So far mines been on time, and they have pre-check in services through a secure portal, saves a ton of time not having to fill out paperwork hanging on to pens and clipboards others have held.

Walk in, Howdy, here is my $20, 10 minutes I'm in the room, might take 15 once I am in the room

Good luck to find a better physician...

I guess I’m lucky/blessed to have doctors that are punctual concerning my appointments…my primary care physician and I have been friends for over 20 years (his dad was a railroader as was I)…if I had a 10:00 appointment I was called no later than 10:10…same with my cardiologist or neurologist including their scheduled tests for ultrasounds or other medical tests…any appointment scheduled with Erlanger or Memorial Hospitals in Chattanooga or Satellite offices in Cleveland TN. have been prompt and scheduled for my schedule…they all have been golden

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Not lucky, you have worked at building a relationship with your physician. Doctors like to see pleasant and appreciative patients. I always make it a point to thank them for their time. You can tell they don't hear that much.

I took my father to UVA after his bypass operation for a checkup. The appointment was for 11:45 AM and the doctor got involved in an operation and didn't see us until 5:20 PM.

We hadn't eaten lunch and were starved.

I saw one of my doc's yesterday.

He seems to always run late, in fact a few years ago I had just come in and sat down and a few minutes later a man got out of his chair, stomped over to the receptionist window and told her very loudly that he'd never be back because he'd been waiting for 3 hours!

I've learned to schedule appointments with him late in the day, preferably the last one, figuring he has to go home at some point, and wants to go home at some point, so if I have the late appt he will see me soon.

So far that has worked.
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We moved about 2 years ago, first visit to this new doctor was for a minor issue. I got pushed off to one of his assistants. Went OK. Scheduled me for a 6 week follow up.

Day before the appointment the office calls and wants to move the appointment up an hour. I'm retired, no problem. I even offered to reschedule, if that would help them.

Arrived at 3:12 for the 3:30 appointment. Watch the waiting room turn over a couple of times. No one mentioned any issue or even looked at me the whole time. At 4:10 I handed my paperwork to the receptionist and left.

Never heard another word. Found a new primary care doctor (haven't had to see him yet).

I live in a community of about 150,000. My family came from a small town of about 15,000. Medical access is changing. Where my family came from they now travel 60 miles to see a doctor. Right now I've been referred for calcium heart score. That happened 6 weeks ago. I was told wait 3 or 4 days. If you don't hear from the hospital doing the tests call them. I waited two weeks and called. I was told we probably have the referral, but its not showing up in our system. We'll call you. That was 6 weeks ago. My brother only 8 years my senior died of cardiac arrhythmia so I think this test is important, but no one else seem to see it my way. So, waiting a hour or so for a doctor is irritating, but I budget a half a day when I see a doctor. Perhaps you should do the same.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

if you are truly in need of immediate services you will not walk out and ask for your file.

Please re-read the post in which I described the incident, and try to understand it.

In this specific case, staying and waiting, or walking out, either one would have had exactly the same result in terms of receiving medical services: no medical services, whatsoever, would have been received, either way! I'll repeat, I had been sitting in the waiting room for three quarters of an hour, got up and inquired at the desk, and then, and only then, I was informed that the doctor was at an off-site conference. If I had chosen NOT to walk out, the only accomplishment would have been to waste the rest of the day.

The reason I asked for my file, was two-fold:

1. When I chose another cardiologist (there are an abundance of these in Florida), I would be able to hand over the information immediately, saving some time, and
   
   
2. I wanted to make it crystal clear that letting a patient who has a confirmed appointment travel to the office without notifying the patient that the doctor will not be in that day, not saying anything when the patient signs in, and letting that patient sit in the waiting room for a doctor who is not there, but at a "professional development seminar" -- these are NOT acceptable, and since I do have a choice, I will choose not to deal with that practice any more.

^^^^^^^ Mr V, ^^^^^^. That’s astoundingly shocking! There is no excuse for that. I think I would file a complaint with the State Agency that issues the License to practice medicine in your state.

If the doctor is employeed by a hospital or chain I’d be contacting the CEO.

Then I’d see if there was a way to blast Social Media.
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Gene -- It is truly maddening, obnoxious and galling, but unfortunately it is neither astounding nor shocking, because this sort of total disregard for the patient is all too common. I have "fired" one cardiologist, one dentist, one physiatrist (correct spelling, NOT a psychiatrist), one eye surgeon, and two urologists all for keeping me waiting for more than an hour, due to the greed manifested by overbooking.

All of these were in private practice, so no hospital nor chain to contact. Unfortunately I do not think that complaining to the state regulatory agency would be worth the time and effort. The best thing for me to do is to make sure that my insurance money is spent somewhere else, which is what I did.

All too common. My wife is a health care provider. She is in practice with another woman who sees some of the same patients for different aspects of patient care. My wife, who makes every attempt to see patients on schedule, receives constant complaints from her patients, about the other woman in the practice, who makes a habit of overbooking and keeping patients waiting, frequently for more than an hour. Sheer greed. The more patients that this other woman schedules in a day, the more money she makes, and that is the major driving force in this particular case.

quote:

Originally posted by mojojojo:
I manage a large medical office for a large hospital system. We have one doctor who is habitually late. His original start time of 8AM was moved to 8:30 because he could never get to work by 8. Guess what time he rolls in now? Yep, 8:45-50.

I'd stop scheduling 8:30 patients for him but he'd be OK with that as well. Hell, no matter what time we have him start he's going to be late. It pisses me off but there is very little I can do about it. The system is run by doctors who protect their own and until these type doctors are hit where it hurt the most - the wallet - they will continue to treat patients like a necessary evil.

Wow, guy must hate his job and his patients. Sounds like the kind of guy that will cause the practice to be sued.

