Do you have a minute? Oh good. Because you'll need one for this.
Last month at my yearly check up, my doctor said that I needed a referral to an OB/GYN to get something checked out.
I called the referral service and they said there were two doctors in San Pedro, and since that's just over the bridge from me I said that would be fine. She said that Dr. Tischler "has a good bedside manner." I said ok, sign me up.
I called to make an appointment and they said I could come in in a week. I guess that should have been a red flag for me right there.
Just for the heck of it, I double checked on my insurance's website to make sure the doctor was in my group so that my exam and procedure would be covered. Sure enough, he wasn't in my group. I called the referral service and they said they would call me back. She called me back and said that she checked with the office and he is in my group, so I should be ok. I took their word for it.
My appointment was at 10:30 and I arrived at 10:15. The waiting room was fairly busy, and I found it odd that they only reading materials in it were promotional pamphlets for drugs. And it was freezing. I wrapped my scarf around my face because my nose was so cold. I was in the waiting room for at least 45 minutes before I was called back (I was there for a total of 2 hours for a 1 minute exam).
When they finally called me back, they had me wait in Dr. Tischler's office. I found it weird that all of his family photos on his desk were facing me rather than him. I don't really care what his wife and daughter look like. The office was also plastered with his child's artwork and there were several HUGE teddy bears on the floor. And there were creepy statues and figurines of doctors examining pregnant women. Weird. I don't know how long I was waiting in there, but it seemed to take forever. I was so bored I was ready to pull a book off of his bookcase and start reading about gynecological oncology or something.
When the doctor finally showed up, he didn't shake my hand or introduce himself, he just sat down, opened my file and started the barrage of questions about my medical history. We were interrupted once by a phone call he answered and then when he was done, he put down the phone and asked, "Where were we?" I thought it was rhetorical, but he waited for my answer because he honestly didn't know. The weirdest part of our conversation was when he said, "Men think about sex every 15 minutes." That's great. So when I'm half naked on the table, is that going one of the other 14 minutes, I hope?
When I was on the table in the exam room, he actually got up and walked out twice to do something else. The second time he left the door ajar. WTF? Sure there's that little curtain there, but there's also a mirror behind that curtain so anyone walking by might be able to see my business propped up on the table. Inconsiderate.
After my exam, he told me that I would have to be admitted into the hospital for an out-patient procedure to get my problem taken care of. He said to go see Clara in the back office after I was dressed.
I met Clara who schedules all the surgeries. She started scheduling me at San Pedro Hospital, and then I asked if it mattered that Torrance Memorial is my hospital. She seemed really put out that she had to call back San Pedro and cancel. "You know, Torrance Memorial is REALLY hard to get in to." Like it's my fault, lady, that my HMO says I have to go to Torrance. "Well let me talk to the doctor to see what he wants to do."
They decided that they would get my referral for the procedure expedited and get me in for surgery at Torrance on Saturday since the doctor had three other surgeries scheduled there for that day. Great! She called me back later in the day to confirm that the referral was approved and told me what time to be at the hospital on Saturday.
On Friday, the day before my scheduled procedure, I decided to check with my insurance just to make sure that this doctor is in my group and I'm going to be covered since the last thing I want is for them not to approve it and me end up with a huge hospital bill. I called Health Net and they said that, in fact, my procedure would not be covered under my plan. I called Clara to let her know and she got really pissy with me. "Yes we ARE in that group. We've been in that group for YEARS and you're NOT going to have to pay for it." I told her my insurance told me I would. "Who did you talk to there?" Member services. "Well, THAT's your problem!" I started to get really frustrated. "Well, do what you want," she says to me. I started to cry. I'm already stressed out and she's going to give me attitude?
After dealing with the issue all morning with the insurance and the group, no real conclusion was found, other than I may or may not be covered. I ended up canceling the procedure, and I will not be going back to Dr. Tischler again. read more