Guest guest Posted March 14, 2003 Report Share Posted March 14, 2003 Carol: An addendum to me last note: There is also the possibility that the office manager did not speak to the doctor at all and the doctor does not know what's going on. I used to work in medical offices and many times saw the girls dealing with a patient that they felt was being unreasonable and would put the patient on hold, count to 50 or clean out her drawer or finish typing a letter, whatever, then get back on the phone and tell the patient that the doctor was not available to speak or that they had to pay the bill, or that they had to come in for the prescription, etc. Common practice in many offices. From experience choosing a really good doctor is only half your battle. They have to have a decent staff to deal with too, otherwise, you'll never get anywhere. Once I was made manager of one particular office I held a meeting and let the girls know that if I ever saw them do that to a patient again they would be fired on the spot, no excuses. If a patient was giving them a hard time, the calls were to come to me. I let the doctors in the practice know that at some point during the day one or the other was to be available to speak to me regarding patients or be available to speak to the patients. We let the patients know what time would be best for them to call back and speak to the doctor during the day or if the question could wait, the doctor would call them back after hours. The office ran like a top. That was over ten years ago and those doctors are still begging me to come back to work for them. Trying not to defend anyone, but I do know that this goes on in more offices than you know. If they said you can write your own letter, do it, ask them when you can drop it off, get the name of the person who took it from you and follow-up on it. If you keep asking people for their names and you write their names and let them know that you are marking down the date and time you spoke to them, your letter will get through. You'll definitely piss them off, but you'll get what you want. Regina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 14, 2003 Report Share Posted March 14, 2003 Carol: An addendum to me last note: There is also the possibility that the office manager did not speak to the doctor at all and the doctor does not know what's going on. I used to work in medical offices and many times saw the girls dealing with a patient that they felt was being unreasonable and would put the patient on hold, count to 50 or clean out her drawer or finish typing a letter, whatever, then get back on the phone and tell the patient that the doctor was not available to speak or that they had to pay the bill, or that they had to come in for the prescription, etc. Common practice in many offices. From experience choosing a really good doctor is only half your battle. They have to have a decent staff to deal with too, otherwise, you'll never get anywhere. Once I was made manager of one particular office I held a meeting and let the girls know that if I ever saw them do that to a patient again they would be fired on the spot, no excuses. If a patient was giving them a hard time, the calls were to come to me. I let the doctors in the practice know that at some point during the day one or the other was to be available to speak to me regarding patients or be available to speak to the patients. We let the patients know what time would be best for them to call back and speak to the doctor during the day or if the question could wait, the doctor would call them back after hours. The office ran like a top. That was over ten years ago and those doctors are still begging me to come back to work for them. Trying not to defend anyone, but I do know that this goes on in more offices than you know. If they said you can write your own letter, do it, ask them when you can drop it off, get the name of the person who took it from you and follow-up on it. If you keep asking people for their names and you write their names and let them know that you are marking down the date and time you spoke to them, your letter will get through. You'll definitely piss them off, but you'll get what you want. Regina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 15, 2003 Report Share Posted March 15, 2003 My Dr. has e-mail. I didn't know until I asked. > > On Fri, 14 Mar 2003 20:51:50 -0500 Regina Block <Penelope@o...> > writes: > ***If they said you can write your > own letter, do it, ask them when you can drop it off, get the name of > the person who took it from you and follow-up on it. If you keep asking > people for their names and you write their names and let them know that > you are marking down the date and time you spoke to them, your letter > will get through. You'll definitely piss them off, but you'll get what > you want.