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| Member |
I had an appointment yesterday for an annual check of an ongoing issue. I had been given the appointment last year after checkout for that visit. I showed up at the office 20 minutes early to find the office vacant. I don't mean at lunch, I mean "space to rent" vacant. I called them and got their automated system. This should have been my first clue-the first thing the recording gave me was their phone number. Uh, if I didn't have the number.....oh well. After 3 minutes of computer, they gave me their new location. I drove across town and made it just in time. I checked in and the blonde bimbo at the desk said I didn't have an appointment. (But she was pretty.) I insisted I did. She asked if I had my little appointment card. I did not, but questioned if I needed a ticket to get in, like a smart ass. She said my appointment was for NEXT YEAR. I then asked why I wasn't notified they had moved. She said, "We don't routinely notify our patients of things like that." I also asked if they had moved their computer system. "Oh yes, we updated the system but all the data transferred." I asked if she had noticed the parking lot was empty, and she said, "Yes, we've had a lot of missed appointments today." I asked if I could actually see my appointment on the screen, and she declined. I asked to see the office manager or doctor and she declined. I pointed out this had been an annual appointment for the last 7 years and she was unmoved. I asked if they could work me in sometime in the next month. Nope, it was next year or nothing. How hard do I have to beg to give these people my money? Monday I find a new specialist, which presents it's own challenges. | ||
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| Member |
I am with you. Some employees can ruin a business. I would contact the doctor or higher staff with either a phone call or email but sadly it doesn't seem like some people care about who represents their business. | |||
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| Member |
I posted something similar in another recent thread. My doctors are fine but the support staff is by and large incompetent. End of Earth: 2 Miles Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles | |||
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Fighting the good fight |
I recently changed dentists for the same reason. I had been with the same dentist for over 15 years. He's fantastic. But a couple years ago their long time office manager left, and the dentist's wife came in and took over those duties. Since then, the office side of things have been an absolute dumpster fire, both with appointment scheduling but especially with billing. It's clear that she is way over her head, and drowning. After several fuckups (the last one of which cost me ~$400), I had to fire my long term dentist and switch to a new one whose office staff aren't a total shitshow. | |||
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| Get my pies outta the oven!  |
I keep having this situation with idiot medical staff and VA community care coverage which I’m eligible for. I have Aetna through work, but it’s a shitty high deductible plan so I try to use the VA when I can and I notify them repeatedly and then 9 times out of 10 I get a bill from Aetna because they billed Aetna and not the VA. It’s maddening. | |||
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| Member |
My guess is Aetna reimburses more than VA does. Same thing happened to me except they billed to a BC/BS policy that was discontinued. Then the office called and said my insurance wasn't valid and I was on the hook for the whole bill. I went to their office with my Community Care Authorization letter and they eventually did bill the VA. I wondered at the time if the "mistake" was not actually an attempt to collect more money. End of Earth: 2 Miles Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles | |||
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Drill Here, Drill Now |
Corporations are rapidly swallowing up small, independent medical practices by the thousands, turning once-autonomous doctors into mere contract employees with zero input on how the office runs or who's hired. Patients often have no clue who's really pulling the strings behind their "local" doctor's office. These corporate overlords prioritize "efficiency" that's all about squeezing every last dollar out of the practice, not about making things better for patients. This greed is tanking the patient experience and fueling even more resentment toward the medical system—something COVID already amplified to toxic levels. Here are some prime examples of how they're screwing everyone over: The absolute worst offender? UnitedHealthcare (UHC), with their vertically integrated empire controlling insurance, medical payments processing, hospitals, nursing homes, surgery centers, and now hordes of individual practices. Their payments arm is infamous for: Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer. | |||
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Spread the Disease |
Here’s a serious question: has a medical office ever closed because of enough patients leaving? ________________________________________ -- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. -- | |||
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| Member |
Good point about patients leaving. I have really good luck with my endocrinologist office. Last visit the doc said schedule the next visit for 4 months. The scheduler said it would be five because they were booked up, so I took one at five months. She then said that I should book the next 4 month visit right then, as the calendar was wide open in November. I did so, and she said when the July visit was done, schedule one for 4 months from the November visit. I told her she was golden. She said she avoids a lot of stress by planning things in advance. | |||
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Jodel-Time |
