Whine: my last TWO doctors’s appointments been canceled at the last minute and then rescheduled for three months later

[Anonymous]

That’s all. This has happened to my last two appointments, with different providers, and in each case they rescheduled me, without my input, for sometime in the fall. I know that doctors are human beings, and have emergencies. But it’s frustrating that after waiting months for appointments, when it’s canceled by the doctor you go to the back of the line and have to wait another three or four months. It would be nice if those who have already waited months got some sort of priority in scheduling.

/whine

[Anonymous]

Can't you call the office and discuss this with them? Do you have a portal that puts you in contact with the doc? Go through insurance?

I do think that's rather unacceptable. I understand rescheduling, but not like that.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I could call but I’m unlikely to get anyone other than a scheduling person who has no access that is any different than what I can see online. The scheduling people aren’t even in the same building, it’s a call center.

Neither appointment is really time-sensitive, but one of them is something I’m anxious about, so I was really looking forward to getting an answer. I’m on the waitlist (which I was able to sign up for via the portal) so maybe I’ll get lucky before October.

Thanks for validating my annoyance!

[Anonymous]

That's not acceptable. When my husband has had to reschedule clinics at the last minute, he will either add a day to see patients or offer them an appointment on the tail end and stay later or come earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I could call but I’m unlikely to get anyone other than a scheduling person who has no access that is any different than what I can see online. The scheduling people aren’t even in the same building, it’s a call center.

Neither appointment is really time-sensitive, but one of them is something I’m anxious about, so I was really looking forward to getting an answer. I’m on the waitlist (which I was able to sign up for via the portal) so maybe I’ll get lucky before October.

Thanks for validating my annoyance!

I’d still call because if the doctor canceled on you, you should be higher on the waitlist than someone who just tried to schedule an appointment and asked to be added the day before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s all. This has happened to my last two appointments, with different providers, and in each case they rescheduled me, without my input, for sometime in the fall. I know that doctors are human beings, and have emergencies. But it’s frustrating that after waiting months for appointments, when it’s canceled by the doctor you go to the back of the line and have to wait another three or four months. It would be nice if those who have already waited months got some sort of priority in scheduling.

/whine

Sadly, at my doctor, an appointment 3 months out would be priority scheduling.

[Anonymous]

I don’t see this as whining. When this has happened to me I’ve been furious.

[Anonymous]

Was it with less than 24-hours notice? If so, I'd send them an invoice for your lost time.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, OP. That is frustrating. I had that happen not long ago. When I was finally seen I expressed a bit of my frusyration to the provider, who I am sorry to say was not the least bit empathetic. It just seems the nature of healthcare these days.
Good news is that customer service surveys (patient experience surveys as they are called) are also common and sometimes management actually pays attention to them.

[Anonymous]

Not acceptable and the doctor likely has no idea this is happening. It's an indication that the 'front office' isn't well managed. Does the office not have an 'advice' line or something that you can leave a message with someone to ask about it? There should be options other than the scheduler. If there isn't, I'd change practices.

-Worked in 3 different internal medicine offices.

[Anonymous]

That's happened to me once. My doctor had Covid.

[Anonymous]

Is this at GW? Same thing happened to me.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. That stinks.

[Anonymous]

I agree it's frustrating, but I don't think doctors hold open a bunch of appointments in case this happens, so I don't know how they would "give you priority."

[Anonymous]

My doc bumped me and she is a concierge doc with only a few hundred patients. Likely she wanted more time to do her podcast interviews, sigh.