charging a no-show fee for a virtual appointment when the doctor was late

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the difficulty with virtual appointments is that you're just sitting at home and you have no idea what's going on so if they no show, you're in the dark. At the office you'd have checked in at reception and see other patients moving along. If the doctor wasn't available that day, they'd tell you.

My doctor is actually good about this as the front desk will call my cell if the doctor is running late to a virtual appointment, so at least I know about how long of a wait.

You can call the office if you want to know. Otherwise, it's easy to set the computer, open to the appointment, next to you while you get something done.

When was the last time you called a doctors office and got through right away? I’ve found more and more practices have either long hold times or have people obviously in call centers who have no idea what’s going on and just take messages

[Anonymous]

No I agree with OP. As a provider who does online appts. My appts start on time I would never come in 20 minutes late then charge a no show fee. that's crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh I wouldn’t pay. And I’d let them know why

Cool. Enjoy finding a new doctor’s office.

Unlikely. I’ve had to leave in person appts before bc I had to get back to work and couldn’t wait. It happens. It’s their fault for being so behind. Any half way decent practice would waive the fee

That's a very strange thing to do. If you have a health condition, then doctor's appointment are very important and can take a long time to schedule. If you are a healthy person, then doctor's appointments are rare and are probably important when they come up. I just don't understand making an appointment, going to the appointment, and then leaving. Maybe medical phobia?

You sound ESL or spectrum or something off.

If you have a work meeting, sometimes you have to prioritize. It happens. No normal practice will charge you when they’re late, and they will typically work to reschedule you quickly. I go to a concierge group practice so I rarely have trouble getting an appt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh I wouldn’t pay. And I’d let them know why

Cool. Enjoy finding a new doctor’s office.

Unlikely. I’ve had to leave in person appts before bc I had to get back to work and couldn’t wait. It happens. It’s their fault for being so behind. Any half way decent practice would waive the fee

That's a very strange thing to do. If you have a health condition, then doctor's appointment are very important and can take a long time to schedule. If you are a healthy person, then doctor's appointments are rare and are probably important when they come up. I just don't understand making an appointment, going to the appointment, and then leaving. Maybe medical phobia?

You sound ESL or spectrum or something off.

If you have a work meeting, sometimes you have to prioritize. It happens. No normal practice will charge you when they’re late, and they will typically work to reschedule you quickly. I go to a concierge group practice so I rarely have trouble getting an appt.

Oh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to understand the doctor’s time is more important than yours.

Pompous a$$.

I was just conveying the doctor’s office attitude

I think much of the problem is overbooking. They don’t want any downtime between patients so they can make as much money as possible. It seems like the goal is to have multiple patients in the pipeline. Us plebs waiting is not a concern, we can look at our phones.

[Anonymous]

So you only scheduled 20 minutes for a doctor's appointment?

Bizarre.

Not bizarre. Pretty sure most medical practice appts are slated for 15 mins in their schedule and billing code.

[Anonymous]

Before you get all upset, just reach out. When the doctor showed up and you weren't there, they marked it as you weren't there. So you automatically got charged. So you need to reach out and explain the situation. You shouldn't have to pay. I never get people who get all "is this even legal?!" And haven't even take the first logical step to fix the issue.

[Anonymous]

absolutely not acceptable. tell them go f themselves. nope

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I waited in the virtual waiting room for over 20 minutes past start of appointment time, eventually had to run to another call. About 30 minutes after the start of the appointment, I see a text on my phone saying the doctor "is ready to begin you appointment." Later I see in the portal they marked me as "no-show" for the appointment and want to charge a 50 dollars fee.

Is this legal??? Shouldn't there be a record on their virtual appointment system that I signed in and was waiting for over 20 minutes?

And this is an office that charges PATIENTS if we are more than 10 minutes late!

What can you do in this situation?

So you only scheduled 20 minutes for a doctor's appointment?

Bizarre.

I’ve never had a virtual doctors appt that was more than 10 Mn.

NP

Every one of my virtual appointments with my endo are 30 minutes plus

[Anonymous]

I call the office and explain I am taking a 30 break from work for the telehealth visit and ask if they estimate the Dr running behind because I can’t take more time off of work.

There is no way it would be hard for someone to set up a system where you check in for a virtual visit and you get an estimated wait time such as you will be seen in approximately 10-20 minutes Or the Dr is running late, there are 3 patients ahead of you, etc.

I can often take longer but I think it is ridiculous I should wait around for an hour for a telehealth visit that is 10-15 minutes especially because when I get the paperwork they often bill for a longer visit because I have sat around waiting.

[Anonymous]

No, it's not fair. Call the office and if they dont refund you right away do a chargeback

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t pay it. Call the office or email your phone record screen shot showing you made the call and then tell them you scheduled it around your own meetings believing the appointment would be held on time. They should drop the charges if you show the evidence because they know they can’t sue you for it and win

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s legal. Charges between a service provider and a customer/patient are a contract issue. Does the office have a policy about late or missed appointments, and did they reasonably disclose it (through a message when you made the appointment, in new patient paperwork, on the website)? If it’s disclosed and you forgot or failed to read it properly, that’s not their issue.

I have definitely left one in-person doctor’s appointment to go back to work when the doc was too late. I have also considered leaving when the doctor has been behind. Usually I first open the door and look to flag down a nurse. I explain that I need to leave at x time and ask if it’s realistic that I might be able to have a full appointment by that time. If I were waiting for a virtual appointment, I’d call the front desk after 15 minutes of waiting just to make sure all was well. Otherwise, it looks like a no-call, no-show which is impolite, even if the doctor is running behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh I wouldn’t pay. And I’d let them know why

Cool. Enjoy finding a new doctor’s office.

Unlikely. I’ve had to leave in person appts before bc I had to get back to work and couldn’t wait. It happens. It’s their fault for being so behind. Any half way decent practice would waive the fee

That's a very strange thing to do. If you have a health condition, then doctor's appointment are very important and can take a long time to schedule. If you are a healthy person, then doctor's appointments are rare and are probably important when they come up. I just don't understand making an appointment, going to the appointment, and then leaving. Maybe medical phobia?

Unlike you, most people have other things to do than hang around all day for appointments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh I wouldn’t pay. And I’d let them know why

Cool. Enjoy finding a new doctor’s office.

Unlikely. I’ve had to leave in person appts before bc I had to get back to work and couldn’t wait. It happens. It’s their fault for being so behind. Any half way decent practice would waive the fee

That's a very strange thing to do. If you have a health condition, then doctor's appointment are very important and can take a long time to schedule. If you are a healthy person, then doctor's appointments are rare and are probably important when they come up. I just don't understand making an appointment, going to the appointment, and then leaving. Maybe medical phobia?

You sound ESL or spectrum or something off.

If you have a work meeting, sometimes you have to prioritize. It happens. No normal practice will charge you when they’re late, and they will typically work to reschedule you quickly. I go to a concierge group practice so I rarely have trouble getting an appt.

Scheduling a work meeting 20 minutes after an appointment starts is a bad decision. Even if the appointment had started exactly on time she wouldn't have been able to make it.

You pay a ton of money, more than OP's $50 for the privilege of not waiting, that's nice, but it's not relevant here.