I am currently locked in a struggle of wills with my hospital.

Born2bwire

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2005
9,840
6
71
It is now day 3 of my struggle with Hospital. It started when I found out that they had scheduled a bunch of tests for me downtown (30 minute drive one way) and locally that are in the morning and evening of the 16th and I have an appointment the day after downtown. Both of these are work days and the schedule is unachievable. They clearly ignored my instructions on how to schedule these appointments. They went ahead and scheduled them without consulting me and they did not even notify me of these appointments. This will not stand.


So I called the scheduling assistant for my doctor. No answer. Called a few times, no answer, left a voice mail. Round 1: Hospital.


The next day I call the assistant but no answer. I then choose the "emergency scheduler" option on the phone menu and I get connected to wwhat turns out to be just the receptionist. I explain I am a patient of Dr. X and am trying to reschedule. She promptly connects me to the same assistant who I have been calling and it goes to voice mail. Well played Hospital. I then call the receptionist back and explain that I cannot get ahold of the scheduler. The receptionist then tells me that she will send an e-mail to the scheduler to get back to me. Later that day I get a voice mail from a different scheduler. She tells me that she got the e-mail but she is not the scheduler for Dr. X. Hospital is a master at this game. I call the number that this new scheduler left me and it goes to voice mail. A few more attempts and I actually reach the scheduler. She tells me that Dr. X's scheduler is actually out (a bold strategy!) but she can connect me with the scheduler that is covering for them. The connection goes through and I get voice mail and I do not know how to contact this scheduler directly in the future.


I then notice that on the Hospital website of my appointments that I can submit a request to reschedule my appointments. I proceed to put in a request and play the waiting game. I figure that will be the end of it as it is already late afternoon and by 4:15 I have heard nothing on my phone. But I was mistaken. When I got home, I found out that Hospital pulled a sneak attack! The covering scheduler tried to call me but they did not leave a voice mail! Then I found out that they responded to my website request but the notification goes to the "Updates" category in Gmail so I do not get an automatic notification of the e-mail on my phone. The new scheduler says that they cannot reschedule my scans to be all on the same day as the appointment with Dr. X but that they could do it on the weekend. Indeed, Hospital knows how to play the long game here. I send back a message to schedule me for the weekend if possible and the day draws to an end. Hospital remains the clear victor here.


Today I figured out how to get in contact with the new scheduler. Her name is attached to the replies to my website requests. This is the first signs of weakness! I call the receptionist and ask to be connected to the new scheduler. As the connection goes through, I hear a few tentative rings on the phone and I am disconnected. I see that Hospital is not going to go down without a fight. I then call the receptionist back and get retransferred and I end up at voice mail once again. I leave a new message repeating what I had said in my reply on the website. Later this morning, I go through and check my appointments and I find that new appointments have been made on the weekend! Haha, a sure victory now! But I find that they figured out how to keep me down when I saw that the tests scheduled on the weekend are the wrong ones. In addition, they also have more tests scheduled for me in the middle of January. I hastily send off another website message noting the discrepancies and immediately after it is sent I get a message from the scheduler saying that some of my tests have been moved to the weekend but that she is still working to get it all scheduled. The crafty dogs!


All through lunch I closely monitor my appointment schedule on the website for the first hint of weakness. Soon after lunch I find that new appointments have been moved to the weekend but the same erroneous tests are still scheduled and others are still missing, sitting out there in lonely January. I make a desperate gamble and call the scheduler again and it pays off! She answers the phone! I quickly relay my concerns about how I am supposed to get a CT scan of my abdomen with and without contrast and a chest x-ray. However, they only scheduled is a CT scan of my chest with contrast and a CT scan of my abdoment without contrast. This is when their deviousness shines through! I am told that my doctor scheduled the CT of the chest! Now they will have to talk to the doctor to verify his orders. Another layer of defenses have arose! And now that I have called and talked to the scheduler about this issue, I finally get a read receipt back from the website message that I sent detailing the same concerns. This is where things stand now but I am determined to continue the fight to schedule my appointments!


