Placing patient's health first in every situation and delivering extraordinary quality of care. At First Choice Pediatrics, we treat children from the time they are born until they turn 18. Our caring doctors and staff strive to provide extraordinary quality of care to every child, while simultaneously putting the parents' minds at ease. We offer a range of services for you and your children, including well visits, emergency sick visits, circumcisions, and sports physicals. Our multiple locations use a centralized Patient Portal so that you can visit any of our offices and receive the same personalized and attentive care.
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In 1998, Dr. Cassia Portugal started First Choice Pediatrics in a small office next to the Winter Park Hospital. The overwhelming success of returning patients motivated Dr. Portugal to expand her practice by the year 2000. She needed more space, and so she relocated the practice to our main location on Semoran Boulevard.
At First Choice Pediatrics, our mission is to place patient's health first in every situation and deliver extraordinary quality of care. As many of our doctors are parents themselves, we know firsthand how stressful it can be when your little one is sick. This is why we approach every situation with the same care and attentiveness as we would with our own children.
Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, an extraordinary facility designed to serve the unique healthcare needs of women and babies in a caring, family-centered environment. One of the premier children's hospitals in the nation, we at the Walt Disney Pavilion at Florida Hospital for Children, offer your children expert, comprehensive care.
We take a lot of insurance. Some of the private insurances that I can think of off the top of my head are Blue Cross, AvMed, Aetna, United Healthcare, Signa, Florida Hospital, those are some of the private insurances. For the Medicaid HMOs, we also take that as well. We take straight Medicaid. Some of the Medicaid HMOs that we accept are Amerigroup, Prestige, Sunshine, Staywell, United Medicaid, those are the ones that we take. First Choice Pediatrics is dedicated to placing patient's health first in every situation and delivering extraordinary quality of care.
Reviews (19)
Aurialyz V.
Jun 13, 2022
I am so beyond impressed with this practice. The receptionists in the front desk today were so professional sweet and very informative. Dr. Roques was amazing! Made myself and my son feel very comfortable. He is very great with kids! I was honestly in shock with the great service I received. I've been looking for a pediatrics that works well for my child. I wouldn't go anywhere else. God bless them all! Mind you the facility is very clean and up to date.
Stacey R.
Jan 20, 2022
They never answer the phone. Even when they finally do, you are put on hold for a long time. They encourage you to use the portal yet the portal always have wrong information. It tells you to check-in and wait in your vehicle but they never call you to come in. You have to find out on your own by just walking in to ask. By then its already way past your appointment time.
You request an appointment via the portal and never get a call. If you do its about 3 days later. Lastly you think everything is going well and then get a portal message stating you owe a balance when your insurance information is on file and have not had any payments required only find out it was a system error.
You request an appointment via the portal and never get a call. If you do its about 3 days later. Lastly you think everything is going well and then get a portal message stating you owe a balance when your insurance information is on file and have not had any payments required only find out it was a system error.
Alyssa B.
Sep 23, 2021
If I could give negative stars I would. This is THE WORST doctors office. I'm not sure how they stay in business. They have the WORST customer service and they NEVER address your concerns. Finally when you apply pressure they half ass do something about it. I needed them to fix a referral they gave me since I could not book the appointment the way they ordered it. It's been 4 days, countless calls and even spoke to a manager and it's STILL NOT SOLVED! They rather argue with you than just fix the damn paper! I will never bring my kid back there. And I will be writing the BBB & CFPB!
F. L.
Apr 10, 2021
Gm R.
Jan 16, 2021
At the end of the month last month, my 6 month old son tested positive for Covid. We didn't know where he could've gotten it from since all of us were negative at home. I message the office through the patient portal and ask them when he needed to be retested again because my job needed a negative test result from him and myself in order for me to go back to work.
They never replied, instead called me and said that I needed another appointment to follow up on simply because the insurance was not going to pay for the test without an appointment. I work for a doctors office, so I know that this happens the way it does. So I make a follow up appointment for Friday the 8th at 9:15am and the doctor doesn't get on the call until almost 10 AM.
The doctor was really confused as to why I had an appointment with her and I had to explain to her that my son had Covid (since the provider I had a follow up with on the 31st never wrote in her note that he was COVID positive, only wrote that he had an upper respiratory infection) and I needed this appointment to get him re-tested per what the office told me.
