Yep, I'll be revising that letter, trust me.

Round one is done. I was able to get a referral faxed from my GP and I have an appointment with the neuro at the end of November. BTW, I just had to ask, if I'm a new patient, does that mean you no longer have any of my records. She said, oh no, we have all your records right here. My health plan administrator said the main reason they do this is so they can charge the insurance company more money. It appears they get more money when you're coded as a new patient than as an established one. Scam artists!

Off to do some internet research on our laws.

Not sure if it will work, but when things are really bad for me (twice in the last two years) I just go to my neuros office at the very end of the day tell the PA that it's an emergency and I sit there. The Doc has seen me both times to the consternation of the PA I might add. Nothing makes me happier than seeing that ***** mad.

Let me tell you, if I thought I could pull it off I WOULD camp out at his office. Every one of his staff are incompetent *******, no kidding. It would get me absolutely nowhere.

Heck, I even had a legitimate appointment one time, sat in his waiting room for over a half hour before this bimbo - the one that had set up my appointment in the first place - calls me up to the desk and says "Hon, I think you're confused, you are not on the appointment schedule today."

Well, that really P'd me off. I happened to have the appointment card IN HER HANDWRITING with me, so I pulled it out and gave it to her. She started looking worried. Next, she disappears from the desk and I hear my neuro raising his voice but can't make out what he's saying. She comes back a couple of minutes later and says she's sorry but he's so far behind he can't see me today. I was really furious as I had to leave work early for this BS and then he doesn't even have the <bleep> to see me since I'm already there!

If there was another good neuro nearby, I'd leave in a heartbeat. I've even discussed this crap with my GP. He sympathizes with me and it really irritates him how that neuro's office is ran, but he said while he could refer me to another neuro, they're all pretty much ran the same way. Nice.

That is EXACTLY why I keep my appointment cards ON me. I showed up once to be told I was NOT scheduled for that day. I drive 1 1/2 hours to get there, i dont just jump in the car on a whim. I said, yes, Im sorry, but MY appointment IS for today, and I would like to be seen. She called in the back and yammered on and on about how "THIS LADY" out front is demanding to be seen, and doesnt have an appointment. She wants to set me up with a new appointment, but since "THIS LADY" is being so rude, could someone come out and talk to her?! when the office manager came out, I handed her my appointment card, showed her on MY calendar, and that I have 3 appointment in the same building TODAY, as I book them all on the same days. She went on to tell me that my appointment had been moved, and I should have been notified. I said since I wasnt notified, and am now out of meds, I WILL be staying and having dinner in the waiting room if need be. My other appointments are done, and this is the only one left.

It was a while but I WAS seen. I was ready to order a pizza to be delivered if need be. I wasnt going anywhere, even if it was just to tick off the snotty receptionist.

I'm going to voice a "NO, NO, NO!!!!" on the certified mail route. Nuh uh. You don't want to do that. What purpose would it serve? Showing that they GOT the letter? It might make them think you have some ulterior motive for the need of a receipt.

A better suggestion, might I say, is using a certificate of mailing.

http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendm...ingservice.htm

First of all, when you use THAT only YOU have evidence that you mailed it--the doctor doesn't.

Second of all, you can staple the certificate to a copy you keep for yourself (your letter) and then if they say that they never got it, you pull out the certificate and the letter you sent.

Using a certificate of mailing raises a presumption under the law that the item was mailed. Basically the presumption is that once you've put the item in the mail, the one receiving it has received it already. That's a fiction, of course, but it means that we trust the USPS to get the item to another person without fail.

And try proving that you didn't get something in the mail. Dare ya to show you didn't get a piece of mail. I'd rather prove that I mailed something.

I am re-reading all of this and it just turns my stomach. Why do we have to go through all of this to see doctors.

We are the sick ones, we PAY to see them, not the other way around. They collect our fees and pay staff to treat US as if we are second class citizens.

