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impySeeing as my plans for the weekend are still dashed, I'm bored and reading random articles online because why not. Came across this one about healthcare mergers and disappearing doctors, wondering if it would kind of mention the problem we have locally (I wanted to know if it was something widespread or just because Charleston sucks)) and the answer is kinda? Anyway, when discussing various mergers, this quote popped up:
“Are Aetna patients going to be mandated to go to a CVS MinuteClinic?”
If CVS and Co. operate anything like the almighty employer of mine, yes. Yes they will. They will say they won't and then in a year they will absolutely require you to use only their services or you will either pay out the ass or have to pay everything and they'll shun the non-believer. Shun.
The article sort of touches on the problem around here, which is that one hospital kind of owns everything and if they don't, the other two do. But I'm pretty sure R* owns more than the others. The reason we aren't fully naming names is because they will come after you if you say anything bad about their practices. I'm not kidding. I think you can talk shit about the hospitals themselves but the moment you point out anything lacking in say, one of their doctor's offices and you're screwed.
Until maybe 2011/2012, my mother had the same doctor for as long as I can remember. I used to go with her to his practice when I was little, although it's possible she saw another doctor and I didn't know because y'know, to a six year old the odd toy here and there or the skeleton in the next room was far more interesting. Point is, she went to the same office for years and I know that for years she saw the same doctor. Now, I personally think the man is one of those docs who assumes way too much (I hurt my back to the point that I could not do anything but cry and his response was "lose weight, that's all I've got for you" and that was back when my father's insurance was a) fabulous and b) paying for everything and this was his miracle cure.) and is not the best and oddly enough, my brother agrees and we agree on nothing. But Mom felt good about his care of her and that was what was important.
His practice was gobbled up by the entity that we do not name and they eventually replaced his nurses with their own and for awhile this was fine. Thing is, all the good nurses slowly started to leave. You'd ask how *someone who'd been around for forever* was and you'd hear that they'd moved to another practice, not in the network, and you'd think nothing of it.
Until it kept happening.
And then finally the people who were left were at best grossly incompetent. Mom used to get medicine delivered to the office and it was labeled for her and they were supposed to call when it came in because, y'know, it's fucking important to take your meds daily. They wouldn't call Mom when it came in and worse still, they'd give the meds sent specifically FOR HER, to other patients. But if you complained to the doctor or anyone, their hands were tied and they could do nothing.
I think I managed to get Mom booted from his practice when they did this yet again and it was insulin that she'd get delivered (there was another, I think, but the insulin is what tipped me over the edge) and she called, frantic because it was Friday and she needed it and it should've been in a week ago and she'd been calling every other day and this was not good because if she didn't get it today, she was hosed because weekend. She gets someone and they admit it's been there since last week and oh yeah, they gave it to someone else this morning because she hadn't picked it up. Mom started to rage cry and I took the phone and ripped into this woman who gave zero fucks about what she'd done and when I asked to speak to her boss, she puts me on hold and keeps me there for 45 minutes until the practice closes (5, I wanna say?) and anyone on the phone is promptly hung up on at that point and you know she knew that. About a week later Mom gets a "you can't sit with us anymore" letter and has to find a new doctor.
Yeah, you can't say shit to or about the nurses on this network because the doctors can be kicked out of their own practices (you know, since they essentially sold them to Satan) if the nurses complain. So the good ones who don't want to be around when Sandra kills a patient leave and eventually the place is run by Sandras and that goes as well as you'd think.
Can't imagine why people wouldn't want to keep going to places like this.
Mom's new place just gave her a "miss another appointment without calling 24-48 hours in advance and you're toast" thing because, wait for it, she missed an appointment when she had the flu. When she had the flu so bad that she could not tell you what day it was, let alone whether she had anything to do that day. I'm not even sure she didn't call the day of to tell them, but since it wasn't 24 hours in advance, she got dinged.
I get that they want to keep people from repeatedly forgetting their appointments but most of the time if you're sick as a dog they don't want you to come in (especially with the flu) or what if there's an actual emergency? This rule is fine in theory but falls apart in the harsh light of reality.
