• Hello there guest and Welcome to The #1 Classic Mustang forum!
    To gain full access you must Register. Registration is free and it takes only a few moments to complete.
    Already a member? Login here then!

I hate lazy receptionists

K

Kats66Pny

Active Member
All I want to do is go to the damn Dr to get my wrist/hand looked at. Only been in pain for 5 days.. and this morning it's worse. Feels like my wrist and the top of my hand was stabbed with a BFK. But no, stupid receptionist doesn't want to do their fucking job and CALL the damn insurance to verify I have no copay. She actually told me they won't call and verify.. they don't have the manpower or time to do it, yet can sit there and talk to me for 30 min about the shit!! :wtf

:soapboxrant

God I miss Tricare and base clinics.
 
Just stab yourself with a BFK in the wrist and the doctor will see you immediately! They don't like to mop up the blood in their waiting rooms.
 
I was told the doctor wouldn't call me and that I couldn't talk to him the other day. That pisses me off more than anything. When I see him on Friday for my appointment, I will be discussing that with him.

Now the problem has changed from what I wanted to talk to him about to this new one....

Doctors are not Omnipotent!

Mel
 
No, they are not.....but....

Having dealt with doctors and both my parents with cancer and all the crap my wife deals with daily, I have seen a bunch of doctor offices.....not a pro, just some observations.

A person calls and wants to talk to the dr or have him call back.... Most offices schedule patients every 15/30 min. One takes a bit more...he is behind. Then the phone call....does he take it while seeing another person (I would be pissed if I was that person he was seeing and took the call)....does he put off the next person for the 5 min. the phone takes(again, I am upset to be seeing him late again)....he has not seen your records and has not committed them to memory so he has to take the time to review, make a decision, and return your call(putting off more patients)....and you are not available.....and the process starts over with all a bit more pissed. Now, what if he happens to be in surgery all day....how many people call several times if there is no call back. I would really hate to be the person on the table when he takes a call. He does also deserve time to sleep so he can be alert when you show up for the appointment the next day too.

There are a ton of variables as to if a doctor will take a call or call you back depending on what type doctor he/she is. My wife has a GP that will sit and chat a bit with each person. She does no surgeries, and has a limited number of patients. Took us a special hook up to get bumped on the list. Cost is the same as others but she likes a more personal care. Most of the time, she is within 5 min. of being on schedule.

Anyway....as I said, just some observations.
 
Well, Pete with the 6-7 doctors we have I only have one that will not talk to me and I think he doesn't even know I would like to talk to him. I doubt his staff even told him.

I don't expect him to take the call right away, he is welcome to call me back at the end of the day or the next day. All the other doctors with my crap and my wife's cancer have called us and just asked how things were going. My surgeon emails me and asks how things are going. I emailed him this morning and got a response earlier and have sent him a FAX of the form I need filled out for DMV so I can pick it up on Thursday when I am there.

IMHO, if a doctor has so many patients that he can not return a phone call, he has too many and should either get a partner or stop taking new patients.

All your points are valid, I want to make sure you know I understand that. However, I have a level of service I have become accustom to and I do not wish to compromise it in any way. Part of what I ask when I interview potential doctors is if they have a problem calling me, talking to me on the phone or taking my calls. If they say they would rather I speak to their nurse, I keep looking. If the wait to get an appointment is weeks or I have to wait more than 1/2 hour to see him in his office, not the doctor for me.

Maybe I expect too much, but like anyone else I have to be comfortable and happy with my GP, Cardiologist, Surgeon and so on.

My dentist will see me on any day at any time I want to make the trip. He is still in Brawley and due to a phobia of dentists I refuse to change.

Anyway, I don't believe his secretaries passed the message on to him and don't believe he is even aware of the issue.

Mel
 
Our GP must have a good office then.

If I call re: me or one of the boys if it's somewhat urgent they will make time to see us. For example if I call and say one of the boys is running a fever. If I have a question, either the gal answering the phone will go ask him and then call back with the answer or he calls back personally when he gets a chance...like at the start of lunch break. Sometimes it's the end of the day but that's cool if the question is not urgent. Obviously if it's something serious I'd go to the ER and not call the GP.

He did at one time however have a receptionist that was a complete bitch but mysteriously she is gone now. :roll
 
My issue wasn't an urgent one, but more of a policy issue. I was told it came right from the doctor. I wasn't confident this third party communication was being represented correctly from either side. So I asked to speak to the doctor which was the source of the decision and was told no.

Today, I spoke to another representative and told him that the issue was no longer the first one, but the issue was now the ability to speak to my doctor. He and I agree that they are just too busy for me to receive the level of service I desire and I will get cleared by my doctor for my heart on Friday and then we will go our separate directions.

I wish them well in the future.

Mel
 
That is a good option if you are in an area that has enough doctors. Not everyone has that luxury. Some specialists here have not taken new patients in years so one keeps the good ones they have....even if they are to busy for a phone call. And no, I am not chasing around the country to find an available doctor because my daughters family is here.
 
"guruatbol" said:
IMHO, if a doctor has so many patients that he can not return a phone call, he has too many and should either get a partner or stop taking new patients.

Mel
Click to expand...


according to reports- The US has 3.12 doctors per thousand people, or about 950,000 physicians in the entire country.

Just saying... :confu
 
Just stab yourself with a BFK in the wrist and the doctor will see you immediately! They don't like to mop up the blood in their waiting rooms.
Click to expand...

I'm about too!! Until my husband can get the insurance stuff figured out and why all these Dr offices are saying I have to pay a copay or the other who said 10% of the bill time of services rendered when the plan he has states we don't pay a dime out of pocket right now ... I can't get go see Dr about my wrist. :shrug It hurts like a son of a bitch too. :bomb
 
Kat is there an Instacare near you? You know a clinic for just such a thing?