She was confused throughout the entire appointment and said "OK when you get tested let me know what the results are." I said "Aren't you guys supposed to let me know?" And she said "Yes you're totally right I'm sorry." I knew something was going on when the doctor kept asking me why he needed to get retested. What was supposed to take 20 minutes took almost 2 hours.
When I finally knocked on the back door and asked the nurses why they were taking so long, they told me that they didn't know why my son needed to get tested and that my insurance didn't cover the retest and they were unsure why. I work at a doctors office and we work with plenty of Medicaid plans and I have never heard of Medicaid not covering a test that a patient needs.
When I ask them why it wasn't covered, they said that they didn't know why and that insurances usually do not cover Covid retest. I ended up paying $100 out of pocket to get him re-tested because I needed to have those results to return to work this past Monday. They wouldn't test him if I didn't pay first. Once I paid, I got my results in 10 minutes.
I kid you not. Thank goodness I work at a doctor's office and I know how these things work, and I decided to call his HMO plan and see if this information was true or not and I was told that he can get tested as many times as he needed to, and that they cover any and all tests at 100%. I even got a reference number and all. As you all know, Medicaid plans cover anything that is submitted to them, which is probably the reason why they all lied and said that the insurance didn't cover it because they never submitted the test claim in and most likely I paid them more than medicaid would have.
I paid $100 out of pocket and I'm sure Medicaid is only paying them 25% of that. I find it extremely unprofessional that this claim was not ever even submitted to the insurance and even worse, that they have to lie to patients to get extra money for something that insurance covers. I totally would have been reasonable if he was negative to begin with and I wanted to get him re-tested for fun. Unfortunately, that is not the case and he NEEDED to get re-tested.
Working in an area where their patient population is children that are covered by Medicaid and they are making parents that are probably out of work and not making money because their kids are COVID positive, pay out of pocket for testing that is covered by their insurance. It makes me sick to my stomach, and I don't even want to begin to imagine that them, fully knowing this information, are charging parents this kind of money.
Thank goodness I only have one, I truly feel bad for those with multiples that trust their word and care and don't know this information or are not knowledgeable enough to know they can call their insurance provider and ask if their insurance covers this test. This fraudulent and illegal. I will be reporting this office to the Florida Board of Medicine, Department of Health and BBB
They never replied, instead called me and said that I needed another appointment to follow up on simply because the insurance was not going to pay for the test without an appointment. I work for a doctors office, so I know that this happens the way it does. So I make a follow up appointment for Friday the 8th at 9:15am and the doctor doesn't get on the call until almost 10 AM.
The doctor was really confused as to why I had an appointment with her and I had to explain to her that my son had Covid (since the provider I had a follow up with on the 31st never wrote in her note that he was COVID positive, only wrote that he had an upper respiratory infection) and I needed this appointment to get him re-tested per what the office told me.
She was confused throughout the entire appointment and said "OK when you get tested let me know what the results are." I said "Aren't you guys supposed to let me know?" And she said "Yes you're totally right I'm sorry." I knew something was going on when the doctor kept asking me why he needed to get retested. What was supposed to take 20 minutes took almost 2 hours.
When I finally knocked on the back door and asked the nurses why they were taking so long, they told me that they didn't know why my son needed to get tested and that my insurance didn't cover the retest and they were unsure why. I work at a doctors office and we work with plenty of Medicaid plans and I have never heard of Medicaid not covering a test that a patient needs.
When I ask them why it wasn't covered, they said that they didn't know why and that insurances usually do not cover Covid retest. I ended up paying $100 out of pocket to get him re-tested because I needed to have those results to return to work this past Monday. They wouldn't test him if I didn't pay first. Once I paid, I got my results in 10 minutes.
I kid you not. Thank goodness I work at a doctor's office and I know how these things work, and I decided to call his HMO plan and see if this information was true or not and I was told that he can get tested as many times as he needed to, and that they cover any and all tests at 100%. I even got a reference number and all. As you all know, Medicaid plans cover anything that is submitted to them, which is probably the reason why they all lied and said that the insurance didn't cover it because they never submitted the test claim in and most likely I paid them more than medicaid would have.
