I’m so angry I can’t see straight. I have been waiting six months for an appointment with a neurologist to find out what might be wrong with me. After being turned down for two jobs, I thought maybe it was fate’s way of telling me that I needed more information before promising an employer I could do X or Y tasks. This afternoon – Friday at 4:00 pm – I got a call saying that my appointment on the 30th has been canceled and moved to May. It’s as if I were a brand new patient moved to the back of the line instead of someone who has been waiting for six months (and nearly a year before that). It appears that my health issues will continue to be mine to figure out, because no one else can be bothered.
Mommy made me go for an angry walk with her, and now I’m pooped.
Pretty sure I’m going to call that doctor’s office Every. Single. Day. until I get the answer I want. I also plan to see if I can get a referral to someone out of network. Someone who can keep an appointment.
The Adventures of Bitey Dog 
Apart from being unprofessional, how sheerly uncaring!
I say they should give an appointment two weeks from now. Bump the person who has that appointment to January. Bump the person who has that one to Feb and so on. Don’t just dump on me.
I’m seeing more and more of this and I just don’t understand. I hope there is more than one neurologist in your network? Good luck.
No, just this one guy. I am going to see if I can be referred out of network and still be covered.
Last night I checked and found that there is more than one doctor in the network, but they are all in the same practice. I don’t know if that will help things or not. 🤷♀️
I might contact the referring doctor and let them know what’s going on. Sometimes they can get the appointment made for you much faster. Just a thought.
That’s what I’m planning to do first on Monday. My concern is that there will be a lot of laxity because this is a holiday week. Still, I might get something done. 😊
Call them on Monday and tell them that due to insurance changes effective 1/1/23 that you need to be re-scheduled before then. Also talk to someone physically inside the office, not some giant corporate health system scheduling location ( typically at-home workers now). Personalizing the situation will make all the difference!
Oh, cheese and biscuits! I posted the same message twice. Can you delete the duplicate?
Sure!
Can you find another doctor?
This is the only neurologist is the network, but I’m going to see what trouble I can stir up.
And I don’t think you need a referral for an EPO or PPO or a classic indemnity plan, only for a HMO. So there’s a good chance you can just do a self-referral. And holy smokes! If you’re going to mess around with getting a referral from the same practice/group that dumped you 10 days before an appointment that you’ve been waiting 6 months for already…, then welllllll (Toby) doggie! it sure seems like you’ll be waiting a long time.
My understanding was that I need a referral, but I’m willing to make some calls and see if that is true or not. I have been fuming over this crap all evening. (I should sic bitey Toby on some medical ankles.)
Ha! I’ll have to try that.
Only one neurologist in an entire health system? Or only one who specializes in your particular issue? I looked at some pretty rinky-dink systems and they all have more than one neurologist., but most of them are more about strokes, migraines, Parkinson’s, etc. Very few deal with M.S.
When they called to re-schedule, did you happen to mention that the new date was unacceptable? I mean, seriously, I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that the doc is just talking a long Thanksgiving break. In fact, I was told that scheduling with a doctor that many months out is risky, because they reallllly don’t know their schedule,, even though they take appointments, so the appointment might have a chance being changed at the last minute.
And I’d definitely send Bitey in to take care of business. Or do his business. Probably both.
My guess is that he wants a long Thanksgiving vacation. And yes, I was extremely vocal about what they were pulling. When the man calling said that the doctor could not make the appointment, I said, “Then you are squeezing me in next week to make sure I have an appointment?” He acted like that was ridiculous. I said they should schedule me in somewhere in Dec. and he was affronted. I went down kicking and screaming. If you check their records, I’m sure I have a big red “B” next to my name.
Of course they had to do this on a Friday afternoon so I have to stew over how many phone calls I need to make on Monday. Jerks.
KEEP CALLING THEM AT LEST TWICE A DAY.
I FEEL FOR YOU BEEN IN SIMILAR SITUATIONS
JUST USE THE ANGER
THE OLD PHRASE
DONT GET MAD GT EVEN
HUGSSSS
I was thinking about squeaky wheels, but I like yours better!
Unbelievable! It would never happen in France.
Ah, but France would never have me….
Never say never!
