They told me the medicine patches required a prior approval. I called the doctor’s office and his nurse said that the doctor will not do prior approvals for that drug (even though he made a big deal about wanting me on it and how much he thinks it could help). I asked to speak to the doctor and they said they would have his nurse practitioner call me (yes, the same one who is in trouble with the doctor for not talking with him about my pain). I said “I want to talk to the doctor, he is the one who said he wants me on this medicine” and they said “the doctor doesn’t return calls”. I have another appointment with him on the 31st and will make sure to mention this to him...I can’t believe he is unwilling to talk to his patients when they run into problems like this. If his N.P. tries to come in for my appointment next time, I will say “no, I want to see the doctor today”. I called today to make sure my appointment is with the doctor, not the N.P. It looks like that is the only way I am going to be able to get the doctor to help me is by making a nuisance of myself!
I had a doctor once who's NP got stuck doing a lot of his scheduling because it was a small office. One day the doctor said he didn't know if he could keep me as a patient because I had missed so many appointments. I said I haven't missed any! Come to find out his NP was double and triple booking appts and then when she realized she would cancel some but put people down as “no shows”. The doctor had no idea she was doing this and losing him patients because they'd go elsewhere. Your doctor may have no clue what she's telling you!