More medical drama

[MaggieTheCat]

Here we go again.

Remember those UTIs I mentioned a couple weeks ago? Well, the latest one is over and done with, and I finally had my appointment with my new primary care practitioner last week. She said I should have something called an IVP, which I understand is an X-Ray of the kidneys and bladder, to make sure there's nothing funky looking going on (since I've had 4 UTIs in a 12 month period, which is apparently not normal.) She wrote me a referral for radiology and someone made the appointment for me last week. The person who made the appointment gave me the date and time (tomorrow morning at 7:45am, ugh) and location that I needed to show up at, and told me not to eat or drink anything after midnight. Okay, no problem.

This morning, I got a call from someone at the hospital that they need my insurance information to make sure I'm covered for the procedure, or else give me a quote if my insurance doesn't cover it. This was odd to me because I was just there last week for my office visit and they had all of my insurance info on file already. Anyway, the person who called left a message and I got it about an hour and a half later, and called the number back that she gave me. I got a voice mail recording and left my name and number and all that good stuff and asked her to call me back.

She never did. Two hours later I decided to try calling her back and she answered her phone, which is all well and good, but why didn't she return my call? I gave her all of my insurance info, and she said she would call them to see if they would cover the procedure. That was 45 minutes ago, and, again, I haven't heard back. Does it really take 45 minutes to talk to an insurance company about this?

I also asked her some questions about the procedure, which she couldn't answer because she's "billing not medical." That's fine, I understand. She gave me the phone# for the radiology department so I called them and asked about the procedure. The woman asked if I had filled out the prep paperwork that needs to be done. No, because no one ever gave me or even mentioned prep paperwork to me. She got really snotty with me and said, "Well, you'll have to stop in tonight and get it because it needs to be filled out before you get here in the morning." I mean, jeez, how was I supposed to know?

I'm getting pretty impatient with these people. Am I overreacting? They didn't have my insurance info on file when I'd already given it to another department of the same facility, didn't return my phone call (twice now, since I'm still waiting for the call back regarding my insurance), and didn't tell me about the prepwork, then got pissy with me when I said I didn't have it. If I hadn't called to ask, I wouldn't have known about it at all, and what would have happened tomorrow, then, when I didn't have it? I'm really considering canceling and looking for another facility; we live literally across the street from a medical center with dozens of hospitals and clinics. I picked this one at random because it was close (well, they're all close) and my insurance covered the dr I saw for the office visit last week (but my as it turns out, my insurance covers pretty much every dr anyway.)

[draftermatt]

I would cancel it and go somewhere else.

No you're not overreacting. You can only work with the information you are given. While it's not their fault your doc didn't give you the paperwork, it certainly isn't right to get an attitude.

When you cancel you may want to say "I'm canceling because when I called to ask questions the person I spoke to was very rude to me"

[Amina516]

I also think youre not over reacting. This is something that shouldnt take that long. Of course, if your ins. co is the one slacking itll look bad on the girl thats also trying to get the information. Unless you have some crazy insurance that they dont deal with a a regular basis though, they should have that information readily available.

IVP = Intravenous Pyelogram, an xray of the kidney, ureters and bladder by IV dye that they inject into your veins. Theyre pretty simple and not usually a big deal.

I hope you get some answers soon.

[poofy_puff]

When I worked as a secretary in an Internal Medicine office, we would call and schedule the tests at the hospital with the patient standing right there. The hospital would tell us if they "needed to pick up a prep" which is the paperwork you're referring to, or whether the patient needed to fast the night before or whatever, and we would WRITE on the appointment card whatever special instructions there were.

Someone, somewhere should have told you these things, and no, it does not take 45 minutes to "check" if a procedure is covered by insurance. Having said that, she probably didn't "check" right away. Sometimes, a medical office waits for a certain time of day to start making their calls. But since this was a billing office, it should have a red-courtesy-line to all the insurances that are accepted by the group or practice, and they should NOT have to wait for a certain window to MAKE these calls, as that is the reason a separate billing office exists in the first place.

[MaggieTheCat]

I got a call back from the billing girl about 15 minutes after I posted my OP. My insurance covers 80% of the procedure and I cover 20% until I meet my deductible ($250.) I asked her if she knew approx. how much the procedure would cost and she said she'd have to get back to me with a quote. I'm not holding my breath.

The woman who made the appointment for me did it while I was in her office, and she did write on the form "no food or water after midnight of night before" so she did get and include some instructions. But yeah, no mention of paperwork anywhere in there.

My husband and I decided to see how it goes tomorrow, since we have the appointment all set up and everything (and we know how long it can take to get in for stuff like this.) If we get the run-around while we're there, we can always leave or at least know not to go back (I'm considering not going back even if we don't get the run-around.)

[MaggieTheCat]

So, I went to the hospital tonight with my husband after he got off work, to pick up the paperwork.

Turns out they didn't even have me scheduled for tomorrow (how did the billing girl know to call me?) and because I didn't fast for 24 hours prior to the procedure, they couldn't do it either way. I am PISSED. I am also done with this hospital. The woman who I talked to at the hospital was very nice and apologetic and told me to call to reschedule the appointment, but there's absolutely no way I'm doing it at this place now.

[poofy_puff]

What a pain in the ass.

[MaggieTheCat]

Whoa!

