Unrealistic Expectations????

[imgetinold]

Hi all.  I am posting this here because I don't want to draw unneeded negative attention from my surgeon.  Perhaps that is a ridiculous notion, but all the same......

I am committed to move forward with surgery, and am now in the stages of picking the right date.  If my doctor is "in network", I'll wait until January (deductibles, etc...).  If he's out-of-network, I'll do it sooner (if possible).  Here's the thing:

I send a scheduling inquiry just short of 2 weeks ago with no reply.  I sent an email to one of the staff about insurance and deductibles, just to figure out the details before I decide.  I've not had a reply in almost two weeks on the former, and six days on the latter.

Is this typical?  I know they're extremely busy, and I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I sort of look at this "service level" as the kind of care/service I would expecet pre- and post-op.   If that's true, then WOW, I've got to re-think things.  This doctor, who I prefer not to name, is VERY well regarded, has done tons of resurfacings, and I've never read a negative post on him.  So....I'm not sure what the deal is.

Any insight?

Thanks, all

Andy

[rbt2011]

Andy,

I don't think it is unrealistic or unreasonable to expect a reply to your emails.  I tend to agree with you that this lack of follow up, while not indicative of the skill of the surgeon, does not give you the confidence that you need.  Especially on the front end going into the surgery.

That being said, I would encourage you to call and email their office continuously until you get the answers that you need.  I am also in the process of scheduling a surgery and fighting my insurance company for approval of both my procedure and my choice of surgeons.  I will admit that I am probably one of the more annoying patients because I will literally call back several times a day until I get what I need.  Squeaky wheel my friend...

Also, while it may seem like you are being ignored it is also possible that either the emails did not get through or someone just simply overlooked them by mistake.  I do it probably 5 times a day and don't even know it.

The good thing is that your surgeon is not the one who answers the phone and checks emails.  You picked a world class surgeon...trust your judgement and his experience and you will be good to go. 

[einreb]

I send a scheduling inquiry just short of 2 weeks ago with no reply. 

Have you already had contact with the doctor?  Email mail not be the most reliable method... spam filters night have nabbed it.  Why not call?

I sent an email to one of the staff about insurance and deductibles, just to figure out the details before I decide.  I've not had a reply in almost two weeks on the former, and six days on the latter.

I spoke with 5 or so doctors offices in my research.  They wont be able to help you that much on the insurance side.  You can gather up the insurance codes, Doctor names, hospital, etc and then contact your insurance.  I have Aetna, they were surprisingly helpful in figuring out what I needed to personally budget.

[Pat Walter]

Hi
Sometimes emails get lost in cyber space or get overlooked.  For something as important, unless your doctor is out of the country like mine was, I would just call the office and ask your questions.  If they are not kind enough to talk with you, then I would consider another surgeon.  If the office gives you a hard time, also tell the doctor that if you do see him/her. That is the only way they know.  One of the top surgeons was having problems with his office staff and after people talking to him from the discussion group, he got things straightened out.

Pat

[FlbrkMike]

Have you had an appointment and and an "in-person" evaluation from this surgeon?  I would suggest calling his/her office and scheduling an appointment.  I don't think any surgeon would schedule a procedure sight unseen.

[got2newhips]

I'll tag onto Mike's question; have you had initial consultation with the doc to ensure he believes you are a candidate?  If so, go ahead and work through the scheduling process, as my experience was that while they all do their best, they definately give response priority to those who have already scheduled their surgery. As you noted, they are busy, so once they've gone through the process to qualified you, their "clock" really doesn't start until you get on the calendar for surgery, as there are a number of pre-op tests and medical clearances that you have to have.

I'm sure if you call the office to schedule, they can get you answers to your insurance questions while you're on the phone.  Hope that helps.  Good luck!!

Richard 

[hernanu]

Andy, I had a good experience with my surgeon's staff, but as others have mentioned, all have limitations. My primary way of communicating with them was over the phone. I have seen too many emails missed or discarded to fully trust that for an important thing. Call and make sure you get a call back or keep calling them.

As to the insurance, they can be very accommodating. Sedgwick were my short term disability providers, and they were great. They assigned my own nurse case worker who checked in with me every week or so to review my care and was receiving the PT reports, making sure I was getting good care. The doctor is not responsible for dealing with them, but they can be very good.

[Tin Soldier]

I'm a bit of a nut about responding to either phone call or email.  Why have an email if you won't respond?  One of the reasons I went with my surgeon is that he, himself, called me the day he got my images and we had a 20 minutes conversation about HR and my candidacy.  I don't think he was hungry for work, I think that's just how he operates, he's very dedicated.

I like Pat's suggestion about calling, but keep in mind that the initial level of service may well reflect the rest of the service that you get from that office.  If you have lots of questions about this stuff, you should expect to get timely answers from your surgeon or their well-trained assistant.  You shouldn't have to try to figure this out on your own.  Good luck!

[Tin Soldier]

BTW - when it comes to insurance, I expect similar service, but that's actually hard to come by in the insurance world.  There you should expect to have to call a bunch and don't bother with email.  At least that's my experience. It may be different with other providers.

[Dayton96]

Hi Andy,

I probably interviewed at least eight doctors, either face-to-face or by telephone or by email.  There were some, such as Dr. Gross' staff, who were great to deal with.  While others, who I won't name, were much harder to deal with.  I got pretty frustrated when emails and phone calls were not returned, particularly when I was promised a response by a certain date. 

I decided that if the doctor's staff, including the chief nurse or the scheduler, could not be bothered to respond to me in a timely manner before the surgery, then the odds were good they would not respond in a timely manner after the surgery if I should have problems. 

As part of my research, I also tried to interview former patients of all the surgeons I was interested in, and my instincts concerning the reliability of the staff was supported by what former patients told me.

So, my suggestion to you is to talk to former patients and find out what their opinions are of the staff and the surgeon.   Many will be happy to tell you one way or another.  If you haven't done it already, you might plug in your surgeon's name on this site or the yahoo site, and see what has been said in the past.  Finally, just ask if anyone here has an opinion of your surgeon and his/her staff and see what turns up.  I'm sure you know that even the best surgeons will get one or two negative comments, but if a pattern develops, then perhaps you should look around some more.

Mac 

[Anniee]

Andy,

I have to say I agree with Mac.  I did not interview several doctors, simply because Dr. Gross is so close to where I live, and two people I know were his patients and told me how great he and his staff are.  However, if I had experienced the lack of responsiveness from his office that you are receiving, I definitely would not have felt good, and would have checked out other doctors!

[imgetinold]

Thank you everyone.  I called the office and spoke with one of the folks today.  Without even mentioning it, this person apologized and indicated that their office experienced power outages and other problems over the last week.  So, I think (and hope) that the untimeliness of communication is an exception, not a rule.

So, I will compartmentalize this issue.

On another note......since the surgeon is "in-network" for me, I need to put off the surgery until January (so my really, really high deductable doesn't re-set weeks after the surgery).  Unfortunately, I almost had to get the stupid electric cart at Lowe's to make it to my car!  Ugh.  Monday, I was able to exercise bike w/o problems.  Today, I can barely walk.

Come on, January!!!!

-Andy

[Woodstock Hippy]

I'm like you, sometimes I can get out and have a rocking bike ride and then later I can barely walk.  I look at it this way; at least I can't do any more damage.  I even tried to run a few times recently but wow that hurts!

Just hang in there, January will be here before you know it.