[dahlek]

In the last few weeks, I'm finding more of my [many] doc appts are having some sort of automated 'reminder call' system -phoning my home ....I am beginning to HATE IT!
Does anyone else experience this all and feel this way? I mean, I am an ADULT...last I looked, I DID make an appt.. I DO keep multiple calendars so I don't forget..an auto-digital voice telling me not to forget isn't exactly good PR in my book. Worse is, should there be a problem with such calls...you well have to dial and go thru their phone maze all over again! I find it truly irksome. Others?

How do you feel? - j

[MelodyL]

For every one of our appointments, there has always been a staff member phoning us one or two days before, saying on my answering machine "This is Michelle, from Dr. ?? office. We are just reminding Alan that he has a 12:15 appointment on the 10th".

We get this all the time, but then again, we have lots of appointments.

But we never got an automated one. That's a new thing as far as I'm concerned.

Mel

[Silver Swan]

Hi:

Like Melody, I am not aware of getting any automated calls, but I do get reminder calls a couple days or so before a medical appointment. We have an answering machine, but I have also answered these calls and there is a live person on the other end.

I too keep a calendar so I know when to go - but I do appreciate the reminders. There has been a time or too when I did sort of forget and the call on our answering machine was very welcome. Any missed appointments could have been filled by others and I can see why the clinic people have started this reminder calling.

Shirley H.

[BEGLET]

I get both from my docs offiices - depending on size of office.... larger ones usually automated...

Whats really frustrating to me is automated calls from my mail order pharmacy -even if the answering machine answers it starts to leave a message that says, hold on to talk to rep... and then cuts off - I call them back to ask WHAT? and they say, we dont know.... very irriitating... its only my meds - no biggie right?????

[daniella]

I'm suprised. I rarely get a reminder call with some of these apts. I'm also suprised that it would be left on a machine with confidentialty. I hate that when you call to make an apt and have to go through the computer system and have the selection of #'s to press.Then especially when you get disconnected. One day probably all will be done by computer.

[MelodyL]

I go to Cornell Weill Medical Center usually every two months for my diabetes protocol. The week before my appointment, I get this big letter in the mail, telling me the date of my appointment and to bring this letter in and show my insurance.

Now, I'm in the ACCORD program at Cornell so it has nothing to do with my insurance. It's all free. But thank god they send me this letter because, between Alan and myself, we have so many appointments, and so many little appointment cards, that if you think I can remember when my next Cornell appointment is, well forget about it. I even have a calendar up on my refrigerator, and, well, wouldn't you know it, I forgot to pencil in when my next appointment is at Cornell. I believe it's the beginning of July. I'll get the letter in the mail and I put the big letter on the refrigerator and I can see it and it will remind me. I have a very very bad memory for appointment dates and stuff.

I'm sharp as a tack about other stuff, computer stuff, taking care of Alan stuff, well just about anything that is not an appointment. But appointments, well, forget it. I have to write own notes about everything.

But the funny thing is when I do go to my Cornell Appointment, you have to check in at the front desk on the 4th floor. So here I am, and I tell the gal or guy, (I give my name and doctor's name) and they always go."What insurance do you use?" and I go "I don't use insurance". And they look at me and they go "what do you mean, you don't use insurance, how will you pay"?? and I go "I don't have to pay". And they again give me this look and I start to smile and I go "I don't have to pay because I'm in a free program".
(By the way, this happens every time I go).

I just calmly look at the receptionist and I say "I'm in the ACCORD program" and they look at me blankly and then someone walks over to them and whispers in their ears and then they go "Oh, THE ACCORD PROGRAM".

The staff at Cornell are very nice people from the person who takes my blood to the new assistants who just started working in the ACCORD program. I'm like a test case for them. I broke their protocol, my A1c got down so low they had to adjust my meds. It's all good for me, but it wasn't so good for their protocol. I just smile and say "you ain't seen nothing yet", my goal is to go off of insulin". I probably don't have a shot in hell at doing this, but I always hope."

You have to have hope, that's my motto!!!!

Melody

[Wing42]

Originally Posted by dahlek

In the last few weeks, I'm finding more of my [many] doc appts are having some sort of automated 'reminder call' system -phoning my home ....I am beginning to HATE IT! ...
... I find it truly irksome. Others?

How do you feel? - j

Why get upset over something you can't change? Being upset makes PN pain worse.