So, I sent a strongly worded email to the public relations email address I found on the hospital's website. I got a call tonight from the administrative director of the radiology department, falling all over himself apologizing.

He did offer some "reasons" as to why things got some messed up with my appointment, but admitted that he wasn't trying to make excuses and that he is working very hard to change the way things are done for the better. For starters, all paperwork and prep information for appointments like this is supposed to either be emailed to the patient, or printed immediately for the patient to take before even walking out of the office when making the appointment. Also, apparently they're short staffed at the front desk at radiology, which is why the woman I talked to when I called on Monday was so short with me. But now they're going to have extra people working at the front desk so that doesn't happen again. Also, the woman I talked to was given a warning for her behavior. I felt sort of bad about this, I didn't want to get anyone in trouble, but I keep telling myself, she did mess up, not just by being short and rude with me, but also because she could have just told me over the phone that the appointment would need to be canceled, and she didn't.

Anyway, I feel a little better about everything since the director called me and talked to me personally -- I wasn't even expecting an email response, let alone a phone call. He was very apologetic, and also thankful that I brought my concerns to his attention so he could address them.

So, what do you guys think -- should I give them another shot?

[AccountingDrone]

So, I went to the hospital tonight with my husband after he got off work, to pick up the paperwork.

Turns out they didn't even have me scheduled for tomorrow (how did the billing girl know to call me?) and because I didn't fast for 24 hours prior to the procedure, they couldn't do it either way. I am PISSED. I am also done with this hospital. The woman who I talked to at the hospital was very nice and apologetic and told me to call to reschedule the appointment, but there's absolutely no way I'm doing it at this place now.

Excuse me? I have had 8 or 9 IVPs done, and none of them included fasting for 24, just the nothing by mouth after midnight and a laxative at 6 pm. That must be some new and interesting torment they have developed ...

Whoa!

So, I sent a strongly worded email to the public relations email address I found on the hospital's website. I got a call tonight from the administrative director of the radiology department, falling all over himself apologizing.

He did offer some "reasons" as to why things got some messed up with my appointment, but admitted that he wasn't trying to make excuses and that he is working very hard to change the way things are done for the better. For starters, all paperwork and prep information for appointments like this is supposed to either be emailed to the patient, or printed immediately for the patient to take before even walking out of the office when making the appointment. Also, apparently they're short staffed at the front desk at radiology, which is why the woman I talked to when I called on Monday was so short with me. But now they're going to have extra people working at the front desk so that doesn't happen again. Also, the woman I talked to was given a warning for her behavior. I felt sort of bad about this, I didn't want to get anyone in trouble, but I keep telling myself, she did mess up, not just by being short and rude with me, but also because she could have just told me over the phone that the appointment would need to be canceled, and she didn't.

Anyway, I feel a little better about everything since the director called me and talked to me personally -- I wasn't even expecting an email response, let alone a phone call. He was very apologetic, and also thankful that I brought my concerns to his attention so he could address them.

So, what do you guys think -- should I give them another shot?

I say give them a chance .... he did call!

[Amina516]

Excuse me? I have had 8 or 9 IVPs done, and none of them included fasting for 24, just the nothing by mouth after midnight and a laxative at 6 pm. That must be some new and interesting torment they have developed ...

I agree. I dont quite get the 24 fast either. Thats HARSH and not really necessary for that kind of exam. If they screwed everything else up, maybe they screwed up the directions for it also.

Id be in the middle as far as going back. They DID call you back to try and rectify the issues but they shouldnt have happened in the first place. If youre feeling forgiving, then maybe try again. But after that, all bets would be off.

[NightWatch]

As far as the returning to that hospital... I have some personal experience for ya. I go to a large clinic that has no less then 10 doctors employed there. I went in to doctor 1 explaining that I was having some symptoms consistent with hypothyroidism and that it runs in my family. She didn't believe me and thought I was asking for diet pills (wtf?!) and didn't want to test me for the thyroid problem. I bitched until she ordered a blood draw for a thyroid test. Guess what? The results came back abnormal and said I would need followup testing.

I went back to the clinic but to a different doctor who was very helpful and kind and took an interest in my health and didn't treat me like I was just another person with a run of the mill health problem.

I dunno if that helps any, hope it does. I know the prob wasn't with your doctor, just the other medical staff. But maybe you can choose who runs the tests or something. Good luck.

[MaggieTheCat]

To clarify the fasting issue:

The instructions I was given originally were "No food or water after midnight of the night before the appointment" which I took midnight to mean 7 hours before I was supposed to get there (and the woman who made the appointment for me said it that way, too.) However the woman who I talked to in radiology on Monday said I had to be on a strict liquid diet for 24 hours. It wasn't quite "fasting", I said fasting just to simplify but it's not quite the right word. But it was a pretty strict diet. Only stuff like water and clear liquids, no milk or "red" liquids (like cranberry juice.) The instruction card (it wasn't even a packet, just a little card) had the same restrictions on it.

Also, the director who I talked to today did give me his personal office number and told me that if I ever had an appointment in their radiology department again, I should call him and he would personally check and make sure everything was in order.

[Der Cute]

Well, I'd go on and do the appt, as told. Since you've gone through this much effort to get it done, do it, you need to be seen. But if anyone f-s up this procedure, I'd call Mr. Director pronto.