Atiga Family Practice

Dr. Rolando has always been very attentive and professional, and also follows up. His staff is also courteous and a pleasure to work with. The link by another reviewer to a story about a doctor that prescribed pain killers to an undercover agent when presented with an x-​ray of a dog was a different doctor with the same name. That doctor was in Glendora and 72 years old; whereas Dr. Rolando’s office is in Temecula, and he appears to be in his early 40s.

Starting with the waiting room, half of the receptionists are extremely rude, constantly forget to return calls/​send referrals to other doctors/​fill prescriptions, and if you need to fix any mistakes made good luck dealing with the stubborn people at this office. You will never get an appointment scheduled closer than 2 weeks to the day you call. Recently everything is booked out at least a month and a half. Not only will Dr. Atiga rush you through all of your appointments but prepare to be scoffed at. Atiga is responsible for extending the recovery time on 2 of my injuries now and I’ve finally had it with his crooked practice. Expect to be misdiagnosed frequently, just ask for referrals from this guy. If you bring in any outside info on your injury (i.e. from a hospital or another doctor) it will most likely be dismissed. Horrible attitude, not the kind of doctor you want to see if you need help. He’s just a crook with a bad degree he got out of the country!
UPDATE: I was misdiagnosed for groin and then «hip flexor muscle issues» and after 5 months of this crap from Dr Atiga I got referred to see a surgeon, today I found out I have an inguinal hernia. 5 months of working on an injury and no help from Atiga led to a mess of medical problems. Thanks for that.
UPDATE 2: Don’t see this Dr! He not only led me to deal with everything mentioned above but he postponed my SDI benefits by not processing any necessary paperwork for weeks, probably because he didn’t want to help a young kid get back on his feet in order to keep his malpractice alive. Furious!

He got his degree from a Caribbean private school for profit.
Check the news :/​he got arrested because he couldn’t differentiate between a dog and Human x-​ray seriously? Why is he even still licensed ???
If there is a negative rating i would definitely give it to him… really shit.

I don’t even want to give one star… Nice staff. He is So uncaring !!! Rude!!! Seemed I was bothering him. Unsympathetic ! Wanted to cry! Came home and changed doctors.

Dr. Atiga is hardly ever available. His appointments are usually about two weeks out, which do me no good if I’m sick. I’ve been to urgent care more than to my own doctor. When I do see him, he is usually thorough, but the lack of appointments made me switch doctors.

Atiga has a friendly staff and PA. Atiga himself is impersonal and rude. He acts as if you are taking his time by not listening to your concerns. We will be looking for a new doctor. I don’t know why we hung around this long.

The question is, can one really be considered an «MD» if they received their degree from a «for profit school» in the Caribbean as opposed to a traditional non-​profit university located inside the United States. Some say, Caribbean schools are nothing more than a way to buy a medical degree afforded to people who cannot get into an United States university. According to
, Rolando L. Atiga, «MD» graduated from Ross University School of Medicine («Ross») in 1999. Ross is «a private, for-​profit Caribbean medical school, owned and operated by DeVry Education Group.» see Wiki. Ross is not accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education («LCME»), the recognized accreditation body by the U.S. Department of Education.
In 2010, NY Times investigated schools like Ross and found their reputation is to «turn out poorly trained students who undercut the quality of training.» It was also said that schools like Ross «are essentially bribing. .. hospitals by paying them millions of dollars to take their students.» See:
. In a separate article it was reported that «Julie Chanatry, president of the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions, and director of premedical advising at Colgate University, worries about the low-​tier Caribbean schools where the profit-​oriented business model is to „reject no one,“ regardless of a person’s chances of practicing medicine.» See:
Atiga may very well be one of the «doctors» Julie Chanatry worries about. Certainly, major considerations for a «good» family practitioner would be honesty, attention to detail, a willingness to research conditions, promptness, respect for patients, availability, accessability, and time management skills. Those who have endured the rigor of post-​graduate studies know that time management is key to success, and those who study hard in competent undergraduate programs and manage time wisely, earn seats in top graduate programs, while those who do not, do not. Certainly, there are exceptions, and people may.
Atiga has cancelled appointments on several occasions. Appointments which were set over two weeks prior. While this may seem benign, the reality is it reflects an utter lack of care or concern for patients’ health or schedule. Furthermore, a patient of his is hard pressed to be seen immediately as appointments are set two weeks in advance. The frustration lies with the rationale for the cancellation, expressed by his staff as due to a «conference». For those of us who attend professional conferences regularly, they are scheduled by the directors months in advance, are heavily marketed, and redundant. Consequently, Atiga should have known about the conferences months in advance, should have planned his schedule around them if he planned on attending, and definitely should not have cancelled appointments to attend. This indicates an utter lack of care. Sadly, Atiga has apparently instilled his lack of respect for patients into his staff. Not only is Atiga’s practice a sign of lack of respect for patients, it is indicative of an utter misdiagnosis of priorities. To accept spur of the moment conferences over patients reflects poor judgment. It will be interesting to learn which conferences Mr. Atiga reports to the California Medical Board to have attended on October 10, 2014. Regardless, the cancellations can only mean one of two things: 1) Atiga has a deficiency for planning and procrastinates to the peril of his patients; or 2) Atiga is not truthful and simply wanted to take a day off, to the peril of his patients.
Interestingly, according to the California Department of Consumer Affairs online «
.gov» website, which contains information on doctors licensed in the state of California, Atiga has «No board certifications identified.» See
. Atiga claims on his business card that he is a member of the «Diplomatic American Board of Family Medicine.» A review of the many boards available for membership to doctors reveals no such board exists. There is however, an «American Board of Family Medicine» («ABFM») for which members are considered «Diplomats.» With that said, a search for «Rolando Antiga» on ABFM’s physicians search engine revealed no membership existed. It would seem that Atiga is either 1) claiming to be a member of a non-​existent board, or 2) lacks the requisite attention to detail, and lacks the critical ability to cross-​reference information before creating his business cards.