I paid $100 out of pocket and I'm sure Medicaid is only paying them 25% of that. I find it extremely unprofessional that this claim was not ever even submitted to the insurance and even worse, that they have to lie to patients to get extra money for something that insurance covers. I totally would have been reasonable if he was negative to begin with and I wanted to get him re-tested for fun. Unfortunately, that is not the case and he NEEDED to get re-tested.
Working in an area where their patient population is children that are covered by Medicaid and they are making parents that are probably out of work and not making money because their kids are COVID positive, pay out of pocket for testing that is covered by their insurance. It makes me sick to my stomach, and I don't even want to begin to imagine that them, fully knowing this information, are charging parents this kind of money.
Thank goodness I only have one, I truly feel bad for those with multiples that trust their word and care and don't know this information or are not knowledgeable enough to know they can call their insurance provider and ask if their insurance covers this test. This fraudulent and illegal. I will be reporting this office to the Florida Board of Medicine, Department of Health and BBB
Jes H.
Jul 25, 2020
Nallely M.
Nov 19, 2019
These pediatricians are the worst I have ever come across the staff is very dis-organized They don't seem to care the director who used to be one of the nurses feels as she is better than everybody else there's no communication everything they tell you turns out to be something else we were there for 10 years only because Dr. M was with them and my boys loved him he was one of the best doctors the other doctors are rude and very non-professional I would never recommend these people I drop them almost 3 months ago and they still can't get me my kids medical records this place just makes me sick Even the nurses complain about coming to this clinic apparently they sent the better doctors to the other clinics because apparently this was the worst with the worst doctors and staff/Director.
Jack T.
Oct 30, 2019
Twice! The clinic did not tell us ahead of time that they are doing cholesterol blood test ahead of time, which would require fasting. They did it anyway the first time, of course, leading to abnormal result. On our most recent visit, again they want to do cholesterol blood test without telling us ahead of time, we declined. There is some serious problem with this clinic.
Marimar R.
Sep 25, 2019
I've never done a review but it is necessary for me to let parents and caregiver know the how business oriented is this place and not committed to care for children. I called to schedule an appointment for my 3 children and was told I needed to fill out a prescreening online and that someone would call be within 24 hrs. To my surprise I was called within an hour back and at the moment I was very impress with their quick response.
The lady started asking me questions about each child and their medical history, wanting to know if they have any pre existing conditions. My oldest is 17 not turning 18 until December but they informed me I needed to reach my insurance and ask for another doctor since he will be 18 in 3 months ( not understanding because he is currently 17 and if I needed him to be seen next week he is still under age).
Then it came down to my youngest. My 8 year old has a heart condition but gets seen by a cardiologist ( nothing major) and they told me I needed to change insurance to CMS. My 4 year old has a pre existing condition, chromosome unbalance and she has about 7 specialists that she sees. They lady told me that because of my daugter's complex medical history they are not able to see her because they will not be able to meet her needs.
She then proceeded to give me numbers of pediatricians in Celebration that provided care for kids with special needs. I was in shock. I asked her are you telling me that you are denying care for my daughter because she is a child with special needs and you can't meet her needs? What other needs other than seeing her for an ear infection, an annual physical or a common cold. That's why she has specialist to see her for her specifics conditions.
I can't believe a PEDIATRICIAN office discriminates on kids and chooses who they can see and who they can't see. My daughter has every right to receive health care as any other child. When choosing a pediatrician make sure that your caregiver CARES about your child without putting limits or condition
The lady started asking me questions about each child and their medical history, wanting to know if they have any pre existing conditions. My oldest is 17 not turning 18 until December but they informed me I needed to reach my insurance and ask for another doctor since he will be 18 in 3 months ( not understanding because he is currently 17 and if I needed him to be seen next week he is still under age).
Then it came down to my youngest. My 8 year old has a heart condition but gets seen by a cardiologist ( nothing major) and they told me I needed to change insurance to CMS. My 4 year old has a pre existing condition, chromosome unbalance and she has about 7 specialists that she sees. They lady told me that because of my daugter's complex medical history they are not able to see her because they will not be able to meet her needs.
