Dr. Appointment Wait Time?

[StudioStuntz]

I've heard more than once that doctors are instructed and taught in Med school how to judge the time they are with you by your speech patterns and/or god old-fashioned one Mississippi, two Mississippi etc. while half-listening to you and conditioned to pick out certain key words and symptoms, thus giving us our allotted 5-7 minutes..

As a male, I personally have found that woman doctors are usually better listeners than males, and have received more accurate diagnoses by woman nurse practitioners than male doctors on several or so occasions.

 

[blue4]

tell us about insurance premiums, co-insurance, copays, constant billing issues, etc...

I like the nice $300 charge for ER visits.

And you still get the 12 hour wait.

The months of contract negotiations dealing with Healthcare long after everything else is settled sucks too.

There's upsides and downsides to everything I guess.

 

[Fishheadjoe]

Our past (note the word "past") GP had no idea what time it was and no inkling of the time spent by patients in the waiting room. What kept us going to her was the fact that she was an excellent Dr and a compassionate person.
I would do my best to be scheduled into the first appointment of the day and would still find myself and my young kids sitting for well over an hour the the waiting room.
Enough was enough and I finally asked her after an hour a forty-five minute wait, if she failed the time management portion of her training. She apologized as usual and we soon after found another doctor who was able and capable of managing time.
Fishheadjoe

 

[ChrisB2]

I don't visit the doctor often but I've waited extreme amounts. It sucks. Bottom line, they do it because they can. All these rationalizations for why it happens are just that; rationalizations. Sure, you expect to wait, but an office that is chronically making people wait more than 30 minutes is simply poorly managed.

 

[claudel]

I can understand why doctor appointments can be pushed back due to complicated prior cases.

It makes sense to me that sick people need treatment that can't always be predicted or timed in advance.

That's why I try to schedule my appointments earlier in the day before unforeseen circumstances have a chance to stack up.

What pist me off more than waiting, which is to be expected, was when a receptionist cancelled my appointment with a doc whose office is over an hour away from me because I was 10 minutes late due to traffic dramas. When I walked in there was a sign apologizing because the doctor was running 30 minutes late. I was 20 minutes early then, no? I wrote an extremely irate letter to the medical company's patient advocate and received tons of empty apologies and lame platitudes about how they valued their patients, blah blah - woof woof...

I did notice I never saw that particular receptionist in that office after that, though...

 

[Bob_Ross]

I had two doctor's appointments this week, both new doctors for me (first time visiting either) who both work out of the same office.

Average wait time between my arrival and NP taking me was four minutes. I barely had time to fill out all the new patient paperwork!

And average wait time between the NP leaving the exam room and the doctor entering was 30 seconds. Seriously.

I am definitely going to keep seeing these docs!

 

[blue4]

I had two doctor's appointments this week, both new doctors for me (first time visiting either) who both work out of the same office.

Average wait time between my arrival and NP taking me was four minutes. I barely had time to fill out all the new patient paperwork!

And average wait time between the NP leaving the exam room and the doctor entering was 30 seconds. Seriously.

I am definitely going to keep seeing these docs!

You should if they prove to be good, because that's rare.

 

[blue4]

I don't visit the doctor often but I've waited extreme amounts. It sucks. Bottom line, they do it because they can. All these rationalizations for why it happens are just that; rationalizations. Sure, you expect to wait, but an office that is chronically making people wait more than 30 minutes is simply poorly managed.

I agree. The emergencies and stuff don't happen as often as people believe. Almost always for a GP it's over booking.
My wife's a nurse and most of my in laws are in HC in various departments so I get the true Hollywood story so to speak.

 

[Mahcks]

I had an appointment with an endocrinologist at 9:30 am for blood work. I had to be fasting, so I was feeling hungry to start. I waited in the waiting room for about 40 minutes, and asked if they were running behind. Turns out they don't do appointments for blood work even though I got 2 calls and an email to confirm the appointment. I waited another 30 minutes before I requested to cancel all future appointments.

It may have been a poor decision, as it takes 6-7 months to find another diabetes specialist here on my side of Houston. Still, my general practitioner can get me in and out for blood work and prescriptions in no time.

 

[zontar]

The wait times at my doctor wouldn't be so bad if the background music they play features autotuned vocals on about 98% of the songs you hear--and I'm sure the other 2% still have at least some autotune, just more sparingly.

 

[Munjibunga]

Last time I went it was 30 seconds in the waiting room and 40 minutes in the exam room. The doctor gave me about 10 minutes of his time to tell me I'm doing great, but probably charged at least an hour to Medicare for which many of you paid, and I thank you.

 

[Hoff Kinkmeister]

God forbid anyone that spends 12 years getting an education and works 12 hour days with the constant threat of ending someone else's life enjoy the fruits of their labor!!!

Personally, I have no problem with that. I just can't roll my eyes far enough when individuals who net significantly more than median household income complain about the cost of doing business.

