Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Long Waits at the Doctor's Office Disrespect Patients

KevinMD.com blog posted an article on "Long Waits at the Doctor's Office Disrespect Patients" in the article they explained various reasons why you are kept waiting and different ideas as to what you could do about your wait issues.

The article stated:
  • The average time patients spend waiting in 24 minutes
  • The average wait times for specialists are longer than general practitioners.
Possible reasons why you are kept waiting:
  • The office overbooks & schedules multiple appointments at the same time
  • The doctor could have to go to a different office and be running late
  • The doctor could be late
What the practice could do for you:
  • Call or email if they are running late
  • Give you a paging device (similar to restaurants)
  • Inform you about the situation at check-in
What you can do:
  • Book the first appointment of the day
  • Call ahead and ask how the day is going before your scheduled appointment time
  • Ask the office staff how long the wait will be
  • Explain your frustration to the office staff/doctor
  • Find a new doctor
For the full article, please click the following link: Long Waits at the Doctor's Office Disrespect Patients

For additional billing and coding resources, please click the following link: Medical Reimbursement Billing and Coding Resources Page