Other than “yes” and “no”, I can’t really speak French. I can’t picture them wanting someone like that! 😆
You could learn it
Oui! 😆
Parfait
You mean like the dessert? Everybody loves parfait! – Donkey
😎
Do everything everyone is telling you to do AND put calls in to the consumer advocates at your local TV stations. There is NO excuse for this kind of callousness.
Ooh, I like the way you think! 👍
Wow! 😮 This is horrible! I’m so sorry this happened to you! 😦 This is so frustrating to be treated like this! 😦
I rarely get angry, but I’d be angry about this!
All the things you have lined up to do, call them often, check on an out of network referral to another doc, ETC…Follow through on all of this and see what happens.
Like “martywal” said in the comment above ^^…We, too, have consumer and investigative reporters here at our TV stations. They are advocates to assist viewers and help them resolve their consumer-related issues. I’ve seen them help people related to medical issues. Do you have anything like that where you are? There are, also, healthcare advocates. ???
(((HUGS))) and we care ❤️
Thank you for the suggestion. I’ve never looked into healthcare advocates, but I’m willing to try. In the end I may turn out to be OK, but in some cases MS can wreak havoc on your life in a short time. I’d at least like to know what’s going on so I can prepare.
Thank you for caring! ❤️
It’s enough to drive you crazy. Wait, I could have phrased that better.
😂
They want you to wait another 6 months? That is totally unacceptable and, as a physician, I’d say it’s completely unprofessional – as in report to State medical licensing board.
I agree with Anony-mouse – call that office every day – ask to be put on a cancellation list – if someone cancels, they can call you to take that appointment. If all the neuros are in the same practice, the person doing the scheduling should have automatically referred you to one of the docs who could see you sooner.
And I agree with Martywhal – call local TV consumer advocates. That can be very effective.
Is their practice located in Greensburg?
Yes, it is.
I asked to be put on the cancellation list way back in May when I originally scheduled. I was told that there are never openings. (Basically I am lowest on the list, and everyone else in the county comes before me.). Now they are pretending that I may get an earlier appointment…you know, like April 30.
I have nothing to add except that I’m totally pissed off for you! How DARE they?
Thank you! Now I don’t feel as bad about fuming all weekend over this.
I would have set up a target and blown through a few rounds. 🤬
If it weren’t 17 degrees out, I might have done the same.
I see the city listed and that group has many reviews, mostly critical mentioning their lack of professionalism., especially cancelling appointments on short notice. Bad office staff, protocol, communication, management can really kill a practice’s reputation, even if the doctors are acceptable. And the interesting thing is that when the office staff improves, the doctors can better do their job. It’s sort of funny, but all other things being equal I’d prefer an office that has their sh*t together.
So given the crap reviews and also that one doctor in that practice has a bad habit of b*tching publicly by writing letters to the editor of the local newspapers accusing the townspeople of systemic racism (I can only think that some of these local folks in this small town might be patients) , then if you don’t get anywhere fast this morning, then move onto plan B and see about other networks and other doctors. Try to have this thing locked down by tomorrow at the close of the business day. I mean let’s face it…., Wednesday and the rest of the week are a loss due to the holiday. I wish you luck and patience! But not too much patience, go out there and get it done!
PS: my personal strategy would be to reschedule at the first practice, then head out of network and see your options there. I can’t see that your chosen group has anyone specializing in MS., so believe it or not a PA or NP there might be a better option. The reason being is that they are less confident in making a snap diagnosis (less hubris, perhaps?), so they tend to order more test. They aren’t alway good at differential diagnosing either, so again they defer to testing. Doctors tend to guess more. Also, PAs and NP tend to be better listeners. However, my sister is an NP and she is crap at listening, always talking over people. So she’s an aberrations…, but then we always knew that, now it’s her poor patients turn to figure it out!
Oh, in evaluating symptoms and really understanding MS, a PT can be a good option. Now, not a sports medicine PT, but an old timey PT. They understand strokes, MS, do evals and really know what they are seeing. Sports medicine has sort of sucked up the field, but they won’t serve you well at all.
Good luck today and check back in, so we can know how it goes! Now go get’em!!!
🙂
Give them a very bad review online, that might help.
So many people already have, but they haven’t improved their service. ☹️
Best of luck with the second neurologist, I hope you can get in.
I’ll let you know! 👍