[geofitz13]

My wife fell and broke both ankles while in South Carolina on 8/17. We went to a local Urgent Care where they took xrays and splinted her. They advised to see an ortho as soon as possible. They gave us the written report as well as a disc containing the xrays.
8/19 we call our provider, and are told we could see a PA late in the afternoon. (At this point, she is in excruciating pain, meds not helping.) I told them that we had xrays in hand, along with physicians's report, and we needed to see ortho. They refused, said the PA needed to see her to evaluate. We then called ortho directly. I again told them we had xrays and report, and the condition my wife was in. They said they could fit her in in OCTOBER. Two broken ankles and they think she should wait two months. We then called an ambulance to have her taken to the Villages Hospital. We were advised to go to Ocala, as Villages hospital was not capable of treating this type of injury. So off to Ocala we went. She was re-xrayed, resplinted, and was told to see their ortho ASAP. We saw him about two hours later. Examined, resplinted (because VHS would not allow him to put her in boots, wants their own supplier) and sent on her way. Fortunately, no surgery was needed, but it was explained that if she had not been treated promptly, she could have further injured herself.
Is it reasonable for VHS ortho to defer treatment for two freshly broken ankles for TWO MONTHS?? The docs at Ocala certainly didn't think so.
We both have the same PC in VHS, and I have an appointment scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. She is going to get an earful. As will the people in the VHS office in Sumter Landing. Again, two broken ankles, don't bother treating for two months?? I think this is borderline malpractice.

[biker1]

I generally believe you are better off going outside The Villages Health (both the primary care and speciality offices) for something "challenging". UofFlorida/Shands in Gainesville is another good option for ortho.

Originally Posted by geofitz13

VHS Is this reasonable?

My wife fell and broke both ankles while in South Carolina on 8/17. We went to a local Urgent Care where they took xrays and splinted her. They advised to see an ortho as soon as possible. They gave us the written report as well as a disc containing the xrays.
8/19 we call our provider, and are told we could see a PA late in the afternoon. (At this point, she is in excruciating pain, meds not helping.) I told them that we had xrays in hand, along with physicians's report, and we needed to see ortho. They refused, said the PA needed to see her to evaluate. We then called ortho directly. I again told them we had xrays and report, and the condition my wife was in. They said they could fit her in in OCTOBER. Two broken ankles and they think she should wait two months. We then called an ambulance to have her taken to the Villages Hospital. We were advised to go to Ocala, as Villages hospital was not capable of treating this type of injury. So off to Ocala we went. She was re-xrayed, resplinted, and was told to see their ortho ASAP. We saw him about two hours later. Examined, resplinted (because VHS would not allow him to put her in boots, wants their own supplier) and sent on her way. Fortunately, no surgery was needed, but it was explained that if she had not been treated promptly, she could have further injured herself.
Is it reasonable for VHS ortho to defer treatment for two freshly broken ankles for TWO MONTHS?? The docs at Ocala certainly didn't think so.
We both have the same PC in VHS, and I have an appointment scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. She is going to get an earful. As will the people in the VHS office in Sumter Landing. Again, two broken ankles, don't bother treating for two months?? I think this is borderline malpractice.

[gadaboutgal]

I think I would have made an appointment with an Ortho before even calling my GP. Does your insurance require you to have a referral?

[graciegirl]

Most of us would only give opinions and if we missed or you missed a tiny part of the narrative, it could be another situation entirely.

You did find help. She has been treated. I hope she is well soon.

[rustyp]

My guess is if you would have went to the PA as suggested in the beginning the ending at VHS would have been much different. Just like lawyers and judges they work with each other every day. Never assume they will break their cronyism for someone they only see once in a while.

[Bjeanj]

To answer your question: no, I don’t think you’re being unreasonable.

However, in my experience with a PA, I think you would have found her/him working closely with the ortho doctor in resolving the pain issues and any other concerns you had. This is one of several reasons I don’t care for Medicare Advantage/managed health systems. Two months is outrageous, and you should have had the option of finding an ortho who could fit you in.

And I’m sorry both you and your wife went through this.