 

[blue4]

Personally, I have no problem with that. I just can't roll my eyes far enough when individuals who net significantly more than median household income complain about the cost of doing business.

I could care less how much they make, it's the lack of consideration for their patients time that gets me. I'm glad they make a great living, 12 years of school they deserve it. But I don't see why poor time management is supposed to be excused. And that's what it usually is. They act like it's just a part of being a patient. I was getting my annual eye exam at a new place last Friday. (since my insurance and my last doctor didn't see eye to eye apparently. Once again I have the illusion of choice where I want to go. When I called, my insurance told me I was lucky I even had a shred of vision coverage. But that's OT). The doctor wasn't even in the building until a half hour past my scheduled time. The guy even told me matter of factly, "she usually doesn't make these early appointments on time". Not going back there again.

 

[catcauphonic]

Our rhythm guitar player recently started a new job as one of the blood draw people at a local office. Just Friday he complained to me about how busy it was and he gets the flak because this Dr sometimes doesn't even get to the office by the time of the first scheduled appointment, and it all goes like falling dominos after that. Rude

 

[caligula]

Perspective from the old continent.
When I have an appointment with my GP, I usually wait for 10 minutes, often less. At the dentist hardly not more than 4 - 5 minutes (they seem to be very efficient).
A couple of years ago I had a herniated disk in my lower back, until then I always thought only people 55 plus get this ... hmm ... I was wrong.
The orthopedist I went to had a good reputation, but boy did they suck at time management. I usually had to wait for 45 - 60 minutes and more.
It got so annoying that I cancelled the rest appointments and went to see another doc who handled things much smoother.

Last year, I had a wooden splinter in my finger that I coundn't remove myself because it was so deep under my fingernail it had to be cut out by a doc.
Called my GP first, saw him an hour later, he made the appointment for me with said doc, I went there next morning, waited for 15 minutes and had that thing removed.

Had my gall blatter removed a few years ago. This was the only time (except for my first orhopedist) where I had to wait longer than I expected.
Went to the emergency room at the local hospital and waited for roughly 45 minutes with severe pain, but at the end all went well.
All in all I'm pretty satisfied with how it works here.

 

[Biggbass]

Many years ago when Johnny Carson had the Tonight Show there was some celebrity on there who had gone thru an hour long wait to see the doctor. So he told the story to Johnny about how he was so frustrated that doctors can't keep appointments in a timely manner that he sent his doctor a bill for the hour he spent waiting, because, after all...
his time was valuable too.

Many years after that I did the same thing. Back before you had to pay prior to the visit, and doctors would bill you after the visit, I spent an hour beyond my appointment time in the waiting room with my son, who needed to see this specialist for his ADHD, only to have the doctor rush thru a 5 minute evaluation like a neurotic Woody Allen on speed and then send us on our way with no suggestion of remedy or treatment. As we left, I remember thinking, compared to this guy my son is just fine! And my son and I just looked at each other with wide eyes, laughing about it and saying- what was that all about? That guy was nuts!

When I got the bill in the mail a week or so later - for $175 - I was appalled.
I returned it with a letter stating that I would not pay it until the doctor paid my invoice, which was enclosed, for $175, for my time spent waiting for him, as we had a scheduled appointment and like him, I billed for my time by the hour, which he had wasted by being an hour late for our appointment. A month later I got another bill. I returned it with the same response and another copy of my invoice. A month later the same thing...I returned it with the letter and invoice. That was the last I ever heard of it.

 

[ChrisB2]

Many years ago when Johnny Carson had the Tonight Show there was some celebrity on there who had gone thru an hour long wait to see the doctor. So he told the story to Johnny about how he was so frustrated that doctors can't keep appointments in a timely manner that he sent his doctor a bill for the hour he spent waiting, because, after all...
his time was valuable too.

Many years after that I did the same thing. Back before you had to pay prior to the visit, and doctors would bill you after the visit, I spent an hour beyond my appointment time in the waiting room with my son, who needed to see this specialist for his ADHD, only to have the doctor rush thru a 5 minute evaluation like a neurotic Woody Allen on speed and then send us on our way with no suggestion of remedy or treatment. As we left, I remember thinking, compared to this guy my son is just fine! And my son and I just looked at each other with wide eyes, laughing about it and saying- what was that all about? That guy was nuts!

When I got the bill in the mail a week or so later - for $175 - I was appalled.
I returned it with a letter stating that I would not pay it until the doctor paid my invoice, which was enclosed, for $175, for my time spent waiting for him, as we had a scheduled appointment and like him, I billed for my time by the hour, which he had wasted by being an hour late for our appointment. A month later I got another bill. I returned it with the same response and another copy of my invoice. A month later the same thing...I returned it with the letter and invoice. That was the last I ever heard of it.

Haha good one! Of course, if his 5 minutes was worth $175 maybe your bill for 60 minutes should've been $2100!