The Waiting Room

[Guest zipperzone]

>I work in a large office with dozens of doctors. In my

>experience, doctors who run behind tend to be better doctors

>than those who run on time. A number of reasons could account

>for this observation: (1) doctors who are more thorough run

>later, (2) doctors who spend more time explaining the

>patients' health problems and options will also run later, (3)

>doctors who are more popular and therefore have a lower

>no-show rate will run later, and (4) better doctors will have

>more complicated patients referred to them (by other doctors

>as well as by patients).

 

 

Wow - have they ever got you brain-washed!

[Guest zipperzone]

>I can understand when the doctor has an emergency or is

>running behind schedule but his office has an obligation to

>let people know when they arrive that they will have a waiting

>time.

 

That very thing happened to me. I had an appointment with a GP that I had been going to for some time. He was not the most prompt at the best of times but this day it became ridiculous.

 

I waited for over an hour. There was no one in the waiting room except myself and the front office rocket scientist behind the reception desk. After an hour, I stood up and told her I couldn't wait any longer, and left.

 

As it turned out, the doctor wasn't even in the building, having been called to an emergency at the hospital.

 

I completly understand that the emergency would take preferance. What I do not, and cannot understand is why his girl would not tell me of the circumstances and give me the option to wait or reschedule. Not once did she ever open her mouth to say a word about what was happening.

 

To his credit, the doctor did phone me at home later that night to apologise, but for me it was too little, too late. I found me another GP.

[+ newatthis]

RE: HMO waiting game...

 

Well, I use an HMO, and the wonderful PCP I wrote of earlier in this thread takes their insurance. Never a problem getting an appointment, and he refers to specialists whom I want to see and who run their practices the same way he does.

 

I'm quite willing to believe that my experience is exceptional among HMO patients. Though I chose the HMO option because it's substantially cheaper, my attitude has always been that I'll switch out to a PPO at the first sign of the kinds of problems others have written about.

 

The other thing I like is that my HMO is terrific at intervening and sorting out the billing messes that happen from time to time. For example, I have a fairly common name, and I was once billed repeatedly for someone else's medical expenses by the larger organization my PCP's practice is part of. Repeated calls to the billing department brought lots of promises, but no results. When I called my HMO, *they* called the billing department and had the problem fixed without any additional intervention on my part.

[+ deej]

RE: HMO waiting game...

 

>This year they dropped everything accept a supplimental policy making

>basic health coverage solely the responsibility of their employees. I >fear we will be seeing more of this from employers as time goes on. :-(

 

Yep. We will see more and more of it.

 

All I can really say is it will get better, or it won't. (The latter is more likely.)

 

I've seen my own monthly expense for PPO triple just in the last year. I'll keep it as long as I can afford it. <sigh>

[Guest]

Your experience points out how rude front office staff can completely screw up a practice. Did you let the doctor know how pissed off you were about your experience with the receptionist? What was his reaction if you did? Just as the response from an escort to a poor review says more about the escort than the review itself, the doctors' response to your poor treatment by the front office staff says more about him than his rude receptionist. If his reaction wasn't "I can't believe you weren't kept informed. I'm going to talk with X and make sure that doesn't happen again!" then I can understand why you would take your business elsewhere. If your doctor is a member of an IPA and/or HMO and/or PPO, you might want to write to them as well. I guess certain escorts don't have a monopoly on rudeness.

[Guest]

RE: HMO waiting game...

 

>One even went so far

>as to inform me that as a "public servant" I was required to

>wait till he arrived regardless of how late he was.

 

It sounds like this doctor was a rather childish narcissist. Often these people were never given limits as children, and therefore feel it's OK to act like a spoiled brat as adults. Our system has a recording while waiting for an appointment clerk which says "If you are more than 15 minutes late for your appointment, you will have to reschedule for another day." Just as with spoiled children, the correct treatment for adults with delusions of entitlement is to set limits and stick to them (as you did). Of course, it's very important to be supported in this by your boss or your "system."

[Guest zipperzone]

>If

>your doctor is a member of an IPA and/or HMO and/or PPO, you

>might want to write to them as well.

 

I live in Canada and we don't have the above noted "things" - I know what HMO means but am clueless about the other two.

[+ Charlie]

Because it is so difficult to get an appointment with my partner's GP, yesterday I decided to take him to the local hospital ER rather than wait any longer as he got sicker and sicker. To my surprise, it was a wonderful experience. The staff were pleasant and efficient, he was seen immediately, diagnosed and treated, given prescriptions and told where to fill them, and was back home in bed, all in less than an hour. No wonder every doctor's office recorded message tells you to go to an ER if you're having a serious problem. (Note: my experience with ER's suggests that it is best to go around 8-9am, when the victims of bar brawls, drive-by shootings, etc., have been taken care of and fresh staff is arriving for the day shift.)

[+ ArVaGuy]

RE: HMO waiting game...

 

>Isn't "crappy HMO" from the department of redundancy

>department? :9

>

 

I was chatting with a friend of mine about his HMO experience recently and he's convinced they are trying to kill him. At least he feels that way, since he's lived a long while with HIV and figures they no longer see him as profitable. Some of the stories he tells would be funny if they were not so frighteningly true.

[Guest]

An IPA, or independent practice association is a group of doctors who get together to negotiate contracts with HMO's. They're intermediaries between a private practice physician and the insurance company (HMO). With PPO insurance, the insuree pays $X to see a physician who's contracted with the PPO, and $X+$Y to see any other physican you choose. Usually, there's a very stiff incentive to see PPO-contracted physicians.

[+ Lucky]

The doctor apologized. His appt. with me was a two minute one. He could have waited to do his phone call until he had seen me since he knew I had driven 120 miles to get there and had the same to return. I had specifically scheduled the time to try to avoid rush hour traffic on the return.

 

But it looks like my thread has created some conversation here, so you can't complain about that.

[+ Lucky]

I hope he is feeling better.