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Yes. If you were doing a job for someone and you told them you would be there at a certain time, do you think its ok for you to be hours late to do it?
But here's what I found out. There was another patient possibly going into a heart attack after having a nuclear stress test.
So at that point, I only cared that the most needy patient get the help he needed.
My dentist texts, calls leaves a voicemail and an email. It is quite annoying to get bombarded and it leads to me ignoring them. I blocked their email address so their emails don't even come through anymore. I am super busy during the day a lot of times and forget to confirm them. I understand they don't want people forgetting their appointments and not showing up but insisting that we stop working just to call them and confirm an appointment is a pain in the rear. They have never cancelled one of mine but if they ever do cancel if I forget to respond to the confirmation, I will just switch to a new dentist. There are who knows how many dentists around here and finding a new one is no problem. The funny thing is, their front desk help comes and goes so fast, there are rarely ever the same ones working each time I go in and they are often short handed. They could solve some of their help issues by not having to have someone constantly on the phone confirming appointments and just send out reminders instead.
What I have had happen a few times is they send me all those confirmation requests, I confirm and then show up and they are running behind because they overbooked or whatever. I have popped off "my appointment was at such and such time and you sent me texts, emails and voicemails and I confirmed so why aren't you on schedule?"
My doctor's office simple calls and leaves a voicemail to remind me I have an appointment at a certain time the next day. They don't request a call back for confirmation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WaikikiWaves
In theory the Doctor could be more proactive and send you an SMS that they’re running behind. Or they schedule better. Allow a lot of padding for appointments. A typical appointment takes 5-15 minutes but they can add 1 hour for customer. Of course they’ll make less money and see less patients that way. But, many people may only have 30 minute to 1 hour window so they have to forfeit the appointment entirely if the Doc is behind. Not everyone has the luxury of time.
What about if we pass a law that Docs need to reimburse customer for travel expenses + inconvenience for delayed appointments? Simple things like that will fix the issue immediately.
Some medical specialties can accurately estimate the time needed for an appointment and have little risk of being called out of the office on a moment's notice. That is not true for others. Obstetricians and any of the surgical specialties come to mind.
If your provider is behind and you cannot wait, just ask to reschedule. To reduce waiting, ask for the first appointment of the day or the first after lunch.
A certain patient load is needed to keep a practice afloat and allow a doc to get paid. If you want the luxury of an hour for each appointment join a concierge practice and be prepared to pay for the privilege outside of insurance coverage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KO Stradivarius
I really, really look forward to discovering how the healthcare industry will further add more rigorous requirements upon all of us. The sheep just need to do more things to help streamline their process!
Some of you people are not picking up what I am laying down. As if we already don't have enough things, don't spend enough time or have enough difficulty scheduling appointments when none are available and future schedules are not open, filling & renewing prescriptions/prior authorizations, reviewing billing details (EOBs), paying bills, paying premiums, copays, deductibles, out of pocket maximums, manage/max out your HSA, buy healthcare that costs thousands/month from the ACA portal when you retire/before Medicare, this doctor doesn't take that insurance, just change all of your doctors, insurance doesn't work with your pharmacy, just change pharmacy, just get all new Rx's, just get a policy for the "donut hole", just get a Medigap plan, no dental insurance - deal with it, etc. I'm sure I left out dozens of other things...
Uh, huh - "LOL, how stupid can you be?" "It's sad." "First-world problem." "Just confirm!" (insert dumb emoji here). It's just one more thing, no big deal, it really, really helps the dentist, it's the least you can do, it's your fault if you aren't a slave to their rules, you need to just accept it and choke it down, there, that didn't taste too bad, did it? Just this one last thing. Yeah, that's it!
In our house, between my wife (organ transplant recipient, diabetes, many ailments/doctors), my mother in-law (80 y.o., had cancer, stroke, has diabetes, many ailments/doctors), and myself (a few ailments/doctors), if every doctor was to require confirmation of each and every appointment, sending multiple tests/emails/calls, it would be a huge drag, man. Like just a bum deal, you dig?
Oh well. The smart people have spoken. Yeah, bring it on. Just one more thing. I promise. It's a good thing. Just do it. "Boom! Done." Just one more little paper cut. Until you bleed to death from 1,000 paper cuts.
Just tell all those doctors you will not respond to requests for confirmation and that if you fail to keep an appointment - no call, no show - you will pay for the appointment anyway. It will not be covered by insurance.
I had a dental appointment yesterday. I received a text when I made the appointment then several reminder texts not requiring a response. A text that requested a response came the day before the appointment. I did not respond because I was in a meeting and got called later in the day, at which point I did confirm.
On the day of the appointment I got a call that the dentist was sick and did I want to just get my cleaning with no exam by the doc. I agreed to do that, as I am having no issues. They also asked if I could move my appointment up an hour. No problem.
Turns out the dentist probably has a kidney stone. Ouch!
Refusing to confirm appointments seems petty to me.
I am with OP on this one - if too many patients flake, punish the flakers, not the non-confirmers. Flakiness has become far too normalized in this country. It's well past time that someone say ”enough is enough”.
If you say you're going to be there, you should be there. And if you can't, give a reasonably advanced notice. This used to be common courtesy but apparently now people can't be bothered to keep an appointment. This is not an excuse to cancel for a non-confirmation. The flakers should not be allowed to ruin it for others. Make them pay.
The doctors I see send confirmation after confirmation text. I confirm and then they will send another one. It ends up feeling like harassment. The texts start a week prior to the appointment and I will get at least one a day. Then they will be calling too.
Now THAT I would raise a fuss about!! If you confirm by text, why are they sending anything after that?? That's not normal and I would definitely complain.
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don't need you
Don't go for help... no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
.
Sorry for all your difficulties, but once you bring out the "sheeple" argument, you've lost any credibility in the discussion.
Once doctors start being on time for appointments or not changing them to a different date and time when you show up for your scheduled appointment, that is when I will agree with you.
I've literally never had the latter happen, and rarely the former these days... perhaps you just need to find better doctors/providers.
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(insert dumb emoji here). It's just one more thing, no big deal, it really, really helps the dentist, it's the least you can do, it's your fault if you aren't a slave to their rules, you need to just accept it and choke it down, there, that didn't taste too bad, did it? Just this one last thing. Yeah, that's it! 
