Kathie, is it across 441 from Walmart or on the same side of 441? Like in the strip mall that's over there? That's good to know, if it's open till midnight.

That is very good to know. If you can come up with the name of the place, that would be super. I tried googling it but haven't had luck yet.

There is a Children's ER in Ocala at Munroe Regional.

West Marion Hospital on Hwy 200 in Ocala had an average wait time of less than 15 minutes.

Both are 30 minute drives from The Villages

No it is not the folks in Tallahassee. My cousin is an Administrator of a hospital and the first thing he did when he took over the hospital was get the ER wait time to under 15 minutes. Blame the administration of the hospital.

yes, I agree.

Might start with the folks that go there for non-emergencies.

True story:

Last March, while walking in to be with my husband in ICU, my daughter and I encountered a couple who wanted to know if one of us had a light. I told them that we didn't, but they could not smoke on the hospital property anyway. Her response:

"Oh, we know, but I have to go to the ER and know that it's going to be a long wait so we wanted to have one last cigarette first." Emergency??!! I think not. It was still daylight so plenty of time to go to Urgent Care. As for the money, they could do without their cigarettes, tattoos, and body piercings because I doubt that the last two are any more free than the cigarettes.

There was a lady in there early one night that had something (elbow, I think it was) that had been hurting for several days, so she finally decided that she might need to see a doctor. Emergency? No.

I have noticed that the hospital now has a shuttle that will take people from the front door of the hospital to the hospital's urgent care facility. Sounds pretty pro-active to me.

Good point, Kathie. Why don't we?

Population 100,000+
 

One of the many reasons after many visits to The Villages that we decided this was not the place for us to live our retirement, was the lack of a hospital that does it all. With that many senior citizen residents of many health issues of various degrees, you would think as part of the Villages development plan would be a hospital that would take care of all needs. Health care at our age is an important factor in determining where you want to retire. Hospitals in different locations other than TV, 30 minutes away can make a difference in a life and death situation. I have had many conversations with many residents that say their family doctors are in Ocala, Belleview, and even in Gainesville because they are not satisfied with the types of doctors in the Villages. I have read many complaints about the Villages Hospital on this Forum and it is a little scary to read. Lots of golf, lots of clubs, lots of restaurants, lots of bragging on lots of things to do in the Villages until you hear (or not hear) about the medical problems. I hope with the addition to the hospital will bring the waiting down to a reasonable time frame and good doctors to the area.

I'm confused. What hospital was it that had a shuttle to its own urgent care facility? TVRH? If that's the case, why aren't they sending non emergencies over to there?

Apparently, they are once triaged. I don't know for sure. There is a big sign there on the walkway in about the shuttle....at least it was the last time I had occasion to be at the hospital. They have pretty much always had the shuttles to the parking lot, but this is something different.

Update: I just called the hospital. Yes, there is a shuttle service to the Urgent Care. You go in to the information desk and they will call for the shuttle. I asked if they were sent there from the ER and she said that they are not because you have to pay at the Urgent Care and some are on Medicaid or indigent.

But Dillywho, are you talking about TVRH, and is there an urgent care facility at the hospital?

Yes, TVRH. See update. That's all I know about it. I mentioned to the lady on the phone about the cigarettes, tats, etc. and she said, "I know what you're saying, but we have to take them."

Yes, last October there was an announcement stating: "A new The Villages Regional Hospital Urgent Care opened in October in TV east of 441/27 on the East Campus of The Villages Medical Complex. 1501 US 441 North, Building 1800. 352-751-8863 open 8am to 8pm."

This center is located across 441/27 on the Historic side. They gave a full list of all eight (8) Urgent Care Centers in TV and none of them open later than 8pm.

I personally do not consider your reason for TV "black eye" as such.

My reasoning is, there are just too many options to remedy the problem.

We for one due to unacceptable personal experience at TV hospital now only consider Leesburg first choice, Monroe Regional second, Waterman third and TV if there is no other option.