I appreciate the reminders. My brain is a bit like Swiss cheese, full of holes that allow memories to dribble out behind me as I walk, talk, or sit. I even forgot an appointment within the past month that the clinic reminded me about two days prior. I'm probably not the only dodo out there, and that's why the offices make these courtesy calls.

Daneilla makes an important point, especially in an office setting. That's why I always give my cell number to contact me. All messages on a cell phone are confidential.

Dahlek, would you prefer no reminder calls, but full billing for missed appointments?

[Silverlady]

Personally,
I'm grateful for these reminders. I'm sorta like David. My mind is like Swiss cheese these days too. So many appointments, household tasks, I'm really grateful they call to remind me. I always carry a pocket calendar with me everywhere. Because I'm hoping it will be one more place that I'll look in order to not forget. And with my husband's appts. and obligations too, I don't want any of them to overlap.

I remember when filling out medical paperwork at new offices, they always ask me if it's ok to leave a reminder on my answering machine. I appreciate this.

Dahlek...take a deep breath and decide this is one of the minor irritants in your life. Visualize a poof of little pink baloons everytime you hear one.

Billye

[cyclelops]

I get them too...sometimes it is a human...sometimes it is a robot. Regardless, it is a good thing for me, as I can't seem to keep a hard copy calendar near my phone..it disappears, and calling to figure out what time I really made that appt. six months ago, and lost the card for it....well, that is a lot more nerve wracking.

The reason they do that is the system is usually overbooked, and a full day might mean moving around clerical and nursing staff, and a missed appt. costs the provider money, and not just the doctor who misses the appt, but also the clinic or hospital that may have moved in a pricey per diem nurse...(not that the nurse gets the money, the agency does). Cancellations ahead of time, they can fill, no shows are tough, and believe it or not, the bigger institutions have to get extra staff if every appt. is going to show, because in the scheduled appts, there are also urgent or emergencies stuffed in.

I am not sure if people realize just how bad the nursing crisis is these days...often you are seeing a non-licensed person being called a nurse, and my pet peeve is a physician assistant being called a 'doctor' because they have prescribing rights, when many of them took the same classes I did...(at the same college, no less.)

Physicians are not going into many of the needed areas such as family practice, OB and the higher risk specialties.....Doctors used to 'own' a practice, not anymore, they are employed by a provider, who is often YOUR insurer...who is paying the bill for your attended or missed appointment.

You see a plethora of name tags now with all kinds of 'fluffy' titles on them...you seldom see the old stuff like MD, RN, LPN...you see a lot of 'assistant' or 'tech' titles. The public needs to get more educated about who they are seeing and what these individuals are diagnosing. Some 'tech' titles are good as technology is increasing so rapidly that you need some one who regularly does that procedure, even the more minor ones...but delegation is going down the river so to speak...in other words, more technical stuff is getting delegated to less educated people...After a lifetime career in the health field I can testify to that fact.

Again, most medical professionals are good. Many are overworked and underpaid, and some of them have neuropathy....and yes, after 8 to 12 hours on their feet, they hurt too. So if a robot makes phone calls, eh, there could be worse delegation...

[dahlek]

means! These reminders are necessary no matter how many calendars one has.

I'm just a bit IRKED that it's one more aspect of DEPERSONALIZATION in the medical profession. Sort of a 'prelude' to when we 'see' the doctor via a screen or the like. I only raised the issue since recently three out of six doctor's offices called with automated voice-mail messages and TWO were similar to those danged voices on 'pre-programmed' answering machines...totally mechanical and remote..

So, I was just wondering out loud if anyone else is experiencing this apparent 'trend'. Billye-thanks for the pink ballons. I needed them!

Cycleops - you raise several valid points:
1-that in many offices 'fluffly' names are given to staff of unknown function - one doc I have has an assistant who is referred to as a nurse....I've more medical training than they do.
2-many nurses in various offices are given far more administrative tasks than are valid for their skills.
3-regarding physician assistants tho...all my experiences with PA's have been honest and positive...I've found that they were the ones who really listened to my at my onset...and one in particular I know did quite a bit of 'looking it up' before referring me to the Doctor..I got better attention from the PA than that doc!

I also see one nurse who just might show some 'fangs' today, especially should someone inadvertently step on that nurse's feet!

Balloons of all colors to all! - j