She then proceeded to give me numbers of pediatricians in Celebration that provided care for kids with special needs. I was in shock. I asked her are you telling me that you are denying care for my daughter because she is a child with special needs and you can't meet her needs? What other needs other than seeing her for an ear infection, an annual physical or a common cold. That's why she has specialist to see her for her specifics conditions.
I can't believe a PEDIATRICIAN office discriminates on kids and chooses who they can see and who they can't see. My daughter has every right to receive health care as any other child. When choosing a pediatrician make sure that your caregiver CARES about your child without putting limits or condition
Tina R.
Apr 03, 2019
Vivian P.
Mar 26, 2019
This review is specifically on Dr Janet Imp. Horrible doctor! Parents beware, she is the most unprofessional and rudest person I've ever encountered. She is very inappropriate and in front of the child. I have been going to First Choice for years and recently left due to her treatment. I will say that the staff has always been kind and are good with fitting your child in when an emergency arises. It's very unfortunate this practice has chosen to employ her.
Vinnie S.
Dec 10, 2018
They refused to treat my daughter who I had brought in with 101 fever unless I showed proof I was her legal parent because she is adopted. Front desk stated it's their policy to require proof of adoption. My daughter has been to two different pediatricians, ENTs and an ER and no one has ever asked for proof of adoption.
Elizabeth T.
Nov 28, 2018
The staff is terrible, incompetent, rude, and lack the knowledge to work in a medical practice. Billing department does not know how to properly bill for services rendered. I strongly believe this practice is balance billing their patients, which is illegal. If you have an issue, you can call, fax, mail letters, you will not get a response. There are long wait times even if you are the first appointment of the day, there's no excuse for that.
You are kept waiting for a long time before getting into an exam room. While there, you wait forever to see the doctor. Most of the doctors at this practice have no people skills, difficult to understand, or barely give an effort to act like they care about your child's health. Several of the doctors at this practice misdiagnosed my child. I won't bring my kids here for anything more than an ear infection b/c that is all they are good for, writing a prescription.
You are kept waiting for a long time before getting into an exam room. While there, you wait forever to see the doctor. Most of the doctors at this practice have no people skills, difficult to understand, or barely give an effort to act like they care about your child's health. Several of the doctors at this practice misdiagnosed my child. I won't bring my kids here for anything more than an ear infection b/c that is all they are good for, writing a prescription.
Diana R.
Nov 01, 2018
While I believe their physicians are detailed and competent I was not pleased by the feeling that they are more concerned with billing than patient care. I needed a refill for my son and they were insistent that I schedule a full physical and then a separate ADHD appointment before they would provide a 30-day script. They are not flexible for working families - needed to take time off work because they would not offer a later appointment for an ADHD follow-up. Although they are conveniently located, I felt more like a chart than a person. I'll take my son elsewhere!
Ruby C.
Aug 24, 2018
Terribly impersonal and uncaring. Was on my appointment with my infant who wasn't even a month old that I scheduled as an emergency because he was sick (keep in mind I called and asked if I should just bring him to the ER they told me no, to come in) My infant began throwing up and choking on the vomit in the car so I had to stop to check him and clean him up, I wasn't even 10 minutes late.
They called me while I was in the parking lot to reschedule, I explained that I was outside and the situation and was told I would still have to reschedule AND pay a fee for rescheduling. I asked them so you can't even see him and he's not even a month old and sick? They told me no and turned me away. So I went across to the urgent care. What doctor's office does that? I understand that I was a bit late but this was an emergency
They called me while I was in the parking lot to reschedule, I explained that I was outside and the situation and was told I would still have to reschedule AND pay a fee for rescheduling. I asked them so you can't even see him and he's not even a month old and sick? They told me no and turned me away. So I went across to the urgent care. What doctor's office does that? I understand that I was a bit late but this was an emergency
Lauren L.
May 04, 2018
Silvia S.
Sep 25, 2017
This practice is USELESS, the workers have no idea what the procedure is to get insurance approval to order an MRI. My daughter has been in pain for a month due to the incompetent people in this office. I am putting my daughter's health on the hands of the wrong people, and this will change, soon. Plus I got the first appointment in the morning because my daughter has school and I have to work. Out appointment was at 8:15 am and we left at 10 am. And sadly, without any MRI authorization.
Anastassiya B.
Aug 15, 2017
William M.
Jul 22, 2017