For us the real convenience of a hospital when needed just does not have to be the closest one......in our case Leesburg has been all anybody could want or expect in the treatment of a couple of serious encounters we have had.

It is a personal experience and personal choice to be made. But do not limit your views of hospital need be constrained to only TV.

Even if TV built another hospital, could they staff it? There is a shortage of doctors and nurses nation wide. With the cuts in what insurance company's pay for care, could TV afford to build and staff another hospital?

This is true, and without getting political, I don't think the prospect is going to get any better considering the ramifications of the ACA.

Sound as if someone has too much "pablum" being spoon-fed to them by a vulpine creature.

Ridiculous to "diagnose" that a toddler NEEDS a chest x-ray and then expect to get it at midnight.

I have to ask what the OP has experienced with the SAME situation in a similar sized city other than The Villages.

Yeah, I can't speak to not having filed a tex return, but I can tell you from personal experience, if your income is lower, you can get a very cheap plan. Due to a number of reasons, our income came out pretty low last year, and we are paying less than $200 for a very good plan for both me and my wife. Florida Blue. For what it is worth, we are NOT on Medicaid.

Perhaps you can call one of the help lines and one of the advisor/counselers can assist youin your application. You don't want to by fined for not having health insurance by 3/31.

Good luck, I hope it works out for you.

Let's face it...the cement jungle's problems continue to grow. Picture another 20,000 by 2018 (today's paper). How do you think those wait times, appointment scheduling, reservations and traffic will fair - given it is already a hot mess.

those south of 466A can probably consider Leesburg hospital to be just as close as TV.

There is no reason other than proximity, service and quality to consider when choosing a hospital.

I have a problem with why this problem exists ....... is it lack of doctor in this country? Is the AMA so strong as to only allowing a certain amount of doctor in this country at any one time as one doctor per 5000 people ...... why cant we produce more doctors .... is their not enough qualified people .....I doubt that ... then what is the problem? ?..we dont have a problem with making laywers.....sorry for getting off subject, but cant understand why one would have to wait such a long time to see a doctor...maybe making more doctors would solve any problem as the result would result in doctors working less hours and charging more money..

I am happy to hear a positive comment about Leesburg Hospital by someone whose opinion (although I sometimes disagree with) I greatly respect. I have heard Leesburg is a good alternative to TVRH. Now I can believe it.

Because, in my view it takes a lot more knowledge to become a doctor. A lot more skill and a lot more smarts. The law is pretty much static, but medical knowledge is ever fluid and information needed, increasing rapidly. Most doctors are in the top one percent of the population in inate intelligence. They can't be mass produced.

Producing more medical school graduates will not solve the problem of too few residency program slots in which to do their primary care or specialty training--which they have to have.

"......A physician shortage in the U.S. was expected even before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Now the group estimates that there will be a shortage of 63,000 doctors by 2015 and 130,600 by 2025.

The shortage is a result of several factors. A large number of medical professionals are reaching retirement age, as is a large group of patients: Nearly 15 million will become eligible for Medicare in the coming years, the Association of American Medical Colleges reports.

On top of that, there is a lack of residency spots available for students graduating from medical school. In 2011, more than 7,000 were left with degrees that said "M.D." but no place to continue their education, according to the National Residency Matching Program.

Why your waiter has an M.D.

Many residency spots are funded by Medicare, and there's a cap on the number a hospital can claim each year. That number, about 100,000, has remained steady since 1997. While the Affordable Care Act will redistribute some unused residency slots and increase funding for the National Health Service Corps, more needs to be done, advocates say.

"There will be real physician shortages if we don't do more to lift the residency cap," said Dr. Atul Grover, the Association of American Medical Colleges' chief advocacy officer......

