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.
Below is the "Rescheduling/No Show" policy of the Gastroenterology Division at Duke Hospital.
Firstly, take a good look at Duke's strange definition of a "No Show"....then read through the rest:
"Cancellation less than 5 days for clinic appointment or 10 days for procedural appointment will be treated as a no-show."
No Show Clinic Patients:
-- New patients will NOT be rescheduled.
A letter will be sent to the referring MD and the patient requesting the referring physician to contact the GI scheduling HUB if consultation is still desired.
-- Established patients will be rescheduled once.
The patient will need approval from the attending GI physician in order to reschedule the appointment.
If there is a repeat no-show, a letter will be sent to the patient and referring physician asking the referring physician to contact the HUB if further GI follow up is required.
No Show Procedure Patients:
-- New patients will NOT be rescheduled.
A letter will be sent to the referring MD and the patient requesting the referring physician to contact the GI scheduling HUB if consultation is still desired.
-- Established patients will be rescheduled once.
If there is a repeat no-show, a letter will be sent to the patient and referring physician asking the referring physician to contact the HUB if further GI follow up is required.
This policy is not limited to the Gastroenterology Division, it exists throughout the Duke Health System.
So, a patient can be considered a "No Show", even if they canceled their appointment a week-and-a-half in advance?
And the offending patient can be banned from rescheduling for treatment of their condition at Duke, EVER AGAIN?!?
For a top-ranking medical institution, that's supposed to be devoted to helping and treating the sick and the dying, the policy seems unfair, extreme and very uncompassionate.
Thoughts?
Last edited by James Taylor; 04-07-2009 at 10:35 PM..
I work at Duke's cancer center..I know for a fact that we reschedule "no shows". I have seen patients one week that were "no shows" the week before.
As far as GI procedures - colonoscopies, endoscopies, it is costly to have a patient just not show up. The procedure has been booked, blocking time out in the endoscopy center...only so many procedures are scheduled per day. The physician's/nurse's schedule is dependent upon the patient's arrival.
Also, a no-show is no phone call, notification etc. If you're stuck in traffic / stuck at work and you can't make it just call. I think that's good manners regardless. No-show simply means not showing up and not notifying.
Welcome to medicine in 21st century America. LJD has it spot on. Procedures are costly in terms of time, staff and money. Also, it's not as if a no-show will never be rescheduled ever, especially if there are good reasons for no-showing.
I'm fairly certain the policy's aim is to make sure people show up for their appts, not to prevent people from ever receiving care. Think about it, say someone gets the willies one morning because they're scared of a procedure and what it may tell them and decides to just not go. Well, they've prevented not only themselves from possibly receiving treatment, but they've left a gap in the schedule that one of any number of people would have happily taken to have their health concerns checked out. So for one person to simply no-show (without good reason) has quite possibly hindered the care of TWO patients.
Also, a no-show is no phone call, notification etc. If you're stuck in traffic / stuck at work and you can't make it just call. I think that's good manners regardless. No-show simply means not showing up and not notifying.
Not according to this:
Quote:
Cancellation less than 5 days for clinic appointment or 10 days for procedural appointment will be treated as a no-show."
So if something comes up say 4 days before and you call to say you can't make it it would be treated as a no show. However, in my own experience I've never had any clinic at Duke stick to that policy. They usually are very understanding.
It's not just the hospitals. A couple of years ago I had to reschedule a minor in-the-doctor's-office procedure and called several days ahead. I had to pay $300 for the reschedule.
Don't they double book anyway? I'll never use Duke after the horrible wait times for appointments I experienced. It was normal to wait 2 - 2 1/2 hours after my scheduled appointment to be seen. That's unacceptable and they were the norm during my time at Duke.
I work at Duke and I am a patient at Duke. I have never had a problem with calling and canceling at the last minute or rescheduling due to a conflict. Typically, these policies are in place for those who abuse the system. At least, that's been my experience wherever I have been.
For daveraleigh, of all the departments / divisions I know here there is never double booking. I am not speaking for Duke as a whole, though, as I am not familiar with every department. I know appointments can run late, and the later in the day, the later they run but this is usually because doctors are seeing emergency patients, patients with post-op complications etc. One long appointment will have a knock-on for the rest of the day. I am sure you would be unhappy if the doctor cut your appointment short because he was trying to stick to his schedule.
I used to work at Duke, and I've been a patient at Duke for several issues over the years. IMO, Duke has THE WORST customer service in the area. I dealt with really long waits in several different clinics and enough schedule and billing issues to drive you mad. If I have some life-threatening or rare illness, or some condition that requires a specialist I can only get at Duke, I'll go. Otherwise, I go elsewhere.
That said, I will say that the Sports Medicine Center is much better than the other clinics I've been to.
Below is the "Rescheduling/No Show" policy of the Gastroenterology Division at Duke Hospital.
Firstly, take a good look at Duke's strange definition of a "No Show"....then read through the rest:
"Cancellation less than 5 days for clinic appointment or 10 days for procedural appointment will be treated as a no-show."
No Show Clinic Patients:
-- New patients will NOT be rescheduled.
A letter will be sent to the referring MD and the patient requesting the referring physician to contact the GI scheduling HUB if consultation is still desired.
-- Established patients will be rescheduled once.
The patient will need approval from the attending GI physician in order to reschedule the appointment.
If there is a repeat no-show, a letter will be sent to the patient and referring physician asking the referring physician to contact the HUB if further GI follow up is required.
No Show Procedure Patients:
-- New patients will NOT be rescheduled.
A letter will be sent to the referring MD and the patient requesting the referring physician to contact the GI scheduling HUB if consultation is still desired.
-- Established patients will be rescheduled once.
If there is a repeat no-show, a letter will be sent to the patient and referring physician asking the referring physician to contact the HUB if further GI follow up is required.
This policy is not limited to the Gastroenterology Division, it exists throughout the Duke Health System.
So, a patient can be considered a "No Show", even if they canceled their appointment a week-and-a-half in advance?
And the offending patient can be banned from rescheduling for treatment of their condition at Duke, EVER AGAIN?!?
For a top-ranking medical institution, that's supposed to be devoted to helping and treating the sick and the dying, the policy seems unfair, extreme and very uncompassionate.
Thoughts?
I drove a family member to a colonoscopy last fall - we had the appt. time wrong (I know.. I know) - so instead of being a few minutes early we were actually 15 minutes late. My family member had turned his phone off. Later he metioned there were several messages on his voice mail asking if he still planned to show up, etc.
I wonder if they have a greater amount of no - shows for colonoscopies?
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.
