You shouldn’t be so compliant with these people.
It is a monumental bureaucratic mess.
I’m seeing a specialist for an annual checkup... in August... got a call last week to make the appointment. So I do and he has no availability in August... or September... or July... But he has some availability in October!
My provider promises a 15 minute max wait time. They record time stamps and send a survey afterward to get patient feedback.
And let me guess… your doctor was some self-important Indian brought over here to help break the system with Obamacare.
I tried to get an appointment to see a podiatrist. Six months out. YAY obamacare. And I guarantee illegals go to the front of the line.
It is cheaper now, to just book a flight to India and see a private American trained doctor there. Pay cash
Here in PA, I’m in a semi-rural (imo) community where things are not much better. Got a flock of seniors who regularly need rides to doctors and clinics. The mega-hospital here is now owned by an even more mega corporation in...California? The doctors and nurses use first names without giving anyone theirs (I imagine even a ten-minute hooker might give you a name to call her), and most folks older than 50 aren’t happy about that.
And yes it’s a meat-packing facility full of personnel largely indifferent to patients.
Then back in town I take my elderly buddies to the local doctor who, in most cases, does not personally examine them or even show up. A physician assistant sees them. She raises her voice, as if all seniors are hard of hearing, though they’re not, and she knows these patients, some of them for many years, but she’s more interested in her notes — and she doesn’t apologize when you sit there twenty minutes in the examining room waiting for her to show.
The local doctors and staff don’t do more than cursory exams and sometimes not at all. They draw blood and then some lab tells them what’s what. Then the local doctor turns into a referral center, sending the patient to the mega-hospital specialist who tells the patient what’s wrong with him and what they are willing to do about it if anything.
It’s enough to make you bitter.
I have friends who are doctors and nurses. They might still want to heal the sick but they have all invested a great deal of time, effort and money in the credentials they possess and would do anything to protect their investment. Anything.
But preferably nothing.
The less interaction with patients, the better they like it.
So take care of yourself.
Does the medical system waste the time of patients? That depends on how one looks at the issue.
Some years ago, when an eye exam picked up some abnormalities, I had an MRI to identify the problem and was soon in one of the state's leading hospitals for a first rate neurosurgeon to dig out a pituitary tumor. The operation saved my vision and probably my life.
All told, from diagnosis to operation took less than a month. I do not begrudge the time I spent in waiting rooms for such an outcome.
Time to find another practice that actuslly treats you with a splinter of respect.
Where do you have such abysmal care? I can see any specialist within days. Got my cataracts done this year over a month. First eye scheduled two weeks after diagnosis. Never had a problem or delay scheduling an mri or other scan.
I can’t tell you one thing good about the medical system. If I had run my business like they do I would have failed and gone broke long long ago. No part of it is efficient or even the least bit respectful of persons. I well and truly despise most doctors. I believe they are the root cause of most of the problems in medicine, they lead it. They are trained in arrogance.
This is happening all over the place. I had a similar experience.
So I went to Google reviews and found the practice had a two star out of five rating.
Basically it was a good practice until the older doctors retired. Then they hired a bunch of liberal doctors (I know because they asked my gender identity and they were still wearing cloth masks).
The best review went something like this:
They’ll take your money, run a lot of unnecessary tests, tell you that you’re about to die and then don’t lift a finger to help.
We can get all the medical care we need from greedy lawyers.
Car insurance is comparatively a lot better. Let’s realign health insurance to a national model like car insurance. Buy what appeals to you.
But our elected representatives refuse to allow that option. Because government doesn’t work for us. It works for lobbyists.
On a related note, I have also been seen at a top teaching cancer hospital and pretty much go through the same drill but without delays. In fact, I'm amazed at all the tests which are tightly scheduled and which come together in a final report from a two-day period/sprint. In fact, their response is quite timely, even if everything is on an iPhone or tablet.
Even though it's all using technology now, the treatment options have certainly improved. While I agree with you, I can deal with it as long as the care is where it needs to be -- which for me it is.
If you can, it might be time to look for a new teaching hospital
I put N/A as answer to most of their questions. They don’t care.
Wait until they dump millions of illegals into the system who get it free.
Bkmrk
My wife was having some serious intestinal issues. She called her GI group and they said they could get her in in three months. She went to her FP, saw the NP who ordered some tests that showed nothing. They put her on a MiraLAX regiment. She seems to be better. Hopefully, it was nothing serious. We may never know unless she dies and they do an autopsy.