After 15 minutes on hold, I gave up. No human had come to the phone, just the recording of “Please continue to hold. Someone will be with you shortly.” Well, I guess “shortly” is a relative term!
I was just trying to call another doctors’ office for a quick discussion about a mutual patient. I would have liked to talk to the doctor, or I could have sent a message through the nurse. But alas, I couldn’t reach a human at all.
I wonder how their patients handle that lack of accessibility. Do they plan on it taking 20 minutes to reach someone? Maybe they have some magic email accessibility that I don’t know about. Or maybe they just give up and don’t bother trying to communicate.
It is so much different at Pine Creek Family Medicine. Sue often answers by the second ring. And if I know she’s busy, I will often answer. Some people are surprised that the doctor would be answering the phone, but I have time to do that. We rarely let a phone call go to voice mail, and if we do, we’re almost always responding promptly.
I love my DPC (Direct Primary Care) practice, where patients pay a monthly membership and in exchange get essentially unlimited office visits and communication. By limiting my practice to about 500 patients, rather than the typical family practice doctor with about 2000 patients, I’m able to provide prompt personalized medical care.
Medicine the way it should be!