inflammation and fish oil reduces inflammation...okay. (Which I found on Amazon at 1/3 the price btw.) Don't get me wrong. If this approach 'is' your thing and your not interested in a standard medical GP for your routine illnesses than by all means, enjoy the lovely persian rugs and fine china while you sip some herbal tea. If however you're looking for a Concierge Physician that practices standard traditional medicine or to provide routine referrals as needed. This is not the practice for you. I'll stick with a traditional approach where the emphasis is on treating the patients needs, it's never failed me before and you're valued a great deal more than in a Functional Medicine approach which prefers to ignore the symptoms and go off on tangents for the all important 'root cause'. Vitamins have their place...on the store shelf of my local pharmacy.

First of all, I absolutely love my PCP here. He's amazing, takes his time, and thoroughly explains…read moreeverything to me. The extra star is for him. However, I had a recent negative experience with a PA-C following an injury. I had gone to an urgent care center where they took x-rays. I had tried to get an appointment with my PCP, but he was booked. So I saw the PA-C instead (sidenote, there's another PA-C that I have seen in the past, and she is great.). I brought the xrays in with me. She did not examine me. I sat in a chair as she typed away on the computer. She did not look at my xrays. She told me that I should see Orthopedics. I get that, but can you at least check out why I came to see in you the first place? This meant another week in pain with no clear treatment plan. So frustrating.

I love my PCP here. She's great, so I am going to continue going to her. However, the staff are…read moreconstantly confused and don't communicate well. I often find myself frustrated speaking with these people. I really wish they would do better.