Hi Chuckinca, That's not so bad. My husband switched doctors because his doctor was no longer on his company's medical plan. His doctor charged $25 to transfer the medical records. I thought that was a bit much.

BTW, I just noticed you've entered the Sage stage. :beer3:

gutdul981 didn't ask me if the doc was in the Villages. He asked another poster. In my case, he is not.

And Pturner, this is not the same one with my wife earlier this month. I have bad luck with doctors down here.

Part of the problem is that my docs were my personal friends in NY and they were much more accommodating.

I waited in the doctors office for two hrs and left. I called the next day and they told me how sorry they were and could I be there that day at 12:15. I waited 1hr and 40 minutes and left. That same day I ended up in the hospital. These doctors were called and for two days never showed up nor returned the hospitals call. when i checked out i was told to call them for appointment, that will not happen !

One of Sandy's doctors moved to a different group practice. The old office wanted to charge her $50 to transfer her file to the new place. They didn't realize who they were dealing with.............when the dust settled, they sent it for $0. :)

Bill

OMG. That's inexcusable. I hope you are OK.

Good for her! At some point, you just expect some common decency.

Irresponsible
 

Many patients are irresponsible and unreliable to call and cancel. I forgot mine when my husband was admitted to ER with chest pain. They schedule appointments with that in mind. As Doctor House says on TV " all patients lie". Other patients have priorities and have to be worked in from an appointment the day before when something very bad was discovered. Some patients experiences sudden deaths in the familly and cannot cope and need attention today. Others are suddenly suicidal and need a doctors help immediately for hope and a plan. I have seen Doctors cry and they need some time to regroup just like any other human being. They have known their patients over 30 years and it is hard on them as it is on the family.

Doctors have to wait also, the lab results get behind, the Xray reports need to be faxed. Many patients are doctor hoppers. You have to get to the bottom of things,,sometimes the patients are drug seekers. Some patients need their pain meds because their own children are stealing them and social services need to be contacted.

The doctors are contacted by ERs, Urgent Cares, Nursing homes, Hospitals, and Hospice all day long besides their office appts. They run late because they are CARING. I have very high regards for all doctors. I wait.

No sick person should EVER have to wait (EIGHT HOURS as I have on many occasions) or over an hour to be attended to. If the dr's office or outpatient office has long unreasonable wait time, they are understaffed. That's the main reason why the long waits.

I've been to many well-staffed medical facilities and know the difference. The well-run facilities work a more humane schedule. Yes, this is certainly a reason why some patients are what you call "doctor hoppers." Why should someone sick sit in a waiting room for hours each and every appointment? I have a very high regard for doctors who know how to manage their time for sick people. That certainly helps one feel safer to be in good hands.

A fine example of "well staffed" is the new VA facility here in TV. Hubby goes there and is extremely pleased and impressed with their operations. They are strict with the appointments and well staffed to a point where there's no crowds waiting and waiting. A great example and kudos to those looking after our military heroes!

A few years ago, I developed a fairly close relationship with a guy at the gym. We worked out together most mornings. He is a doctor, and at that time, he was in a large medical group of about 100 doctors. He was head of a committee to "straighten out" some major problems the group was having. He told me that the majority of the doctors in the group were "uncooperative" and had a "superiority attitude." He said that their appointment scheduling was a nightmare and almost unmanageable. He further said that most of the docs had joined the group to cut down on office expense and individual malpractice fees. But, he said, they didn't want to conform to a group mentality. They still wanted to be the kings of their own castle, subsequently refusing to conform to convention. The word he used most often was "arrogant."

Frankly, I would put more stock in his testimony than I would a television actor who portrays an annoyingly arrogant doctor.

The more we quietly sit and wait for these medical professional to "get around to seeing us" the more they will do it. I personally think they don't care that we are sitting out there for hours. We are just dollar signs to many of them. Just observe how attentive they are when you try to talk to them. "See you back here in two weeks, NEXT!"

JLK

Like Wharton Jelly, I believe that most doctors are well meaning and caring. Sometimes office staff are PITAs, but that can happen anywhere, stores, restaurants, etc.

When I was seriously ill, I was parachuted to the front of the line, and others had to wait.

Now I take a coffee and a good book to the doctor's office. Waiting is a normal part of life, why stress about it?

While I agree that some Health Care Professionals have an attitude problem lest we forget that some of us Seniors can be less than gracious at times .When you go to the office do you know what your meds are,are you specific in what your ailments are,do you treat the staff as you expect to be treated,are you on time for your appointment? Remember everyone in that waiting room does not want to be there so a positive attitude will help.

This can work if you are retired and have nothing else to do. But when you have responsibilities to tend to, it's not a workable solution. If you are late, does the doctor ever wait for you?

I am always on or before my appointment time. I always have a list of my medications, which is none, and I am specific and articulate when I describe my ailment. It's sometimes hard to be respectful to the office staff when they ignore your arrival then slam the glass door in your face so they don't have to be disturbed by the customers.

I guess you can see this is a major peeve of mine. For several years, I was president of a large international medical treatment company. Doctors all over the world reported to me. I have a pretty good understanding of how this all works.

When I was working, my employer allowed us to go to doctor's appointments during working hours. I always scheduled mine right after lunch when the staff would be returning and I would be the first patient. The dental staff came in the door right at 1 o'clock along with a former employee who was now a representative with a dental supply company. They ALL proceeded to engage this person in conversation for fifteen minutes after which I got up, put on my coat and walked out the door. Haven't been back since.

I have been a receptionist in a medical clinic and had very good training! I will say that some days things happen that are out of our control. However...that being said there can also be soddy office practices as well.
I have also been a patient and recipient of poor "customer service" in a clinical setting. These individuals need to know how we feel about having to wait. We can tell them (nicely) in person AND follow-up with a letter to the office manager as well as the doctor--outlining exactly what happened and how we too should feel our business of being there is important. If people would do this in a respectful manner---sugar gets us further than vinegar---change may come about.

And then after having to wait and wait at the doctors office, you take the prescription he (or she) has just given you and head to your pharmacy. That's where I (Barry the Pharmacist) comes into the picture. You hand in your prescription at the drop off window and the tech tells you it will be a 30 minute wait. Inside, you are probably wondering why it would take 30 minutes to count 30 pills and put them in a bottle. It really only takes a few minutes to fill your prescription. The problem is that there are 200 prescriptions in front of yours. So, on behalf of all pharmacists everywhere I apologize! We know you don't feel well. We know that you have probably spent much longer in the doctors office then you had planned to. We know that you probably have a bunch of things that still need to get done that day and now you are way behind schedule. But the very large corporations that we work for just let us have the minimum amount of labor to do the job and no more. If someone calls in sick, or there is an unexpected rush, your wait time can easily be 2 hours in some busy stores. My Dad, who was also a pharmacist, would be spinning in his grave if he heard this. But the amount of prescriptions getting filled each day has grown tremendously over the last 10 years. If it was up to us pharmacists, you would all get your prescriptions filled promptly and we would have the time to discuss them with you in detail if you'd like.