Your health care is covered, but who's going to treat you? - CNN.com

"Medicare funds the vast majority of residency training in the US. This tax-based financing covers resident salaries and benefits through payments called Direct Medical Education payments. Medicare also uses taxes for Indirect Medical Education, a subsidy paid to teaching hospitals in exchange for training resident physicians. For the 2008 fiscal year these payments were $2.7 and $5.7 billion respectively. Overall funding levels have remained at the same level over the last ten years, so that the same number or fewer residents have been trained under this program.

Meanwhile, the US population continues to grow older, which has led to greater demand for physicians. At the same time the cost of medical services continue rising rapidly and many geographic areas face physician shortages, both trends suggesting the supply of physicians remains too low.

Medicare finds itself in the odd position of having assumed control of graduate medical education, currently facing major budget constraints, and as a result, freezing funding for graduate medical education, as well as for physician reimbursement rates. This halt in funding in turn exacerbates the exact problem Medicare sought to solve in the first place: improving the availability of medical care....."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States)

203 Accredited Law Schools in US vs. 141 Medical Schools.
 

The law is not static at all, graciegirl. Different kinds of skills and intelligence are needed between a career in the law and one in medicine. I do think it is a lot harder to get into medical school than law school, however, and I will bet there are a lot more law schools than medical schools in the US. https://www.aamc.org/about/medicalschools/ ABA-Approved Law Schools | Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar

203 to 141 as far as the ratio of accredited law schools to medical schools.

A competent malpractice lawyer would probably need to know quite a bit about the current state of medicine in whatever area she practices, for instance. Just as a psychiatrist say would need to keep abreast of changes in that field so would any malpractice lawyer covering changes in psychiatry. I remember quite a number of volumes at the University of Minnesota Law Library that were on malpractice. These would get updates quite often.

Cement Jungle?

You might want to clarify what you mean when you say "It is kind of tricky about what to put in it and what to leave out". There are so many problems with fraud that statement just didn't sit right with me.

Thanks. My situation is a little too complicated to handle over the phone. I need to do things in writing and with documentation whenever possible.

I am trying to get this form filled out properly. It is going to be hard to keep the explanation though into the few paragraphs that the appeal form allows as far as I can tell.

This might help explain things. I was called on Federal Jury duty a few years back and told the judge during the voir dire from the bench that I lived in the Villages, had been a law librarian and was single. He could still tell I was hiding something so I was dismissed by the judge. I had not brought any documents or anything to the court as I had not known what kind of case, what kind of questions the judge and lawyers might ask, etc. It often looks like I am hiding stuff whenever I talk about my background and the like.

The case was an employment discrimination matter involving a deputy in a sheriff's office in Claremont who insisted on using Spanish in some of his reports. Some of the other officers seemed to make fun of him for using Spanish in his reports. The jury found against the plaintiff.

What I am trying to say is that what I would have to write would need to be written as carefully as possible because of the perjury element of the forms. I only told that Federal judge what I could back up with documentation at that time.

I am afraid that a call to the ACA advisor might prompt the same kind of problem for me. One of proof of whatever I may claim in it.

The lawyers for instance on the sides of bickering Claremont cops had brought in suitcases of documentation.

The 441 Urgent Care (located across the street from the Walmart on 441 next to the comcast cable shopping center in Summerfield) is open until midnight. I have used them on 2 ocassions and would recommend them to anyone.

Currently, there is a record high of students in medical school. Certain specialties do have a shortage but Congress could fix that quickly by striking a Medicare provision dating back to 1997.

BTW, I have not seen any physicians as clients at the local food pantries!

I agree with OP. Moved here 2 months ago. Took 2 months for an apt just to sign up with The Villages Health Care and now it will take another 3 months just for the initial "get to know" doctor visit with whose credentials I am not impressed - wow!
So on Friday I tore my achilles heel and went to The Villages ER. I sat there for 3 hours and saw that it was a lost cause and would never get anyone to help me. Went to the Exceptional Urgent Care on Rt 466 and after a 2 hour wait was told it is posibly a tear or rupture, was sent for MRI at the Morse building on Friday (with results not available over the weekend) and was not even told what I should do with the pain and ankle until the offices are open on Monday. I had to look up course of action on line from the Mayo Clinic. Needless to say I am disappointed with the health care here, know it will get worse every where under Obamacare. I will try Leesburg or Ocala hospitals and doctors in the future and hope my health holds up.