And you can't say shit because remember, Satan's running the joint.
And he's running everything. Sigh.
Well, now I have to forage for snacks because it's 3:30 and that's about the time I normally get hungry at work.
“Are Aetna patients going to be mandated to go to a CVS MinuteClinic?”
If CVS and Co. operate anything like the almighty employer of mine, yes. Yes they will. They will say they won't and then in a year they will absolutely require you to use only their services or you will either pay out the ass or have to pay everything and they'll shun the non-believer. Shun.
The article sort of touches on the problem around here, which is that one hospital kind of owns everything and if they don't, the other two do. But I'm pretty sure R* owns more than the others. The reason we aren't fully naming names is because they will come after you if you say anything bad about their practices. I'm not kidding. I think you can talk shit about the hospitals themselves but the moment you point out anything lacking in say, one of their doctor's offices and you're screwed.
Until maybe 2011/2012, my mother had the same doctor for as long as I can remember. I used to go with her to his practice when I was little, although it's possible she saw another doctor and I didn't know because y'know, to a six year old the odd toy here and there or the skeleton in the next room was far more interesting. Point is, she went to the same office for years and I know that for years she saw the same doctor. Now, I personally think the man is one of those docs who assumes way too much (I hurt my back to the point that I could not do anything but cry and his response was "lose weight, that's all I've got for you" and that was back when my father's insurance was a) fabulous and b) paying for everything and this was his miracle cure.) and is not the best and oddly enough, my brother agrees and we agree on nothing. But Mom felt good about his care of her and that was what was important.
His practice was gobbled up by the entity that we do not name and they eventually replaced his nurses with their own and for awhile this was fine. Thing is, all the good nurses slowly started to leave. You'd ask how *someone who'd been around for forever* was and you'd hear that they'd moved to another practice, not in the network, and you'd think nothing of it.
Until it kept happening.
And then finally the people who were left were at best grossly incompetent. Mom used to get medicine delivered to the office and it was labeled for her and they were supposed to call when it came in because, y'know, it's fucking important to take your meds daily. They wouldn't call Mom when it came in and worse still, they'd give the meds sent specifically FOR HER, to other patients. But if you complained to the doctor or anyone, their hands were tied and they could do nothing.
I think I managed to get Mom booted from his practice when they did this yet again and it was insulin that she'd get delivered (there was another, I think, but the insulin is what tipped me over the edge) and she called, frantic because it was Friday and she needed it and it should've been in a week ago and she'd been calling every other day and this was not good because if she didn't get it today, she was hosed because weekend. She gets someone and they admit it's been there since last week and oh yeah, they gave it to someone else this morning because she hadn't picked it up. Mom started to rage cry and I took the phone and ripped into this woman who gave zero fucks about what she'd done and when I asked to speak to her boss, she puts me on hold and keeps me there for 45 minutes until the practice closes (5, I wanna say?) and anyone on the phone is promptly hung up on at that point and you know she knew that. About a week later Mom gets a "you can't sit with us anymore" letter and has to find a new doctor.
Yeah, you can't say shit to or about the nurses on this network because the doctors can be kicked out of their own practices (you know, since they essentially sold them to Satan) if the nurses complain. So the good ones who don't want to be around when Sandra kills a patient leave and eventually the place is run by Sandras and that goes as well as you'd think.
Can't imagine why people wouldn't want to keep going to places like this.
Mom's new place just gave her a "miss another appointment without calling 24-48 hours in advance and you're toast" thing because, wait for it, she missed an appointment when she had the flu. When she had the flu so bad that she could not tell you what day it was, let alone whether she had anything to do that day. I'm not even sure she didn't call the day of to tell them, but since it wasn't 24 hours in advance, she got dinged.
I get that they want to keep people from repeatedly forgetting their appointments but most of the time if you're sick as a dog they don't want you to come in (especially with the flu) or what if there's an actual emergency? This rule is fine in theory but falls apart in the harsh light of reality.
And you can't say shit because remember, Satan's running the joint.
And he's running everything. Sigh.
Well, now I have to forage for snacks because it's 3:30 and that's about the time I normally get hungry at work.