t was an inconvenient appointment, and I was hoping I could change it.
Geisinger had sent us an appointment for a specialist follow up for my husband. I wanted to be there with him, being the doctor-wife y’know. But it was scheduled for 11:30 AM in a couple weeks. Counting an hour travel time, waiting time, seeing the doctor, lunch, and driving home, it looked like I would have to take most of the day off work.
I called to try to reschedule. The earliest appointment? The end of August!
We kept the original appointment, which was this past Friday. We drove, hiked up the hill and through the halls of the hospital, and arrived a little early for his appointment. And we sat. And sat. And sat. As we neared the 1 ½ hour mark (yes, 90 minutes), we started discussing another appointment we had a couple of hours later. If we were called back now, by the time we got done with the doctor, it might be another hour, and we still had to grab some lunch and drive the hour home. No one could tell us how soon we would be called back. So we left, never having seen the doctor.
Oh, how different my DPC (Direct Primary Care) practice is! We can give you several options within the next week for appointments. And patients rarely have time to sit in the waiting room. Most times they’re called back immediately. If people spend over an hour in my office, it’s because they have spent almost that whole time with me. I rarely am running late these days, which is a relief for me as well as my patients. We don’t bill insurance, so we’re not working for anyone but our patients.
Medicine the way it should be!