I had some stitches done at one in Cali once and since that was all I needed, it didn't matter which doctor I saw.

We have one here in Cedar City as well run by the hospital that takes walk-ins. If you don't care what doctor you see. I would call them first and tell them what your insurance is and ask the questions.

The last resort is to go to the ER before it gets worse.

Mel
 
How much is the co-pay they want from you? Why not just pay it and get looked at? Square things up with the insurance provider when the dust settles on the final bill. Kinda silly to suffer over something like a co-pay.
 
There's a couple urgent care/walk in clinics close but they are wanting 10% of whatever the total bill would be that day. Screw them. The general practice Drs I've called want something like $40-50 copay, and I would be a new patient no matter what Dr I decided to go to which means 1-2wk wait for a new patient appt.

I said hell with it. Went and bought an ace bandage, wrapped my wrist and hand up, and taking 800mg motrin (thanks to military Drs..I have a lifetime supply of that shit).
 
Maybe I missed it somewhere but how did your hand get hurt in the first place? If you could be dealing with a break or fracture it is not wise to wait. The potential for bad things and long term problems are many.
I thought your husband was military. Is he now civilian and you are dealing with regular insurance?
 
Some times it is best to get taken care of and then fight the insurance. That hand could really be a pain later in life. The older I get, the more I can pinpoint early life screwups with no care given.....
 
"AzPete" said:
Some times it is best to get taken care of and then fight the insurance. That hand could really be a pain later in life. The older I get, the more I can pinpoint early life screwups with no care given.....
Click to expand...

+1

I had a bad break in my arm one time when I was about 15 years old. Broke both bones at something like a 30 degree angle. Broke it on a Friday afternoon...Doctor reset the broken bone and said go home and keep it elevated / ice it. I did just that Friday night and all day Saturday. By Sunday I was bored out of my mind so when mom wasn't looking I slipped out and went down the street to play football with my buddies. At school on Monday my arm was hurting like a son of a bitch. The school nurse looked at it and sent me straight to the doctor since my fingers were so swollen they were turning blue / purple.

I still have trouble with that arm / wrist at times to this day.
 
My husband was military. He got out in Feb 09 so dealing with civilian health insurance... BCBS Horizon MyWay HRA to be exact.

I doubt it's broken. I don't even know if it's sprained. I didn't do anything that would cause it to be broken or sprained. That's the confusing part. I woke up one morning and it was hurting. Figured maybe I slept on it wrong or something. :shrug
Maybe carpal tunnel? I often get very sharp excruciating pains in both palms of the hand when doing simple things.. like trying to hold a dish while washing it, or holding a broom sweeping the floor. But the pain I'm having now isn't the usual pain in the palm and thumb. Its on the top part of my hand and goes down to the wrist and down the arm a little.
 
"Kats66Pny" said:
My husband was military. He got out in Feb 09 so dealing with civilian health insurance... BCBS Horizon MyWay HRA to be exact.

I doubt it's broken. I don't even know if it's sprained. I didn't do anything that would cause it to be broken or sprained. That's the confusing part. I woke up one morning and it was hurting. Figured maybe I slept on it wrong or something. :shrug
Maybe carpal tunnel? I often get very sharp excruciating pains in both palms of the hand when doing simple things.. like trying to hold a dish while washing it, or holding a broom sweeping the floor. But the pain I'm having now isn't the usual pain in the palm and thumb. Its on the top part of my hand and goes down to the wrist and down the arm a little.
Click to expand...

If you've been working on the car a lot gripping tools, etc that will do it to you.
 
I have BCBS and if you call them and get a name and phone number, you can ask the DR office to call them and they will verify the co-pay amount.

They seem pretty easy to deal with.

My co-pay is $20 for an office visit or InstaCare and $50 for ER.

I would not let it go another day, get it looked at ASAP and pay the co-pay or have the Dr call BCBS to verify the zero co-pay. Really they are easy to deal with. I have many hours working with the billing departments of providers and the BCBS people. I have had very few issues. To be exact only one.

The hospital has a contract with BCBS of Utah and mine is BCBS of California. The requirements for pre-authorization is different and someone dropped the ball and didn't get something pre-authorized and the insurance company denied payment. I had to go through the appeal process and call all the people involved in the procedure and get records Faxed over. It took about two months to get the insurance company what they needed and then they paid the bill. since we met the total out of pocket for the year they paid 100%.

So, get your hand looked at and get er done!!!!!!

Mel
 
"sgtjunior" said:
according to reports- The US has 3.12 doctors per thousand people, or about 950,000 physicians in the entire country.

Just saying... :confu
Click to expand...

I'm going to make my life easy and go to a doctor that works in the hospital I go to and who shares the same computer network as my surgeon and cardiologist.

I just have to get cleared and send a letter to my Worker's Comp people advising them of the change. This way any of the doctor's can access the computer system and see the notes from my last visit. I am picking up a copy of my records from the old doctor Friday and will make a copy and give it to the new doctor when I see him for the first time. No rush since I will not need to see another doctor until July, (Cardio) and probably the GP.

It is not hard to get an appointment and the wait times are about 15 minutes. It seems it is easier to me. I have been thinking of doing this for months now anyway.

But yes you are right, there are not that many doctors out there anymore that are a GP. Many of them are specializing and so many of them are finding a place to work that has a deep pocket to protect them from law suites and such. The single doctor family practice is all but dead. which is too bad. We live in a very small area, but have a large area with a large number of retired folks pretty close and therefore we have lots of doctors here. Just few that practice family medicine. We do have many doctors that practice a more holistic approach.

One thing we looked into when we bought here was the medical care available.

Mel
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top