Monday, April 18, 2011 – Today’s winners are the PET scan technicians. They did a great job taking care of me once I got back into the PET area. The PET went well. We’ll find out the results tomorrow morning.
The visit with the thoracic surgeon went well today also. He said my chest looked good, and was healing well. He lost points doubly today because the office called me to have me come in at 1:30 instead of 3:15. We got there at 1:35, and they didn’t call us back until after 2:30. However, he regained all those points and then some because he has a wonderful bedside manner, and he offered the most meaningful insight on the situation we are dealing with trying to figure out what to do about my health.
The PET scan administration lost points overall today. They scheduled me a month late, tried to use the insurance company as a stalling tactic, and wanted me to sign something saying that I would accept full financial responsibility for the PET if the insurance company didn’t pay.
I told them the insurance company was a bunch of idiots, and I would deal with them later. I also told them that if we listened to the insurance company, I would be dead because they wanted to delay my chemo from starting by six weeks last year while they decided if they wanted to pay or not. The doctor at Vanderbilt that we spent good time and money to go see said I should get a PET scan as soon as possible, which means it is MEDICALLY NECESSARY, and that we’re going to do what is MEDICALLY NECESSARY for me.
MEDICALLY NECESSARY. Insurance companies hate those two words. It means they can’t weasel out of paying for it. Nothing against honest insurance companies who provide excellent service levels for their clients (I’m sure there’s one out there somewhere…), but my experience has been that insurance companies care more about their bottom line and not being helpful than they do about their patients.
I used to be nice when I called the insurance company. Now, I write down the name of the person I talk to, the time and date of my call, and when someone answers, I cut to the point and tell them what is wrong, why it’s wrong, how to fix it, and what they need to do. If they try to give me any trouble, I spend about 30 minutes telling them everything they’ve done wrong with my policy in the past year. Then they fix it just to get me off the phone. It may take them 10 days, or 30 days, or 40-60 days, but they fix it. And if they don’t, I call them up again, tell the representative how unhelpful the other person was, and that they need to do a better job because the problem needs to be fixed.
Sounds so mean and hateful, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it’s what needs to happen to get the job done. I think it’s a rule that customer service people at insurance companies are not allowed to be proactive. You have to tell them what to do, and sometimes more than once or twice.
Bottom line is that I deserve medical care when I go to see a doctor. Everyone does. If the hospital is resistant in providing that care, it’s up to me the patient to get them in line, and demand the level of care and service that I want form the hospital.
So, I got the PET Scan done. Then I went over to Fort Sanders to their medical records dept to get copies of my xrays. They wanted me to fill out a form. Of information that I’ve only given them at least 20 times this year. I wrote my name, what xrays I wanted, and gave the form back to the lady. She told me I had to go fill out the form. I told her that if she had a problem with it that she needed to get her manager. She got her manager, who said that I needed to fill out the form. I told her that was a stupid rule, because the whole point of the form is to verify my identity, which they were doing by making a copy of my drivers license. She said that’s policy, and she doesn’t make the rules. I asked her who could change the rules. She said the government makes the rules, and no one can change HIPAA. I told her the government was not allowed to withhold my medical information from me. She had no response for that.
It turns out that I needed to sign the back of the form, and that was all they needed to give me my records. I went up and got the xrays no problem. Maybe next time they’ll just give me what I want instead of trying to hide behind red tape.
I told a lady in the xray waiting room: beating cancer is EASY! Dealing with the hospital administration and the insurance company is the hard part.
So that’s how the point spread looks today. Give points to the people in hospitals who do their job well, to doctors who offer good insight on my health, and to xray techs who give me my records.
Take away points from hospital administration who slow things down and make things harder, from doctors for not seeing patients on time, and from insurance companies whose top priority is not their patient clients, but themselves.
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