Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My wife and I are considering a move to NC and were wondering about medical coverage, treatment, hospital care and overall patient satisfaction with what is available.
The reason we are asking is because the other day, my wife took her mother to the doctor with a severe pain in her neck, elbow and arm. They told her to ice it and take Tylenol. There was no change and she wasn't sleeping at all. Yesterday, she took her in and the desk nurse told her that she couldn't see a doctor because she had already been in once this week, especially without an appointment. Eventually, she did get in and she was given a prescription.
This has happened before and there are many other incidents I could relate here but don't want to bore you with the details. How are you treated there? Is there good insurance? Are the hospitals good? How about physicians and staff; are they courteous and good to work with? How about insurance? Are they and the doctors offices easy to work with?
Thank you for any help you can give us. As my in-laws may move with us from NYC, we would like to know if they are going to be treated better in NC than they are in NYC.
My wife and I are considering a move to NC and were wondering about medical coverage, treatment, hospital care and overall patient satisfaction with what is available.
The reason we are asking is because the other day, my wife took her mother to the doctor with a severe pain in her neck, elbow and arm. They told her to ice it and take Tylenol. There was no change and she wasn't sleeping at all. Yesterday, she took her in and the desk nurse told her that she couldn't see a doctor because she had already been in once this week, especially without an appointment. Eventually, she did get in and she was given a prescription.
This has happened before and there are many other incidents I could relate here but don't want to bore you with the details. How are you treated there? Is there good insurance? Are the hospitals good? How about physicians and staff; are they courteous and good to work with? How about insurance? Are they and the doctors offices easy to work with?
Thank you for any help you can give us. As my in-laws may move with us from NYC, we would like to know if they are going to be treated better in NC than they are in NYC.
I don't think it's possible to make any sweeping generalizations of the sort. There is good insurance and bad insurance; good people and staff you'll encounter in hospitals and bad people; qualified doctors with good bedside manner, qualified doctors with no social skills, mediocre doctors who are charming, and all the rest. Sadly, insurance companies are insurance companies, so I wouldn't think they'd be any better here than anywhere else.
That said, it's a good medical area. With the universities around and their associated medical schools, there are plenty of good doctors in the area, so rest assured you're not moving to a medical backwater (where the advice is, if you get sick, don't call a doctor, call Delta, and get thee to Boston or New York or Baltimore).
I think maybe the question the poster is asking is: how is medical care for those on MEDICARE? I'm going to guess that the in-laws mentioned are on medicare, and if so, we know that fewer doctors are accepting medicare patients and that the care is deteriorating due to spiraling costs. Anyone here on Medicare care to relate some experiences with finding a doctor in the Triangle area?
I think Geoff hit the nail on the head - there is a mix of good and not-so-good. And what's perfect for one person is not right for another person. Fortunately, the Triangle area has lots of hospitals and lots of physician offices so you will have plenty to choose from and find the right match.
You can use websites like these to find information on hosptials in our area:
Medicare.gov - Hospital Compare (http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/Hospital/Search/SearchOptions.asp - broken link)
*I especially like this one now that they include the results of hospital patient surveys.
I will just say that my experience with hospitals (comparing Duke and UNC Memorial) has shown me that the care given at Duke for the most part far exceeds that of UNC Memorial. Both are teaching hospitals, but the attention given was way better at Duke.
As for offices, our doctor's office has never turned us away if we've come in multiple times (and with kids that happens!) in a week or a month. As a matter of fact, when our child was recently hospitalized and the dr received requests for past med history from the hospital he called up with concern to find out what was going on. That surprised us! Great care, and ever hesitant to do as many follow ups as needed. The back office though has had issues!
Like everywhere there are good and bad doctors (and staff)
A family member was recently in the hospital overnight after surgery, and the care at Mission Hospital in Asheville was horrid. They screwed up an IV drug drip (it simply ran out onto her arm and bed), tried to administer the wrong oral medications, twice , did not feed her, though she was on no diet restrictions. I would not leave my dog in their care, and my wife and/or I stayed there over 24 hours until she was discharged to act as her patient advocate.
Walking down the same wing she was in, another patient has added a handwritten sign above his name plate outside his room, saying simply.
FEED ME
BATH ME
Greatest health care in the world is a myth propagated by government and the medical community, and is a cruel joke on the every American.
Yes! I totally agree that there are good doctors and bad doctors. Eventually, we need to choose the best doctor who takes care of our health whenever we move to the hospital. Yes, without any appointment may cause the schedule of the doctor to change, but, we need to maintain in such a way that no one gets distracted because of our appearance.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
, did not feed her, though she was on no diet restrictions. I would not leave my dog in their care, and my wife and/or I stayed there over 24 hours until she was discharged to act as her patient advocate.