And to think, I can look forward to 4 more years of dealing with these people. I can only imagine how much they have to teach me in the ways of war.
 

Theb

Diamond Member
Feb 28, 2006
3,533
9
76
Cliff_Notes_Your_Post.jpg
 

MagnusTheBrewer

IN MEMORIAM
Jun 19, 2004
24,122
1,594
126
3 days? Pfffft! You haven't even scratched the surface. They haven't even admitted you're alive yet. Wait for the double and tripple billing in the coming months. Don't forget the 'consulting ' fee bill from the guy who buzzed through the office during one of your tests. And my all time favorite tactic where they want you to call your insurance company and pre authorize an office visit.

What is it your office workers do again? Why, process billing of course.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Whip out your D**K and start making your own rounds in the hospital. They will help you.
 

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,389
1,778
126
I don't know how close YOUR doc and the hospitals work together. Typically, you go to the doc complaining about X symptoms. The docs then say, "That could be...." and present a list of possible known ailments...maybe not telling you the worst until tests confirm it or not.

From there, they feel obligated to order a mix of tests to cover their asses from you in case they don't diagnose the problem. For instance, you go in and complain about XYZ and they don't figure out it's a life threatening disorder that could have been treated....some people figure they'll try to make their families rich in the process by going after a doc or practice.

Anyhow, you should call your doctor and go over what they ordered and from where. It shouldn't be that difficult to speak with the scheduler and see if they have availability some other time in the future.....OR ask your doctor what other places can get the tests you need in your area because you don't want to work with the hospital they sent your orders to.

You need to chill out since you could be dyin....
 

Born2bwire

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2005
9,840
6
71
I don't know how close YOUR doc and the hospitals work together. Typically, you go to the doc complaining about X symptoms. The docs then say, "That could be...." and present a list of possible known ailments...maybe not telling you the worst until tests confirm it or not.

From there, they feel obligated to order a mix of tests to cover their asses from you in case they don't diagnose the problem. For instance, you go in and complain about XYZ and they don't figure out it's a life threatening disorder that could have been treated....some people figure they'll try to make their families rich in the process by going after a doc or practice.

Anyhow, you should call your doctor and go over what they ordered and from where. It shouldn't be that difficult to speak with the scheduler and see if they have availability some other time in the future.....OR ask your doctor what other places can get the tests you need in your area because you don't want to work with the hospital they sent your orders to.

You need to chill out since you could be dyin....

This is all with my doctor and his scheduler. It's part of an ongoing treatment so these tests are not anything new (and neither, unfortunately, my problems with them). I've been having these tests done every other month for the past year.

Now about me dying, that's the funny part, it's a cancer center. It's not like I'm trying to schedule my cholesterol screening.

Right now I finally have all the correct tests scheduled on the weekend so that's good. But I still have an orphan appointment in the middle of January for another blood test. I'm still going to chalk this one up as a pyrrhic victory in my book.
 
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dud

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2001
7,635
73
91
Look at it this way OP ... at least you have health insurance!

:)
 

Born2bwire

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2005
9,840
6
71
Look at it this way OP ... at least you have health insurance!

:)

That, surprisingly enough, has been without any incident. In fact, when this all started, my GP, hospital and other doctors were fine. I've been to two hospitals before I moved and started going to this new one and this is the only time that I've had any trouble. But now it's a continuous thing with them. This is only just one of the many things I've had to deal with them. At this point I'm having trouble getting mad. I'm just amazed that they can operate like this.
 

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,149
57
91
Amazing the difference in insurance and medical care between states.

Here in NC, I've never had the slightest problem with anything like this.

Doctor tells me I need something at the hospital....MRI, CT scan, endoscopy, surgery...whatever, he tells me he'll have his staff handle it.

They do. Nurse from the hospital calls with a range of dates, we schedule it. Done.