[graciegirl]

What is VHS?

[geofitz13]

We did try ortho directly. They are the ones who said two months. They said they don't do same or next day visits. Really left us no choice but to call for ambulance. The EMT's are the ones who told us to go to Ocala, saying that The Villages Hospital would just send her there anyway, as they we're "not equipped to care for this kind of injury." I asked them to repeat that, because I found it hard to believe.

[geofitz13]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

What is VHS?

Villages Health System (Services?}

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by geofitz13

We did try ortho directly. They are the ones who said two months. They said they don't do same or next day visits. Really left us no choice but to call for ambulance. The EMT's are the ones who told us to go to Ocala, saying that The Villages Hospital would just send her there anyway, as they we're "not equipped to care for this kind of injury." I asked them to repeat that, because I found it hard to believe.

Which ortho office did you call? Two months for an acute injury? I'm horrified!

[geofitz13]

Originally Posted by rustyp

My guess is if you would have went to the PA as suggested in the beginning the ending at VHS would have been much different. Just like lawyers and judges they work with each other every day. Never assume they will break their cronyism for someone they only see once in a while.

"Break their cronyism"??? Are you joking?? She is their PATIENT, they have a legal responsiblilty to provide services. Ortho made it clear that they do not do same day or next day visits. It was made quite clear that a physician had already recommended seeing ortho as soon as possible. The folks in Ocala were pretty clear in that she could have exacerbated the injury if we had waited for the time suggested by Villages ortho.
I'm only trying to see if our expectations of service are unreasonable. I think I may be looking at something other than the Villages Health System when we renew next year.

[rjm1cc]

No you are not unreasonable but maybe the PA visit would have speed things up. They probably have more patients than they have staff to handle and the PA stop helps to make sure that only critical injuries jump ahead of the line. I think things will get worse as there will be many more patients than medical personal in the future.

[thelegges]

So you were advised by an EMT that did not have access of the fracture on the X-ray disk, that Villages Hospital would send her to Ocala? Because they could not treat this type of injury.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by geofitz13

My wife fell and broke both ankles while in South Carolina on 8/17. We went to a local Urgent Care where they took xrays and splinted her. They advised to see an ortho as soon as possible. They gave us the written report as well as a disc containing the xrays.
8/19 we call our provider, and are told we could see a PA late in the afternoon. (At this point, she is in excruciating pain, meds not helping.) I told them that we had xrays in hand, along with physicians's report, and we needed to see ortho. They refused, said the PA needed to see her to evaluate. We then called ortho directly. I again told them we had xrays and report, and the condition my wife was in. They said they could fit her in in OCTOBER. Two broken ankles and they think she should wait two months. We then called an ambulance to have her taken to the Villages Hospital. We were advised to go to Ocala, as Villages hospital was not capable of treating this type of injury. So off to Ocala we went. She was re-xrayed, resplinted, and was told to see their ortho ASAP. We saw him about two hours later. Examined, resplinted (because VHS would not allow him to put her in boots, wants their own supplier) and sent on her way. Fortunately, no surgery was needed, but it was explained that if she had not been treated promptly, she could have further injured herself.
Is it reasonable for VHS ortho to defer treatment for two freshly broken ankles for TWO MONTHS?? The docs at Ocala certainly didn't think so.
We both have the same PC in VHS, and I have an appointment scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. She is going to get an earful. As will the people in the VHS office in Sumter Landing. Again, two broken ankles, don't bother treating for two months?? I think this is borderline malpractice.

That is upsetting to say the least. That sounds like an emergency that she have gotten her an appointment right away.

[Marathon Man]

Originally Posted by rustyp

My guess is if you would have went to the PA as suggested in the beginning the ending at VHS would have been much different. Just like lawyers and judges they work with each other every day. Never assume they will break their cronyism for someone they only see once in a while.

I think that is a reasonable guess. Skipping this step after being told not to brought things to a stop.

So, to answer the question. No, you were not being unreasonable. Your wife was in pain and you were trying your best to help her. I seems to me that VHS was moving you along, just not as fast as you would like. Maybe because it was not life threatening (just a guess)?