Patient beware . . . . .
For repeat moms-to-be or anyone who goes to a hospital, I’d like to share a recent experience I had at a local obstetrician office.
Earlier that week my regular obstetrician (OB) stopped seeing me because my health insurance had changed (through no fault of mine, the appointment line assured me that my insurance was accepted, but that’s a story for another time).
So at 22-weeks along I was scrambling around looking for a replacement OB, and found one 10-minutes away from home.
Before they would commit to seeing me as a patient I had to fill out a medical history questionnaire for the office coordinator to go over, and because my pregnancies have never been simple I used more than the normal one sheet of paper to explain my history and despite that I got a phone call 2-days later saying that I had been accepted to the program and had my 1st appointment the following Monday.
So I arrive with the family in tow and will admit it was a very pleasant experience, a far cry from what I’ve become accustomed to at doctor offices, so after a Q & A session with the physician he casually states that he might have to transfer me to a high risk hospital as I was more complicated than they normally see at their clinic.
I didn’t get a follow up appointment when checking out but was told the nurse would call me the next day, I guess that served as the doom to come so as soon as I got home I started searching for high risk physicians that participate in my health and was only able to find one in the entire state.
At 7:30 am the next morning I get a call from the receptionist that I would be receiving a certified letter in the mail referring me to high-risk unit for my continued prenatal care, I was still shocked even though I had suspected it might happen. The high risk specialist agreed to see me and was as baffled as I was that the doctors office treated me the way they did, and to make matters worst, they wrote in my medical records that they had sent a certified letter (which I still haven’t received) and it leaves me wondering about the quality of their work since a certified letter is something easily proved.
So what I want to leave you all that will read this, patient beware, though as the layman in this case you’d expect the staff employed by the hospital to know what health insurance plans they participate in, what kinds of patients they see, to avoid unpleasant surprises, ask, ask and ask again. I’d rather have an upset employee that thinks I’m trying to do their job, than having to change 3 doctors in a month
Thanks for listening.