Let me guess, he rush through the early appointments so he can still go home on time? (Rushing through patients may lead to a mistake.)

Someone upstream will care if presented correctly.

Think of the wasted time if a patient sues- even if the patient doesn't win. link Think how it will play to the jury if time records or testimony shows the doctor is always late.


Ask the medical director, does the group have a plan in place for situations WHEN a patient sues. this might help

Or when a patient sends a bill?

The Doc I saw a few days ago? I waited maybe 15 minutes in the lounge. 5 minutes in the exam room.

I just got an email from them requesting I answer their survey of how my visit went.

Awesome!

However, this doc is good, really good, so I will give him high marks.

On the other hand, every time I go through the Walgreens drive through to pick up a prescription, I get one of their emails asking how my visit went. I'm just picking up a script through the drive through, how could they screw that up? I tend to just ignore and delete those surveys where there is minimal contact. Sometimes email survey question of this sort of minimal interaction seem to go on for page after page after page and many questions, and it seems silly.

EDIT to add: I just received an email from the USPS inviting me to answer a survey about Informed Delivery, which I do use and it works very well for me. The email reads "A brief 10 minute survey". Really, 10 minutes of my time is BRIEF? And it's just for Informed Delivery? Scheezzzz!

I'm happy with Informed Delivery, but how about you guys at USPS send me a survey about our worse than crappy mailwoman? And the slow clerks with bad attitudes at the retail counter? I'll see your 10 minute survey and raise you 10 minutes more!

I don't mind surveys, if reasonable.
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quote:

I'm just picking up a script through the drive through, how could they screw that up?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Like Joe Pesci says "They always fuck you at the drive through."

You have just been lucky. Examples are missing credit card, wrong prescription and terrible speakers. (I think they use old speakers from Jack in the Box.

I must be pretty lucky as I never have to wait that long. usually 5-20 minutes and once on a while maybe 30 to 45 minutes. My doctors are also great seeing me on short notice if it is something urgent rather than be told first appointment available is 6 weeks. I do go to larger practices though other than my dermatologist, so that may make a difference.

I wonder how people would feel about a hard limit on time spent with their MD per appointment as that may help with seeing people more on time?

^^^^ Oh yeah, I forgot, glad you mentioned that. "Like Joe Pesci says "They always fuck you at the drive through."

You have just been lucky. Examples are missing credit card, wrong prescription and terrible speakers. (I think they use old speakers from Jack in the Box."

About 3 months ago I picked up several scripts at the drive though at Wallygreen.

Didn't need them that day, so I sat them on the counter for a couple of days.

That's why I didn't notice, at first, that one of the scripts was for somebody else. Different name than mine, and they always ask me to confirm my address, but that bottle didn't even have the same house number, or street name. They really screwed the pooch on that one.

I was pissed, of course, so I decided to drive back over, walk in and ask for the head pharmacist. I handed it to him, told him that was not mine. Dude musta had a brain fart, he asked me how I got it!!! I told him, well you guys gave me it to me, duh.

He turned sorta pale and thanked me for bringing it back in. Then it occured to me that I could have taken a pic of the bottle label and called the State Board of Pharmacy and gave it to them, but I didn't.

We all make mistakes, of course, but they have a system in place of asking patients to confirm the address. Didn't work this time.

I get it, all pharmacies short staff now, they think they have enough staff, but they don't, gotta make that projected profit metric. The phone is ringing off the wall, too many customers waiting in line for over 30 minutes, etc. I feel sorry for the pharmacy techs and clerks, they don't get paid enough and they get hammered by pharmacy managers. I don't complain to them, why make them miserable. Pharmacists, who are in charge of the shift, yeah I will tell them, nicely of course but firmly. Nothing they can do about it either, corporate tells the how many to schedule and that *should* be enough, but it's not. The old saying that a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link comes to mine. Shoulda woulda coulda does not trump "shit happens and reality".
.

^^^^^
I guess I hit it lucky with pharmacy. I use the pharmacy in a local Publix grocery store. Many drugs are free there, even without insurance, and I find that most others are less expensive than at other pharmacies.

The head pharmacist at this location takes good care of me. When I picked up one prescription he told me that he was taking me off the insurance plan for that particular medicine.

I asked why, he told me that the Publix cash price for non-insured customers was lower than my insurance co-pay for that drug, so he was treating me as an uninsured cash customer that day.

My wife was on her way to the doctor. She came across a crash that stopped all traffic for like 20 minutes. She called and told the receptionist what was occurring and that she would be a little late. Girl said that’s fine. Wife got to the office 3 minutes after her appointment and the head nurse was real pissy and rude and told my wife “your late, you need to reschedule”. This doctor is ALWAYS late… 30-90 minutes is the norm. My wife fired the doctor right then and there…

^^^^^

quote:

nurse was real pissy and rude and told my wife “your late, you need to reschedule”.

A nurse pulled that crap on me just a few weeks ago.

There was a question about something that was going on with my eye, I arrived at the retina specialist at 11:15. Nurse started to give me some shit about being late for my alleged 11:00 appointment. I didn't say a word to her, just pulled my phone out of my pocket, and showed her the email that I had received, reminding me of the 11:20 appointment (an appointment that had been in my calendar for a couple weeks).

Nurse: "Well, that's wrong."

V-Tail: "If it's wrong, you need to get your system fixed."

Nurse: <silence>

Did the same thing a few years ago.
I walked into my doctor's office and saw 2 other people sitting in the waiting room. I was thinking that it was going to easy in and out. Then the 2 people (man and wife) started complaining that they'd been there over an hour and nothing.
I promptly got up and walked out. Didn't say a word.
Found a different doctor and it's a father and son practice. Timely and efficient. Happy that I left the other doctor.