NFRC Okay, before my head explodes, tell me if this is unreasonable! Dr.'s appt

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dawnnys

Well-known member
Doctor's appt was at 11:15, left plenty of time for travel but had traffic tie-ups and got there at 11:20. I always have to wait at least 10 minutes before my appointment and so although I was 5 minutes late, I figured there would be no problem.

Receptionist tells me that the doctor is already running behind schedule, that I'd have to reschedule. Whaaa...? I was expecting, at most, to have to wait a little while if they'd taken the next appt before me. "I'll wait." "No, you have to reschedule" - another week, no less... "we don't have any openings today". Yeeesss, you have my opening! And then I walked out.

I got up early, took son to babysitter, used up a half gallon of gas - no wait, that's 2 gallons of gas for 2 round trips -, and they make me reschedule? No "sorry", no flu shot, no results from blood tests; meds need refilling, health problems will continue, another trip up there to waste more gas, another babysitter - ARRGHHH!!

Does this make any sense at all to anyone? Am I clueless or does it sound like they just used me as an excuse to catch up on bad scheduling on their part and then put the blame back on me?! Good thing they're not taking my blood pressure now... anyone ever have a similar situation/problem so that I can commiserate??! I'm having quite a week.

 
We arrived 6 minutes late for a 'well baby' check when my son was an infant. The office girl...

...told us that since we were late (6 minutes!) that we would have to reschedule.

We complained to the office manager over the next few days. She said since our baby was not ill and just in for a check up, we have to be on time.

I'd have told her to take a hike and never returned, but the doctor, whom we love, called us a day or two later and asked us not to go elsewhere.

They're usually prompt about getting you in on time, if you show up on time, but there have been times when we showed up on time and had to wait 20 min. to a half hour to get to a treatment room. And you know how long you have to wait once you're in there!

Michael

 
Oy! If you were actually signing in at the desk at 11:20, I'd definitely say

it was unreasonable, especially if the Dr. is running behind anyway.

 
Absolutely unreasonable! Poorly trained staff. Speak to the doctor directly, they don't want that

kind of PR to ruin their practice. I was receiving miscoded bills from my opthamologist/cataract surgeon, and was told that I would have to call between certain hours to talk to accounting. BS! I mentioned it to my doc and she sent her assistant upstairs to rectify the problem immediately.

Another incident. I was at the podiatrist -- plantar facitis (sp???). He had "given" me a night splint which I was wearing for some relief. I saw it in a catalog (same product) for $60. I got his bill for $200 for the item and hit the roof! Next appointment I took the catalog in and showed him the item and his bill. He was genuinely surprised at the difference and told me to pay his people the amount in the catalog! He said he has little control over the prices in his billing. Whatever!! He dealt with it. If I had left it up to his minions in accounting I would have been sent to a collection agency!

Most doctors don't want to be bothered by cost issues, but they will pay attention if approached in a constructive way.

 
totally unacceptable behavior from the office staff......

I'm an R.N.-have worked in doctor offices and hospitals. This is such bad behavior on the part of the office staff, it borders on abuse of power. Call and ask for the office manager-complain, and ask to speak to your doctor and complain. Then follow up with a written letter to the doctor, and clinic if that is the setup.

I;ve worked in M.D. offices where the desk staff thought they were in charge of life. Many are too young and self-centered to be aware of how difficult it can be to get to the office for many people.

 
Gee,I worked as a RN in an OB/GYN office for many yrs...

and never turned away a client for being 5 min. late for an app't. If you were 20 min. late then definitely reschedule but 5-10 min. late, that's unreasonable. Definitely speak to the Dr. next vs. or call ofc. and request to speak to Dr. personally. Good luck!...Steph

 
Absolutely no sense~ I have been to my dr's appt 15 minutes early and waited only to be told that

they had to cancel my appointment and they rescheduled me ~ I was not happy, because their policy is to bill if you do NOT give a 24hr notice to cancel an appointment ` so I billed them $25.00 for not notifying me 24hr in advance, needless to say that I eventually received a letter that he dr was not taking on new patients and were dropping me ~ I was his patient for 8yrs, so I called my insurance carrier advised them what happened and they took care of it But I did end up having to find a new doctor. ~

 
A view from the other side......

I manage my husbands very large dental practice and it definately creates a problem when patients are late. We NEVER doublebook patients, but our appointments are very carefully scheduled to maximize our productivity and to insure our patients don't wait. That being said, sometimes life happens and being five minutes late should not create a need to reappoint! I always tell my business staff to be understanding with patients when they have a scheduling problem...they are much more likely to be understanding with us when we have one!

 
Private doctor or HMO? Regardless, speak directly to the doctor... there is NO excuse for this!

 
Most Dr's on on "time management" now....it is a system that they are

encouraged to do by insurance companies. The only doctor that I saw who was on that system was an orthopedist surgeon and I never went back. I drove 90 minutes to another town to see a sports medicine specialist who was not on time management.

 
We went to my daughter's appointment....

for her ADHD meds. Of course the doctor never spends more than 15 minutes with us tops. And we have never been that we didn't wait at least 1/2 hour. So we showed up basically right on time. While my daughter was checking/signing in, I went to the restroom and honestly, I was sick so I was in there a few minutes. I came out and she had been called back. They have the mag locks on the doors so I called DD to come let me in since the doctor's office is the first door after you go through the door - 1 minute tops. We got back in there and the doctor SCOLDED me for being late and having to go to the restroom. You know, if you are sick you are sick! I didn't want to tell her that but next time maybe I should give her the whole details of exactly WHAT I was doing in the restroom. Besides, she always tells me to shut up and never looks at us spending the whole time typing things into her computer and writing out the prescription to get us out of there quickly.

 
She tells you to SHUT UP????????????????

The doctor tells you to shut up? ?????????

Did I read that right?

I'm thinking surely I have misread your statement, Missy.

Did you mean to say that your daughter's doctor tells you to shut up?!????

If I am not delusional, and this is indeed what you meant...I can promise you that if that dr said that to me...I'd probably have reported her to the highest official over her. AMA? Whatever! (that is if I hadn't been carted off to jail over my reaction to what she'd said!)

There would be NO excuse for a dr to say that to a client - or a client's mother. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry you have gone though that and I hope you write to say I have somehow misread that!

Egads. What is this world coming to?

*sigh

 
I'm with Gayle... if that dr. actually told you to shut up, her license should be yanked!!!!!

 
Took a beighbor to a gastro appt. We got there 5 minutes EARLY and were told it was not

enough time to fill out the required paperwork and we would have to reshedule!

 
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