I've put a shortcut on my computer's desktop for quick access to our hospital wait times in case I need to check them before going. On this homepage of the Central Florida Health Alliance website you'll find the wait times for both the Villages Hospital ER and Leesburg's as well! I can't find any information on how frequently it's updated or about its accuracy, but thought I'd provide it anyway for those who are not already aware of this, and you can decided for yourself if you want to also shortcut or bookmark it like I did.

Central Florida Health Alliance | Leesburg, Florida

Isn't an Emergency Room for some situation that is life threatening? A stretched or torn Achilles tendon is painful but not life threatening. It is urgent care. Did you ask even them what to do about the pain? If you did, did they say absolutely nothing?

Depending on where you live in TV it's also closer

By striking that provision limiting the number of residency slots Medicare will pay a teaching hospital to provide, the funding to pay those residents a small salary (during their 3-5 years of training) has to come from somewhere, and that would be from Medicare. I don't think anybody wants to see more reduction in Medicare dollars after the cuts already on the table, to help pay for the ACA expansion of Medicaid.

You obviously have never torn your achilles. Second, life threatening? Broken leg, arm, fall, about fifty other highly painful accidents that require IMMEDIATE medical attention. But hey, it's normal to wait 11 hours for treatment in your world, not many of the rest of us. By the way, OP, I am not that far removed from a toddler in distress to understand your feelings.
Keep defending.....keep defending.....

time frame
 

So what is acceptable time frame to wait in an ER? For those who use it as an Urgent Care facility (no matter their cause--insurance, no insurance). I believe the national average to be 8-10 hours?-Not sure on my numbers. Pile all the "snowbirds" into a community hospital for non-emergencies--you get a CLINIC. Really sick people waiting hours-due to others making a choice to come to an ER for non-emergencies. I wish all insurance companies would say--go to urgent care, if you go to an ER and deemed not emergency, you should have to pay out of pocket. IMO

I know for a fact--Leesburg has 11 hour waits as well. All ER wait times are hit and miss.

The less peak hours in most ERs are 3am-6am---just a scenario. You can always call ahead and check what the wait times are approximately.

I hope that in the future (maybe 10 years) but in the future--we will get approved for a larger hospital near Brownwood. TVRH does not have pediatrics-doesn't mean they can't treat pediatrics. They have to transfer the sickest children out to Leesburg or Ocala. They don't have neurosurgeon most of the time. They don't offer critical heart cases-(bypass surgery). TVRH is not a trauma center. If we could build what Leesburg has at Brownwood...offering a two door emergency room. One will be CLINIC patients other EMERGENCY patients (those who anticipate admission).

:ohdear: Also- please remember do not use up resources like EMS to provide you transportation unless you are having an emergency. Sad- that some people still think that is going to help? Or would even consider this... Most ERs have Triage in the back and in the front. In other words--calling EMS to transport you because you think you will see a doctor sooner--is a BIG MISTAKE and frowned upon wasting resources that could actually save a life. Taking up the closest ambulance to give you a "ride" for a faster triage infuriates medical care providers. It should also infuriate the other citizens in our community. Waste of a great resource for true emergencies. While one ambulance is taking your 4 day headache to the ER--someone in respiratory arrest now has an ambulance that takes 10 minutes longer because the closest one is out on a "Taxi Ride" :cus:

If you come to the ER and leave--regardless of the wait time--It was not an emergency. There were other alternatives that you choose not to take, but came to the ER. :bigbow:

Wait times posted are the time you wait to see TRIAGE nurse--not an actual MD evaluation-unless a Physician Assistant is still there --depending on what time you time of day you go.