Fredward: My wife is the billing manager for a group of clinics. I read her your original post and she was mortified. The first thing she said was that the office should have notified their patients that they were moving. Otherwise, it could possibly be considered patient abandonment. At the very least, it was a very poor business decision. Now, the gal not allowing you to see the screen didn't surprise my wife due to HIIPA requirements. However, when you asked to see the doctor or office manager, my wife understood not getting the doctor but said that the office manager/supervisor should have been immediately brought up to see you. That person could have done a couple of things. First, if their records are like the one at my wife's employer, they could have seen a log of when your appointment was made and if there had been any changes made. Second, and the one that I was thinking of, the manager could and should have squeezed you in if they had a lot of missed appointments that day. Convenient for you, money for them. Now they have lost you as a patient. I wonder how many more they lost over this. | |||
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| Member |
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I know the answer.There is network community care. The VA pays less than the going rate,needs the records and often is slow to pay the doctor. Add that to bureaucracy and few doctors are interested0 | |||
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| Member |
^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I dropped my network participation years ago and bought the stock. Sold it sometime back but did well. | |||
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| Member |
At this point I would take a seat, perhaps on "her" desk, and then use my phone to look up the State Agency for reporting issues with medical service refusals. BTW you can google that. Then call the Agency (licensing) or Two (Civil Rights office for Discrimination). Then proceed to call any State agency and report issues with that Doctor's office. BTW make sure to call the Civil Rights office and complain you are being discriminated against for Age, Sex, Weight, or Race. You know, all of the Liberal Hot Button issues. At that point that receptionist will start to get concerned if she even has half a brain and call the Office Manager. Who will either threaten to call the Police, which will add weight to the Discrimination Complaint, or she will sort that receptionist out and squeeze you in to the schedule that day. I once watched a Doctor go after a receptionist for turning away one of his patients and it wasn't pretty at all. Appointment or not GOOD Doctors will always find a way to spend time with any patient coming in for an immediate issue with their health. I've stopped counting. | |||
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| Member |
Legally, your medical records are your property, and you can request {demand) them any time. Good Luck actually getting them, however. Pragmatism: the relentless pursuit of seeing things as they really are. | |||
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| Page late and a dollar short |
I just went around with a similar issue with a Urologist’s office, got this group as a result of an in hospital stay, my usual one is not in this hospital system, a whole other story there. Despite calls to the office and per the phone staff marking the request urgent taking 24 to 48 hours for a callback, their contending that they have called me but no record on my cellphone of an incoming or missed call, or a very vague response also added to the mix. Not a one time thing, have been going around with this office staff since the end of October and nothing had improved. But I liked the doctor. The staff calling and cancelling within four hours of a procedure and telling me she didn’t know when it would be done and in her words “You have to wait” The final straw was that I had an appointment to remove a Foley at 3 in the afternoon, they called me the day before and told me that I was to remove it myself the morning of my appointment! My response was like hell I am! Senior, two blood thinners, heart condition and I’m not trained it removal and I’m sure,y not going to practice on myself! As we were taught in EMT class in 1982 performing outside of your training can and most likely will be considered malpractice in a courtroom. Well, ER visit that night anyway as it leaked. Wheni went to my appointment the next afternoon and the PA wanted to make another appointment I told her why I wasn’t coming back, the Foley episode was the final straw. -------------------------------------—————— ————————--Ignorance is a powerful tool if applied at the right time, even, usually, surpassing knowledge(E.J.Potter, A.K.A. The Michigan Madman) | |||
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| Three Generations of Service  |
I LOVE my dentist, and used to love the entire operation. He's trying desperately to retire (70+) for which I don't blame him, and the FNG he hired to take over may be medically competent (don't have any direct experience) but he's a dick and the bulk of the admin staff and ALL the hygienists have quit. We're looking to move. Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent. | |||
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| Member |
Call your former dentist and ask who he sees. | |||
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| Three Generations of Service |
Probably his daughter with a practice 100 miles upstate. Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent. | |||
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אַרְיֵה |
If only you had something enjoyable for that drive. Have you thought about getting a Corvette?  הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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| Three Generations of Service |
Saaaayyyy...  His daughter occasionally helps out at the local office. She has a personality like a bent shitcan and the bedside (chair-side?) manner of a rabid porcupine. No, thanks. Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent. | |||
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