We devise all these ways to get around the system to get into the "inner sanctum" for that oh so precious 5 minutes of their time to be billed what - $150? And then what? Did we get what we went in there for? Did we walk out of there satisfied? Did the doctor write out that rx? No, someone else wrote it out, it was pre-stamped with his signature on it, someone else handed us a handful of pamphlets to read or paperwork to sign based on what he checked on some sheet of paper/or form he was paying more attention to than the patient.

So, when is enough enough?

I say write that letter to your neuro. Deliver it in whatever manner you deem necessary and let the staff know just exactly how you've been treated. I also suggest a copy to the local AMA association. That will get his attention. Lodge a complaint...it's gotten to the point that we as patients have no rights anymore. We are treated like criminals because we are sick and need to be seen by doctors and the staff protect their doctors like they are gods. They are not. The staff are too protective and need to take a step back and listen to the patients.

I made a comment earlier about faxing notes to my neuro. It's a great way to communicate and it came about because of a receptionist she no longer has. It's become a great way to get information to her. They are busy and they love that I fax them notes. It saves them time writing messages and trying to translate things. It's a win-win situation for both of us.

Good luck with seeing your doc. This is just not right.

Whatever happened to doctor's offices calling and confirming the appointment the day (or 2 days) before? If I haven't gotten a call from the office by about 3 PM the day before my appointment I call them and confirm it myself! I don't have that far to drive but believe me, if I had to drive 1 1/2 hours just to see the doctor, there'd be some confirming happening!!

LOL you know my blood is STILL boiling over this B.S. As a matter of fact I was in the shower stewing about it just now. I believe what I'll do is hand the letter to the doctor when he comes in to see me and I *dare* him to ask me if I'm a new patient. My hubby attends all neuro appointments with me so I'm sure the neuro will hear about it from the both of us. And this isn't the first time we've had to complain to him about his office staff. I think the only requirement to work there is to be an uncaring B.

The problem with these specialists, quite frankly, is they know they have us by the you know what. I mean, who knows, he may "fire" me at my appointment and then what - no meds and no doc. It really sucks. I can say this much, if the appointment doesn't go well, I will lodge a formal complaint with the ADA since apparently it is against the law to be prescribing meds to a patient for over three years without seeing them, per my health plan administrator. Looks like they're the ones with the problem, not me as I had absolutely no idea and I have other friends with MS who never have to see their docs for refills. I would like to think if there was an issue, they know how to pick up the phone and call me.

As far as getting reminder phone calls, this doctor's office never calls but I always call to confirm my appointment since that incident of the disappearing appointment. LOL

Cannot wait to hear your update on this! MY blood is Boiling just reading about it!!!

All I can say is that I feel so blessed to have my neuro. He is always way behind (as in an hour or more) and he is scheduled out many months (my next appt is June 12, 2009 and that was the next avail appt when I booked it after my appt a couple weeks ago) BUT he is caring and takes all the time I need when I'm in there. He also has a wonderful nurse and assistant who handle everything in between. He will also call me on the phone if I need him and will squeeze me in the schedule if there is an urgent concern.

One of the best things he does is makes sure to rx enough of a drug. For example, my Provigil rx is written as 2 doses of 200 mg per day. He does that to make sure I can get enough with one copay even if I don't need to use that much every day. He is sensitive to the fact that things can change quickly and that it is much easier to adjust dosages if you have enough of the med on hand.

He gave me a titration schedule when I first started this and told me to adjust anywhere in between 50 mg per day up to the max of 400 mg per day. He told me to just do what I needed to for my body and to take occassional breaks from it if it stops working. I cannot imagine a neuro scolding you for not taking MORE of this drug. It is a powerful stimulant.

Unfortunately for me, Provigil just isn't working for me anymore. Now, we are talking about maybe trying an ADHD type of med like Adderall depending on what the neuropsych testing reveals.

I hope you get through to this neuro and that he sees your point in this. I hope this is just the office staff being a bunch of morons and that it doesn't really reflect him.