*** > > This reminded me of something I did when I was waiting to get > approved for the panni. I had called the PS office about 2 weeks after > my appointment and asked if they had heard anything yet. I was told that > the doctor had not even dictated the letter yet (something which I > seriously doubted.) I called my mom who works for a chiropractors > office. She suggested that I write a letter addressed to the surgeon > stating my concern that the letter had not been dictated or submitted to > the insurance company yet and I was only able to pay for about 2 more > months of insurance. I had it typed and ready to go the following day. > The day after that I got a call from the surgeons office. This > particular woman had worked for the surgeon for several years. She > stated that the receptionist had misunderstood and that the letter had > actually been typed 2 weeks prior and mailed. She told me that she had > gotten the fax number and had faxed a copy to Cigna. Two days later, she > refaxed it and got a reply that afternoon approving it. At my next > appointment the surgeon apologized profusely. > Lori Owen - Denton, Texas > CHF 4/14/01 479 lbs. > SRVG 7/16/01 401 lbs. > Current Weight 335 > Dr. Ritter/Dr. Bryce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 15, 2003 Report Share Posted March 15, 2003 My Dr. has e-mail. I didn't know until I asked. > > On Fri, 14 Mar 2003 20:51:50 -0500 Regina Block <Penelope@o...> > writes: > ***If they said you can write your > own letter, do it, ask them when you can drop it off, get the name of > the person who took it from you and follow-up on it. If you keep asking > people for their names and you write their names and let them know that > you are marking down the date and time you spoke to them, your letter > will get through. You'll definitely piss them off, but you'll get what > you want.*** > > This reminded me of something I did when I was waiting to get > approved for the panni. I had called the PS office about 2 weeks after > my appointment and asked if they had heard anything yet. I was told that > the doctor had not even dictated the letter yet (something which I > seriously doubted.) I called my mom who works for a chiropractors > office. She suggested that I write a letter addressed to the surgeon > stating my concern that the letter had not been dictated or submitted to > the insurance company yet and I was only able to pay for about 2 more > months of insurance. I had it typed and ready to go the following day. > The day after that I got a call from the surgeons office. This > particular woman had worked for the surgeon for several years. She > stated that the receptionist had misunderstood and that the letter had > actually been typed 2 weeks prior and mailed. She told me that she had > gotten the fax number and had faxed a copy to Cigna. Two days later, she > refaxed it and got a reply that afternoon approving it. At my next > appointment the surgeon apologized profusely. > Lori Owen - Denton, Texas > CHF 4/14/01 479 lbs. > SRVG 7/16/01 401 lbs. > Current Weight 335 > Dr. Ritter/Dr. Bryce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 15, 2003 Report Share Posted March 15, 2003 I agree Fay, as long as they have some identifying factor, like an employee number, that is sufficient. With a last name, you can look up all sorts of things about a person if you know where to look. But I also get frustrated when you get none of that, just a first name, and no identifying information. I had one person that would not even give me her direct phone extention so I could refer to her that way. She said that I had to go back through the same process when I called in and " anybody " could help me. She was also sure that everyone would agree with her intrepretation of my medical benefits. > In a message dated 3/15/2003 11:55:38 AM Eastern Standard Time, > loriowen@j... writes: > > > this country --from politics to education to health care and more-- is > > directly related to LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY. > > > > > > Unfortunately, If they gave out their real names, some kook may do something > really bad to them. > > > Fay Bayuk > " 300/172 " > 10/23/01 > Dr. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 15, 2003 Report Share Posted March 15, 2003 I agree Fay, as long as they have some identifying factor, like an employee number, that is sufficient. With a last name, you can look up all sorts of things about a person if you know where to look. But I also get frustrated when you get none of that, just a first name, and no identifying information. I had one person that would not even give me her direct phone extention so I could refer to her that way. She said that I had to go back through the same process when I called in and " anybody " could help me. She was also sure that everyone would agree with her intrepretation of my medical benefits. > In a message dated 3/15/2003 11:55:38 AM Eastern Standard Time, > loriowen@j... writes: > > > this country --from politics to education to health care and more-- is > > directly related to LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY. > > > > > > Unfortunately, If they gave out their real names, some kook may do something > really bad to them. > > > Fay Bayuk > " 300/172 " > 10/23/01 > Dr. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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